Detroit’s Future according to Bing

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing says Detroit’s future or his blueprint for Detroit rests on Cooperation, Opportunity, Responsibility, and Education which is known as CORE. Bing last week unveiled to the Detroit Free Press his blueprint for a new city. Bing said he didn't want to introduce a feel-good campaign, but something tangible that encourages all of his appointees, city employees, residents and stakeholders to embrace it.

Now when it comes to Cooperation, Bing said, "There are a lot of people who feel that Oakland County led by (County Executive L. Brooks Patterson) is our enemy. They are one of our greatest assets. Oakland County is still, I think, the second wealthiest county in the country. They've got some smart people; they've got some good people. A lot of those people were either born in Detroit or grew up in Detroit or were educated in Detroit and moved out for a lot of different reasons. They are not our enemy.”

Bing went on to say, “"The city of Detroit often sees itself in a vacuum against other municipalities in the area. I believe that in order for us to come back -- survive and thrive -- we're going to have to open up our mind-set and not think that we're the elephant in the room all the time." However when it comes to Opportunity, Bing says, "I have met with our Workforce Development Department and said to them, we now have pink slips out for 1,061 city employees. I want to say to those employees that lose their jobs, that you are not a throwaway -- we care about you. The training dollars that we got from the stimulus plan, we need to make sure that those people that are laid off from city government have the first opportunity to utilize those training dollars, so where there's opportunity for them to get employment, we want to make sure we help them as best we can.

Bing ultimately said, "The health care industry is an industry that is enjoying double-digit growth on an annual basis. They need employees. We should be training some of our laid-off workers for that industry." In regards to Responsibility, Bing feels "Our residents in the city need to take a step back and say, 'What is our responsibility in all of this?' There are so many residents that walk around with an attitude that is so prevalent in our community, one of instant gratification. Yes, I've made more money than the average citizen and I understand that, but I had to work like hell. I am hopeful that our community becomes more caring for each other. Are we responsible for our neighbor? I'm old-fashioned. I was raised that way. But now we seem not to care or we forget about those in need."

As it relates to Education, Bing said, "I feel very blessed that I grew up in the time and in the city where I did, and I got a good education. When I first came here in 1966, things were still pretty strong in the schools. But as things continued to change and were going in the wrong direction, we did nothing to stop it. I will take on the responsibility of the school system if voters want it. If our citizens vote for such, I will do it. I recognize that I have my hands full trying to bring the city back, so I would go and find the best person to lead the system and have that person report to me."

Still Bing’s CORE projects are not Bing’s only ideas for Detroit’s future because he seeks to privatize services and slash departments in order to right size Detroit’s government. Detroit Mayor Dave Bing says he is taking a strategic approach to turning around Detroit -- an approach that will focus on the city running core services such as police, fire and EMS and outsourcing or privatizing others that can be done more efficiently elsewhere. In an exclusive interview with the Free Press, Bing said he views public safety -- which also includes homeland security -- and water and sewerage as the key core services a city must deliver. Within the next week to 10 days, he and his team will identify others the city should manage and those it should not, given its shrinking revenues and burgeoning budget deficit.

Bing knows he's in for a fight from city workers, especially in a city and region with a history of union strength. The word "core" is big for Bing -- it's the acronym for what he is calling his administration's mission and vision for making Detroit a better place to live, work and play. CORE stands for:

· Cooperation: Sharing resources between businesses and municipalities across the region.
· Opportunity: Giving Detroiters the skills to pursue employment in growing industries.
· Responsibility: Actively encouraging Detroiters to assume ownership of improving the condition of the city.
· Education: Working to create and maintain a quality school system.

"I didn't come in here as a politician and I won't leave as a politician," Bing said from his 11th-floor office at city hall. "I came in on change, and change is happening." 'I'm going to make the hard choices,' he says.

Bing, his top advisers and department heads spend hours each week holed up in a downtown conference room on the 26th floor of the Cadillac Tower, blocks away from city hall. The space is called the OR, the off-site operating room where they're debating how to restructure city government into a more cost-efficient and effective model. The debates can be intense, but Bing's team members have agreed to walk through the doors with cleansed and open minds. Yes, trash pickup is a vital city service, but who says it must be done by city workers? Certainly Detroiters depend on public buses, but why does the city need to manage the Department of Transportation? Bing acknowledges that the decisions are difficult to make -- which city services will be outsourced and which departments will be consolidated or eliminated -- but he doesn't appear to be flinching from the responsibility.

"Because I'm not worried about my next job, I'm going to make the hard choices that are necessary to move forward," Bing said. "I've had people tell me, 'You've got to be crazy to do the things that you're doing right now and think you're going to get re-elected.' Well, that's not the most important issue to me. The most important issue to me is doing what's right for whatever time that I'm here to make a difference. "If it means that I don't get re-elected but I know I've done all that I can do and I've done it for the right reasons, I can live with myself."

