Rochelle Riley writes in her Detroit Free Press column that she was disappointed by Mayor Dave Bing's recent news conference announcing his intentions to avoid the appointment by the state of an emergency financial manager for the nearly bankrupt city. She says the plan does not go far enough because it doesn't include a reduction in the size of the city's bloated government.

When you tell your residents that the city will run out of money next spring, when you tell the unions that they're killing the goose that lays their golden eggs, when you're telling the children that we have to stand and fight together ... and then you lay out a plan that keeps the city from running out of cash but doesn't solve any long-term problems ...

It's not enough.

I wanted the mayor to declare that he was shutting city government down.

I wanted the mayor to declare that he was laying off all city workers and requiring them to reapply for their jobs. Yes, it's huge. Yes, it's desperate.

But when the city is carrying a third more workers than it needs and delivering half the services that residents need, times are desperate.

If Detroit wants to avoid a financial manager, if its current managers -- the mayor and City Council -- want to continue to manage the city's money -- what it has and what it doesn't -- then they have to present a better case to the state that they can do it.

Read Rochelle Riley's entire column at the Detroit Free Press. 

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