New Detroit mayor vows quick action

DETROIT - Basketball legend Dave Bing, elected as Detroit's third mayor in less than a year, promises swift and decisive action once he officially assumes the Motor City's top post.

But restoring fiscal responsibility to this cash-strapped Rust Belt city notorious for fiscal mismanagement won't be easy for the 65-year-old political novice, who swept incumbent Ken Cockrel Jr. from office Tuesday and now has until August to earn his political stripes.

"I've been here long enough to know what our problems are and what our issues are, and it's not going to be easy," Bing told reporters Tuesday night, minutes after giving a victory speech to several hundred supporters.

Bing, a successful local businessman, will serve through the end of the year - the balance of the term that belonged to Democrat Kwame Kilpatrick, who resigned in September in a text-messaging sex scandal.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Bing had 52.3 percent of the vote, or 49,054 votes, to 47.7 percent, or 44,770 votes, for Cockrel. Both are Democrats. Only about 15 percent of voters turned out for the special runoff election.

The problems facing Bing include a budget deficit that Cockrel had estimated at $250 million to $300 million, dwindling revenues, and previously unchecked spending. In addition, Detroit's population and residential tax base have been on the decline for decades, while the city's public schools are among the worst in the nation and in such bad shape that the state appointed an outside financial manager earlier this year.

The city is among the nation's leaders in unemployment and home foreclosures. Continued restructuring by the area's three automakers likely will mean more job cuts and hits to the local economy.

"We will start immediately in trying to attract jobs back to the city of Detroit," Bing said, while promising to use contacts cultivated during his 28 years running auto supplier Bing Steel and parent company the Bing Group.

Making sure Detroit is a safer place and that school children will get the "best education" possible also are on his must-do list.

Bing said "we didn't get where we are overnight" and quickly asked for "a little bit of patience."

Patience may be a luxury, especially when a full, four-year term as mayor is at stake. An Aug. 4 nonpartisan primary will whittle down the field to the two who will square off in a November general election.

Bing told reporters he would focus his attention on "running the city, not necessarily with campaigning."