EFM: Snyder to name Detroit emergency financial manager

[Wesley Mouch]

and hamtown is facing ANOTHER round of EFM BS

This is a common mistake.

The EFM worked just fine in Hamtramck.

It got them out of their immediate financial trouble.

The fact that they got back into financial trouble isn't a failure of the EFM.

There seems to be a recurring theme that EFM's don't work. They seem to work fine on finances.

btw, see today's article on MLive on EFM... here's a hidden among the usual suspects [[politicians, union leaders) screaming about the end of democratic process. Sample: [[Pontiac, under emergency management for several years, recently boasted bond rating upgrades.) see: http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/in..._river_default

Long-term fixing the rest of the city rests with the mayor and council -- the elected folks -- to work on this rather than fighting EFMs to keep their power. The EFM is not a fix. Just triage.

[reddog289]

From what I have seen.. Things in Detroit have gotten so far out of hand that Big Brother or Bigger Brother had to step in. 40 plus years of mis management have bit the City in the ASS. Watching the council on TV IS A JOKE. Driving though the city to get to a bright spot is a joke. There are no easy answers to this problem that will please everyone.

[Jaybiz]

They were the smart ones who didn't like the young punk black gangs as much as anyone. I'm not knocking black people. Just the young punkers who have taken over the city.

For what it's worth, I don't much like young white punkers, either.

Punkers?? Never heard that term used to describe gang bangers…

[coracle]

How embarrassing to have reached this point after ignoring ALL the MANY indications along the way that shit was happening but doing nothing about it. Now at the thirteenth hour the Council has yet another "Plan" - stop the EM at any cost [[before or after he takes the job)

[313WX]

I found this time line someone else laid out [[seems about right, yes?)...

1) The Governor declares a state of financial emergency in the City of Detoit [[done)
2) The City Council / Mayor appeal the decision [[happening as we speak).
3) The Governor overrules the appeal.
4) The City Council files suit in court to test the legality of the new EFM law.
5) A judge [[Collete) issues and injunction preventing the State from appointing an EFM for the City.
6) The decision is appealed to the COA, they uphold the decision.
7) The case is appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court. They reverse the decision of the lower court.
8) Six to eight months of additional time is wasted.
9) The City runs out of cash as the State will not loan any funds while an appeal is pending.
10) The City must file for bankruptcy.

[Baselinepunk]

I found this time line someone else laid out [[seems about right, yes?)...

1) The Governor declares a state of financial emergency in the City of Detoit [[done)
2) The City Council / Mayor appeal the decision [[happening as we speak).
3) The Governor overrules the appeal.
4) The City Council files suit in court to test the legality of the new EFM law.
5) A judge [[Collete) issues and injunction preventing the State from appointing an EFM for the City.
6) The decision is appealed to the COA, they uphold the decision.
7) The case is appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court. They reverse the decision of the lower court.
8) Six to eight months of additional time is wasted.
9) The City runs out of cash as the State will not loan any funds while an appeal is pending.
10) The City must file for bankruptcy.

Number 10 is one a the few reasons why Detroit has to declare bankruptcy now. We all know it's going to happen and at least this way some of the city's assets will not dismantled and sold off to Republican pals. Bankruptcy has a longer and proven track record than EFM/EMs. I really hate Bing; but he needs to do the right thing, step up, put his big boy shorts on and deal with this through LEADING!! "Fuck me, Dick? No, fuck you". These processes are not as bad as some make them out to be. I know some folks have their shake against Tom Barrow but I heard him on the radio [[WJR) about a month ago and he really seemed to make a lot of sense --- he had Beckman on his heels. I don't know the guy other than what I heard on the radio and some chatter about him so take that as you may.

The State tipped the scales for borderline [[not 8 mile, folks) cities that were a straw away if the State reducing funding. The State now sits on ton of taxpayer money and will not use that money, let's say even in a creative way, to help out taxpayers of the State's largest city. With the coming BS with the Personal Property Tax, I'm sure that Detroit will just be part of a new wave of financial trouble that will cascade over our State -- magically of course. That seems pretty fucked up in my worldview.

Tea Bagger "reforms" do not work; we see that every day all around us. They want people in this State to be uneducated so that they can control wages. They get "freedom" and "liberties" all mixed up, don't know the difference between leading and managing and couldn't tell the difference between their ass and third base.

