Detroit may sell Rackham Golf Course

Golf - Photo by C. Flart

In yesterday's issue of The Detroit News, the City of Detroit is considering the possibility of selling or otherwise disposing of the Rackham Golf Course in Huntington Woods. The revenue generated from such a sale, according to the article, would be used to renovate the public golf courses at Rouge Park and at Chandler Park, which is on the east side of Detroit.

I want to say that I fully support this idea. In fact, I proposed something similar to this five years ago when the City of Detroit was on its way into bankruptcy. My original post on the subject is available here.

The Rackham Golf Course in Huntington Woods is a marvelous facility. It's a tremendous course that golfers love to play and a beautiful piece of local history. It is, however, located in Huntington Woods; not Detroit.

The public golf courses at Rouge Park and Chandler Park, in my opinion, should be a much higher priority for the City of Detroit than such a facility in the suburbs.

I applaud Mayor Mike Duggan and his administration for considering this idea. I encourage the various members of the Detroit City Council to support this idea.

Warrendale on Detroit Public Television

Back in May of this year, I was interviewed by a crew from Detroit Public Television about life in the Warrendale neighborhood. This was part of a larger series that DPTV did on Detroit's neighborhoods post-bankruptcy.

The clip on Warrendale aired on the American Black Journal recently. It is currently available on Detroit Public Television's YouTube channel and is embedded above.

I couldn't help but notice that the segment on Warrendale has received more YouTube views than anything else that DPTV has posted. I think that is a good indicator of the fact that there is an audience that wants to see more of the Warrendale neighborhood.

This blog will return in earnest on Monday, February 1.

Water deal on the line

The deal to create a regional water authority for southeastern Michigan is in trouble, according to published news reports. The City of Detroit's bankruptcy plan called for such an authority to be created no later than June 14. Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel doesn't appear inclined to go along with it.

If Hackel doesn't like the deal, that's between him and the people of Macomb County. I'm okay with this deal falling apart.

If there is no deal on a regional water authority then there is nothing to prevent the City of Detroit to retain ownership of that portion of water system that is within its city limits but sell the suburban portion of it. Such a sale would not only remove the water system's debt from the City's books, it would likely also leave us with more than $1 billion in cash.

The cash from such a sale could then be used to pay down some of the other debt that Detroiters carry - either debt from the City of Detroit itself or from the Detroit Public Schools. Either way, paying down our debts would enable us to lower our property taxes.

And lower property taxes - either as reduction in debt service levied by the City of Detroit or a reduction in what the Detroit Public Schools levy - would be welcome in a city like Detroit which has the highest taxes in Michigan.

If Hackel isn't happy with the regional water deal, that's between him and the people of Macomb County. I simply hope that Mayor Mike Duggan, Councilman Gabe Leland, and the other members of the City Council use this opening as a chance to advance the interests of our residents.

Let the deal fall through, if Hackel continues to object.

Sell the portion of our water system that is in the suburbs to any number of private investors.

Use the proceeds from such a sale to pay down debts - for either the City of Detroit or the Detroit Public Schools.

Once the debt is paid down, lower the debt service levy on Detroiter's property taxes.

The choice is clear. The only question that remains is: what will Detroit's leadership do?

Detroit moves forward with bankruptcy

The City of Detroit will be moving forward through the Chapter 9 Bankruptcy process thanks to a ruling issued this morning by Judge Steven Rhodes. The City will now have to negotiated a plan of adjustment with its approximately 100,000 creditors to whom it collectively owes $18.5 billion.

I have argued for years that the City of Detroit faced financial problems that were simply too big to be addressed anywhere other in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. While no one should be happy that we as a community are collectively in this position, I believe the fact that it is moving forward offers compelling hope for better days to come.

In a prepared statement, Mayor-Elect Mike Duggan said in part:

I'm going to do everything I can to advocate on behalf of Detroit's future in this process. We need to make sure the retirees are treated fairly on the pensions they earned and we need to make certain we come out of bankruptcy in a way we can afford to provide the quality of city services the people of Detroit deserve.

I believe this is the perfect balance between two competing priorities. We as a community have a moral obligation to ensure that pensioners and other creditors are treated fairly in the process. However, we also need to be able to improve dramatically the quality of city services that Detroit receive on a daily basis.

Real cause of Detroit's bankruptcy

Since July 18, when Kevyn Orr filed for chapter nine bankruptcy protection on behalf of the City of Detroit and made the Motor City the largest municipality to do so, there has been a plethora of pundits who have offered their own theories about why our city went bust. According to a columnist at Forbes, for example, Detroit's bankruptcy is the result of former President Richard Nixon abolishing the gold standard in 1971. Steve Dibert at MFI-Miami, however, blames a large chunk of it on credit default swaps and the $5 billion that Detroit lost due to banks manipulating the LIBOR index.

Others targets for blame among the vastness of bankruptcy pundits include:

• Corrupt politicians;
• Racism;
• Urban sprawl;
• Poor management;
• Collapse of American manufacturing;
• General neglect from Lansing and/or Washington;
• High taxes/socialism; and
• Strawberry yogurt.

I, however, blame all of this on the Canadians.

Yes, you read that correctly. I place blame for the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history squarely on the maple syrup-loving shoulders of the Canadian people.

After all, Detroit is the only major American city that is north of Canada. This fact makes us especially vulnerable to their insidious manipulation.

I mean, just think of Canada's impact on our fair city. Hockey Night in Canada shows up on televisions throughout the Motor City. Labatt Beer or Molson Canadian are served in almost every bar in Detroit. Plus, there's the fact that almost every Detroiter has at least a few Canadian coins in their pocket, which undermines our economy.

Yes, I blame Canada for all of the problems that one of this nation's great cities is currently experiencing and I'm not the only one who feels this way. Academy Award winning actor, and Detroit Country Day alumnus, Robin Williams obviously agrees with me on this point.