Now that I have this safe and new and amazing life, my awareness has grown beyond day-to-day basic survival.
I see and read stories that inspire or confuse or bewilder or distress me in a way that has always drawn my attention, but for which I could spare no energy.

It is not that I am disconnected to the world.
One of the ways that I survived is by seeking outside interests and volunteering as much as possible, within the constraints of that old life.

I feel a need to comment on these renewed connections, although they are not essential to my continuing health, recovery and just plain general forward movement in my life.

Or, perhaps they are.

So, anyway, CoolCat suggested a new blog.
He is rarely wrong, so here goes...something.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Detroit - with update 07-20-2013

Update below

I read, this evening, that the city of Detroit, Michigan is filing bankruptcy.  It is the largest American city to do so.

Whilst they are not the first municipality in the US to do this, and they most likely will not be the last, there is something special, poignant about this ultimate admission that things really just are not going very well there.

There are a lot of reasons and I only know about some of them because they are a neighboring state, I had friends in the automobile manufacturing business, and there have been documentaries about some of their struggles.

At its best, Detroit was a shining and successful example of manufacturing and business, the arts.  They had major league sports and interesting city architecture, as well as wonderful neighborhoods, perfect for raising families.

Detroit had it all, manifesting the best of hopes and beliefs that form the American Dream.  The city hired bankruptcy expert, Kevyn Orr, who shared with Governor Rick Snyder that ..."he saw no alternative to filing for Chapter 9, blaming decades of fiscal mismanagement, plummeting population, decaying infrastructure and failing services."

Times are tough, pretty much everywhere.  Whole countries in serious distress, cities all over the world struggling to survive.  It would have been nice if Detroit was having a different result.  

Los Angeles Times
Detroit declares bankruptcy with $18 billion in debts
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-0719-detroit-bankruptcy-20130719,0,7289375.story

UPDATE:

Detroit bankruptcy declared unconstitutional by judge:

Yahoo! News
Mich. judge calls Detroit bankruptcy unconstitutional; AG to appeal
http://news.yahoo.com/michigan-gov--snyder-defends-reasons-behind-detroit-bankruptcy-160222649.html

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