Detroit thread. Post Kwame, Monica, and $1 houses here.

[CountDeMoney]

Detroit: the convergence of every possible right-wing fantasy, in a single massive GOPgasm.

Detroit, the right's perfect pinata
By: Hadas Gold
August 18, 2013 04:49 PM EDT

In one place, conservative pundits have found a symbol of everything they charge is wrong with the left's policies.

Welcome to Detroit - the latest bull's eye for commentators on the right who have zeroed in on what they see as the three evils of liberalism, neatly condensed within city limits: Unions run amok pillaging the city's coffers; corrupt Democratic politicians with no Republican in power since the 1960s; and a failed big-government welfare state.

The Motor City's epic downfall, the conservatives pundits say, also is a warning sign to the rest of the country of what can happen if liberals continue in power, unchecked.

Republican strategist Mike Murphy suggested on Friday taking advantage of the symbolism of the broken city by staging the Republican National Convention there in 2016. "Hey RNC convention, why not Detroit '16? Just like 80. Tell a story, start the comeback," Murphy tweeted. "Detroit is a big message opp."

For their part, voices on the left have charged the right with alarmist demagoguing, willfully overlooking the larger and deeper causes of the bankrupt city's distress which they argue have little to do with Democratic governance.

But that hasn't slowed the commentariat from attacking with glee from the right:

Rush Limbaugh on Fox News: "The town has been a petri dish of everything Democrat party stands for. You have massive welfare states where citizens are given things left and right in order to buy their votes. You have no opposition whatsoever."

Ann Coulter on Fox News: "(Detroit was) the gem of the United States of America. First, it was destroyed by the mob with the race riots. Then it was destroyed by the unions driving the jobs abroad."

Charles Krauthammer in his column: "It doesn't take a genius to see what happens when the entitlement state outgrows the economy upon which it rests. The time of Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, Spain, the rest of insolvent social-democratic Europe — and now Detroit — is the time for conservatives to raise the banner of Stein's Law and yell, 'Stop.' You can kick the can down the road, but at some point it disappears over a cliff."

Even Ted Nugent, who earlier in his music career was widely known as the "Motor City Madman," got in on the act, telling TMZ: "Liberal Democrats took hold of the greatest, most productive city on earth and turned it into a bloodsucker excuse-making hell. If allowed to continue, our President will do the same to the whole country. Heartbreaking and tragic."

It's like "a kid in a candy store," Bob Garfield, the host of NPR's "On the Media," which had an episode devoted to the Detroit, said of conservative commentators' feeding frenzy. "I mean if you were looking for a poster child for all that ails the welfare state, look no further."

The right's pounding of the city's unions has been unrelenting.

Often, said Republican strategist Richard Galen, organized labor is careful to engage in some kind of give and take - but not so in Detroit.

"With (Detroit's) public unions, there was never an end to the amount of the money that was available," Galen said, calling the city "a symbol of dreadful policy." "At some point the city just collapsed under the weight of that."

Conservative columnist George Will ripped the unions as parasites. "Government employees' unions living parasitically on Detroit have been less aware than ichneumon larvae," Will wrote.

Detroit owes more than $18 billion, mostly to public employee unions and to owners of municipal bonds. The debt includes $3.5 billion in unfunded pensions and $5.7 billion in underfunded health benefits for about 21,000 retired workers, according to a letter sent to Gov. Rick Snyder by Kevyn Orr, Detroit's emergency manager. Retirees outnumber the city's active workers by more than a 2-1 ratio. The burden of paying the pensions is one of the biggest strains on the Detroit's finances.

A string of corruption scandals is another favorite point of attack for pundits on the right.

Democratic corruption is so bad in Detroit, that it rivals the third world, said the Manhattan Institute's Fred Siegel. "The depth of corruption and dysfunction is so fantastic, it's gone so far past anything you can imagine, it's so far that you might describe it as Third-World dysfunction. There's no need (for conservatives) to gin it up. It's just right there. It's there for the taking."

