EFM: Snyder to name Detroit emergency financial manager

[dmike76]

I could not agree more with everything Snyder said. LET'S STOP FIGHTING. Stop with 'it's the white or black peoples' fault' or 'it's the rich or poor people's fault!' USELESS fingerpointing won't solve the problems. Stop bitching at eachother and work together. He is 100% correct. Let's get this going.

[RapBrown]

I don't doubt the EFM is going to have some degree of personal, professional, and emotional investment in enacting reform.

And evidence of this would be where?

[corktownyuppie]

Well gee whiz, what did cities do before this revolutionary EFM law was passed? You think a bankruptcy judge can't sift through the financial carnage? Remember, this manager was appointed to run the finances but in reality it's a dictator with complete control of things other than finances.

A bankruptcy judge can do it. But it will cost 4x as much and could take 10x as long. Either way we're getting a dictator. We can get the cheap one or the expensive one. I'll take the cheap one.

[brizee]

Good luck Detroit and Michigan, you're going to need and I sure won't be joining you on this shitty little journey.

I hope all the ideologues calling for this austerity nonsense will spit as much venom at this "savior" as you have at the citizens of Detroit and their elected officials. Even though I know you won't.

I'm really interested in how the city clerk/voting process is going to be handled both this year and in 2014.

Shenanigans in the supreme court.
Shenanigans in the state legislature.
TBD at the local level.

The law was soundly repealed, so it's just rewritten with an unrepealable poison pill two weeks later.

Fuck you and your motherfucking mama.

[michimoby]

And evidence of this would be where?

It's a hypothesis, Rap. It's not written in stone because we don't know who it's going to be. But I trust a governor with decades of business experience and roots in Michigan, and his appointee more than an appeals court.

[fanniemae]

Bring on the EM. Anything is better than the clowncil. Anything. It can't get worse. Only if MonCon were back on it. Bing is a nice guy, but finishing last. I may not like Snyder, but I give him credit for having some balls. Hang on to your seat, hats, whatever you can hang on to. Going to be a bumpy ride.

[daddeeo]

City of Detroit is like a disfunctional family. Whenever they get together, they argue, fight and never seem to agree on anything. There have also been plenty of crooks with their hands in the cookie jar.
Outside counselling is unfortunately needed. Let's hope lessons are learned.

[Shollin]

To answer your question: I don't know. I don't have any examples of municipalities in Michigan that declared bankruptcy prior to the Act being passed. Someone on this board may.

Here's a core difference that I see, at the onset, between a bankruptcy judge and EFM: a judge has no incentive for reform; he's appointed by an appeals court with little to no attachment to the challenges of reform.

An EFM is going to be put in place by a governor that sees a veritable tire fire burning out of control in his state's largest city. It raises the stakes, and I don't doubt the EFM is going to have some degree of personal, professional, and emotional investment in enacting reform.

This is the whole problem with the law. The financial manager is suppose to manage the finances. He was appointed after a review of the city's finances. Why should he have wide sweeping controls of the city? As far as I know, the financial manager cannot restructure the city's debt like a bankruptcy judge and restructuring the finances is the point of a financial manager. Basically, the control finances by being a dictator and cutting any service they want without approval from elected officials or citizens.

[Honky Tonk]

I know Democracy is inconvenient but a lot of time courts do use it in their decisions. This is absolutely undemocratic and racist. This ahole has been slashing through schools and cities since he got into office, he's ruined the film industry here and never created any jobs. I'd keep this thing tied up in court until his one term is over.

Allright! Trump card!

[Danny]

This is truly the end of Black Detroit. As Rome falls, so will Detroit.

[corktownyuppie]

As far as I know, the financial manager cannot restructure the city's debt like a bankruptcy judge and restructuring the finances is the point of a financial manager.

You are right, but incomplete. The financial manager can't restructure the city's debt like a bankruptcy judge. But what the financial manager can do is use the threat of bankruptcy to quickly negotitate a restructuring of the debt without incurring the time and expense of bankruptcy.

The purpose of an EFM is to come to the same outcome that a bankruptcy judge would. Leveraging the threat of bankruptcy will allow that to happen much, much more quickly.

