Pretty Sure I'd Get Fired If I Tried This

I'm finding lately that I don't write as much about my job as I used to. I think that's because I'm nervous that something I write may come back to haunt me some day. My thoughts today don't really pertain to my job directly, but they do deal with the City government, so it does pertain to stuff that impacts not only my work, but my life here in Detroit. I'm so annoyed that I feel like I need to write something.

The City of Detroit is on the verge of having an Emergency Financial Manager appointed to it by the Governor.  There's still a lot of back-and-forth going on, with the State reviewing the City's finances, the City trying to buy extra time to make more budget cuts, City leadership advocating that they don't need an EFM, etc. The reality is, the City is broke like a joke, and I really don't see things getting better any time soon.

My beef, though, is with City Council, after reading this article in today's Free Press. Basically, the City Council was to meet today to have a really hard discussion about hard budget cuts that would need to be made in order to avoid an EFM. Not enough Council members showed up for the meeting to happen, so it didn't happen.

What? How do you just do that?

Now, I'm a bit of two minds when it comes to an EFM. An EFM would essentially come in an make budgetary and financial decisions without needing the approval of the Mayor and City Council - effectively stripping them of their power. I don't relish the idea of the people I elected not being able to lead the City I live in.

And yet.

Apparently the people I did elect are already choosing to not lead the City I live in. The Council members gripe about not wanting their authority to be taken from them, but then they pull a stunt like this which is almost sure to guarantee that this is the very thing that will happen.

What ever happened to leaders that were willing to make tough decisions, regardless of what it cost them? The decisions that need to be made will be painful - and I surely do not envy the position our leaders are in. But come on people! Grow a spine and do the hard thing. People may appreciate it more than you expect.