No one can argue that Detroit's finances were a mess before the city of Detroit declared bankruptcy and the governor brought in Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr.
And when it was all done, the finances were in far better shape, though certainly not perfect.
One year after Detroit emerged from bankruptcy, a radio documentary by Lester Graham of Michigan Radio shows the city still faces serious problems including housing foreclosures, broken fire hydrants, high unemployment, a pool of too many unskilled workers, poverty, inadequate public transportation and some bad schools.
Politicians and boosters talk about Detroit’s comeback, but many residents say they’re being left out, Michigan Radio reports. (Listen here.)
Michigan Radio sums up:
- An investigative reporter fights city hall to acknowledge there are hundreds and hundreds of broken fire hydrants.
- Many Detroit and Wayne county homeowners are losing their homes to tax foreclosure when they shouldn’t.
- Unemployment in Detroit is consistently twice the state rate. Employers say too many Detroit residents are unskilled.
- The working poor are one crisis away from poverty. Car trouble interrupts a promising career.
- Bus service in Detroit is improving, but you still can’t count on public transportation connections to the suburbs.
- Auto insurance in Detroit is twice as high as it is in the suburbs, but a plan for cheaper coverage would leave Detroit drivers still paying the highest rates in the state for the worst coverage in the state.
- Detroit kids are not getting the education they need, and an expert says the state is doing too little to solve the problem.
