Message from the director

In late 2011 Governor Rick Snyder appointed me to a panel of Detroit residents charged with determining the city’s true financial situation. We were known as the Financial Review Team, and we found that the city was under significant financial stress, just as the state treasurer’s preliminary assessment had concluded. As expected, the ity’s financial situation continued to deteriorate.

In 2012, the Forum on Contemporary Issues in Society at Wayne State University launched CitizenDetroit, a series of discussions about how our city should allocate its budget and meet its financial obligations. Detroit residents met, listened to each other and worked together, and finally proposed an allocation of resources markedly different from the way in which city leaders had fulfilled their budgetary responsibilities. Notably, the citizens involved actually agreed on a balanced budget, something the city’s leaders had not done for several years. While the proposal for an emergency manager to take over the city’s finances was not universally popular, a number of us publicly called on Governor Rick Snyder to take precisely that step.

Six months ago, the Governor appointed Kevyn Orr as Detroit’s Emergency Financial Manager. In July, Orr approached the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan seeking protection of the city’s assets from its creditors. At that point Detroit was essentially insolvent.

On November 21 , FOCIS presents “Voices from Other Places,” the story of other communities that have suffered or are suffering the same fate as ours. Detroit is not the first American municipality to seek protection under Chapter 9 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code, just the largest and most recent. Since 2010, more than a half-dozen municipalities have traveled the same rocky path. I hope their experiences can help us successfully navigate through this extraordinary disruption in the life of our city and begin to launch Detroit’s true renaissance.

Our discussions should be both informative and enlightening. Enjoy the program!

Irvin D. Reid

Director, FOCIS