Keith Hines speaks to Council, flanked by Detroit School Board member Elena Herrada (l) and Hi Dooha, husband of the late Council President Maryann Mahaffey.
The testimony below was given to City Council on April 3 2012 by Keith Hines, an electrical inspector who has worked for the City of Detroit and a long-time advocate of self-determination for its people. He spoke at several of the hearings on the consent agreement approved 5-4 by City Council on April 4, 2012.
By Diane Bukowski
April 8, 2012
Kenneth Cockrel, Sr. (at left) with Detroit hero Hayward Brown, who fought STRESS and police-operated drug houses; Cockrel, Sr. got him acquitted at trial after his comrades John Percy Boyd and Mark Clyde Bethune were klled by police
DETROIT – Impervious to Detroit residents’ demands that the City Council not cede control of the city and its proud heritage, the “Fatal Five,” as one speaker called them, voted April 4 for a consent agreement that voluntarily hands the city and its resources over to Wall Street banks and the state of Michigan.
Mayor Dave Bing’s chief of staff Kirk Lewis told the Council that he had signed the agreement in the Mayor’s stead while the Mayor recuperates from major health problems. A memorandum is on file in the City Clerk’s office designating Lewis as Deputy Mayor for the period of March 26 through April 15 (click on DMayor memo_0002 to view memo). It is allegedly signed by Bing. Capital initials at the bottom, however, are DB/KJL/prvb, indicating it also comes from Kirk J Lewis. There are two date stamps on it, one March 13 and the other March 26, 2012.
The agreement cannot be terminated until Detroit is deficit-free for three years, receives one of four of the highest bond ratings by Wall street agencies, or at the say-so of State Treasurer Andy Dillon and/or a state-appointed Financial Advisory Board. Since it cites other state laws in addition to Public Act 4, it is debatable whether certification of over 240,000 signatures for a referendum vote against PA4 will nullify it.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. leads Freedom March in Detroit June 23, 1963, during which he first delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech; many Detroit pastors, such as those in the current Council of Baptist Pastors, which okayed current consent agreement, refused to march with him.
The Council vote took place on the 44th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. leading many in the audience to accuse the “Fatal Five” of assassinating Detroit as well. Detroit is the largest Black-majority city in the world outside of Africa. Public Act 4, which Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder used to threaten the council, has been applied only to the state’s Black-majority cities.
“The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr’s nephew is speaking right now at an SCLC event at the RenCen,” said Councilwoman JoAnn Watson prior to her NO vote.
Councilwoman JoAnn Watson calls for NO vote as Councilwoman Saunteel Jenkins drinks coffee (l); many in the audience condemned Jenkins for violating the legacy of late Council President Maryann Mahaffey by voting YES; Jenkins was elected in part based on her short period of employment on Mahaffey's staff.
“This city is the home of the Shrine of the Black Madonna, the home of labor, of Erma Henderson, Coleman A. Young, Reparations Ray Jenkins. Paul Robeson’s birthday is April 9. The honorable Malcolm X and many others came here to fight tyranny, racism, fascism, and demand justice and dignity for all. There is no cash infusion from the state in this agreement, you are ignoring its union-busting. We should be demanding that the Governor pay us what he owes us. Don’t give up the legacy of this city by allowing an illegal vote. There is no rationale for the city to give away its Charter-provided home rule rights. Who gives away their own power to the forces of evil? This is unconstitutional and an assault on our citizens.”
Councilman Kwame Kenyatta during April 4 vote on consent agreement
Councilman Kwame Kenyatta said, “We have been waiting for the head of the snake to show itself, we have already seen its tail. I’ve been visiting with the ancestors and Ialso listened to that blue-eyed soul sister Tina Marie singing “Déjà Vu”—I’ve been here before. The same cast of characters stood in complicity with taking our schools away, all based on PA4, which was written by Michael McGee [attorney from Miller Canfield who appeared at Council table as advisor to Chief of Staff Kirk Lewis, Jr.] In this new version, PA 7 and 8 are back in . They related to mutual agreements between two municipalities, not the state and the city, and PA 7 requires a public hearing. Where is the legal basis for the establishment of the Financial Advisory Board?”
Councilwoman Brenda Jones (l) and Councilman Kenneth Cockrel, Jr. at table April 3; audience blasted Cockrel for debasing his father's legacy
Councilwoman Brenda Jones said “HELL NO,” and Councilman Andre Spivey evidently surprised Councilman Gary Brown, who had boasted he had six votes for the agreement, by also voting NO.
The “Fatal Five” who voted for the agreement were Council members Charles Pugh, Gary Brown, James Tate, Saunteel Jenkins and Kenneth Cockrel, Jr.
Afterwards, Brown told the media, “The silent majority of Detroit has spoken.”
Prominent Detroiters demanded that Council vote NO
Detroit School Board member Wanda Akilah Redmond tells Council that PA4 has destroyed school district; EM Roy Roberts berated board for sending letter in favor of "Upward Bound" program which facilitates college entrance for Detroit youth
Through four days of deliberations, dozens of Detroiters condemned the agreement during public comment. Many could not get into the Council chambers and were forced to sit outside in the hall or re-routed to the auditorium by an abnormally large number of police.
Asked why the meetings were not being held in the auditorium, Pugh responded, “Because I said so.”
