Nicholas Goldberg: Jeering, screaming and upending the City Council is arrogant, irresponsible and ineffective. Here we go again.
The City Council wants you to vote on whether or not they will shut down the city. But they don’t want your vote. That’s why they want your attention by offering you up to ridicule at every turn.
The city is in a state of emergency. Firefighters are trapped in a building and are in danger of their lives! This is the fourth time they’ve come to City Hall to argue that they must turn off the water! The power company has failed! The firefighters are being treated for heat exhaustion!
And yet the City Council keeps acting like they’re not involved in the emergency at all.
Council Member Sam Martin was so angry at City Hall that he screamed at a councilwoman who was trying to explain what is happening with the water. She turned his words into ridicule that included:
“You’re not responsible for the fire or the water.”
“Why don’t you shut up?”
“This is not happening.”
“You’re a coward.”
“You know what it is? It’s ignorance.”
“You keep coming to City Hall to complain about things that aren’t happening. You don’t know what’s going on.”
“All this city is doing is telling you: shut up and just deal with it.”
Martin got into his car, got out and went to get his coffee. He drove away.
The Mayor of Detroit, Mike Duggan – who’s trying to be the most important city official in America – is on TV explaining how he didn’t know the building was about to collapse.
And the City Councilwoman for the district