Baptism by five-alarm fire
五级火警洗礼

May 28th 2009 | DETROIT
From The Economist print edition

An ex-basketball player tries to get to grips
前篮球运动员掌控底特律

WHEN Detroit’s new mayor took the stage at a recent breakfast forum, the audience left their eggs and bacon to give him a standing ovation. “You’ve got nowhere to go but down from here,” the forum’s moderator said dryly.

Bing能否扭转乾坤？底特律新市长在最近的早餐会上露面，现场观众暂停进餐起立热烈欢迎市长。“没地方可去只好下来”，参会主持人冷淡的说。

Dave Bing played basketball for the Detroit Pistons before becoming a respected businessman. On May 5th he won one of the worst jobs in American politics. Detroit’s budget must be approved on June 2nd. The tasks that follow are even more daunting.

戴夫·宾是一名受人敬重的商人，之前效力于底特律活塞队。5月5号美国政治史上最差的工作之一落到了他的肩上。底特律市预算必须于6月2号通过。接下来的工作更难上加难。

The city is familiar with misery. For decades it has endured industrial decline and strained relations with its suburbs. But the past year has been especially dismal. In September Kwame Kilpatrick, then the mayor, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice. His interim successor, Ken Cockrel, struggled to keep the city on course. Detroit’s deficit amounts to roughly 20% of its general fund. Its schools are in such disarray that Michigan’s governor has sent an outsider to take charge. And General Motors, a main employer, whose logo crowns Detroit’s tallest tower, will probably declare bankruptcy by June 1st.

底特律多灾多难。几十年来城市见证了工业衰退，城市和周边关系紧张。但是过去的一年特别艰难。9月份当时的市长夸梅·基尔帕特里克，被判定妨碍司法。继任者肯•科克雷尔，艰难维持城市运行。底特律市赤字占到不指定用途基金的近20%。学校混乱以至于密歇根市长派了外部人员收拾残局。还有通用，底特律最主要的雇主，其标志还闪耀在底特律最高的大楼上，但是公司6月1号就要宣布破产。

Top of Mr Bing’s agenda is plugging the deficit. Mr Cockrel’s budget proposal, crafted in April, includes firing more than 300 workers and trimming wages. Mr Bing will probably approve these plans, but finagling will continue.

市长的当务之急是减少赤字。科克雷尔的4月份的预算提议，包括裁员300多人，降低工资。市长很可能赞成这些计划，但是虚假依然存在。

Mr Bing must also revive a deal to expand ageing Cobo Hall, home of the North American International Auto Show. A plan to give control of Cobo to a regional authority stirred the old fight between city and suburbs. Talks imploded in February, with city councillors arguing that Detroit would give up a prized asset and local jobs for little in return (though the suburbs would help pay for the expansion). Car-show executives say they will consider other sites for 2011 unless a deal is passed.

市长还必须重启扩张年久老化的Cobo大厅的协议，大厅一直用作北美国际汽车展示中心。计划将赋予Cobo在经年市区郊区之争中的地区权威性。谈判2月份开始，市区议员们认为底特律损失了高回报资产和当地就业机会，却收获甚微（虽然郊区也将为扩建出资）。汽车展览负责人说除非协议达成，否则他们将为2011年车站寻找新场地。

If Mr Bing survives this baptism by five-alarm fire, fundamental questions remain. For years reinvention has been the stuff of much talk and little progress. Doug Rothwell of Detroit Renaissance, a group of executives, says Detroit must do far more to lure skilled workers and foster regional co-operation. The city’s management must also change dramatically. Detroit’s population has shrunk by half since 1950, but more than 40 departments serve a city big enough to cover San Francisco, Boston and Manhattan combined, says Dan Pitera of the University of Detroit Mercy. On the city’s east side buildings stand in various stages of decay, some boarded up, some burned, some with rotting walls that seem to melt slowly in the sun.

即使市长先生度过这一难关，还有基本问题尚待解决。长久以来再发明一直是说得多做得少。执行官小组“底特律文艺复兴”的道格·罗斯威尔认为，底特律必须更加努力吸引熟练工人，促进地区合作。城市管理必须进行大刀阔斧的改革。上世纪50年代以来底特律的人口减少了一半，但是底特律梅西大学的Dan Pitera说底特律的政府机构大到可以管理旧金山，波士顿和曼哈顿三个城市一起管理。城市东部很多建筑物渐渐衰败，一些被封，一些被烧，大楼破败的墙壁仿佛在阳光里慢慢融化。

Momentum for action, however, is building up. On May 18th the New Economy Initiative (NEI), funded by ten foundations, announced grants to spur entrepreneurship and help car-suppliers diversify. The effort, explains Dave Egner of NEI, will help attract and nurture human capital. Mr Pitera has ideas for how Detroit might use its swathes of abandoned land, whether for farms or artists, theatres or wind projects. Mr Cockrel, now a valuable force in the City Council, advocates what he calls “creative downsizing”.

是时候行动了，但是还是要建设。5月18日由10家基金支持的新经济主动性（NEI），宣布将促进企业创建，协助汽车供应商多样化。NEI的戴夫·恩格解释说这一举措将有助于吸引和培育人力资本。Pitera已就如何利用废弃土地有了主意，可用作农田或者艺术馆，剧院或者风力项目。科克雷尔现在是城市委员会的不可缺少的人才，提倡他提出的的“创造性缩减”。

With the demise of the Big Three, a simple fact may sink in at last: Detroit will not be what it was. Mr Bing is hardly a force of nature, but he has the benefit of business sense, a life outside Detroit’s divisive politics and apparently no hopes for higher office. This disaster begs a bold response. He may yet provide it.

随着三大汽车生产商的消亡，事实不言而喻：底特律辉煌不在。宾没有强大的能力，但是他拥有商业嗅觉，置身底特律政治纷争之外，而且显然没有升官的野心。这场经济灾难需要大胆应对。也许他有次能力。

【注】5th Alarm：美国火警一般分为七级，五级火警需要的应对措施为：14 pumpers, 5 aerials, 2 squads, 5 district chiefs, 1 platoon, 1 division commander, 1 command vehicles, 2 air supply trucks, 1 hazardous materials vehicles, other support staff if needed.

《经济学人》（The Economist ( http://www.economist.com ))
仅同意本网站翻译其杂志内容，并未对上述翻译内容进行任何审阅查对。