Detroit mayor says he hasn't seen ‘results' from emergency manager Kevyn Orr

Dave Bing tells reporters it's ‘not personal' but he doesn't want consultants running city services

DETROIT – Detroit Mayor Dave Bing says he thinks the city's services have gone "backwards" since Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr stepped in, but that the lack of results is "not personal."

Talking to reporters Wednesday, Bing said he knows Orr's expertise is in bankruptcy handling, but that doesn't help with the day-to-day running of the city.

"I believe city government is a very, very tough animal to manage," he said. "You just can't come in here and all of a sudden think you can run city government. I'm at four-and-a-half years and I will tell you I've still got a learning curve."

Orr was hired by the state in March to act as the emergency manager for the city. Orr made Detroit the largest U.S. city to seek court protection when he filed for bankruptcy in July.

The mayor, who isn't seeking re-election, said his city leaders feel like they are lost in the shuffle and don't know who to report to.

"We had an agreement that he would come in and focus on that [the bankruptcy] and leave the running of the city day-to-day to the administration. That has not happened. I'm very frustrated with that," Bing said. "We've got a lot of outside consultants that have taken the place of our department heads. They know absolutely nothing about the departments or running city services."

Bing said that while he is frustrated, he knows it's the residents of the city who are suffering, too.

"I think we've gone backwards, frankly, in terms of services, which were already poor," he said.

Special Section: Detroit's bankruptcy