A model in Detroit's post-bankruptcy plan

Many private and public institutions had to come together in a shared vision for the city to allow it to emerge so quickly and well from America's largest municipal bankruptcy.

|
AP Photo
The skyline of Detroit is seen on Nov. 7, the day a judge cleared the city to emerge from bankruptcy.

Over the past century, Detroit has served as a world-class model in two areas: manufacturing (cars) and music (Motown). Now add a third: How to emerge from a municipal bankruptcy with amazing speed, cooperation, and hope. 

On Friday, a federal court approved a plan for the city that represents a well-negotiated sacrifice by various stakeholders combined with pledges of substantial investment by private and public bodies. The plan erases $7 billion in debt and will provide $1.7 billion in new money. It took only 15 months to negotiate and may prevent years of litigation and stalemate.

“We give the city back with the fresh start and second chance the city needs,” Judge Steven Rhodes said.

The plan’s lesson for other troubled cities lies in its “grand bargain,” which ties together the interests of several philanthropic foundations, municipal workers, and the Detroit Institute of Arts. The big charities will give millions to help save the museum’s valuable art collection, and that money will help save most of the pensions of city workers. Benefactors of the museum also made large contributions. This part of the deal, said Judge Rhodes, “borders on the miraculous.”

In addition, the insurers of the city’s bonds will be given a financial stake in a few of Detroit’s money-making operations, such as a public arena, a traffic tunnel, and public garages. If all parts of the plan hold together, Detroit might live up to its new motto as “America’s great comeback city.”

The negotiations required finding a common vision among many institutions to overcome their differences. That effort was aided by a new spirit of community among the city’s nearly 680,000 residents, as seen in the efforts of groups like Detroit Future City and Arise Detroit! In addition, the federal government, the state of Michigan, and Detroit’s surround municipalities also added financial support.

“We need to recognize that all of us came together,” Gov. Rick Snyder said.

Detroit still has far to go to reduce its blighted areas, prevent a recurrence of government corruption, and bring viable businesses to neighborhoods. The city schools need much improvement as does public safety.

“Detroit’s inability to provide adequate municipal service runs deep and has for years,” Judge Rhodes said. “It’s inhumane and intolerable and it must be fixed. This plan can fix these problems.”

The plan that brought an end to America’s largest municipal bankruptcy is only a start. But the collective hope that brought it together should propel Detroit to rebuild itself, as so many other American cities have done. Detroit’s greatness may not lie in its past but in its future.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to A model in Detroit's post-bankruptcy plan
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2014/1109/A-model-in-Detroit-s-post-bankruptcy-plan
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe