Bankruptcy Info and Pensioners Radio Spots

You might hear these radio spots on the air around Detroit.

Representing the People of the City of Detroit

Something seems to be lost in the City of Detroit witness list submitted April 18 to the bankruptcy court -- REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE'S INTERESTS. Corporate interests are well represented through the list provided to the court, as shown in the document below.

4.18.14 Amended City Witness List by WDET 101.9 FM

The city has done well with bringing corporate interests as witnesses to the bankruptcy, however the city is a government body elected BY THE PEOPLE to represent CITIZENS whom are both PUBLIC and corporate. Corporate interests such as the following are not public-serving employees of the city, nor the affected public. These are contracted "guns-for-hire" with a mission to strip Detroit assets and leave its residents destitute.

• Conway MacKenzie - financial restructuring advisors stating the plan is in good faith (yet proposes sacrificing constitutional rights of the people), is equitable, and in best interests of the city's citizens.

How dare they say it is in our best interest - have they spoke with the public? There has been no public hearing regarding the bankruptcy by the City Council or Mayor. No publicly elected official of the people of Detroit brought this bankruptcy filing to the court. It is a violation of the bankruptcy code. (NO Governor Rick Snyder is not the Mayor of Detroit or pseudo-official[fascist position] as such). 

• Ernst & Young - contracted to discuss ability to provide adequate levels of municipal services.
• Milliman, Inc - contracted actuarial advisors to provide valuation and funding issues of the General Retirement System and Police and Fire Retirement System.
• DIA board members whom have various corporate affiliations and stories of interest.
• Eugene Gargaro - Michigan Manufacturers Association, Merillat L.P., Metaldyne Precision Forming, and more
• Graham Beal - received $103,000 in bonuses and a $155,000 loan from the DIA, plus is "downscaling" his Detroit house [article link]
• Roger S. Penske - representing "importance from a  business and investment standpoint of the City’s ability to capitalize and  build on the efforts contemplated in the Plan post bankruptcy." Better stated as how can Penske Corporation profit from going through municipal bankruptcy.
• Daniel Gilbert - again representing the ability to capitalize for Rock Ventures and Quicken Loans. Note the appointment to the fabricated Blight Authority.

The date for court is May 30, 2014. The people need to bring forward a list of fact witnesses which could be added to the city's list, and possibly forwarded to the bankruptcy court as well demanding representation from the residents.

Remember objections to the plan of adjustments can be filed before May 1. This is the week to file your objection! Anyone can file an objection. Get more information from Moratorium Now website [people's objection instructions] [objection form]

Watch the Bankruptcy Court website for updates [audio files]

Recording from April 21 Conference Call

Detroit City Council meeting 10:00am on Tuesday on the 13th Floor at Coleman A Young Municipal Center, 2 Woodward Ave, Detroit MI 48226. Arrive early and request a comment card - put your name on the card to be able to speak. The cards are issued before the meeting and collected within the first 5-10 minutes of the meeting at latest,. Public comments happen FIRST at a meeting of the whole council.

• Request public hearing regarding Bankruptcy to understand fully why and how.
• Request public hearing regarding Bankruptcy Witness List (referenced above) and lack of public representation. Demand an additional amendment to the list.

Protest Illitch's Water Bill at Joe Louis Arena on the Riverwalk entrance at 6:30pm - Hockeytown owes $80,000 for outstanding water bill, yet was awarded large parcels of downtown real estate pushing elders and low-income citizens to the curb. Wear red because the opening of playoffs is starting. Facebook event link | People's Water Board Coalition

Connect to http://d-rem.org (Detroiters Resisting Emergency Management) to get more information on May Day plans and get to know the Peoples Plan regarding the Bankruptcy.

Detroit Concerned Citizens - Video Announcement

Don't be deceived by the mainstream press. The perceived financial weaknesses of Detroit have been fabricated. Watch the video!

Pensioners vote NO. The Michigan Constitution protects pension obligations. Any negotiating is an effort to request you to sacrifice your rights.

