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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
untanglingwebs schreef:
Bankruptcy would not eliminate the pension problem and only incur long financially exhaustive court battles.
Could we unincorporate? Is there any feasible way we can continue as a city while supporting 1000 or so retirees? |
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Mon Nov 14, 2011 7:50 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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These are called legacy costs and the City has been dealing with them for many years. Three Hurley unions split off from the pension fund and moved to the state system several years ago because of the fears about Flint's pension fund. Also Hurley wanted to decrease the amount they were required to pay in.
I don't remember the fund ever being this low on funding.
This is a national issue and there are specific laws regarding pensions. maybe someone with experience in this area can respond. |
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Mon Nov 14, 2011 8:20 am |
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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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| Neeley made a motion and Sarginson seconded the motion to fight to save Flint. Every other council member voted against them. |
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Adam
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Mysearchisover.com
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FB
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Mon Nov 14, 2011 9:08 pm |
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Adam
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I filed recall language against Josh.
Joshua M. Freeman failed to ensure that the City of Flint was financially stable. He also failed to take the necessary steps to avoid a state takeover. |
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Adam
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FB
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Wed Nov 16, 2011 5:21 pm |
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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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Wed Nov 16, 2011 7:41 pm |
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00SL2
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Adam schreef:
I filed recall language against Josh.
Joshua M. Freeman failed to ensure that the City of Flint was financially stable. He also failed to take the necessary steps to avoid a state takeover.
You're wasting your breath. None of the administration took the necessary steps to avoid a state takeover--long ago when they should have. It's far too late now. Best to let the state take over to see if they can straighten out the mess. There are too many fingers in the pie now, and some of those who could have assisted with information are gone! Conveniently, for Eason and Walling. |
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Wed Nov 16, 2011 7:55 pm |
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Adam
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Fri Nov 25, 2011 5:31 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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| Adam you need to read the report. It is so bad the state said they would not agree to a consent order. Also the state is on the hook for the NSP 2 money being used for Smith Village if walling has misused it. It would appear that he has. |
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Fri Nov 25, 2011 6:16 pm |
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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
untanglingwebs schreef:
Adam you need to read the report. It is so bad the state said they would not agree to a consent order. Also the state is on the hook for the NSP 2 money being used for Smith Village if walling has misused it. It would appear that he has.
After the state cuts our police department perhaps even fire department as well as the Ombudsman department and a few other things they might be able to pay some things with Flint's money. Did you read the report where it said Flint is unwilling to make necessary cuts and stick to deficit reduction plans? |
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Sat Nov 26, 2011 10:23 am |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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| It takes willpower to make the cuts, something the administration and council lack. |
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I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Sat Nov 26, 2011 12:57 pm |
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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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Tue Nov 29, 2011 2:46 pm |
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Adam
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Fri Dec 02, 2011 10:14 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Conyers asks Holder to review constitutionality of Michigan emergency manager law
Published: Friday, December 02, 2011, 7:53 AM Updated: Friday, December 02, 2011, 10:06 AM
By Jonathan Oosting | MLive.com
Follow
AP File PhotoHouse Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers (D-Detroit).
U.S. Rep. John Conyers is calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to review, monitor and potentially challenge the constitutionality of Michigan's emergency manager law.
Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, made his request in a letter to Holder on Thursday after news broke that Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is preparing to launch a preliminary review of Detroit's finances, the first step in a multi-month process that could lead to the appointment of an emergency manager.
"While I fully appreciate the magnitude of the fiscal crisis impacting the City of Detroit, there are less disruptive and lawful means of resolving the crisis, other than eliminating the very right and protections our nation was founded on -- democracy, the right to vote, and the right to contract," he wrote.
Public Act 4, Michigan's newly-strengthened EM law backed by Snyder and the Republican legislature, provides emergency managers with broad powers to break union contracts and dissolve elected bodies. But as the Snyder administration is quick to point out, it also includes several early warning mechanisms designed to help cities avoid the type of financial crisis that would warrant intervention.
Conyers asked Holder to consider two separate constitutional issues: Whether the law violates the Contract Clause by allowing EM's to terminate collective bargaining rights and whether is violates Article 4, Section 4 that provides for a republican form of government.
"The Supreme Court has previously held that this clause guarantees the people the right to a democratically elected form of government," he wrote. "It goes without saying that appointing an unelected manager in place of an elected mayor, city council and other public officials would be totally anithetical to the concept of democracy."
Conyers also suggested the state may be violating the Voting Rights Act by applying the EM law "in a discriminatory fashion" in cities such as Benton Harbor, Flint and Pontiac that have high proportions of black residents and other minorities.
Separately, a public-interest law center earlier this year filed a lawsuit on behalf of Michigan citizens challenging the constitutionality of Public Act 4. In a show of conficence, Snyder requested the case be fast-tracked to the Michigan Supreme Court, which is considering weather to hear arguments.
