About that DIA rescue...

[bailey]

What we have here is a hostage situation. Just pay the ransom and your kids will be okay. The DIA just needs a hostage negotiator to figure out the price.

if that is the way you want to look at it, you need to talk to all those sainted pensioners that are helping hold the hostage. They are part of the chorus of creditors demanding the sale so they don't have to take any hit.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees [[AFSCME) has joined a legal action to demand that Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr sell the cultural treasures of the Detroit Institute of Arts [[DIA) to pay off the city’s creditors.AFSCME Council 25 filed the motion jointly with several bond insurance companies and banks, including Financial Guarantee Insurance Company, Syncora Capital Assurance, Ambac Assurance, Hypothekenbank Frankfurt AG, and Wilmington Trust Company.
The motion, which seeks the “greatest return on the city’s assets,” was filed Tuesday afternoon with US bankruptcy judge Steven Rhodes.
“Generally,” the motion states, “a municipal debtor’s most valuable ‘asset’ is its ability to raise taxes. Municipalities rarely own tangible, nonessential assets. The City, however, has the Art, a valuable asset [[speculated to be worth billions of dollars) that is not connected with the delivery of any core services the City provides to ensure the health, safety and welfare of its citizens. Accordingly, the ‘best interests of creditors’ dictates the City must demonstrate that its plan maximizes the value of the Art to enhance creditor recoveries.”

Michael Artz, an AFSCME lawyer, told the Detroit New s, “The art is a huge asset and you can’t ignore it… If it’s going to be sold or monetized, our position is any money should go to pensioners.”