Can Mayor Dave Bing Fix a Broken Detroit?

He tells Lynette Holloway, The Root's Midwest bureau chief, there's no one plan to save the beleaguered city, but he has a blueprint for change.

By Lynette Holloway

(The Root) -- In the face of a crushing $265 million deficit and $13.2 billion in long-term structural debt, it was either sign a consent agreement, file for bankruptcy or accept the fate of a state-appointed emergency manager, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing told The Root about two weeks ago in an exclusive interview.

The former NBA star and business owner, who was elected in May 2009, chose to sign the consent agreement under which he is required to create positions of a new chief financial officer, a project management director and nine-member financial advisory board to help run the city. He has also developed a spending plan to trim more than 2,500 of the city's 10,800 jobs and cut $250 million in annual expenses. And last week he announced the appointment of Jack Martin, a former emergency manager of a public school system outside of Detroit, as chief financial officer.

Bing himself is on the road to recovery. He was beset by health woes in March and April when the consent agreement came up for a vote at the city council. He was hospitalized twice: treated for a perforated intestine and released, and treated for acute pulmonary embolism in his lungs and released. Several weeks after returning to work, Bing checked in with The Root.

The Root: How are you and how is your health?

Mayor Dave Bing: My health is improving daily. I had an unfortunate situation where I had to have surgery, but that was about seven weeks ago … My health is coming along very well.

TR: Why did it take so long to come up with a plan to save the city?

DB: I don't think there is a plan to save the city at this point. I don't think anybody externally and in some cases internally here in the city of Detroit understood the depth and the width of the problems that we have. We're talking about problems that go back 40 years, and there is no way any plan that anybody puts together is going to solve the problems short-term. We've approached some of the issues as a city both from a short-term and long-term standpoint. We're constantly changing things because the economy continues to change.

Read more at The Root.