Prominent leaders who addressed the Council included Cardinal Baye Landy of the Shrine of the Black Madonna and the historic Black Slate, U.S. Senator Hansen Clarke, Rainbow PUSH leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Black church pastors including Rev. Charles Williams II and Rev. David Bullock, dozens of union leaders, and representatives of community organizations including the Moratorium NOW! Coalition against Foreclosures, Evictions and Shut-offs and many block clubs.
Councilmen James Tate and Andre Spivey at table April 3; many in the audience addressed personal appeals to them, but only Spivey listened, voting NO.
The Fatal Five appeared unaware of or unconcerned about their stature.
Council President Charles Pugh asked Cardinal Landy when he came to the table, dressed inconspicuously as usual, “You’re a Cardinal?” Clearly, Pugh had no idea who he was or what he represented.
Holding up rare photos, noted historian Paul Lee, who worked with PBS on a series about the civil rights movement, reminded Pugh and Cockrel Jr. in particular of Detroit’s history in the struggle for Black power and self-determination.
One photo showed Stokely Carmichael (later Kwame Ture of the All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party), and the Rev. Albert Cleage, Jr. (Jaramogi Abebe Agyeman, founder of the Shrine of the Black Madonna,) at a campaign rally for Kenneth Cockrel, Sr., father of the current Council member.
Walter Knall and Paul Lee display photo of Kwame Ture, Jaramogi Abebe Abeygan, and Kenneth Cockrel, Jr. after Pugh forced Lee back to his seat by calling cops
Cockrel, Sr. was revered by Detroiters as a member of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, a militant Black socialist attorney, a foe of the racist police execution unit called “S.T.R.E.S.S.,” and an opponent, with former Council President Erma Henderson, of the privatization of Detroit General Hospital in 1980.
Pugh, however, cut Lee’s comments short and called on the police to remove him.
Financial Review Team rubber stamps agreement
The ten-member Financial Review Team appointed by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder met earlier that day to hastily approve the agreement, each page of which is headed, “Michigan Department of Treasury.”
Former Detroit school board member Marie Thornton tells FInancial Review Team March 26 they are killing Detroit, just as Trayvon Martin was murdered by racist Zimmerman; her granddaughter Tylynn is at left front.
Former Detroit school board member Marie Thornton, dressed in a hoodie and displaying a package of Skittles and an Arizona Iced Tea can, told the team March 26, “Just as Trayvon Martin was killed, you are killing Detroit.”
The audience that day accused the team of being nothing but a rubber stamp. It drowned out their deliberations and final vote declaring Detroit in a state of “severe financial stress,” singing “We shall overcome,” and repeatedly chanting.
Confirming the rubber stamp allegations, Mayor Dave Bing’s chief of staff Kirk Lewis told the Council April 3 that he, chief operating officer Chris Brown, and Council members Pugh, Tate and Cockrel met with state officials to draft the agreement while the mayor was out of commission due to health problems. He said Brown and the others involved were not from Detroit.
Mayor Dave Bing supposedly working on consent agreement with press secretary Robert Warfield (l) and Kirk Lewis (r)
Councilwoman Watson had demanded that a vote on the consent agreement be postponed until the elected Mayor could come to the table. But Lewis and others claimed Bing was actively involved in the negotiating process from his sick bed. Lewis and mayoral press secretary Robert Warfield released a clearly staged photo with a frail, guant-looking Bing in front of a computer to support their allegations of his involvement. To read TV 2 News reporter Charlie LeDuff’s take on this matter, click on http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/local/mayor-bings-palace-intrigue-20120406-ms. Also see video at bottom of this story.
'DEPUTY MAYOR' KIRK LEWIS (R) LISTENS TO HIS LEGAL COUNSEL MICHAEL MCGEE AT COUNCIL APRIL 3; MCGEE CO-WROTE PUBLIC ACT 4 (SEE ARTICLE BELOW)
Brown was previously a DTE and Singapore Energy executive and privatizer who has been instrumental in the dismantling of the city’s Public Lighting Department.
Ernst & Young sued for cooking Lehman Bros. books before bankruptcy
Lewis was previously CEO of The Bing Group, a conglomerate of steel-related businesses which Mayor Bing founded and has since disbanded. He was also CEO of Integrated Supply Chain Solutions, a debt markets analyst at Ford Motor Company, and was a finalist in Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” competition.
Ernst & Young, a global accounting firm being sued by the states of New York and New Jersey for cooking Lehman Brothers’ books before that company’s collapse, was brought in by the state to review Detroit’s finances even prior to Snyder’s imposition of the first steps of Public Act 4. They met with the Council in November, in an illegally closed session, and declared that Detroit was about to run out of cash in April.
TERMS OF CONSENT AGREEMENT
Detroit will have THIRTEEN EMERGENCY MANAGERS
The consent agreement (read full text at FSA Consent Agreement 4 4 12 ) essentially establishes 13 emergency managers instead of the one that the “Fatal Five” claimed to fear. They are Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, State Treasurer Andy Dillon, a nine-member Financial Advisory Board, a Chief Financial Officer, and a Program Management Director. All can dictate or override decisions by the city’s elected officials on disposition of the city’s assets, its budget, its debts to the banks, restructuring (downsizing), provision and privatization or regionalization of services, and union contracts.
Under Public Act 4, a consent agreement operates as an alternative to an emergency manager. Despite this agreement’s broad provision of similar powers to non-elected officials, it still threatens the city with various “reform default” provisions if the Council and Mayor do not agree to abide by decisions of the FAB, the CFO, and the PMD.
