Judge tosses detroit consent agreement lawsuit

[ndavies]

I'm not looking for it. I'm demanding it. If quality of life improvement is not an outcome then there is no point in a take over other than to pad the pockets of the city's creditors who have friends in Lansing and elsewhere. Don't take care of that and the city will never 'address its own problems.' Nothing will be resolved regarding the core problems. The State has taken over Detroit and I am saying show us quantifiable improvements.

Even you admit, "I'm for EFM, EM, CA, bankruptcy. But only to create a healthy environment where the city can address its own problems."

A healthy environment is a city that is attractive due to quality of life values and will grow its tax base to take care of its own problem. Your argument dodges responsibility, prolongs the problems and ducks the blame. Just the public school takeovers did.

Sorry, fixing the quality of services is not what an EFM is for. An EFM's only job is to bring costs in line with revenues. They are only there to keep the entity out of bankruptcy. Think of it as Bankruptcy light.

[Wesley Mouch]

I'm not looking for it. I'm demanding it. If quality of life improvement is not an outcome then there is no point in a take over other than to pad the pockets of the city's creditors who have friends in Lansing and elsewhere. Don't take care of that and the city will never 'address its own problems.' Nothing will be resolved regarding the core problems. The State has taken over Detroit and I am saying show us quantifiable improvements.

Even you admit, "I'm for EFM, EM, CA, bankruptcy. But only to create a healthy environment where the city can address its own problems."

A healthy environment is a city that is attractive due to quality of life values and will grow its tax base to take care of its own problem. Your argument dodges responsibility, prolongs the problems and ducks the blame. Just the public school takeovers did.

Lowell--demand it from the current leaders. That is and always will be their job. The state has no business -- except that our local leadership has abdicated responsibility.

Worry less about who is 'padding' whose pockets. Worry more about results.

You're right about metrics [[in the other thread). They're important. Buts its not quality of life -- its whether the structural changes that make change possible are implemented. The state can help with that.

Then we can setup metrics for the City to see how its doing with 'quality of life'.

[corktownyuppie]

I'm not looking for it. I'm demanding it. If quality of life improvement is not an outcome then there is no point in a take over other than to pad the pockets of the city's creditors who have friends in Lansing and elsewhere. Don't take care of that and the city will never 'address its own problems.' Nothing will be resolved regarding the core problems. The State has taken over Detroit and I am saying show us quantifiable improvements.

What your asking for is reasonable, in my opinion. But the quality of life improvement is an eventual goal and can't reasonably be expected to improve in the short-term. In fact, it's possible that quality of life might worsen in the short-term.

Like imagine leaving one job for another one that pays the same but has more room for advancement. In the long term your better off. In the short-term, you're having to adjust to different systems, different people, different culture....and you're not even making any more money to do it.

But --

I think we should insist that the Financial Advisory Board work with city leadership to put together a 5-year turnaround plan. Set benchmarks. Set expectations. I'm willing to let things get worse for a little while if it's part of the path to get things to a better place.

We talk about how the State has taken over. But we're not exactly there yet. We have a board, partially appointed by Lansing, some jointly appointed by Lansing and our Mayor, and some appointed by our Council. Let them work for 3 months...learn about our problems...work with the 6 councilmembers that are still interested in finding solutions...work with the department heads [[yes, even the corrupt ones)...work with the foundations, the Kresge's, the Skillman's, the Teach for America's...work with the Detroit Works...the churches...the banks.

Let's see if we can put together an actual bold plan when everyone is FINALLY free of the political repercussions of making unpopular but necessary decisions.

It's not enough to say, in my opinion, that the Financial Advisory board should balance the books while the Mayor and CC solve the problems. I believe that a holistic turnaround plan designed to address our weaknesses while leveraging our strengths will go a long way to build good will among the citizens and credibility with our lenders.

When citizens see a turnaround plan, some people will be pissed, but at least everyone will know whose heads need to be sacrificed -- and, yes, lots of heads and entire departments will have to disappear -- to save the ship and can react accordingly. When lenders see a plan, we gain credibility and can pay lower borrowing costs.

Without a plan, everyone runs around like headless chickens, scared, panicky, and making a big mess. And we need to be done doing that.

[Wesley Mouch]

<snip>
We talk about how the State has taken over. But we're not exactly there yet. We have a board, partially appointed by Lansing, some jointly appointed by Lansing and our Mayor, and some appointed by our Council. Let them work for 3 months...learn about our problems...work with the 6 councilmembers that are still interested in finding solutions...work with the department heads [[yes, even the corrupt ones)...work with the foundations, the Kresge's, the Skillman's, the Teach for America's...work with the Detroit Works...the churches...the banks.
...<snip>...
When citizens see a turnaround plan, some people will be pissed, but at least everyone will know whose heads need to be sacrificed to save the ship and can react accordingly. When lenders see a plan, we gain credibility and can pay lower borrowing costs.

