Words on West Michigan, Detroit, and Emergency Managers

Having traveled to the far ends of the earth, I am acutely aware of how associated in image the State of Michigan is with Detroit.  As I used to visit the CEOs of foreign owned companies, encouraging them to invest in Michigan, their first question was:  "How close are you to Detroit?"
Crime, a formidable union presence, and difficult race relations characterized Detroit and very few people wanted any part of it.
Because of my location in West Michigan, I was able to point out equal proximity to Chicago and make the claim that Chicago could very well have a stronger influence on West Michigan than Detroit.  Indeed, in the summer months, it sure seems so.
Moreover, West Michigan is much more rural in nature.  Michigan ranks in the top ten states in the production of forty-five different fruits and vegetables--largely on the strengths of West Michigan agriculture.  The agricultural diversity of West Michigan rivals any region of California.
That is not to deny Detroit.You would have to be insane to not root for the recovery of Detroit.  I always  have and I always will.  But I must say, previous efforts to fix the city have been very disappointing as the city administration has fossilized in its approaches while the rest of the region is embracing change, enthusiastically or not.
The most recent controversy involves the Emergency Manager concept where a chronic fiscal municipal or school district basket case that has proven repeatedly its inability to get its act together and live within its means.  The Governor can appoint an Emergency Manager with very significant power to take steps to reverse the continued decline, involving, for example, the power to invalidate certain collective bargaining agreements and the power to divert the wishes of local voters into a basic financial survival strategy.  Failure of any municipality has consequences for all of us.  And, consequently, irresponsible crony local government anywhere threatens all of us in Michigan.  As we, in West Michigan know, Benton Harbor is operating with an Emergency Manager who has, just recently, brought the budget into balance.  A lot of weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth has taken place about the changes, but the important thing is Benton Harbor will not go down the tubes.
Opponents articluate the undemocratic nature of the concept in that it has the power to eliminate local policy.  However, the US Constitution makes the fifty states, unitary governments, which means that local governments are a responsiblity of state government, even when home rule charters are in place.  The best advice is:  if you don't want an Emergency Manager, fix your problems--while you still have the power.  It is going to be hard to dismantle the expensive feed troughs that have built up over the past sixty years, but it is clear with one-third of our manufacturing establishment having vaporized in the past ten years, the system is no longer sustainable.