# Well, I suppose this might be why Detroit has faltered... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 3, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-suppose-this-might-be-why-detroit-has-faltered/488171 "2009-03-03T18:13:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-suppose-this-might-be-why-detroit-has-faltered/488171/1 "2009-03-03T18:13:39Z")
> **[Detroit Local News - Michigan News - Breaking News - detroitnews.com](https://www.detroitnews.com/)** > > Get the latest local Detroit and Michigan breaking news and analysis , sports and scores, photos, video and more from The Detroit News. Now, not having been there, I can’t really vouch for this. But if even a tenth of it were true… ouch. That would really mess up any city. I can’t imagine why anyone, white or black, who isn’t a damned fool would want to live in a place like that. ---
**Author:** ![IdahoMauleMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71c47a/32.png) [@IdahoMauleMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IdahoMauleMan)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-suppose-this-might-be-why-detroit-has-faltered/488171/2 "2009-03-03T18:19:30Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > [Detroit Local News - Michigan News - Breaking News - detroitnews.com](http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090301/OPINION03/903010308/1008/OPINION01) > > Now, not having been there, I can’t really vouch for this. But if even a tenth of it were true… ouch. That would really mess up any city. I can’t imagine why anyone, white or black, who isn’t a damned fool would want to live in a place like that. Self-concocted victimization and identity politics don’t seem to be all that productive, do they? Perhaps there are some lessons that can be transferred to the broader national stage from this episode. Thanks for the post. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-suppose-this-might-be-why-detroit-has-faltered/488171/3 "2009-03-03T18:24:38Z")
> [@IdahoMauleMan](#): > > Self-concocted victimization and identity politics don’t seem to be all that productive, do they? Perhaps there are some lessons that can be transferred to the broader national stage from this episode. Thanks for the post. It would be great if they were, but I don’t think the Republicans are that self-aware. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-suppose-this-might-be-why-detroit-has-faltered/488171/4 "2009-03-03T18:28:01Z")
C’mon,you have the entire rest of the board to snark! ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-suppose-this-might-be-why-detroit-has-faltered/488171/5 "2009-03-04T02:07:57Z")
The Detroit City Council is nuts. One city council member recently attended a City Council meeting [wearing a tiara and princess gown](http://goawaykwame.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/a-tiara-detroit-mayor-continues-to-lose-credibility/), for her birthday. Well, actually, it was the day after her birthday. A former Councilwoman accused then mayor Kilpatrick of [rigging her chair to give her an electric shock](http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2003/01/29/Councilwoman_My_chair_rigged/UPI-83711043857430/). After she left the council, he hired her as his general counsel. They’ve been nuts for decades, although it’s been overwhelmed by the Kwame Kilpatrick saga the last few years. The Council is elected [“at large” rather than by Wards](http://www.wwj.com/pages/3107495.php?), which seems to be part of the problem. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-suppose-this-might-be-why-detroit-has-faltered/488171/6 "2009-03-04T02:27:37Z")
In every place I’ve ever lived, the city council is composed of five types of people: a) honest, hardworking people dedicated to making the city a better place b) crooks out to get rich or enrich their cronies c) reformers who got one or more of the crooks voted out, but have no clue how government actually works d) ideologues who are only interested in their own agenda, whether it involves running the entire city on solar power or selling off the parks to cut taxes e) power-seekers who want to serve one or two terms and then move on to higher office. The only variable that determines how well the city works is the proportion of each group in the mix at any given time. ---
**Author:** ![Zulema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/db5fbb/32.png) [@Zulema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zulema)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-suppose-this-might-be-why-detroit-has-faltered/488171/7 "2009-03-04T14:25:38Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > The Detroit City Council is nuts. > > A former Councilwoman accused then mayor Kilpatrick of [rigging her chair to give her an electric shock](http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2003/01/29/Councilwoman_My_chair_rigged/UPI-83711043857430/). After she left the council, he hired her as his general counsel. > > . From that article and others I wouldn’t be so quick to say that she was nuts for accusing the mayor of rigging her chair. I think most of them are deranged enough to have done it. I used ot live in the Detroit area and this all just doesn’t surprise me at all. Detroit is like some sort of bizarro city from a humorous fiction book. My sister still lives there in a relatively sane, for there, neighborhood. Everyone is just so used to it all that it’s not strange to Detroiters. I’m surprised they don’t need a special eye clinic to correct whatever damage excessive eye rolling does.