They are dire, involving the suspension of state revenue-sharing payments, refusal to approve debt requests, accelerated collection of any city debts to the state, court action, and finally, the placement of the city in receivership “as provided in MCL 141.1516 [Public Act 4) .
The agreement purports to maintain the Charter powers of the Mayor and City Council, but says the Mayor and Council will “restrain their respective exercise of powers, privileges and authorities in certain circumstances as provided in this agreement.” Section 34(c) newly eliminates a clause allowing the Mayor to have some judgment as to whether conditions of the agreement have been met.
City Union Contracts busted
The agreement busts three-year union contracts that had already been signed by the city administration and 32 city unions, which would have saved the city up to $130 million. It also includes an Annex D mandating that numerous anti-union provisions be included in imposed contracts after July 16, 2012.
AFSCME Local 542 President McMillon (r) with SAAA president Greg Murray at left,accuses council members of "high treason" for voting to abrogate contracts
Coalition of City Unions Co-Chief Negotiator Ed McNeil said in a lawsuit filed in federal court against the abrogation of the union contracts that the only way the unions found out about the provisions of Annex D was through camera phone photos he took of the document when it was secretly shown to him. (Click on to view photos. A separate story on that lawsuit is forthcoming. Read the entire lawsuit at Detroit unions complaint for TRO Tarnow. Tarnow dismissed the suit April 3.)
“AFSCME does not mean ask me and you take over our vote and our contracts,” Phyllis McMillon, president of Local 542 of the American Federation f State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), told the Council April 3. “This is nothing but high treason.”
Payment of $220 million state debt to Detroit would erase deficit
The state provides no money in return. It does not pay back a $220 million state debt to Detroit, or $400 million of non-resident taxes the city was not able to collect under the 1997 tie-barred revenue-sharing package, an issue Councilwoman JoAnn Watson has raised for several years.
“Detroit is being stolen,” said one speaker April 3. “If the state wanted to help us, why didn’t they give us the money they owe us? They want our pension money. People that don’t care about Detroiters are saying, ‘We’re going to take your city and run your city.”
The consent agreement does not even provide a state loan, approved by the Council 6-3 the previous week, free and clear. Both Council members Andre Spivey and Kwame Kenyatta said State Treasurer Andy Dillon told them clearly that the $137 million was not to be a loan, but aid from the state.
State Treasurer Andy Dillon sweats out review team meeting March 26;
“The anticipated aggregate size of the refinancing is approximately $137 million, of which approximately $33 million will be used to refinance existing debt, and approximately $104 million will be placed in an escrow account and used to pay for costs of the Reform [down-sizing] Program and for City operating expenses.” the agreement says. “Draws from the escrow account shall be as and when approved by the State Treasurer in the State Treasurer’s discretion.”
The agreement was modified to say that the salary and expenses of the Financial Advisory Board members, along with any staff they choose to hire, will be split 50/50 between the city and the State, instead of exclusively paid by the city. However, those terms say the city pays first and then is reimbursed by the state.
U.S. Congressman Hansen Clarke and John Conyers, Jr.
“How can we trust the state to abide even by the terms of this agreement, when they defaulted on their $220 million debt to Detroit?,” Councilwoman JoAnn Watson asked.
U.S. Congressman Hansen Clarke told the Council that he and U.S. Congressman John Conyers have a bill before the House of Representatives to provide $500 million in federal funding for Detroit, and that it has bi-partisan support, but the “Fatal Five” appeared to disregard his hopeful presentation.
Ominously, the agreement includes an Annex B, which means the City Council has already approved actions in the following categories.
Clarification of some provisions above, as already discussed by Bing Administration and State (unions have no say in whether these will be included in contracts):
Below is report from Fox 2 News Charlie LeDuff on the legality of Kirk Lewis’ actions negotiating the consent agreement in the place of the Mayor, prior to his (questionable) appointment as Deputy.
Charlie LeDuff: Questions as Detroit Mayor Leaves the Hospital: MyFoxDETROIT.com
(Further story containing comments of many Detroiters who testified is next.)
Councilwoman JoAnn Watson (center) consults with (l to r) her staffers Debra Taylor, Monica Patrick, Councilman Kwame Kenyatta and Councilwoman Brenda Jones after vote April 4; Councilman Andre Spivey also voted NO.
By Diane Bukowski
April 6, 2012
Councilman Andre Spivey also voted NO.
On April 4, 2012, the Detroit City Council approved a “Financial Stability Agreement” which Governor Rick Snyder is considering a “Consent Agreement” under Public Act 4, by a 5-4 vote. Council members JoAnn Watson, Kwame Kenyatta, Brenda Jones and Andre Spivey stood their ground and voted NO. Read the complete document by clicking on FSA Consent Agreement 4 4 12, A summary is below. VOD stories on this week’s Council meetings, on the Financial Review Team’s meeting and report March 26, and on union/community fightback plans will be out shortly.
James Cole, Jr. in 2009, after weekly meeting of Call 'em Out
(VOD ed: The City Council’s “Fatal Five,” Charles Pugh, Gary Brown, Saunteel Jenkins, Kenneth Cockrel Jr., and James Tate voted April 4 for a “Consent Agreement” which the author below analyzes. He is studying law at Wayne State University and is a long-time community activist. VOD news stories on the deal to come.)