In March, former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was convicted of scheming to fix contracts and accepting bribes and kickbacks. He faces more than a decade in prison at his sentencing in September. Last year, the IRS put a special agent in charge of a task force to target corruption in the city. "The city of Detroit has been hit hard by public corruption crimes," said Special Agent Erick Martinez said last year at a press conference announcing the task force.

Lastly, conservative commentators are making hay with what they charge is a long history of Democratic mayors who pushed a liberal "tax-and-spend" approach to running the city.

"Mis-governance and the welfare state run amok played big part why [Detroit] can't get itself up off the floor," Commentary Magazine editor Jonathan Tobin told POLITICO.

"Everybody's got their snout in the trough," he added. "That is both the genius and biggest problem with liberal welfare government, because the way it works is it's not just the poor that get subsidies, the middle class get subsidies in certain ways, although heavily taxed. It creates constituencies for the status quo and just continuing with the problems."

Detroit has one of the highest property taxes for homeowners in the country, the top commercial property tax, and the second-highest industrial property tax, but nearly half of the owners of Detroit's 305,000 properties failed to pay their tax bills last year. Those high taxes and over-regulation prevents new business from coming into the city to replace the dying ones, critics add.

The Motor City has also been the benefit of federal programs from Washington, from the Model Cities program launched by President Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s to President Barack Obama's bailout of the auto companies in 2009. When the bankruptcy was declared, pundits pounced, replaying Obama's comments shortly before Election Day last year when he used his weekly radio address to tout his administration's rescue of General Motors and Chrysler, saying it was the federal government that kept the auto companies afloat.

"But we refused to throw in the towel and do nothing," Obama said in the Oct. 13 address. "We refused to let Detroit go bankrupt."

Some media outlets and Obama's supporters have responded that the president's use of the word "Detroit" was a reference to the auto industry, not the city itself.

Meanwhile, pundits on the left have blamed Detroit's decline on big picture issues, such as the de-industrialization of the Rust Belt and decline of manufacturing.

"Conservatives are using the most insulting language possible that they can come up with to blame unions, blame black people, blame their culture for Detroit's troubles," MSNBC host Ed Schulz said on his show in early August. "But the real parasites, my friends, are their conservative ideals that coming from state government and from the feds. Detroit is exactly what the Republicans want. They outsourced manufacturing jobs, attack unions, cut public services, and this is the result. Now they can wipe the slate clean because now they can start privatizing city assets."

"It's an obvious target for [the right], it's part of a larger campaign they have to demonize urban America," said Eric Boehlert, senior fellow at Media Matters. "They decided to adopt Detroit and make it a microcosm of everything that's wrong with liberalism, urban America, and the Democratic party while completely ignoring the very specific challenges that Detroit faces."

[Admiral Yi]

If you feel compelled to imitate Ed Schulz please limit it to his talking points and not his syntax.

[CountDeMoney]

Ed's good people.

[Admiral Yi]

He makes some excellent points too.  If only Republicans hadn't attacked unions Detroit never would have been in this mess.

[Ed Anger]

Ed's good people.

Thanks. 

[CountDeMoney]

Not you, Putzski.  I'm talking Sausage Union Boss.

Anyway, more about Detroit's victims of Detroit.

Detroit Has 50,000 Stray Dogs and Only 4 Dog Catchers

Roughly 50,000 stray dogs are roaming the city of Detroit, reports Bloomberg News today. Many of them spend their days hanging out in abandoned houses and mating like crazy. Occasionally, the dogs bite people and sometimes they eat cats (which might explain why you don't see many reports about Detroit's stray cat problem).

The dogs roam "in packs that form around a female in heat," according to Harry Ward, Detroit's animal control director. Roughly 15,000 of them make their way into three Detroit shelters a year—that comes out 13.6 dogs per shelter per day—thanks in part to the city's four dog catchers and one dog-bite investigator. Seventy percent of these dogs are euthanized.

While Ward says his men are overworked, Detroit's stray problem was put into sharp perspective in July when the city failed to pay the commercial service that transports euthanized dogs from the shelter. As a result, writes Bloomberg's Chris Christoff, "The freezers were packed with carcasses, and pens were full of live animals until the bill was paid."

