The flood of headlines coming out of the water crisis in Flint comes down to a basic problem: The city was starved for cash. And that led to the series of bad decisions that in turn led to the catastrophe of lead-poisoned water.
But Flint isn’t the only city caught in a cash crunch. All across the state cities are starved for cash. Most of them not because of something the city has done, but because of things the state has done.
Bridge Magazine writer Ron French joined us to talk about a report he co-wrote with Mike Wilkinson: "Flint syndrome: Fewer cops, abandoned parks, and why more cities will crumble unless Michigan changes."
“This is something that a lot of people don’t realize, because it’s happened gradually," French says. "If you live in a city and over a period of ten years, a park gets less and less taken care of, you don’t really notice it as much.... You find that what happened in Flint really is happening to a lesser extent in other ways in cities all across Michigan."
