Marathon Pundit: Rebirth begins: Michigan governor names emergency manager for Detroit

Upward bound

The decline and fall of Detroit ends today. The Great Lakes State's Republican governor named an emergency financial manager for the onetime Motor City today. For decades, Detroit was a center of corruption and incompetence--starting with the five-term mayoral misrule of labor organizer, racist and communist Coleman Young, America's worst mayor ever.

From Reuters:

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on Thursday named a lawyer with deep expertise in corporate bankruptcy as the emergency financial manager for Detroit, in the biggest state takeover of an American city in more than two decades.

Kevyn Orr, a partner in the Washington law firm Jones Day who is best known for his work on the restructuring of Chrysler after it filed for bankruptcy in 2009, will assume financial management of Detroit, the poorest major city in the United States.

Coleman Young

As the emergency manager, he will supplant the authority of Detroit's elected officials, both the mayor and the city council. Orr will have broad powers, including the ability to renegotiate labor contracts, privatize services and sell certain city assets.

The dramatic move culminated a long decline of a city that was once the thriving center of the U.S. auto industry and the birthplace of Motown music, but has seen its fortunes sag and deficit rise. Once the fifth largest American city, Detroit now ranks 18th with 700,000 people.