10 reasons why Detroit filed for bankruptcy?

The city was once an American powerhouse, but is now the largest municipality to file for bankruptcy. Here's why it could not keep going.

Detroit's bankruptcy was just a matter of time. The city's finances were an absolute mess, and residents have suffered for years because of it.

Detroit simply had no way out. But the bankruptcy is going to make everything worse before it gets better. Even more city employees now face layoffs and valuable assets could get sold. Basic services for residents could be cut back even further.

The city has thrown up its hands in what will become the largest city bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. And this case will drag on through the courts and likely end up ugly and painful for city employees and residents.

Detroit wants to wipe the slate clean, and it should. Because living in Detroit is no way to live. Here are 10 ways in which Detroit fell behind the rest of the nation:

1. Stark poverty. It's the poorest large city in the country, with more than a third of people living below the poverty line.

2. Crime is everywhere. It has the highest crime rate of any large U.S. city. In a recent survey of the 25 most dangerous neighborhoods in America by NeighborhoodScout.co​m, Detroit took the top spot.

3. People are fleeing. Some 250,000 people moved away in the last decade, cutting the population to about 700,000. Many of those leaving were in the upper and middle classes. Back in the 1950s, in Detroit's heyday, the population reached 1.8 million.

4. The city feels abandoned. When you have that many people leaving so quickly, taking valuable tax money with them, the impact is obvious. There are about 78,000 abandoned and blighted structures, and 40% of the city street lights are dark, Reuters reports. Check out these photographs of Detroit by The Observer that show just how badly the city has deteriorated.

5. The police force is barely there. Detroit police take about 58 minutes, on average, to answer 911 calls.

6. There isn't enough medical help. Only a third of the city's ambulances even work.

7. People aren't paying taxes. Only 53% of homeowners actually paid property taxes in 2011.

8. City officials racked up the debt. Detroit is carrying a crushing $15 billion in debt. It needs to pay $246 million a year on that debt -- a whopping 20% of its general fund budget.

9. No one is loaning it any more money. Detroit couldn't get money from anyone to keep going -- at least not at normal interest rates.

10. Trash is piling up on the streets. The city couldn't repair garbage trucks that had mechanical problems. And so the trash sat out uncollected for days, and would sometimes get collected as late as 11 p.m.