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The website "Bankrupting America" recently came to Detroit to talk to businesses about the challenges they face staying afloat and dealing with a dysfunctional city government.
The iconic Roma Cafe in Eastern Market was one business the website spoke to and made a first-rate video of, interviewing the owner Hector Sossi and his daughter Janet Sossi Balcoure, who now runs the joint.
"We’re still hanging in there," says Hector, 90, who started working at Roma in 1940 as a busboy. "We're hoping for something to turn around."
His daughter, who takes the business very seriously, bemoans the fact some businesses get big tax breaks to open up in the city while she pays more and more.
The website, Bankrupting America, which is a project of Public Notice, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating people on fiscal policy, posted this along with the videos:
In July, Detroit became the largest American city to file for bankruptcy. Detroit faces crippling unemployment, high taxes, out-of-control crime, and is $18 billion in debt. The facts are scary, but they don’t tell the whole story. To get a different perspective, we traveled to the city to talk to real Detroiters about bankruptcy, the city, and their hopes for the future. What they told us might surprise you.
The video is definitely worth a look.
