Jump to content

Orr apologizes for 'dumb, lazy' Detroit comments


Recommended Posts

DETROIT -- The city's emergency manager issued his first public apology Wednesday for calling the city "dumb, lazy, happy and rich."

Kevyn Orr addressed the issue to the reporting staff at WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) for the first time since his comments to Wall Street Journal editorial writer Allysia Finley, which appeared online Aug. 2 and in the Aug. 3 print version of the newspaper.

 

Orr's description of Detroit originally appeared in the article "Kevyn Orr: How Detroit Can Rise Again."

"For a long time the city was dumb, lazy, happy and rich," he was quoted as saying. "Detroit has been the center of more change in the 20th Century than I dare say virtually any other city, but that wealth allowed us to have a covenant (that held) if you had an eighth-grade education, you'll get 30 years of a good job and a pension and great health care, but you don't have to worry about what's going to come."

 

The comments caused controversy in the city where he's trying to negotiate $18 billion owed to bondholders, pensioners and others as the city goes through municipal bankruptcy. Orr later said he was talking about the city's politics, not the people who live there. Retirees marched at Detroit City Hall, demanding an apology; others, such as the Detroit NAACP, called for his resignation.

The Rev. Wendell Anthony, the president of the local NAACP, said Orr took too long to make the apology and didn't sound sincere.

"As a pastor, I do believe in the Christian ethic of forgiveness," said Anthony, reached Wednesday night. "That ethic presupposes that any apology comes from a position of sincerity and an expressed conviction that what was done was wrong.

"For those of us in Detroit to be characterized as dumb, lazy, happy, trying to get rich with a minimum of education — many people with less than a high school education helped build this country. It tears me apart when the apologist says he is offended because the people he offended were offended. I mean, what in heaven are you talking about?

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/15/orr-apologizes-for-dumb-lazy-detroit-comments/2658515/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really?

The city was able to reduce expenses as needed as the economy collapsed and businesses failed, resulting in reduced tax revenues? So the city managers were fully authorized to cut hours, benefits, wages and employment levels to match the revenues available without extending debts?

Really.

The unions didn't bankrupt the city. The city was allowed to do whatever they agreed to in the contracts. Much of what you suggested was impractical as the need for services was still spread out over the entire city.

 

Infrastructure still needs to be maintained, police and fire presence still have to be maintained also and reductions occured as could happen. You have to have a certain presence or your not able to serve or protect.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really.

The unions didn't bankrupt the city. The city was allowed to do whatever they agreed to in the contracts. Much of what you suggested was impractical as the need for services was still spread out over the entire city.

 

Infrastructure still needs to be maintained, police and fire presence still have to be maintained also and reductions occured as could happen. You have to have a certain presence or your not able to serve or protect.

Geesh! Go back and read my post regarding city managers being blackmailed into agreeing to union demands to prevent strikes. Sure, they could do what the contract allowed them to do.....and was signed at the point of a (virtual) gun.

 

I have no doubt those contracts specifically prevented them from making cuts to prevent bankruptcy when the house of cards fell apart. And the unions were first to object to the prospect of bankruptcy because it could mean cuts in their benefits and pay as part of the bankruptcy plan.

 

If you think those union contracts had NO effect on the millions of debt burden the city had to take on and that led to the collapse, you are brainwashed.

Edited by FiredMotorCompany
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What Orr said was the truth. Plain and simple. If you look at it from a non-political, non-personal spectrum. it is fact that the city has always had this arrogant condescending "we're better than you" attitude. And guess what? That came back and knocked them on their ass.

 

It's astonishing to continue to see such complacency in the entire region. Drive around and see the boarded up businesses, houses, the cars, trucks, boats, and other toys up for sale at such ridiculous high prices.

 

And the news media still loves to feed horseshit to it's readers and viewers that "the economy is getting better..."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Geesh! Go back and read my post regarding city managers being blackmailed into agreeing to union demands to prevent strikes. Sure, they could do what the contract allowed them to do.....and was signed at the point of a (virtual) gun.

 

I have no doubt those contracts specifically prevented them from making cuts to prevent bankruptcy when the house of cards fell apart. And the unions were first to object to the prospect of bankruptcy because it could mean cuts in their benefits and pay as part of the bankruptcy plan.

 

If you think those union contracts had NO effect on the millions of debt burden the city had to take on and that led to the collapse, you are brainwashed.

 

Of course there are limits to everything, but the debt load on the city isn't just because of it's ability to downsize in the recent years, because they did attempt to downsize and that brought further problems.

