Amidst all this Bankruptcy hoopla, Bloomberg News honed in on L. Brooks Patterson, the executive of Detroit's neighboring suburban land, Oakland County. As the article goes on to explain, this guy is not just a Detroit critic, he's an enemy. Says Bloomberg, "His pitch—both to voters and businesses—is that Oakland County is everything Detroit is not, and that it doesn't need Detroit to survive." But the words of L. Brooks themselves make for the best read here. Let's remember some real gems, shall we?
· On old versus new: "In the old days they'd say, 'As Detroit goes, so goes Michigan,'?"[L. Brooks] says in his office in Waterford. "That's bulls-?-?-. As Oakland County goes, so goes Michigan."
· On race relations: In the 1970s, as county prosecutor, he compared Detroit residents under then-Mayor Coleman Young to "Indians on the reservation—those who can will leave Detroit. Those who can't will get blankets and food from the government man in the city."
· On urbanism: Of suburban sprawl, he has declared, "I love sprawl. I need it. I promote it. Oakland County can't get enough of it."
· On funding which goes from Oakland County to the State to Detroit: "I'm just done sending cold, hard cash to the city, especially when it's going to go right down a rathole.
·Detroit Is Dead. Long Live Oakland County [Bloomberg Businessweek]
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