Without a plan, everyone runs around like headless chickens, scared, panicky, and making a big mess. And we need to be done doing that.

Most excellent post. Regardless of what the State is doing, a plan by and of the City is critical.

If you want to avoid state control -- all you have to do is have a better plan to deal with the city's problems. Lead, and people will follow. Or we can just complain about the State's plan.

[corktownyuppie]

While laying out massive cuts in city spending and services, the board's discussion document had some optimistic goals for the next three years. Among them:

• Cut housing vacancies in half
• Reduce crimes by 20 percent
• Improve fire response times by two minutes and EMS times by 10 minutes
• Decrease unemployment by 4.4 percent
• Improve on-time performance for city buses to 80 percent, including 100 percent during peak hours
• Reduce light fixtures in the city by 42,000 and remove all broken lights

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/in..._river_default

The skeleton of the plan is emerging.

[townonenorth]

Just when you thought it was a done deal...

According to the office of the mayor, the city of Detroit has been informed that the State Treasury will withhold a $28 million revenue sharing payment unless Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon drops her lawsuit contesting the Consent Agreement between the city and the state.

Read more: http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/...#ixzz1z93cSGm4

[gazhekwe]

The skeleton of the plan is emerging.

Those are goals. A plan should contain steps to reach the goals.

[mam2009]

Just when you thought it was a done deal...

According to the office of the mayor, the city of Detroit has been informed that the State Treasury will withhold a $28 million revenue sharing payment unless Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon drops her lawsuit contesting the Consent Agreement between the city and the state.

Read more: http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/...#ixzz1z93cSGm4

More unnecessary bullying... Anyone who thinks that the City is still in control of anything -- finances, city services, etc. is not looking at the writing on the wall. This consent agreement is an exercise in folly. The City will not be able to take any steps that are contrary to what the Governor and Treasurer think is best for Detroit so why leave this illusion of control if the leadership can't object to anything without facing the threat of the State creating a financial crisis?

[cla1945]

Who pays this woman? If her check stub has "City of Detroit" on the top, she's biting the hand that feeds her.

[Meddle]

If the Judge threw this out, why is it still an issue?

[corktownyuppie]

If the Judge threw this out, why is it still an issue?

It's because the Judge didn't throw out the case on the basis of its merits. It threw out the case on the basis that Crittendon did not have the authority to bring the case before the court without direction from Mayor/City Council.

So theoretically, if Crittendon were to get that authority from the Mayor and Council, the case could go forward.

I understand the appearance of bullying. I also understand the interpretation that this looks like a pissing contest. At the same time, it was also Crittendon who chose to bring this lawsuit forward at the 11th hour. And it was also City Council who opted not to appoint their board members until the suit was settled.

The message this sends to Lansing is that we're not quite ready to cooperate until we are absolutely sure that we are not entitled to anything else. So the state says, well, if you're not ready to cooperate, then how can we commit to cooperating with you?

So now the ball is in the court of Crittendon and/or Mayor/City Council. The state needs assurances that there will be no more challenges to the cooperation of the two parties. The way this is accomplished is for Crittendon to put down her sword.

[mam2009]

http://m.detnews.com/metro/article?a...6300347&f=1211

$28 Million Isn't Lost Yet, State Says [[excerpts below)

State officials say they're confident a deal can be worked out to guarantee the city $28 million in revenue sharing funds now in jeopardy because of continued squabbling over a consent decree......One day after fears arose that the city would lose out on the money, state Treasury spokesman Terry Stanton on Friday said he's "optimistic an extension will be worked out."...

...She has the support of many City Council members, including President Charles Pugh, who said the state should stop making idle threats to withhold funds...

"...It's frustrating because we're told by the state we're a partner, but sometimes I feel like we're treated like an enemy," Pugh said...

"...I wish there was a better way to resolve the concerns. This all could have been avoided with these issues being raised if she was brought in the loop. It's not [[Crittendon's) fault it was brought up in the 13th hour. [[But) trying to pressure Krystal Crittendon to resign or further send a message that she's incompetent is unfair...”

"...In the past, [[Snyder) has mentioned he was bullied coming up. Now that he's large and in charge, he's the one who's doing the bullying." [[Theo Broughton from Hood Research)..."

"...I would hope the state would not hold up the payment based on something that hasn't happened," [[President Pro Tem) Gary Brown said.