Mail carriers have reported being attacked (by "swarms" of chihuahuas), and the city reported 903 dog bites last year. Yet according to Ward, these dogs aren't really feral, just unsupervised. That's illegal, but animal rights activists in the city don't expect that to change. "With the city being bankrupt," one person told Christoff, "who's going to do anything about it?"

Detroit Dog Rescue put together a little video about strays in the city that you can watch below. Fair warning: At the three minute mark, a pitbull eats a cat.

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2013/08/detroit-has-50000-stray-dogs-and-only-4-dog-catchers/6622/

Fair warning: At the three minute mark, a pitbull eats a cat.

Saw the video;  wasn't a cat, but the carcass of a puppy that had frozen to death.

[Savonarola]

Fourmillante cité, cité pleine de rêves,
Où le spectre en plein jour raccroche le passant!

Death (certificates) took holiday in wake of bankruptcy filing

Detroit's funeral directors received this unusual text message last month. "FYI, city of Detroit can't process death certificates because they have no paper and don't have money to buy any."

The message, from a fellow funeral director, was mostly true: The city did stop issuing certified copies of birth and death certificates on July 23, days after the July 18 bankruptcy filing. That day, a nervous paper vendor demanded cash — and the city wanted to do business as usual, on credit.

FYI: In bankrupt and frequently bizarre Detroit, dying is easy. It's proving you are dead that's hard.

Cutbacks in hours, balky vendors, and the news that Herman Kiefer Complex will close Oct. 1 are all affecting the city's death and dying business. The city's vital records department will close and Wayne County will assume responsibility for issuing birth and death certificates, according to Bill Nowling, spokesman for Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr.

"Have you ever heard such a crock?" asked Wallace Williams, president of the Michigan Select Funeral Directors Association, when asked about the paper shortage. "They told us they ran out of paper and it might take five days to get some." Williams, who texted his 20 or so funeral director members, says the potential impact of a death certificate shortage was dire.

Without certified copies of death certificates, families couldn't access bank accounts, file insurance claims, or access probate court. The families are often struggling financially, grieving and frustrated by any bureaucratic delay. And although funeral homes provide copies as a service to families, they wind up taking the heat.

While funeral homes and hospitals could file birth and death certificates on July 23, the city requires a special embossed paper for certified copies. Because the forms are unique to each jurisdiction, the paper couldn't be borrowed — although some funeral directors tried to lend paper to the records department.

"Employees (at the vital records department) were sitting outside because they didn't have anything to do," says the Rev. Gleo Wade, Stinson Funeral Home director, who drove to the vital records department that day to see what was going on. "I've never seen the employees just sitting outside like that before."

Funeral directors and employees had never witnessed a death certificate system collapse, either. Funeral home officials say the department is already understaffed and stretched thin. "People don't understand that families become very upset when they can't get the certificate."

Bill Nowling, spokesman for Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, says the problem was short-lived, once the vendor was assured payment. It was the kind of scenario Orr knew could occur from the beginning of his tenure here. Calming nervous vendors — the ones whose services are needed as part of the city's function — is a new skill set for city officials.

Not long after running out of death certificate paper, the county told funeral directors it would no longer release bodies from the Wayne County morgueon Sundays, explaining that Sunday was a slow day for funeral homes anyway. The medical examiner's office is now closed on holidays, too, but will make exceptions for religions that require immediate burial.

Funeral directors are not pleased."Back in the day, they'd release bodies all day long," said Williams, the funeral director association president.

"Death doesn't take any holidays," he said. "Death happens every day of the week and especially on weekends."

Detroit, where no one ever dies.

[garbon]

huzzah!

[Savonarola]

The pension fund can't be mismanaged   The trustees took trips to Abu Dhabi and Hawaii to learn how to manage the fund.

Orr: Mismanagement must be 'overwhelming' for pension takeover

Detroit— Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr said Wednesday he would need "overwhelming" evidence of alleged waste and investment mismanagement within city pension funds before he would consider taking control of a retirement system worth more than $5 billion.

Orr is awaiting final results of a joint investigation by the city's auditor and inspector generals and an analysis of the retirement system's financial health before deciding whether he should oust pension fund members — an option available to him under Michigan's emergency manager law.