By James Cole, Jr.
April 4, 2012
Re.: Fundamental Rights violation via Consent Agreement vs. Title IX Bankruptcy protecting “all . . .”
Dear Honorable Mayor and Council-members:
Governor Snyder successfully coerced Detroit’s [boneless] elected officials to sign an illegal contract to dissolve all of the fundamental rights of indigenous Detroiters. At the cusp of promiscuity, Detroit’s [boneless] elected officials signed this anti-human rights contract against the will of Detroit’s majority.
This contract explicitly and implicitly purports to finesse the stealing of Detroit’s indigenous job market; it purports to steal Detroit’s trillion dollar water and shipping rights; it purports to steal Detroit’s entertainment districts; it purports to steal all of Detroit’s salt mines; it purports to steal all of Detroiter’s rights to be represented by an elected body; it purports to steal all of Detroit’s control of Public Lighting.
It purports to steal Detroiter’s Budget and Planning in order to steal the tens of millions of dollars that the leadership has misappropriated and the tens of millions of dollars that the Detroit leadership returned to the Federal Government in order to avoid financially assisting Detroit’s indigenous citizenry—notwithstanding the refusal to pay the elected Citizens District Council Members, each of whom has sworn (in vain) to assist the needs of Detroit’s Homeowners.
Signing a contract with Governor Snyder to abrogate the fundamental rights of indigenous Detroiters would be an exercise in treason. Read Article 11 § 1 0f Michigan’s 1963 Constitution [Oath of Office]; MCLA 566.132 [Statue of Fraud]; United States v. Bishop 412 S. Ct. 346 [willfulness . . . to act against the law]; 18 U.S.C. § 2381 [Treason] and 42 U.S.C. §1983 [Lost of Immunity]. Continue reading
Russ Bellant speaking to City Council April 3, 2012
TESTIMONY BY RUSS BELLANT AT CITY COUNCIL APRIL 3, 2012
Russ Bellant is a long-time Detroit union and community activist. He worked for the City of Detroit establishing skilled trades apprenticeship programs for city youth, and with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 547, among other activities, He is the author of books including “Old Nazis, the New Right, and the Republican Party: Domestic fascist networks and their effect on U.S. cold war politics,” “The Coors Connection: How Coors Family Philanthropy Undermines Democratic Pluralism,” and “The Religious Right in Michigan Politics” among many others.
Read four=part series by Russ Bellant on Detroit Public Schools takeover under Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Robert Bobb, presented to state legislature as they took testimony on proposed Public Act 4, at http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/03/10/robert-bobb-and-the-failure-of-p-a-72-2/ ; http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/03/10/bobb-and-pa-72-failure/ ; http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/03/10/bobb-part-three/; and http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/03/10/bobb-part-four/ .
AFSCME Council 25 President Al Garrett threatens to shut the city down as union did for 20 days in 1986
By Diane Bukowski
April 4, 2012
DETROIT—Despite thundering threats by union officials and community members to “shut the city down,” and a scathing analysis by Detroit City Council’s Research and Analysis Division, the majority of council members today appeared hell-bent on voting for a Public Act 4 consent agreement, likely during a hearing scheduled for 10 a.m. April 3.
Chief of Staff Kirk Lewis with attorney Michael McGee April 3, 2012
During the Council’s morning session, Mayor Dave Bing’s Chief of Staff Kirk Lewis and his attorney Michael McGee refused to present labor concession agreements signed by the administration and the city’s unions for council certification. The agreements were estimated to save the city up to $130 million. Lewis said they preferred to wait until the passage of a Public Act 4 consent agreement, when the city could impose more cutbacks.
He appeared with attorney Michael McGee, of the law firm of Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone. According to their website, “Over the past 25 years, Michael P. McGee has had primary responsibility for general obligation and revenue bond issues amounting to more than $3.5 billion , , , Michael has served as bond counsel and underwriters’ counsel for hundreds of transactions in various areas including economic development, transit and transportation.”
Krystal Crittendon, head of Detroit Law Department
VOD has sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the City’s Law Department asking if McGee is being paid by the city, and in what amounts. Krystal Crittendon, head of the Law Department, expressed concerns about provisions in the consent agreement which were to be reviewed by Council later in the afternoon.
Council members JoAnn Watson, Kwame Kenyatta, Brenda Jones and Andre Spivey objected.
“This is an assault on the good faith collective bargaining process,” said Watson, who had planned to move for certification of the agreements. “There was a historical coming together of the unions and the city to save Detroit, and now because somebody from Lansing doesn’t like it, they are refusing to bring it to us.”
Councilwoman JoAnn Watson at meeting April 3, 2012
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder earlier threatened to appoint an emergency manager immediately if the union agreements were approved.
Watson initiated and has been a primary leader in the campaign to overturn Public Act 4, which the Democratic Caucus of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee has declared blatantly unconstitutional.
It usurps the powers of elected officials at virtually the whim of the governor and treasurer. Its primary goal is to ensure the payment of the city’s debt to Wall Street banks, according to noted labor historian Dr. Steve Babson, who spoke at the Council’s afternoon session, terming the agreement not only a takeover by the state, but by Wall Street.
Ernst & Young is a global firm; its Detroit headquarters rise imperiously over the city's Campus Martius Park.