Bing said cuts to personnel are painful, but because previous mayors did not make the structural changes needed, he now must cut 10% of the workforce just to keep finances afloat. The city has about a $300-million accumulated deficit, and Bing is hustling to find enough money to address this year's cash shortfall of up to $80 million. "There are departments that should have consolidated a long time ago, and there are probably departments that should have been eliminated, and that's going to happen -- it has to happen," he said. Leaner is goal for 2010-11.

Though Bing said he's prepared to soon begin identifying some service cuts, he acknowledges that the long-term process will not occur overnight. But by the time the 2010-11 fiscal year begins next July, Bing, if still in office, is determined to be running a leaner city operation. Detroit's budget process begins about Oct. 1, when department heads are sent letters from the budget director reminding them what their budget was for the previous fiscal year and stating that it's time to get cracking on their spending plan.

Next month, though, that process will be completely different, said Charles Beckham, Bing's chief administrative assistant. He calls the idea revolutionary: The Bing administration will require department heads to essentially justify why they should exist. Some questions they'll be asked: What services do you provide now? What services should you provide? How much will it cost? Is there a way to do it cheaper? Can another entity do it cheaper?

Beckham points to this example: The city spends $4 million to $4.5 million annually on the 68 workers who oversee the Mistersky Power Station on West Jefferson in Detroit. The plant produces power for the city at a cost of $212 per megawatt hour. Yet when the plant goes down, the city pays DTE Energy $15 to $20 per megawatt hour for that same power.

Now Detroit isn’t the only city trying to reap savings these days. Leonard Gilroy, editor of an annual privatization report by the Reason Foundation, a Los Angeles-based nonpartisan public policy research center, said cities such as Indianapolis; Cleveland; Charlotte, N.C., and Phoenix have led the way in mixing privatization, consolidation and shared services, and data show those cities have experienced anywhere from a 5% to 25% savings in operational costs. Gilroy simplifies how a city can determine what can be privatized by using the so-called yellow pages test, a term coined by former Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith. If you can find the service in the phone book, from mowing grass to vehicle fleet maintenance to accounting, those are things that can be competitive, Gilroy said.

"The more of a union influence and presence, the more difficult it is to even get something off the ground, but the writing has been on the wall for Detroit," Gilroy said. "Mayor Bing only has to look around at other models. It's all out there, and it's all been done successfully. It's not like he'd have to reinvent the wheel; he has to just get comfortable with the new wheel." Nonetheless on Friday, the city's largest union officially withdrew its support for Bing, with leaders declaring they had no faith in Bing's leadership. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees says Bing isn't negotiating contracts in good faith, asking that workers not only take a 10% pay cut through 26 furlough days, but also demanding what they call other outlandish concessions.

"This guy is just full of it," Leamon Wilson, chairman of the presidents of AFSCME's locals, said about Bing. "He's not trying to work with us. He doesn't seem to have any respect for the workers and what they do." The mayor has already talked about privatizing two of the primary tasks of the city's Finance Department: the collection of taxes and payment of the city's employees. About 100 city workers would be affected by privatizing payroll and tax collection. Bing insists he's not antiunion and is not offended that members have switched their collective allegiance to Tom Barrow, his competition in the November election. But if Barrow were to be elected, Bing said he'd have to make many of the same cuts if he were honest with citizens and the workforce.

For his part, Barrow refers to Bing as an outsider who isn't equipped to help the city. Bing, a Detroit businessman long before his entry into politics, scoffs. "Anybody who thinks this municipality is not a huge business is absolutely nuts," Bing said. "Nobody likes to look at city government as a business, but that's exactly what it is. We're a $3-billion business, and it needs to be run that way." Therefore this is Bing’s plan for the future of Detroit and regardless if Detroiters like it or not, I don’t see Bing changing his mind on any of this and unless Bing is unseated, this is the type of decisions we as Detroiters should expect because he did what I thought he would do in regards to bus services and routes so I see no change in all of what Bing is saying.

Also what should be noted is that some of Bing’s ideas are good particularly privatizing DDOT or perhaps merging DDOT with SMART would increase bus service in not just Detroit but Southeast Michigan. It could be the beginning of real public transportation happening in the state of Michigan and Southeast Michigan could pave the way. Nonetheless Bing’s CORE vision is what Detroiters will see from an Bing administration for the next 4 years unless Detroiters decide to vote for Tom Barrow or write-in Jerroll Sanders for Mayor. I know what I plan to do but does the rest of Detroit know its future. That is the question.