The joint audit and an actuarial analysis are due soon and could trigger a dramatic state-orchestrated takeover of the pension funds, which are the city's largest creditors and among its biggest adversaries in the historic bankruptcy case.

Calling it an "extraordinary remedy," Orr said Wednesday he wants to see a final analysis of whether the pension funds can meet long-term obligations to retirees and review documents and accusations that the funds have been mismanaged and heavily rely on risky real estate investments.

"By the time I make a decision, I would like to think it's going to be pretty much unassailable," Orr told The Detroit News during a wide-ranging interview Wednesday. "There's going to be calls of breaking into autonomy and this is all a subterfuge. And I just didn't want to spend a whole lot of time having that kind of a debate. I want the data and the evidence of support, quite frankly, to be overwhelming."

Both pension funds are challenging the city's eligibility to receive Chapter 9 bankruptcy relief and contend Orr inflates their level of underfunding by $2 billion as a way to extract deep cuts from 23,500 pensioners.

The 2012 emergency manager law empowers state Treasurer Andy Dillon to authorize Orr to remove trustees of the pension boards if Orr can prove the pension funds are less than 80 percent funded.

Orr would not reveal details of the joint audit, which he said it could be ready for release later this week. He said the audits do not contain shocking new details or conclusions.

"At this point, nothing shocks me," Orr said. "I am willing to expect anything — a cow can jump over the moon."

'Learned from history'
In recent years, Detroit's two pension funds have been embroiled in a federal criminal probe, while having to fend off complaints about lousy real estate investments and lavish travel for trustees.

Some of the most salacious accusations involving the pension fund are listed in a federal indictment against six former city and pension fund officials, including former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's fraternity brother, ex-Treasurer Jeffrey Beasley.

The indictment alleges a bribery and kickback scandal involving pension officials and businessmen. The scandal led to the pension funds losing more than $84 million on allegedly corrupt investments during Kilpatrick's tenure, according to the indictment.

One former Detroit Police & Fire pension trustee, Paul Stewart, allegedly received a $5,000 casino chip bribe, a Christmas basket stuffed with cash, $2,500 during a trip to New York City and $2,500 during a trip to Florida and trips to the Bahamas and Naples, Fla., with his mistress, all from people doing business with the pension fund, according to the indictment.

But two pension fund trustees said Wednesday said they've changed the way the funds operate to be more transparent and ethical.

"The feds have vetted that system and nailed those guys back in the Kilpatrick administration, and it's still well funded," said George Orzech, chairman of the Detroit Police & Fire Retirement System.

Mark Diaz, vice chairman of the police and fire fund, said it's wrong for Orr to imply past corruption has continued with "an entirely different board with a wholly new ethics policy."

"That's seven, six years old," Diaz said of past graft. "We learned from history. That's why we have a different board."

If Orr elected to take control of the pensions, he would be in the unusual position of "negotiating with himself" in bankruptcy, said Brian O'Keefe, attorney for two city retiree associations.

"That would put him in a huge trick box," O'Keefe said. "He is probably going to have to do some factual investigation and quite a bit more analysis before he determines he has the authority or moral high ground to take over those systems."

Underfunding disputed
On Wednesday, Orr refused to back off estimates that the pension funds are underfunded by $3.5 billion — a claim disputed by the retirement system.

"An argument could be made that it could be higher," Orr said. "Make it $2 billion or $1 billion. So what? We still don't have it. The $3.5 billion is a valid figure of what we think both funds are going to need to meet obligations in the future."

The Police & Fire Retirement System's actuary said as of last year the fund was 96 percent funded with a $147 million shortfall.

Orr has threatened to stick the police and firefighters with their numbers, potentially diminishing the amount of money the pension system could claim in the city's proposed debt settlement in bankruptcy.

The Detroit General Retirement System has acknowledged being 77 percent funded, with an $829 million unfunded liability. Orr's consultants at the Seattle firm Milliman estimate the fund is actually $2 billion short of what's needed to pay retirees and 65 percent funded.

"Our own internal audits and reviews continue to confirm that the Detroit General Retirement System is on sound footings," said Tina Bassett, spokeswoman for the pension fund.