Council member Spivey asked for Ernst & Young’s updated version of the city’s cash flow analysis, which Council requested Feb. 2, and also raised reports that the city has not yet deposited millions of dollars in receivables. He said Ernst & Young, which first claimed the city would run out of cash by April 1, was brought in by the state. He also mentioned a March 8 memo from State Treasurer Andy Dillon commenting on the proposed union contracts.
“We won’t spend another dime negotiating more concessions at the table; we will let our contracts run until their expiration dates.” Al Garrett, President of Michigan Council 25 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,” told Mayor Dave Bing’s chief of staff Kirk Lewis and the council. Bing has been hospitalized for surgery and expected to be out of commission for several weeks.
AFSCME worker on strike 1986; 7,000 members shut the city down for 20 days, defying a court order.
“The man is saying that Black folks who work for the City of Detroit will not have rights,” stormed Al Garrett, president of Michigan AFSCME Council 25. “Well, I’m saying that our 3,000 city workers who are left do have rights, and we will take this to the streets. You think we can’t, but I was President when we went out for 20 days in 1986. There is no coming back for more money. Snyder is nothing but a bully who hasn’t brought anything to the table. The state is not offering you a dime. He is insulting you, saying you don’t have the mentality to run the city but they do.”
(Click on CITY SERVICES IN DETROIT SNARLED BY STRIKE NYT to read New York Times article on 1986 Detroit strike.)
The Coalition of City Unions told U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Tarnow that afternoon that the state had “tortiously” interfered in the bargaining process, but Tarnow denied their motion for a restraining order the following day.
Ingham County Circuit Court injunctions by two judges barring the Council from approving the consent agreement until a hearing, and barring the Financial Review Team from meeting to sign off on the pact, were overturned by the state Court of Appeals, which is still set to hear arguments on the matters.
Financial Review Team meeting March 21 2012 Highland Park school board member Robert Davis, who has sued to charge violations of the Open Meetings Act
Lawsuits brought by Robert Davis and AFSCME represenatives said the state review team violated the Open Meetings Act.. A March 26 report issued by the team lists numerous private meetings. (Click on Detroit Review Team Report 3-26-12 (3) to read full report. A story on the team’s contentious March 26 meeting is upcoming.)
“In 1986, when I was President, we shut this city down for 20 days,” Garrett said. “Governor Rick Snyder is a bully who hasn’t brought any money to the table, and insults you by saying you don’t have the mentality to run the city but says they do.”
AFSCME Council 25 is the largest union which is part of the Coalition of City Unions, representing over 5,000 non-uniformed city workers.
Audience demands NO vote on PA 4 consent agreement
“Clearly the New York bankers are expecting their money,” Dan McNamara, president of the Detroit Firefighters Association, said. “For the first time, our members voted overwhelmingly for concessions, but the Treasurer has not approved them. Lansing has whittled down PERA (the Public Employee Relations Act). When we’re done, no one will have any rights. Our new leaders in the fire department have downgraded fire protection levels. We cannot stand for any more of this.”
Detroit police, firefighters and other city workers demonstrated May 6, 2010 against $6B pension fund takeover
The proposed consent agreement brought to the council by Lewis that afternoon still maintains a provision that completely overrides PERA, clearing the way for a public workers’ strike, which PERA forbids. McNamara’s reference to the banks related to provisions in the consent agreement which make payment of the city’s debt its primary goal.
Toni Adams, a senior community advocate, said an elderly woman died the morning of March 22 during a fire at a senior building.
“If you take any more, more of our elderly will be dying,” she said.
Valerie Burris
Long-time community activist Valerie Burris said, “The community will be behind the unions every step of the way. We will organize car pools to get people to work and have them pay the drivers the amount of bus fare. We will stop paying our property taxes and our water bills. If we have to, we will dig wells in our backyards.”
Herman Dooha, the 89-year-old widower of Maryann Mahaffey, who presided over the City Council for several decades, said he was appalled and that his wife would have never agreed to the state’s proposal.
Council President Maryann Mahaffey
“This has never been a city where the council gave up our rights,” Dooha said. “The council is the voice of the people. The governor wants to put in power unelected officials to run our city.”
Many Detroiters at the table criticized Councilwoman Saunteel Jenkins, who prominently displayed her time on Mahaffey’s staff in her election campaign literature. Jenkins has failed, however, to carry on Mahaffey’s legacy.
Among others speaking against the agreement at Council’s April 3 session was Edith Lee Payne, who told the Council they have an obligation under their oath of office to represent the interests of the people of Detroit. Payne, who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the 1960’s, is one of the litigants in a state-wide lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Public Act 4.
Edith Lee Payne holds up City Council's oath of office
That lawsuit has been held up by the State Supreme Court, which refused to allow an Ingham County Circuit Court judge to hold an initial hearing on it. The state’s top court has since delayed its own consideration of the lawsuit indefinitely.
David Whitaker, director of the Council’s Research and Analysis Division (RAD), issued a report on the consent agreement dated April 2, which said, “The document under consideration is one of the most important government documents—perhaps the most important in the city’s history. The inadequate time to discuss, analyze and understand its full, detailed consequences looms over this entire discussion and its ultimate resolution.”
The report says it would likely take two or more weeks to do so. Meanwhile, the State Board of Canvassers is examining a sample of 35,000 signatures from nearly 240,000 submitted by voters to conduct a referendum to repeal Public Act 4. Councilwoman Watson said they are expected to complete certification within the next two weeks.