The problem mostly stems from too much Capitalism in our government. Detroit has it's obvious issues and I've seen that great city burn and smolder my whole life. This is all part of a bigger plan. If this shit works here; next will be the Great Lakes region and then the rest of the country.

The funny part to me about all of this: I thought Scott Walker would be the chosen bastard to go forward with all of this shit. Two gold stars to the Republicans for a sneak attack while Walker played interference; then hitting ruthlessly hard at our social compact, liberty's and our pocketbooks here in the breadbasket of the Union.

However, as everyone knows revenge is a dish served well cold. You remember that when you're crying about all of those nasty Democrat thugs undoing all of those bullshit reforms, actually listen to the people and return government back to the people through local control.

You Baggers better git yer spoons because the people in the Great State of Michigan will resist your unAmerican, traitorous bullshit at every opportunity and will not go down without a fierce fight.

[gvidas]

My EFM pipe dream:

The weirdness of the position, and the fact that this time it's Detroit, allows Snyder to pull an EFM from the national stage. To everyone's surprise, he picks someone brilliant and well-qualified, with no significant ties to local or regional cronyism.

The EFM proceeds to root out the lingering corruption and waste. The EFM splits their focus between ending the relics of flagrant violation and building a city where government and core services are actually efficient and functional on a day to day basis; there is no massive firesale of city assets.

The EFM reduces the council and mayor's pay and perks to almost zero; to some degree before the pending elections, and moreso afterwards, once they've been replaced, they work with the EFM as "local liaisons," helping to execute the changes. Their support is bolstered by a massive, digital release of the city's financial records alongside the results of a forensic audit, showing more or less what was wasted or stolen, by whom, and when; few if any charges are pressed, but the people responsible are promptly fired.

My EFM nightmare:

The trifecta of Snyder, his EFM, and Duggan swoop in just as Detroit hits rock bottom. The myth of the white savior as the only [[and universal) solution is perpetuated, while more or less half of black Michiganders live in cities governed by unelected white men.

In summary, I'm not expecting good things, but I didn't move to Detroit thinking positive change happens from the top down.

[Cliffy]

How embarrassing to have reached this point after ignoring ALL the MANY indications along the way that shit was happening but doing nothing about it. Now at the thirteenth hour the Council has yet another "Plan" - stop the EM at any cost [[before or after he takes the job)

They just don't get it. They had chance after chance and they always put it aside and didn't do anything thinking that their is no way they will take over Detroit's finances. One thing that bothers me is the racism from the likes of a few council members and some of the folks attending the meetings. Its just sickening that politics in Detroit comes down to who is more "black".

[esteban]

One might look at this video and dismiss the protagonists as fringe elements. You would be wrong to do so.
These are community leaders that the mainstream media do not report on.
They are a huge influence on how the main bulk of Detroit's population will comport itself in the face of having their rights removed.
This is the kind of cluelessness that we have come to expect from the State of Michigan over the past decades; it is a collision course with disaster, it is a hot summer in Detroit.

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[Smirnoff]

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!

A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?
Albert Einstein

[Tig3rzhark]

Anyone that uses Tom Barrow's information as a reason to object to an EFM in Detroit, is truly misinformed.

They have no idea how mismanaged, the city of Detroit truly has been.

No one likes to be under the rule of one man, but today it is a necessary evil. The true citizens of Detroit are voting with their feet. They are leaving because it isn't safe here. The buses don't run on time. The police and fire department don't come when you call them, and by the time they do, it's too late.

Crime is high and those that are left are unable to leave because they can't afford to. However, believe me when I say this that when they are, they will not stay here.

While the EFM is here, I hope that there will be plenty of arrests in the city-county building, because there are plenty of thieves there.

[esteban]

So many folks just love to rag on about the city corruption, how Detroit's decline is squarely on the shoulders of these racial minorities that can't seem to govern themselves.

When you bring up the humiliating conditions minority people lived under before 1967, somehow, that seems irrelevant. When you point out that the caucasian population left for financially assisted shiny new suburbs, or that the State of Michigan looked the other way when the important industries started appearing everywhere in the burbs, but not in the city? Well, that's not relevant either.
Or the fact that many successful cities suffer the same measure of corruption and graft, yet still manage to thrive?

