Michael F. McElroy for The New York Times
A day after Detroit filed for bankruptcy, anxious residents wrestled with how the move might change their lives. More Photos »
DETROIT — This city awoke on Friday in bankruptcy proceedings, a place no American city of its size has ever been, and reminders of the uncharted, uncertain nature of the circumstance were all around.
Well into the workday, the morning after a state-appointed emergency manager filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection for the city, a woman paused outside the Detroit municipal building, inquiring whether the place was closed. The receptionist at the mayor's office (which, like the rest of city offices, was open as usual) said she had received a few calls from similarly puzzled residents, not to mention a caller from Texas who said he wanted to make an offer to buy the city. And one resident on the East Side, told of the city's bankruptcy filing in federal court, wondered aloud whether she now ought to move away.
"Mostly what we're getting are questions," said Saunteel Jenkins, the president of Detroit's City Council. "City employees want to know whether they'll get paid. Constituents want to know what it means for services. People want to know, what does this mean for me?"
Although Detroit's slide from an industrial powerhouse into financial ruin had been long and slow, and the prospect of bankruptcy has loomed here for months, residents were only beginning to wrestle with how the move might change life. If immediate shifts were, at least for now, barely noticeable — "It's all just court papers," in the words of one resident — many said they were anxious about what the coming months will mean for a city truly at a crossroads. Were they on the brink of a fresh start, with faster response times by the police and more working streetlights, as state officials have promised, or a further hollowing out of a city that lost a quarter of its population in the last decade?
"If we're broke, we're broke," Cicero Lewis said as he walked down a street where only a few houses remained, along with occasional mounds of trash, a forgotten pair of boots, a discarded suitcase. "If this is going to help the city, then O.K.," Mr. Lewis said. "Bankruptcy could be good. Let's see."
For some, and even some who predict that bankruptcy might ultimately revive the city, doubts linger about the way Detroit, which is more than 82 percent black and dominated by Democrats, finds itself in this moment. Gov. Rick Snyder, who is white and a Republican, authorized the bankruptcy filing, which required no approval from the mayor or council. "No deals should happen without our elected officials," said the Rev. Charles Williams II, who leads the Detroit chapter of the National Action Network, adding that protests were planned next week. "When did the governor become our mayor?"
But as word of the bankruptcy spread, officials here raced on Friday to assure workers and residents that business was proceeding as usual. Kevyn D. Orr, the state-appointed emergency manager, was meeting with all city department heads, his spokesman said, and sending e-mail to the city's nearly 10,000 workers. The city has said that it hopes to emerge from bankruptcy by the fall of 2014, an ambitious timeline for a complex case that court filings say involves more than 100,000 creditors.
For now, Mr. Orr said his message to the public will be simple: "We're open for business. Your garbage truck is going to come. Potholes are going to be filled — hopefully better than in the past."
In an interview, Mr. Snyder said that his greatest worry in this situation was that some in the general public might be confused or worse. "This is something that can be scary to people," he said, adding later, "This is about continuing normal services and giving people assurance that normal services are going to happen."
As officials have tried to explain the circumstances to residents here in the weeks leading up to the bankruptcy, they repeatedly pointed to the city's diminished services — broken ambulances and uncollected garbage — even as Detroit's ability to pay for services was shrinking. The city now owes 38 cents of every dollar to pay its debts, the state says, and, if left alone, that is expected to leap to 65 cents for every dollar by 2017.
"It's obvious we need some help," said Norman Mighty, a resident who said he was unsurprised by the bankruptcy filing, relieved even that it had finally come. A 16-year-old girl, who said she rarely emerged from her house because it was the only one left on her darkened block, said any change would be good. And, at a club where members had to replace first-floor windows with bricks to end the break-ins and where members say the police took three days to respond to a burglary report, Charlene Kaslowski sounded hopeful. "Maybe it really can come back," she said.
Others were unconvinced, and troubled by the uncertainty of the course ahead and the prospect of added stigma in a city that has already had its share. Some suggested that if bankruptcy was a preferable alternative, other major cities like New York, would have ventured there during their own financial crises rather than solving them outside of court. Some had long lists of questions: When does this end? How much will the thousands of retired city workers lose in benefits? And what will a post-bankruptcy Detroit look like?
"It's the word bankruptcy," Sharon Bowman said, "it just doesn't sit right with me." Ms. Bowman, who has lived here for nearly five decades, recalled an instance when she called 911 because she suspected she was having a stroke, then waited, she said, for what felt like ages. "It's a total disaster here," she said. "I tell you what — if I was younger or had more education, I would zoom out of here."
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