(Click on ConsentAgreement-RADreview4-2-12 to read full report from Council’s Research and Analysis Division.).
In brief, the report says the proposed Consent Agreement, disingenuously called a “Financial Stability Agreement,” greatly compromises the powers of the city’s elected officials.
“In the event disputes arise over execution of the FSA reform initiatives, City government officials’ ability to self-govern is by the terms of this agreement ceded to the Financial Advisory Board. Potential choices in opposition to those of the Program Management Director [PMD] would likely be defined as ‘Reform Default Condition.’”
The report says the PMD “would have the ability, with Board approval, to design, develop, implement and execute the new reform operational structure of city government . . . S/he could take control of disputed areas of policy and spending from the City, without the ability of the City to effectively oppose it. . . The terms of the document itself do not premise such a conditional right to control on any corresponding cash contribution to the City’s budget for services to Detroit residents.”
McGee made clear to the Council that the governor wants the FSA to be considered a consent agreement under Public Act 4. He said the agreement still provides for an over-arching Financial Advisory Board and “a degree of state compulsion to achieve the Reform Program of restructuring City government,” as well as exempting the city from the provisions of PERA.
He said the provision taking away Council control of contracts over $250,000 has been eliminated, and that the state and city will split the costs of salaries and expense for the FAB.
The revised agreement takes out any reference to Public Act 7, the Urban/State Cooperation Act. That agreement requires a public hearing before any action is taken under it.
Whitaker said there is no state statutory authority for the establishment of the Financial Advisory Board, with its sweeping powers.
“Can SOME Black people have SOME courage to face the white man off?”
Councilwoman Watson calls new FSA “a takeover, a power grab”
Unions file suit to stop FSA; court hearing Mon. April 9, Judge Collette
By Diane Bukowski
April 1, 2012
BREAKING NEWS: COUNCIL MEMBERS PUGH, BROWN, JENKINS, TATE CALL SPECIAL SESSION MONDAY, APRIL 2 AT 1 P.M. TO CONSIDER APPROVAL OF FINANCIAL STABILITY AGREEMENT (click on CC special session 4 2 12 1 pm approving FSA) to view signed call.
Council to discuss union contract tentative agreements at 9 a.m. April 2.
Detroit COO Chris Brown, Deputy Mayor Kirk Lewis at Council table March 29, 2012
DETROIT – Michigan Governor Rick Snyder appears to have played a colossal April Fool’s Day joke on Detroit by having Deputy Mayor Kirk Lewis and Chief Operating Officer Chris Brown present to City Council a proposed “Fiscal Stability Agreement” (FSA) March 29. Many council members and citizens called it a dictatorship under another name.
“They are just making Black people look stupid over and over again,” community activist Sandra Hines told the Council. “They have you looking stupid, begging for a little piece of meat. This needs to stop. It’s not about you. It’s about US and what will happen to us if you sign this agreement. Can SOME Black people have SOME courage to face the white man off?”
Ironically, the chief presenter at the March 29 meeting was Chris Brown, a white former DTE and Singapore utilities executive. He is not Deputy Mayor and has no power to sign off any agreement for Mayor Dave Bing, who remained hospitalized. Lewis, appearing disgusted, left halfway through the meeting.
Morris Mays (center) protests PA 4 in Lansing April 13, 2011
“Ever since the privatization and regionalization stepped up by [former Gov.] Engler and [former Mayor] Archer, and the same thing with [former Mayor] Kilpatrick, this city’s been gong downhill,” said Morris Mays. “Because of you I can’t even go to Belle Isle without some ugly police car on the bridge. I’m from Montgomery, Alabama, the birthplace of the civil rights movement, and I know Black lapdogs when I see them.”
The state is currently moving to take control of Belle Isle, ostensibly leaving it under City ownership, similar to takeovers of Cobo Hall, the Detroit Zoo, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the city’s historical museum, Eastern Market and many other services. It has illegally withheld funds from the city’s Department of Human Services since last October and wants to shut it down.
The FSA removes numerous powers of the Mayor and the City Council and transfers them to a nine-member appointed Financial Advisory Board which reports to the state treasurer and governor. It is to include plans not yet specified to drastically downsize and regionalize city assets and services. It expects the Council to approve those future as yet unknown actions by signing the FSA.
It gives the FAB the power to abrogate union contracts and to violate state law, the Public Employee Relations Act, by refusing to bargain in good faith after June 30. (Click on CCFSA 3 29 12 to read entire agreement and print it out in PDF.)
Ed McNeil (r) with union leaders protest at Detroit News demanding pro-worker coverage
Ed McNeil, chief negotiator for the Coalition of City of Detroit Unions (CCDU) told VOD that the CCDU has filed a motion for an restraining order to prevent passage of the FSA, citing its unconstitutionality. A hearing is to be held Monday, April 9 at 9 a.m. before Ingham County Circuit Court Judge William Collette in Mason, Michigan. Collette earlier held that state-appointed financial review teams must not meet secretly, but obey the Open Meetings Act.
“This is nothing more than a Consent Agreement under Public Act 4, through the back door,” stormed Councilwoman JoAnn Watson. “Over 200,000 Michigan citizens waged a hard-fought campaign for their right to protection under our state and federal constitutions. The State Canvassers are currently reviewing a sample of 35,000 signatures and expect to report out in two weeks. The governor’s timetable is based on a fear of the referendum repeal of PA 4.”