Cowardly bullies making idle threats, Mr. Governor. I thought the whole world was gonna crumble if the Corp Counsel didn't indicate whether she planned to file an appeal or not by the State's artificial deadline of yesterday at 5:00 pm?! The first threat of withholding funds was hollow as well! Stop playing these schoolyard games, Mr. Governor, while simultaneously threatening what small shred of Wall Street credibility we have left and sullying the name & professional livelihood of a very capable attorney. Ms. Crittendon is a graduate of a top ten law school in the country! She's not some dummy who doesn't know the law, doesn't know the intricacies of public sector law, and doesn't know the rules of professional ethics.

It's the Governor, the Treasurer & their subordinates who need to go sit at the ”adults' table” and work this out like grown ups [[like Ms. Crittendon). And they need to do it fast before any serious harm is done.

Stop trying to negotiate [[no, BULLY) through the media, Mr. Governor. Go sit down and NEGOTIATE with the City of Detroit's Corporation Counsel so the leadership of the City and the State can move forward TOGETHER! Otherwise, just call this whole arrangement what you really intended it to be -- Detroit's Emergency Management ”agreement”.

[Lowell]

You make some good points mam2009. Law is law, not just when it works for you.

IMO, if the city played a game of chicken with the state, the state will blink. If they state then feels it has to play the EFM card at least it will then have to take responsibility for the outcomes. It will not be able to hide behind the Consent Agreement wall.

Given the choice of the two I prefer the EFM. At least the public will know where the buck stops.

The state would soon find out that because Detroit is stuck caring for the vast majority of the region's, and by extension the state's, burdensome and impoverished people who cannot pay taxes yet require great expense to cover their needs and the problems they create. This impacts insurance, crime rates, city services, middle-class flight, homelessness, beggary and the rest of the toppling dominoes that condition creates.

The revenue model for Detroit is doomed until this burden-sharing issue is addressed. If the burdens Detroit bears were suddenly and magically shared equally with all communities in the metro, Detroit would get well over night. Since that won't happen the city requires both state aid and and residential incentive laws [insurance rate control, income tax removal and more] to reverse its downward course.

The Consent Agreement is primarily about fiscal stablization, meaning wealthy creditors getting paid or as the saying goes, "Big dogs eat first." It is a temporary bandaid for an uninsured patient with grave problems who has walked into the state's emergency room.

That patient will be back in the emergency room again until its core illness is properly treated.

[Richard]

The 28.5 is for the bond payment which the state co-signed for,if paid it goes into a trust that pays the bank,if it does not get paid in order to keep the state clear it will have to pay it from another source.

So Mr. Dillon is saying if the state pays those monies in the future the state will no longer co-sign for Detroit's bond loans and she will be on her own in the bond market.

So in theory both sides have each other in a spot,short of a full blown EFM there could be an agreement of the state saying we are going to help,which is already kinda happening with the financial review board,which is what really needs to happen first anyways so a clear picture is known,so there is a window before their results are in.

So pay the 28.5 which is a bond payment of many to come anyways,the city and state both save face and bond credit rating,when the financial review board have their results and recommendations then you will know exactly what needs to happen and the choices will be clear either the city can stand on her feet alone or a EFM is needed or bankruptcy is needed.

But the city now knows that future revenue sharing proceeds will be consumed by bond repayments so it cannot count on those funds until the bonds are paid down enough to borrow more. IMHO

[mam2009]

Ditto to everything Lowell said in post #63!

[corktownyuppie]

You make some good points mam2009. Law is law, not just when it works for you.

IMO, if the city played a game of chicken with the state, the state will blink. If they state then feels it has to play the EFM card at least it will then have to take responsibility for the outcomes. It will not be able to hide behind the Consent Agreement wall.

Given the choice of the two I prefer the EFM. At least the public will know where the buck stops.

The state would soon find out that because Detroit is stuck caring for the vast majority of the region's, and by extension the state's, burdensome and impoverished people who cannot pay taxes yet require great expense to cover their needs and the problems they create. This impacts insurance, crime rates, city services, middle-class flight, homelessness, beggary and the rest of the toppling dominoes that condition creates.

The revenue model for Detroit is doomed until this burden-sharing issue is addressed. If the burdens Detroit bears were suddenly and magically shared equally with all communities in the metro, Detroit would get well over night. Since that won't happen the city requires both state aid and and residential incentive laws [insurance rate control, income tax removal and more] to reverse its downward course.

The Consent Agreement is primarily about fiscal stablization, meaning wealthy creditors getting paid or as the saying goes, "Big dogs eat first." It is a temporary bandaid for an uninsured patient with grave problems who has walked into the state's emergency room.

That patient will be back in the emergency room again until its core illness is properly treated.

I agree with all of this.

Do you think Crittendons refusal to drop the sword is a negotiating chip for more up front money? Because that's not the way it's being communicated.