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By Detroit Free Press Editors

The can of consequences Detroit’s been kicking down the road for decades finally came to a landing Thursday in federal bankruptcy court. The filing was inevitable. Faced with a steadily collapsing fiscal structure, the city’s leaders did nothing but bicker, deny and avoid. And keep spending.

Now Detroit is at the mercy of a Chapter 9 process that no one truly understands, and so no one can predict with any confidence where it will lead.

Will creditors cart off the beloved treasures of the Detroit Institute of Arts? Will city retirees see their pensions dissipate? There are no certain answers. But it is safe to say that the bankruptcy will bring further hardship to the long-suffering citizens of Detroit, at least for the short term.

The city’s remaining residents already live in a place where, in a life-or-death emergency, they may as well call a hearse as an ambulance; where nearly 90 percent of homicides go unsolved; where 80,000 abandoned structures blight the landscape; where half the street lights don’t burn at night.

For those citizens, bankruptcy at least offers the hope of eventual relief from the hell created by politicians who served themselves instead of their people.

Read More Editorial: Detroit faces hardship, but then hope | The Detroit News.