Surprise, surprise [Caricature by DonkeyHotey from photos by Anne C. Savage for Eclectablog] Yesterday afternoon, Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, with the blessing of Governor Rick Snyder, filed bankruptcy paperwork for the city at 4:06 p.m. An emergency hearing by attorneys representing city pensioners was scheduled for 4:00 p.m. in the court room of Ingham County Judge Rosemarie Aquilina. The […]

It was inevitable The Detroit Free Press is reporting this afternoon that Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr may file Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy paperwork as early as tomorrow morning in an effort to stave off multiple lawsuits from various pension groups. The City of Detroit is in final preparations to file for federal bankruptcy as early as Friday morning, several […]

Let them eat Bumpy Cake This past week, Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr announced that he was sponsoring a bus tour for Detroit’s creditors who are in town to have discussions regarding the state of the city’s crushing debt. The idea is that they would spend a few hours traveling around the most impoverished parts of Detroit so that they […]

Wait, I thought they were all bums that needed to be tossed to the side? Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr has hired Detroit City Council member and President Pro Tempore Gary Brown to work on his staff. Brown, who made around $73,000 as a Council member, will be making $225,000 in his new position. Brown seems like a truly competent […]

Financial Review Team??? We don’t need no stinkin’ financial review team

The Detroit Free Press has obtained copies of the emails between Governor Snyder’s staff and Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr that prove that he was basically offered the position before the financial emergency had even been declared in Detroit. Under Emergency Financial Manager law that was in effect at the time, Public Act 72, a state review team had to make the determination that Detroit was actually in a financial emergency before an Emergency Financial Manager was hired. This detail … sorry – LAW – did not appear to get in the way of Governor Snyder making the assessment himself and hiring Orr before the process had been completed.

All the gory (and illegal) details await you after the jump.

We didn’t know you cared…

Yesterday, Michigan Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville announced he would introduce legislation that would save the Detroit Institute of Arts art collection from being sold off to help solve Detroit’s budget crisis. While it’s a welcomed move, it would be nice if similar moves would be taken to protect poor folks, union families and retirees in cities with Emergency Managers.

Details and analysis await you after the jump.

This isn’t going away, governor

Retired government employees from both Flint and Pontiac have filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court in Detroit to have Public Act 436 and its predecessor Public Act 4 — Michigan’s anti-democratic Emergency Manager laws — declared illegal under the Bankruptcy Clause and Contracts Clause of the US Constitution, as well as Chapter 9 of Title 11 of the United States Code. The complaint (pdf) rests largely on the argument that these laws favored one set of creditors over others. Namely, they claim retirees and unions have seen their contracts negatively impacted while businesses and banks have gotten away without taking a hit.

Details are after the jump.

Here it comes again

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is the king of the “fake concession” where he proposes (or actually makes) massive cuts of one kind or another and then later dials it back just a bit and takes credit for making a concession. I’ve written about it HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE in the past.

He’s about to do the same thing with the art collection held in trust by the Detroit Institute of Arts. Click through for more.

If everything good about Detroit is destroyed, is it still Detroit?

This past Wednesday, Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr was in Chicago talking to a group of philanthropists, some of whom are likely holding some of Detroit’s debt, and he told them, “We can’t liquidate or sell off Detroit like many of us do when we go into our representations…This isn’t a traditional reorganization for a profit-making enterprise, this is the saving of a great American city.”

This comment is in stark contrast to the news that came out yesterday that Orr has asked for an appraisal of the Detroit Institute of Arts’ priceless collection of art.

Click through for more.

Detroit Rock Bottom Photo by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog Yesterday, Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr gave a frank State of the City report that showed that the city is “clearly insolvent”. Not a big surprise to anyone except a handful of folks who seem to think it’s all a big mistake and the city is just fine financially. […]

The State of Michigan is in a weird state

A collection of stories about Detroit, Flint and the jaw-dropping stuff happening in these two cities.

Click through for the Full Monty.