 

You can see the problem with downsizing and cutting wages right? It's a downward cycle that feeds on itself, allowing for increased crime and forcing workers to leave for greener pastures, which only makes reducing crime even harder. Then you spread the reduced force out across the same distance and that limits your ability further.

 

The single greatest contributor to the downfall of Detroit is the loss of capital. That is the loss of business as it looked for areas with more room for physical growth and the middle class as it moved into the suburbs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

 

The single greatest contributor to the downfall of Detroit is the loss of capital. That is the loss of business as it looked for areas with more room for physical growth and the middle class as it moved into the suburbs.

 

Partially true. Busnesses left the Detroit metro area for one primary reason and that reason was a progressive liberal city government that loved to burden business with ever larger tax burdens. It doesn't matter if you want to accept it or not Langston, the reality of Detroit is that it's downfall is attributable directly to liberal democrat run government.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Partially true. Busnesses left the Detroit metro area for one primary reason and that reason was a progressive liberal city government that loved to burden business with ever larger tax burdens. It doesn't matter if you want to accept it or not Langston, the reality of Detroit is that it's downfall is attributable directly to liberal democrat run government.

I'm not sure that you understand modern manufacturing. If you look at Detroit today you can see two different plants. The first is the derelict Packard plant. It's a 40 acre site that was built in the early 1900's. Then there's the Poletown plant which was built in the 80's, during the Liberal occupation of government. It's 362 acres and was the subject of lawsuits because residents and business did mot want to move. Eventually eminent domain won after going all the way to the state supreme court.

 

I say this too illustrate a point. Ford expanded throughout the suburbs in the 50's-60's and those plants required much larger plots of land with the ability to expand the physical plant as needed. This wasn't readily available in Detroit. In these small suburbs it was easier to get land as it was less developed and cheaper. Like most things the downfall of Detroit doesn't fit your ideology.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The single greatest contributor to the downfall of Detroit is the loss of capital. That is the loss of business as it looked for areas with more room for physical growth and the middle class as it moved into the suburbs.
I assume you really meant to say "loss of tax revenue".

 

IMHO, the real cause was the city officials not properly restructuring costs to reflect this loss of revenue.

 

 

Look at Livonia. Within the past 10+ years, 3 GM facilities closed (Fisher Body on Plymouth Road, Parts Distribution on Schoolcraft and Levan, Powertrain on Middlebelt between Plymouth Road and Schoolcraft) . Numerous other companies, large and small, closed their doors during the Recession. There are many empty industrial and retail buildings. Yet the city is surviving because they have managed their budget !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I assume you really meant to say "loss of tax revenue".

 

IMHO, the real cause was the city officials not properly restructuring costs to reflect this loss of revenue.

 

 

Look at Livonia. Within the past 10+ years, 3 GM facilities closed (Fisher Body on Plymouth Road, Parts Distribution on Schoolcraft and Levan, Powertrain on Middlebelt between Plymouth Road and Schoolcraft) . Numerous other companies, large and small, closed their doors during the Recession. There are many empty industrial and retail buildings. Yet the city is surviving because they have managed their budget !

 

I was intrigued by your post and i suspected that those plants had some sort of abatement so i went to the city's budget webpage and found that despite small dips during the recession that basically the non-residential tax revenue stayed roughly the same over the past 10 years. Between 10 million and 11 million with the percentage of the budget staying close throughout the years also.

 

I didn't go through the whole 300+ pages to see what if any abatement's there were, but using my own experience at Ford as a guide it's a safe bet that they do have them. Now losing those plants would effect charges for services like water/sewer and possibly other payments but it seems that they replaced the revenue as it hasn't dropped dramatically.

 

 

While it's easy to say tax revenue, that is not the whole story on loss of capital. That is to say that not only did they lose that, they lost human capital too. As the city shrunk in numbers of people and business they lost more than just a tax revenue. Not only was there less money but there was less effort. A lot of little odds and ends are picked up in communities by those that live there allowing for growth. Groups gather to help take care of parks/ball fields, do clean ups at other areas and generally provide a small volunteer workforce to augment what cities and towns can't do. This helps keep up home values and increase tax revenue too.

 

I don't know if your familiar with the city but as the revenues have dropped, the cuts have left many smaller areas without basic maintenance and that contributes further to a decline in property values and tax revenue. It's a cycle that can't be overcome by the too few people stepping up to try to help as the loss of capital both monetary and human is too large.

 

As the auto industry pushed outside of Detroit and into the suburbs they took not only tax revenue but they took the people that provide the human capital. Not to mention the dollars that sustain current business and drive future ones. The loss of all the people and business left Detroit to struggle.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...