Bassett added the General Retirement System's board has "taken proactive actions to ensure that there is no waste or abuse of retirement system funds."

 
Detroit News Staff Writer
Christine Ferretti contributed.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130829/METRO01/308290042#ixzz2dOHdeeTc

I should have rushed Kwame Kilpatrick's Fraternity.   

[jimmy olsen]

Somehow I don't think this is an option for us Languish educators.   

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/08/28/detroit-teachers-moonlight-as-sugar-babies-to-offset-wage-cuts/

Detroit Teachers Moonlight As 'Sugar Babies' To Offset Wage Cuts
August 28, 2013 11:20 AM

DETROIT (WWJ) - It's back-to-school season and many Detroit teachers are struggling in the wake of budget cuts and overcrowded classrooms.

According to the National School Supply and Equipment Association, the average teacher spent at least $485 on school supplies for their classroom last year.

So, what are some Detroit women doing to offset their struggles in the classroom? Well, they're becoming "sugar babies" of course —  seeking financial assistance from wealthy men online.

In the Detroit School District alone, more than 200 teachers are moonlighting as sugar babies to offset wage cuts and job losses, according to dating website SeekingArrangement.com. How do they know? The website tallied up all the females registered in Detroit who list "teacher" as their occupation.

Brandon Wade, the website's founder and CEO, said the average public school teacher registered on the site is between the ages of 28- and 33-years-old, and asks for approximately $3,000 a month in financial assistance from her sugar daddy.

"You can't expect a teacher to accept less pay for more work than their peers, and then reach into their pockets to fund your child's classroom," Wade said in a statement. "But that's what's happening. If those are the expectations and pressures we are putting on our teachers in America, than they can't possibly be judged for whatever extracurricular activities they choose to pursue to stay afloat."

While the number of Detroit school teachers registered on the website might be shocking to some, it's actually less than the national average. Wade said the Philadelphia City School District has the highest number of teachers registered on the website at 674, followed by Miami-Dade School District with 507.

"A successful man wants an educated woman by his side, and for this reason, a young, attractive teacher can be a valuable commodity," Wade said.

Teachers aren't the only locals trying to find a sugar daddy online. Wade said a majority of the females registered on his website are college students. Earlier this year, Michigan State University made the website's list of colleges with the most sugar babies.

In case you were wondering, the website describes a modern sugar daddy as a successful and generous man who is willing to pamper and offer financial help or gifts to a young person in return for friendship and companionship. A "goal seeking sugar baby" is described on the website as a girl who "know(s) you deserve to date someone who will pamper you, empower you, and help you mentally, emotionally and financially."

[Savonarola]

Boston mayor on Detroit: 'Blow the place up' and 'start all over'

Mayor Dave Bing is criticizing his counterpart in Boston for using "an unfortunate choice of words" when describing what he would do while visiting Detroit.

Bing said in a statement Tuesday that Mayor Thomas Menino should have been more sensitive following the Boston Marathon bombing before telling The New York Times Magazine that he would "blow up" Detroit and "start all over."

Menino also told the magazine that "inaction" and "leadership" are behind some of Detroit's problems, like boarded up buildings, non-working streetlights and lengthy police response times to 911 calls.

Bing says Menino failed to "get his facts right."

Two years ago, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told NBC-TV's "Meet the Press" that Detroit should welcome immigrants to boost the city's shrinking population.

You're hurting their feelings, Tom.   

[jimmy olsen]

Mumbles is the gift that keeps on giving. 

[KRonn]

Mayor Menino is backing off that statement, apologizing. And he better be careful as probably many cities could be heading for a similar fate over time unless they get their house in order. He won't have to worry though as h's leaving office after many years, has been ill and won't be running for re-election.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Mayor Menino is backing off that statement, apologizing. And he better be careful as probably many cities could be heading for a similar fate over time unless they get their house in order. He won't have to worry though as h's leaving office after many years, has been ill and won't be running for re-election.

Well yeah. Now's the time he can make some comments he's been saving up for years.  Boost publicity for hsi book.