She noted that the FSA language allows it to outlive PA 4 if it is overturned. It says it can be terminated only when the city reports three years of no deficits, or Wall Street upgrades the city’s bond ratings to its highest levels, or State Treasurer Andy Dillon says so.
Councilwoman JoAnn Watson at meeting March 29, 2012
On March 27, she said, “Where is the money that the state owes us–$220 million in revenue sharing funds, and another $400 million we lost from the Archer-Engler agreement preventing us from taxing non-residents who work here? Other financial review boards like that in New York City in the 1970’s have included billions of dollars in cash infusions from both the state and federal governments. The state has brought nothing to the table.”
She noted that Detroit Mayor Frank Murphy during the 1930’s Great Depression, when he was President of the National Conference of Mayors, called for cities to be allowed to declare moratoriums on their debt to the banks. She proposed that Council pass a resolution to that effect (which the conservative majority of the Council was clearly not going to do).
On March 29, Attorney Jerome Goldberg of the Moratorium NOW! on Foreclosures, Evictions and Shut-offs Coalition pulled out the Financial Review Team’s March 26 report. (Click on Detroit Review Team Report 3-26-12 (3) to read entire report.)
Atty. Jerome Goldberg at council table March 29, 2012
“This agreement is mandated by the same banks that essentially destroyed the tax base of our city through fraudulent, racist predatory lending and foreclosures,” Goldberg said. “They are now committing the same predatory lending practices on Detroit itself, and cities all over the country. They lure the city into swap agreements that they know will fail, amounting to $16.9 billion in debt and $4.9 billion in interest. PA 4 and this agreement are geared towards ensuring that the debt service to the banks is paid before all else.”
He pointed to Harrisburg, capitol of Pennsylvania, which has just agreed to default on some of its bond payments to the banks so it can keep the city running. (See VOD story at http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/03/28/harrisburg-pa-plans-default-on-bond-payments-municipal-defaults-on-rise/.)
Bankole Thompson and Mildred Gaddis give Gov. Snyder a forum at WCCC March 27, 2012
During the week of March 25, Snyder appeared at a town hall meeting at Wayne County Community College sponsored by The Michigan Chronicle’s Bankole Thompson and Mildred Gaddis, and on a radio show with Frankie Darcell. In his bland, kindly-sounding voice, he claimed to be doing nothing more than “assisting” the city with its resource problems.
He did use incendiary language, however, when he declared that Detroit, Flint, Saginaw, and Pontiac, the last three of which have been under EM control, have the highest crime rates in the state. He failed to note anything about the cause of crime.
At the city council meeting Mar. 29, Council President Pro-Tem Gary Brown declared, “The city’s number one problem in crime,” while members of the audience called out instead for “Jobs, jobs.”
Financial Review Team members Conrad Mallet, Jr. and Andy DIllon as they are chewed out by audience March 23
Snyder’s audience at WCCC was clearly hand-picked to prevent another virtual uprising like that at the March 26 meeting of the Financial Review Team. (See VOD story below.) The city’s daily media jumped on his proclamations to push the FSA.
Prior to that, on March 27, State Treasurer Andy Dillon got the Council to vote for a $137 million state-backed loan, ostensibly with provisions that it would not be tied to any Fiscal Stability Agreement. HE LIED.
“That tiebar is still in this document,” objected City Councilwoman Brenda Jones, who along with members JoAnn Watson and Gary Brown voted against the loan.
Councilwoman Brenda Jones at table March 2, 2012
The document says in Sec. 2.5 (a), “The anticipated aggregate size of the refinancing(s) is approximately $137 million, of which approximately $33 million will be used to refinance existing debt, and approximately $104 million will be placed in an escrow account and used to pay for costs of the Reform Program [proposed in the FSA] and for City operating expense.”
Both City Councilmen Kwame Kenyatta and Andre Spivey said Dillon told them March 23 that the money was NOT a loan, but a gift.
Councilman Kwame Kenyata speaks at council meeting in 2010; both he and Councilwoman JoAnn Watson (at his right) denounced back-room meetings on PA4 deal in the past several weeks.
“One of problems is when we govern and conduct people’s business in back rooms,: Kenyatta said. “When Mr. Dillon came to my office, he didn’t say it was a bond. The proposed agreement a fiscal stability agreement, not a consent agreement. This is a debtor nation. The national debt is in the trillions, Michigan had a $17 billion debt. America and the western world are just kicking the can down the road.”
Council members Charles Pugh, Gary Brown, Kenneth Cockrel, Jr, Saunteel Jenkins, James Tate and Andre Spivey appeared to be entertaining the notion of “tweaking” the proposed FSA with relation to specific language in it, instead of rejecting it outright as a power grab and a takeover.
Jenkins asked for the Law Department and the Council’s Research and Analysis Division to give the Council their written analyses of the FSA by Monday, April 2. Some claim that Snyder will appoint an Emergency Manager for Detroit under terms of PA4 by April 5.
CALL COUNCIL: TELL THEM TO VOTE NO! SAVE OUR CITY!
CHARLES PUGH 224.4510
GARY BROWN 224-2450
S. JENKINS 224-4248
ANDRE SPIVEY 224-4841
JAMES TATE 224-1027
KEN COCKREL, JR 224-4505 KWAME KENYATTA 224-1198
JOANN WATSON 224-4535 BRENDA JONES 224-1245
(To read chart below more easily, hit “View” on browser and use zoom to increase 
size.)