[Bluenote132003]

Kwame for EFM! Lock him up in the City County Building and let him out once a week to throw Birfday parties! All his buddies will bring money he can use to pay off City debt $500 at a time...Give him a phone and a Western Union desk and people will start wiring money from all over the country! Bobby can be his door guard and charge people 1 vacuum cleaner full of $100 bills to hang with him for an hour at a time! Let Papa renegotiate all city contracts, kickback money can fund the lighting and water departments! Rent the rooms at the Pontchartrain to City Offficials and Police Chiefs by the hour, no more clandestine trips to pay for, and the room money can hire more cops!

[leapfrog]

This is truly the end of Black Detroit. As Rome falls, so will Detroit.

and "Black Detroit" is doing so well presently?
The pain is coming either way- the EFM is preferable to bankruptcy IMO

[Shollin]

I could not agree more with everything Snyder said. LET'S STOP FIGHTING. Stop with 'it's the white or black peoples' fault' or 'it's the rich or poor people's fault!' USELESS fingerpointing won't solve the problems. Stop bitching at eachother and work together. He is 100% correct. Let's get this going.

Except people can't work together because the financial manager doesn't have to report to the city or the citizens. How is it working together when one person will be calling all the shots?

[Honky Tonk]

This is truly the end of Black Detroit. As Rome falls, so will Detroit.

Double Trump card!

[Tig3rzhark]

I could not agree more with everything Snyder said. LET'S STOP FIGHTING. Stop with 'it's the white or black peoples' fault' or 'it's the rich or poor people's fault!' USELESS fingerpointing won't solve the problems. Stop bitching at eachother and work together. He is 100% correct. Let's get this going.

The time for arguing is over. Detroit has a lot of work to do and we're going to need a lot of help. The Clowncil as far as I'm concerned, has to be cleaned out. Not one person needs to be re-elected. Although I'm a little doubtful about Mike Duggan, he will be one of my picks for Detroit's Mayor. He would probably be more cooperative in regionalizing some departments.

Anyone who isn't going to cooperate with the EFM, doesn't need to be at the city-council building, period.

[Det_ard]

At this point I really don't care whether an EM or bankruptcy judge is in charge. I don't really care how much howling and grape-throwing occurs in response. It's clear almost any new management will be light-years ahead of the status quo idiots. I do care about staunching the bleeding so that Detroit has a chance to stabilize and the rest of the state isn't dragged down by Detroit's bloated corpse.

[Shollin]

People keep blaming the mayor and council but I cannot possibly see what they can do for this city. The closest we came to making progress was with Dennis Archer and the citizens started a recall campaign against him.

[Vic01]

Except people can't work together because the financial manager doesn't have to report to the city or the citizens. How is it working together when one person will be calling all the shots?

The city council has already shown that it's not fit to be part of calling the shots... The sooner they're out, the better

[Goose]

they need to get rid of the entire council, get rid of the mayor, hold a new election and finally get some Democrats to fill those city positions to take control of this mess Snyder has gotten Detroit and the State into........

[Wesley Mouch]

And evidence of this would be where?

An example of "the evidence for personal, professional, and emotional involvement would be"...

When Lou Schimmel [[The German sent in to rule the Poles) left Hamtramck, he said that he really HOPED that the City would build on his reforms and not return to their old ways, and destory what he'd built. I call that INVESTMENT. He cared.

Mr. Brown, you destroy any efforts at reform, but have set no path forward. Yes, humans are imperfect. But you'll find live easier if you accept that disagreement does not equate to disrespect.

[kenp]

People keep blaming the mayor and council but I cannot possibly see what they can do for this city. The closest we came to making progress was with Dennis Archer and the citizens started a recall campaign against him.

Lets get rid of the citizens

[Honky Tonk]

Lets get rid of the citizens

GOOD CALL! They're the ones constantly complaining about this and complaining about that. They don't like it, let them go somewhere else!

[coracle]

This is truly the end of Black Detroit. As Rome falls, so will Detroit.

It wasn't an EM that caused the fall of Rome about 1500 years ago Danny. If you want to make a more analogous comparison to Rome it would be [[Nero - about 400 years earlier) that for many years Detroit's Councils have fiddled [[not on their violins) while the city sunk into financial ruin.

[Shollin]

Lets get rid of the citizens

Bad idea. They're already leaving and their destruction can be seen in our inner ring suburbs.