A preliminary review would not guarantee a financial manager for Detroit, and Snyder continues to say he would rather avoid having to make such an appointment. But with Mayor Dave Bing declaring a financial crisis and telling residents the city could run out of cash, the governor is poised to launch a review.
"The governor feels strongly that he has a responsibility to protect the citizens of Detroit and Michigan and to act and conduct this preliminary review if necessary," spokeswoman Sara Wurfel told MLive.com. |
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Fri Dec 02, 2011 10:19 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Conyers questions emergency manager law
Posted on December 2, 2011 by system
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. John Conyers asked the nation’s top law enforcement officer Thursday to review Michigan’s new emergency manager law with an eye toward blocking any move Gov. Rick Snyder makes to put an unelected official in place in Detroit who could break local contracts and supersede elected city officials.
Conyers, a Detroit Democrat, sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder questioning the constitutionality of the law passed by the Legislature earlier this year just as it appears Snyder could be preparing to begin a review of Detroit’s finances — the first step toward possible appointment of an emergency manager under the statute.
The Justice Department had no immediate response, but Snyder is confident in the law’s constitutionality, spokeswoman Sara Wurfel wrote in an e-mail to the Free Press.
Conyers argued that the law violates the contract clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Article 1, Section 10 of the Constitution states in part that “No state shall … pass any Bill … or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts.” As passed, the Michigan law allows the emergency manager “sole discretion” to alter or terminate a contract — including those with local public employee unions or with contractors or vendors — if a “prompt and satisfactory resolution is unlikely to be obtained.”
Conyers also said it seems the law is “being applied in a discriminatory fashion” in Michigan municipalities with large African-American populations.
“It goes without saying that appointing an unelected manager in the place of an elected Mayor, City Council and other public officials would be totally antithetical to the concept of democracy,” he wrote.
Wurfel said Snyder “feels strongly that we have a responsibility to the citizens and taxpayers of struggling communities and our overall state, and that we simply can’t ignore these fiscal crises of communities or school districts and allow them (to) go into bankruptcy.”
This entry was posted in Michigan Legal News and tagged Law, Michigan. Bookmark the permalink |
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Fri Dec 02, 2011 10:22 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Groups gather to fight emergency manager law
Dec. 3, 2011 |
Invoking the 1960s struggle for unfettered voting rights for African Americans, Detroit-area union leaders, community organizers and elected officials rallied Friday to urge more people to sign petitions to overturn the state's emergency manager law.
The rally was held just as word came from Lansing that state Treasurer Andy Dillon was moving forward with a financial review of Detroit's finances -- which could lead to the state's appointment of an emergency manager.
The leaders spoke in blunt terms, calling Republican Gov. Rick Snyder an ultraconservative with an agenda to weaken unions and give corporations huge tax breaks, while slashing benefits for poor people. They said Snyder was out to strip Detroiters of their right to elect officials to represent them.
"Let this be the last time we have to go back 50 years to protect our rights," Richard Mack Jr., a Detroiter and lawyer for the Miller Cohen firm, told a gathering of residents, union members and community groups at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 25 hall downtown.
"We're not going to let anybody come in and take over our city," Herb Sanders, the union's legal director, said as he urged Detroiters to sign and gather signatures to put the campaign against the emergency manager over the number of signatures it needs -- 161,000 -- to suspend the law. Sanders said organizers had gathered 155,000 signatures as of Friday.
It wasn't clear whether the effort would succeed before Snyder decides whether to appoint an emergency manager for Detroit, but Mack said he believes Snyder's office stepped up its efforts knowing the campaign to fight the law was nearing its signature-gathering goal.
The Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit Branch NAACP, said anyone who believes an emergency manager is inevitable without a fight is mistaken.
"If that were the case, we would still be on the plantation," Anthony said, asking why the state has appointed emergency managers for Ecorse, Pontiac, Benton Harbor and Flint -- cities largely populated by people of color -- but declined to review finances of two communities that are mostly white people: Allen Park and Jackson. The Detroit Public Schools district also is under an emergency manager.
Representatives of the Sugar Law Center and the National Lawyers Guild also spoke at the rally, joined by state representatives and senators who represent Detroit, City Councilwomen Brenda Jones and JoAnn Watson; and Isaac Roberston, a staffer of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, a Detroit Democrat, who has asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to review the legality of Michigan's emergency manager law.
Opponents of the manager law, Public Act 4, approved this year by Snyder and the GOP-controlled Legislature, said the act undermines protections guaranteed by the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 that outlawed poll taxes, literacy tests and other discriminatory efforts used to prevent blacks from voting.
"If democracy fails in Detroit, it fails in Michigan," said Brandon Jessup, chairman of the Stand Up for Democracy coalition that has been leading the petition drive.
Contact Matt Helms: 313-222-1450 or mhelms@freepress.com |
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Sat Dec 03, 2011 8:40 pm |
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