Nightly Conference Calls 8pm until May Day

We are beginning a series of phone conference calls at 8pm each night until May Day (May 1st) to assist the public with questions they may have about the bankruptcy, pension obligations, and the various events coming up immediately. 

Nightly Conference Calls

Our group is interested in discussing the day to day activities happening around the bankruptcy, pension obligations of the City of Detroit, and a number of other topics in a manner you will not be hearing in the mainstream news.

Call is from 8pm and will last approximately 20-45 minutes depending on activity through the call. A playback of the recorded session will be available as well.

Call in number: 712-432-0075
Access code: 652920#
Playback number: 712-432-1085

Community Calendar

There is a calendar at Activate313.com of various events being held. It is full of activities and if you are hosting a progressive action event you're encouraged to get your event posted on the site. If you need help with setting up events that can be discussed at the end of the nightly conference call.

Petitioners MUST VOTE NO on Bankruptcy Plan of Adjustments

It is important for this decision to be thrown back on the bankruptcy court to issue a ruling on the unconstitutional process of handling your pension. If the rank and file vote to approve the plan of adjustment then you have removed the protections afforded by the Michigan Constitution. The pension board members are working with the offerings of the Emergency Manager and State of Michigan. The media is painting a picture of the proceedings without fully informing the public. The media will make it appear that there is nothing the rank and file can do, however pushing it back on the court to rule would reveal the unconstitutionality of the bankruptcy plans.

Phone Line For Q&A Our voicemail greeting is: Thank you for calling Detroit Concerned Citizens and Retirees. We are urging petitioners to vote no on the plan of adjustments. It is important the unconstitutional decision is thrown back on the court.

313-444-0061

Objections to the bankruptcy plan of distribution can be filed by anyone up till May 30th. Our website freedetroit.net has printable forms to file objections to the Bankruptcy Court, and offers next steps. The office of the bankruptcy court is at 211 Fort St and Washington on the 17th floor, open weekdays 8:30 until 4pm. Please leave a message with your name so we can call you back to answer any questions you may have. 

Your Constitutional Rights Sacrificed By A Vote? 

The manner of takeovers which have been occurring is to have the legislative body of the public - whether that is the Detroit City Council, or the union, or the general retiree pension board offer their APPROVAL of the takeover. By voting yes along with them you would be absolving the bankruptcy court from their responsibility to uphold the law.

There are protections in our laws but if the people and their elected representatives continue to sacrifice those protections then we are left with the desired results of those wishing to control the masses. This is how non-elected appointed dictators come to power, by allowing rights and protections to be GIVEN AWAY.

What does the Michigan Constitution say? 

The accrued financial benefits of each pension plan and retirement system of the state and its political subdivisions shall be a contractual obligation thereof which shall not be diminished or impaired thereby.
Financial benefits arising on account of service rendered in each fiscal year shall be funded during that year and such funding shall not be used for financing unfunded accrued liabilities. -- Public Pension Plans and Retirement Systems, Obligations

The Deals Made By Pensioner Boards 

Under the accord, general retirees will see their pensions cut by 4.5 per cent, far less than the 26 per cent cut the city had earlier proposed, and lose their annual cost-of-living increases. Retired police and fire fighters would keep their full pensions, and see their cost-of-living allowances fall from around 2 per cent to 1 per cent. --- Financial Times

Why is this insufficient? 

If you look at the two indented quotes above you'll find the phrase from the Constitution says "shall not be diminished or impaired" by the state. The results of any negotiating includes diminished benefits.

Things To Know About Bankruptcy 

1. Only a municipality's elected official can legally file for bankruptcy. 11 USC 109(c) Bankruptcy Code and Public Act 436
2. A municipality may not bind any creditor that does not consent to such composition. A judgement entered under such a law may not bind a creditor that does not consent to such composition. 11 USC 903(1) and (2) Bankruptcy Code
3. The Bankruptcy Code requires a notice to be given of the commencement of the case. 11 USC 923 Bankruptcy Code
4. Magistrate Steven Rhodes is not an Article III judge and has limited jurisdiction to hear and render a decision in Bankruptcy cases.

