3 Detroiters suing city over consent agreement

"When I came to Michigan and Detroit, in particular, I was impressed with how people in the City of Detroit lived," said Yvonne Ross.

However, that was 30 years ago and the Detroit three women see today is a lot different.

"There was a time when there were seniors on the block, people looked out for the seniors.  Now the seniors are looked out for someone to be preyed upon," said Rose Roots.

"You go to downtown Detroit and you see plenty of police officers, but you call them when
you're not downtown, call them when you have somebody breaking into your house, and see what the response is," said Yolanda King.

"I am hurt.  I'm angry," Ross said.

Ross, Roots and King have lived in Detroit for decades, and like so many, their frustration with the current state of the city has reached a boiling point and the consent agreement was the final straw.

"We're being told what to do with no input.  What we say does not matter," said Ross.

Now they've filed a lawsuit, not against the state, but the City of Detroit, the City Council and Mayor Dave Bing.  They claim the city had no right to agree to the Financial Stability Agreement, and they are making a lot of the same arguments Detroit Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon made in her lawsuit, claiming the state owes the city millions of dollars in unpaid bills and revenue sharing, thus making the consent agreement invalid.

Both King and Ross work for the city.  Roots is retired.  All three are union members, but they
say this has nothing to do with the union and everything to do with being citizens.

"To appoint people to come into the city and be paid money for a city they say is going broke and pay their staff whatever amount of staff they choose, there's something wrong with the system," said Roots.

However, legal experts say this lawsuit could be thrown out because the judge could rule that, as citizens, these women don't have legal standing, but they believe they do because they live there and are affected by every decision that's made.

"I want to be able to live here with some dignity," said King.

We contacted the mayor's office and were told no comment.  Meanwhile, a hearing is scheduled for July 13.