Stockton, CA group Brand New Legacy's 1999 album is apropos of the situation for the city's Black population
Posted: 02/29/12 02:37 AM ET | Updated: 02/29/12 08:42 AM ET
By Jim Christie
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 28 (Reuters) – Stockton, California’s city council approved a plan late on Tuesday night for the city to skip some bond payments in an effort to restructure its precarious finances and avoid becoming the biggest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy.
Along with defaulting on about $2 million of debt payments through the end of its current fiscal year, the city located about 85 miles east of San Francisco will seek mediation with its major bond holders to try to get a break on its debt to help tackle a budget gap projected to range from $20 million to $38 million.
A state law approved after Vallejo, California’s 2008 bankruptcy requires negotiations in front of a mediator that could last up to 90 days with creditors, bond insurers, public employee unions and retired government employees before a local government can file for bankruptcy.
While Stockton officials say they hope to avert bankruptcy, the city of 292,000 people in California’s Central Valley has hired an attorney who represented much smaller Vallejo, which drew national attention to financial problems of local governments in the most populous U.S. state.
Foreclosed home in Stockton, CA
Stockton’s attorney, Marc Levinson, said mediation could keep the city from following in Vallejo’s footsteps and suffering the stigma of bankruptcy.
“This is really the city’s last and best chance to avoid a bankruptcy case,” Levinson said.
But Stockton residents who have seen hard times grip their city in recent years are bracing for the possibility it will land in bankruptcy court despite its financial restructuring plan.
“That’s the end of the plank – and we’re on that plank,” 68-year Stockton resident Rosalio Estrada told Reuters.
Stockton has long been a commercial hub for California’s rich agricultural industry and during the state’s recent housing boom the city became an affordable bedroom community for the San Francisco Bay area.
But the housing downturn devastated Stockton’s economy, sending local unemployment and foreclosure rates soaring and the city’s revenue tumbling, forcing local officials to slash spending and city payrolls. Continue reading
Harrisburg, PA State Capitol building
Bloomberg News
By Romy Varghese –Mar 9, 2012 3:49 PM ETFri Mar 09 20:49:49 GMT 2012
Harrisburg (9661MF), Pennsylvania’s insolvent capital, says it will miss general-obligation bond payments for the first time next week as its receiver seeks approval for a plan to sell assets.
The city, carrying a debt load of more than five times its general-fund budget, will miss $5.27 million in bond payments due March 15 on $51.5 million of bonds issued in 1997, according to a notice its receiver posted on the Electronic Municipal Market Access system, a database for filings by debt issuers.
Stockton, CA is south of Sacramento
The default is the latest for the $3.7 trillion municipal market, which has seen the number grow while remaining rare. The rate of U.S. municipal-bond defaults doubled to 5.5 a year in 2010 and 2011, from 2.7 in the previous 39 years, Moody’s Investors Service said this week in a report. Stockton,California, last month voted to default on some of its bonds.
“It’s a worrisome trend if it becomes more commonplace”for communities to expect bond insurers to pick up debt payments, said Alan Schankel, director of fixed-income research at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC in Philadelphia. Municipal issuers may become increasingly willing to default even if there is no insurance for bondholders, he said.
“If it’s OK to hurt the bond insurer, is it OK to hurt bond holders?” Schankel said.
Objections to Plan
Harrisburg Controller Dan Miller
The default decision was made as some city officials objected to a plan to sell assets and avoid a trip to bankruptcy court. State law bars the city from seeking Chapter 9 protection from creditors until July. A majority of the City Council sought unsuccessfully to make that move last year.
“It’s just an indication of how severe the problem is,” Dan Miller, the city controller and a supporter of seeking court protection, said by telephone. “Without a bankruptcy judge, we can’t get a solution.”
Ambac itself has declared bankruptcy
Ambac Assurance, a unit of New York-based Ambac Financial Group Inc. (ABKFQ), insures the city’s general-obligation debt.
“We are honoring and paying” valid claims, Michael Fitzgerald, an Ambac spokesman, said by e-mail. He said the company doesn’t comment on specific cases. (VOD: go to http://www.ambac.com/press/070611.html and http://www.businessinsider.com/end-game-ambac-5-year-cds-jumps-up-to-7458-basis-points-as-isda-rules-its-in-default-2010-3 to read about Ambac’s own problems.)
While Harrisburg in 2009 started skipping payments on debt related to an incinerator overhaul and expansion, it hasn’t defaulted on general-obligation bonds. The city’s fiscal crisis is driven by more than $300 million in debt from the project at the waste-to-energy plant, which doesn’t generate enough revenue to cover its costs.
Receiver Appointed
PA governor Tom Corbett
In December, David Unkovic was appointed as the city’s receiver, a first for the state. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett, a Republican, had declared a fiscal emergency to ensure vital services, including making payroll and paying debt obligations, were continued.
“My first priority as receiver is to ensure that vital and necessary services such as police and fire are maintained,”Unkovic said today in a statement. “The city will not be making these payments to ensure sufficient cash flow so the citizens of Harrisburg continue to receive essential services.”
By defaulting, Harrisburg will be able to keep paying municipal workers about $1 million every two weeks, through the third quarter at least, Unkovic said by telephone. He declined to say if other bond obligations may be missed. The city’s debt service, including the March payments, totals almost $12 million this year, not including incinerator-related securities. Continue reading