Detroit #PeoplesPlan Press Conference opposing EM plan

Detroit #PeoplesPlan Press Conference February 24, 2014 opposing EM plan (video playlist)

Solicitation of People's Input

March 2, 2014 @ 2:00pm

Central United Methodist Church, 23 W Adams at Woodward, Detroit near Grand Circus Park

Please review the People's Plan for Restructuring found on the D-REM.org website. Additional solutions and resources for the People's Plan are welcome to be discussed and potentially incorporated.

Bankruptcy Firmly Under State Control

Thursday June 18, 2013 Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr pushed through an Executive Order requesting Governor Rick Snyder to approve Detroit entering into municipal bankruptcy. The bankruptcy question has been looming for a while, but the State of Michigan wouldn't allow it to happen. Now the city is on the chart of Bankrupt Cities, Municipalities List found on the governing.com website. The State wouldn't allow Hamtramck to enter bankruptcy in 2000 or 2010. Could the intent of law simply not have been ready then? The quickening pace of churning laws has become dizzying for many. Step by step passages change to open up new ground, consume other, and reroute; many laws are narrowing in focus to provide an us and them slant of favoritism through the conditions applied.

This year Hamtramck had a choice as the first city going through the full power of Public Act 436 of 2012. They could choose from the options of: bankruptcy, consent agreement, emergency manager, or mediation -- their choice was emergency manager. Governor Snyder appointed Pontiac City Administrator Cathy Square as Emergency Manager of Hamtramck on June 26.

Detroit didn't have a choice, because the emergency manager was appointed before the effective date for PA436. Detroit was affected by Attorney General Bill Schuette's opinion that Public Act 72 of 1990 was resurrected since there was no replacement emergency manager law when Public Act 4 of 2010 was removed by referendum vote of the people on November 6, 2012. (Read additional legal discussion by Kurt Koehler, esq.) This resurrection of law flies in the face of MCL 8.4.1.

Whenever a statute, or any part thereof shall be repealed by a subsequent statute, such statute, or any part thereof, so repealed, shall not be revived by the repeal of such subsequent repealing statute.

Read prior blog posts to understand how this opinion needed to be contested but failed to be approached properly.

Reading through PA436 you'll find the State of Michigan has placed itself above the people of the city in negotiating the terms of bankruptcy stating (found on the 12 steps of a financial emergency on the State of Michigan website).

The Governor may place contingencies upon a local government, including the selection of an individual to act exclusively on behalf of the local government in any Chapter 9 proceedings.

As much as it would be great to see Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr "do the right thing", it really ends up being what the Governor wants. The "viceroy" is taking direction from his superior. 

Dillon Meets Barrow and Detroit Bankruptcy?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TODAY, MARCH 6, 2013

DETROIT COUNCIL MEMBER JOANN WATSON AND ACCOUNTANT TOM BARROW MEET WITH MICHIGAN TREASURER, ANDY DILLON ON EMERGENCY MANAGER
 

Discussion Reveals Serious Flaws in Governor’s “Financial Emergency”!

Watson and Barrow Conclude That Entire Crisis is Contrived!


DETROIT (March 6, 2013) On Monday, March 4, 2013, Michigan State Treasurer, Andy Dillon, acting on behalf of Governor Snyder, summoned each member of the Detroit City Council to one-on-one private meetings. Each Council member was allotted 30 minutes to name four “sacred” things that they did not want the EFM “to touch” in return for their cooperation with a state appointed Emergency Financial Manager (“EFM”).

City Council leaders Charles Pugh and Gary Brown went together and of those who went at all to their meeting did so alone and without benefit of staff or advisers  Recognizing that such a meeting with the State Treasurer was of great importance to the City, the Honorable JoAnn Watson enlisted Citizens for Detroit’s Future’s President, Tom Barrow, an expert in municipal finance and accounting, and asked that he accompany her to query the Treasurer on her behalf. The Treasurer was informed by Ms. Watson that she would attend and will have someone with her. No names were mentioned and her meeting was set to be the last of the gatherings.