[Savonarola]

Detroit has a large farmer's market called Eastern Market.  This is one of the few places in the city where one can buy fresh fruits and vegetables.  During the summer and early fall the state of Michigan offers double value for food stamps at the Eastern Market to assist farmers (agriculture is Michigan's second largest industry) and to encourage residents on food stamps to eat their vegetables. 

This seemed like an intelligent public policy to me, but Detroit being Detroit:

9 charged with food stamp fraud after feds sweep Eastern Market businesses

Detroit — Nine people have been charged in connection with widespread food stamp fraud at Eastern Market and other parts of the city.

The charges, which include six who were arrested, come following a two-day federal sweep this week of businesses where retailers are accused of illegally exchanging cash for food stamp benefits.

According to U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit, individuals known as "runners" would obtain food stamp recipients' Bridge Cards and use them at several stores at the Eastern Market terminal to conduct fraudulent discounting transactions, totaling millions of dollars in the past year.

"Taxpayers in Michigan fund the Food Stamp Program to provide food for the needy, not to create a commodity to be traded for profit," U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said in a statement. "We will work to ensure that food assistance programs are not abused."

The following individuals and Detroit establishments were subjects of the warrants:

■ Frank Paul Buonbrisco of Saint Clair Shores, Eric Lamont Owensby of Romulus and Damon Keith Owensby of Detroit, all managers of Cheech's Chicken Company at 1429 Gratiot Ave., were arrested on criminal complaints charging them with SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) fraud.

■Rassoul Ali Jamil of Dearborn, owner of Gratiot Produce & Grocery at 1429 Gratiot Ave., has been named in a criminal complaint charging him with SNAP fraud.

■Greg King of Detroit, owner of Greg's Pallet Co. at 1483 Winder St., was arrested on a criminal complaint charging him with SNAP fraud and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

■ Anton Vuljaj of Waterford Township, owner of Campus Diner at 5470 Cass Ave., was arrested on a criminal complaint charging him with SNAP Fraud.

■ Ghassan Ghazi Shamoon of Livonia and former manager of Mike's K&G Deli at 15500 East Warren Ave. was arrested on a criminal complaint charging him with SNAP fraud.

■Waleed Hindo of Inkster, manager of Dayton Market at 8002 Dayton St., was arrested on a criminal complaint charging him with SNAP fraud.

■Christopher Stanley Jackson of Detroit, an employee of the Eastern Market Terminal, has been named in a criminal complaint charging him with SNAP fraud.

Also subject to the warrants: Ronnie's Quality Meats, 1429 Gratiot Ave.; Embassy Foods, 2478 Riopelle St.; Ftoni Meat & Produce, 2800 Riopelle St.; Detroit Wholesale Produce, 2614 Riopelle St.

On Tuesday, the Eastern Market area was swarming with local state and federal authorities in marked and unmarked vehicles.

"Law enforcement officials are serving warrants and investigating EBT (food stamp) fraud at individual businesses in the district," said La'Leatha Spillers, spokeswoman for Eastern Market Corp., in a statement on Tuesday. "The investigation does not involve the Eastern Market public market."

Spillers said Eastern Market's "public market EBT and double-up Food Bucks programs are not the subject of the investigation. Tokens for those programs will continue to be distributed and redeemed."

Involved in the extensive sweep was the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General, Internal Revenue Service, Michigan State Police and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations.

The U.S.D.A.'s SNAP program provides food assistance to nearly 47 million people nationwide. In fiscal year 2012, investigators reviewed more than 15,000 stores, conducted almost 4,500 undercover investigations for the fraudulent act of exchanging benefits for cash, known as trafficking.

Investigations led by the U.S.D.A.'s Office of Inspector General resulted in 342 convictions last year.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130919/METRO08/309190087#ixzz2fN1d8KSF

Many of the shops in Eastern Market (as well as the rest of Detroit) are owned by first generation Americans; hence the ethnic names on the warrants.

CB and I used to go to Eastern Market every Saturday when we lived in Detroit.  I was relieved that no one that I knew on the list.  (I've probably met the owner of the Campus Diner.  That's actually at Wayne State several miles from Eastern Market.)