Bellwether for Detroit

In the controversy over the financial future of Detroit, uncertainty seems to be the most oft repeated term. This uncertainty is attributed to the fact that no other major American city has faced the same kinds of structural problems confronting Detroit. From loss of population, abandonment of capital, to nearly half the property owners’ delinquency on taxes, we have little money to support essential services. Additionally, we are burdened with long standing debt and an array of tax breaks that were long ago granted in hopes of spurring never to happen developments.

Almost everyone agrees we need to do some things very differently. But hardly anyone agrees on what those things should be. However, it should be clear that almost no one in the city of Detroit thinks an Emergency Manager or the State legislature have answers to our problems. More than 80% of the city voted against emergency manager legislation. The majority voted to uphold the right and responsibility of the Corporate Counsel to challenge the legality of the Consent Agreement.

Many of us have been calling for the development of a Participatory Budgeting process that would broaden and strengthen the democratic practices of the city. These practices are widely used throughout central and south America and, increasingly in US cities from Los Angeles to Brooklyn…