Is there a preponderance of individuals suffering from historical amnesia?
Was Detroit not stripped of financial assets over a span of decades?
Is it not foolish to focus on an ineffectual council and administration when this is a result of the problem, not the cause itself?

[Wesley Mouch]

...snip...
Was Detroit not stripped of financial assets over a span of decades?

Well, in many ways yes -- but so what. Its the hand we've been dealt. Shall we keep complaining, or develop a plan to fairly address this.

Is it not foolish to focus on an ineffectual council and administration when this is a result of the problem, not the cause itself?

I hope you're kidding. If not, you really have to explain how being dealt a bad hand makes you 'ineffectual'.

I agree with much of what you say. Certainly the citizens who left are also responsible for the mess they left. As such, I do think there's a responsibility to contribute by the wider group of citizens that's called the State.

This doesn't however lead to the conclusion that because of past injustice, we can behave badly today. When it becomes an excuse for current obstructionist behavior, it is hurtful.

Yes, past problems by others led Detroit and most major cities down a bad path. Yes, the economy has hurt us disproprotionately. Yes, our leaders need to stop focusing on their own power and helping with real reforms. Yes, when reforms are agreed upon, the State has obligations to pitch in.

[coracle]

What is being proved esteban is that when a racial minority becomes a majority of 84%, but still thinks like a minority, they can't generate enough money from entitlements to pay for the services they want.

[michimoby]

This doesn't however lead to the conclusion that because of past injustice, we can behave badly today. When it becomes an excuse for current obstructionist behavior, it is hurtful.

Exactly this.

I fear that many Detroiters are paying attention to the bitter, vocal rabble-rousers that continue to demand an apology - and reparations - for the City's past mistakes. That is the mark of an incredibly insecure, fear-laden population that will behave like a wounded animal: no matter how much care and concern you approach it with, the animal will react with snarling and claws unleashed.

[coracle]

"Certainly the citizens who left are also responsible for the mess they left. As such, I do think there's a responsibility to contribute by the wider group of citizens that's called the State. "
BullShit. The mess they left behind was responsible for forcing them to leave, and owes a debt to the wider group of State citizens to cover the need they put on them for continual attention with zero return or any apparent intention of becoming self sufficient after 50 years.

[Cliffy]

Exactly this.

I fear that many Detroiters are paying attention to the bitter, vocal rabble-rousers that continue to demand an apology - and reparations - for the City's past mistakes. That is the mark of an incredibly insecure, fear-laden population that will behave like a wounded animal: no matter how much care and concern you approach it with, the animal will react with snarling and claws unleashed.

Agreed and this line of thinking is sinking the city into 4th world status. The city is broke and needs to be fixed. I think we can all agree that the direction and leadership this city is currently under is lacking and that is an understatement. When are some people going to realize that Detroit's jewels have turned into cubic zirconim.

[canuck]

Exactly this.

I fear that many Detroiters are paying attention to the bitter, vocal rabble-rousers that continue to demand an apology - and reparations - for the City's past mistakes. That is the mark of an incredibly insecure, fear-laden population that will behave like a wounded animal: no matter how much care and concern you approach it with, the animal will react with snarling and claws unleashed.

Very well put. You can also see a lot of the problems in a majority black community that come from a slimmer slice of success in the academic, business and in family cohesion. A long history of not having a lot of input in society at large has lead to estrangement of many from social processes.

It's hard for many not to fall in the many cracks along the way to more opportunity I think. Detroit is in many ways a very stark illustration of how masses of southern black people who were looking at establishing a means for success were repeatedly stopped at the gate. The result is that when the gate opened slightly via numerical superiority, it happened to swing shut on the way in. A ghetto of immense proportions decreased the possibility of upward mobility for many because in a sense, emulation and competition decreased when whites progressively quit in the past couple of decades especially.

The worst aspect of this situation is the self destructive tangent that the learned behavior brought on. That is a tough one to resolve.

[canuck]

"Certainly the citizens who left are also responsible for the mess they left. As such, I do think there's a responsibility to contribute by the wider group of citizens that's called the State. "
BullShit. The mess they left behind was responsible for forcing them to leave, and owes a debt to the wider group of State citizens to cover the need they put on them for continual attention with zero return or any apparent intention of becoming self sufficient after 50 years.

There is something telling in your choice of words, as in; any apparent intention of becoming self-sufficient.

[Smirnoff]

Hey, Sam Riddle interviewing for the EFM, what up with dat?

