Bill McGraw: City's biggest crisis is struggle to provide basics for residents
BY BILL MCGRAW
MOTOR CITY JOURNAL
April 15, 2008
After the latest episode of city government dysfunction -- the City Council's brush-off of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his new budget Monday -- it's tempting to conclude that the city of Detroit has fallen into an unprecedented crisis since Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy charged the mayor with eight felonies last month in the text message scandal.
But the crisis goes beyond the possibility of the mayor's going to prison.
It goes beyond Councilwoman Monica Conyers' calling council President Ken Cockrel Jr. "Shrek" during a tantrum Friday that quickly wound up on national TV.
It goes beyond Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins' celebrating her 69th birthday by wearing a silver tiara to the council meeting Monday.
Perhaps the most serious and long-lasting crisis is the city's operational crisis.
The mayor and other officials recognize the problems that budget woes bring.
"At the end of the day, it's all about dollars and cents," Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams said Monday. "If you don't have the money, you can't provide the service."
Although it's difficult to quantify delivery of services across a 137-square-mile city, anecdotal evidence suggests the city is struggling more than ever before to do things that are most important to residents and businesses.
When Detroit stand-up performer Karen Addison warmed up the Fox Theatre crowd for the Damon Wayans' comedy show, she mostly refrained from doing predictable jokes about Kilpatrick.
Instead, Addison said she knew how Kilpatrick could revolutionize Detroit: "Pick up the bulk trash," she deadpanned.
The crowd laughed, having seen the piles of couches, tables, toilets, toys, carpeting and even broken-down boats.
Last month, a west-side resident couldn't get cops to show up after intruders had broken into his house until he phoned Councilwoman JoAnn Watson, who called the chief of police. Kilpatrick admits the city has a "manpower issue" in the Police Department and that its hiring of recruits is, in his word, "horrible."
Last month, when an off-duty cop suffered a heart attack while shoveling snow, it took EMS so long to arrive that the man's friends took him to the hospital, according to Free Press reporting partner WDIV-TV Local 4.
Each day, the Detroit Fire Department idles up to 10 working rigs because it doesn't have the staffing to keep them all running.
Streetlights? They remain a problem on many blocks. One small example: There were virtually no nights all winter when every light functioned properly near the corner of West Lafayette and Third. And downtown is supposed to be the part of the city that works.
Some of the current cutbacks resulted when the mayor started trimming jobs in 2005 as Detroit faced the possibility of a $300-million deficit.
When Kilpatrick took office in 2002, the Police Department had 4,200 members. Today it has 3,000.
Kilpatrick and his aides say the city is doing its best to enact smart government practices, such as employing more civilians in police desk jobs.
They say the bulk trash problem will lessen as residents learn more about new pickup days (reduced from 12 a year to four).
No matter what Kilpatrick's fate, the city's fate will be determined by how it does things like pick up bulk trash.
Said Adams: "No one says the city is where it needs to be."