[Richard]

I think if it happens in the end Mr Dillion will step down at the state level and come to Detroit under the guise of no candidates were able to be located.

We see what we are allowed to see.

In the older days when you worked for the city or most cities your pay was not very much ,it was more so you had a dependable job with good benefits for when it came time to retire.They never really made enough to invest to supplement their retirement.

Then it became a high wage combined with a nicer pension.

To me there are two classes of pensioners,if you penalize the first class who made the daily sacrifices in the lower pay to realize the benefits when they retired and lump them into the other group,is that really the best way?

[Richard]

Exactly this.

I fear that many Detroiters are paying attention to the bitter, vocal rabble-rousers that continue to demand an apology - and reparations - for the City's past mistakes. That is the mark of an incredibly insecure, fear-laden population that will behave like a wounded animal: no matter how much care and concern you approach it with, the animal will react with snarling and claws unleashed.

I have to agree with this to a point ,while I would agree that the city is in a financial crisis per say,I cannot help but think and question how much of it is manufactured to implement the scare tactics.

I still say to enter EFM now without solid government in place would or could be a mistake,we talk about those in city gov but I have spoken to a few on the city and county level and actually found some to be quite helpful and knowledgeable and could tell they really cared about the city they served,but the thing that nags me the most is they were scared,you could tell.It was almost as if they were afraid to let others around them know.

This happened at different levels from low to high so it is wide spread,,it is no surprise to you guys but to me there is something very wrong there and to make the decisions on EFM or even bankruptcy without having all the facts of what exactly is going wrong seems a bit rash although nice maybe short term and maybe even satisfying to some who would like results now and granted they are warranted but it is kinda like painting a dented car, nice paint but the dent is still there.

[Wesley Mouch]

I have to agree with this to a point ,while I would agree that the city is in a financial crisis per say,I cannot help but think and question how much of it is manufactured to implement the scare tactics.

I still say to enter EFM now without solid government in place would or could be a mistake,we talk about those in city gov but I have spoken to a few on the city and county level and actually found some to be quite helpful and knowledgeable and could tell they really cared about the city they served,but the thing that nags me the most is they were scared,you could tell.It was almost as if they were afraid to let others around them know.

This happened at different levels from low to high so it is wide spread,,it is no surprise to you guys but to me there is something very wrong there and to make the decisions on EFM or even bankruptcy without having all the facts of what exactly is going wrong seems a bit rash although nice maybe short term and maybe even satisfying to some who would like results now and granted they are warranted but it is kinda like painting a dented car, nice paint but the dent is still there.

EFM is not like paint. Its like a bandage. You get it before a blood transfusion.

[313WX]

EFM is not like paint. Its like a bandage. You get it before a blood transfusion.

Bandages won't do much to fix a busted pipe.

It may slow the leaking/damage or even temporarily stop it, but eventually the pressuer from teh water will bust through the bandage.

[Hermod]

When you bring up the humiliating conditions minority people lived under before 1967, somehow, that seems irrelevant.

For 45 years, they have been in the saddle. At what point do you quit making excuses?

When you point out that the caucasian population left for financially assisted shiny new suburbs, or that the State of Michigan looked the other way when the important industries started appearing everywhere in the burbs, but not in the city? Well, that's not relevant either.

The suburbs weren't all that "new and shiny" when they moved out. Those areas had gravel roads, no shopping to speak of, and small, ill-equpped schools. They taxed themselves to pave the secondary roads and to build decent school systems. The shopping followed them.

Constitionally, how could the state not allow a rural area to zone a plot for industry? How could the state forbid the construction of a factory outside of Detroit?

Or the fact that many successful cities suffer the same measure of corruption and graft, yet still manage to thrive?

Any government is a form of parasitism. A corrupt and inefficient government is a more virulent form of parasitism. It can feed off the host only if the host is strong and healthy. A weaker host will only support a lower form of parasitism. That is why poor, rural areas have such austere government bodies.

Was Detroit not stripped of financial assets over a span of decades?

"Detroit" [[in the collective sense) made itself inhospitable to the working and producing classes and drove them away. Detroit was not "stripped", it just didn't value what it had and lost it.

Is it not foolish to focus on an ineffectual council and administration when this is a result of the problem, not the cause itself?

Ineffectual wouldn't have hurt that much. Vindictive and rapacious really hurt.