The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, December 9, 2013 - SA
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, December 9, 2D13 - 5A
ORR
From Page 1A
cal to the history of the state,
country and world, as it was cen-
tral to the origin of the organized
labor movement, the expansion
of the middle class and the birth
of cars, commuting and transpor-
tation.
The most elemental com-
ponent of the city's financial
distress, Orr said, is its rapid
population decline. Once a city of
1.8 million residents in the 1950s,
Detroit's population is now just
over 700,000 and the city has lost
close to 240,000 residents in the
last decade alone.
Compounding the popula-
tion decline is Detroit's physi-
cal enormity: the entire cities of
New York City, Boston and San
Francisco can fit inside Detroit's
139-square-mile border. While
the city's revenue stream from
property and income taxes has
shrunk because of the dwindling
population, the city remains as
geographically large. Thus, the
costs to maintain city infrastruc-
ture and services remain the
same while the budget to fund it
continues to shrink.
This dynamic has created a
complex accumulation of chal-
lenges for the city to provide its
essential services. For instance,
the city can afford to keep just 60
percent of its street lamps lit on
any given day - leading to a host
of problems for law enforcement
and emergency services.
"Turn a city dark, you will see
. crime," Orr said. "It's very sim-
ple."
The city's rising crime rate is
also driven by "economic dispar-
ity, hopelessness and helpless-
ness," Orr said. Yet thanks to the
city's vast size and decreased
police force, it often takes close to
an hour for authorities to respond
to emergencies.
Another persistent issue is
the city's bus system, which Orr
says reaches its routes on time at
just a 65-percent rate. The pub-
lit school system does not have
its own buses, so young children
ride the city buses to and from
school, enduring long wait times
in the cold, unlit and crime-rid-
den streets - a combination that
Orr worries is a detriment to edu-
cation.
In addition to detailing the
flawed distribution of services,
Orr also outlined the extent of
the city's $18 billion in debt obli-
gations, which, if not addressed
soon, could make the financial
situation even worse. Private
enterprise secures $6 billion
of that debt, and most of the
remaining $12 billion is related to
employmentcand retiree cost: $5.7
billion for health care costs for
retirees, $3.5 billion for unfunded
pension obligations, and $1.4 bil-
lion in bond debt used to pay into
the pension system.
As difficult as it is to accept,
Orr said the city has no choice but
to readjust and reduce its finan-
cial obligations, meaning that
many pensioners will not receive
the retirement income they were
once promised.
These tough choices underlie
the enormity of Orr's task. Unlike
the bankruptcy and restructur-
ing process in the private sector
- Orr also represented Chrysler
LLC when it filed for Chapter 11
in 2009 - there is a human ele-
ment inherent to these proceed-
ings.
Orr's address laid the frame-
work for the rest of the conference
held by the Detroit Revitalization
& Business Initiative, a student-
run organization in the Business
School whose mission is to help
students learn about Detroit,
engage with the community and
commit to contributing to its
revitalization.
"(Orr) really was able to con-
nect the hard, cold numerical
facts with the real human truths
of the challenges facing Detroit,"
Business graduate student Nir-
mal Deshpande said. "It puts
what we're learning here into a
very clear context."
The theme of Friday's con-
ference was "Growth and
Regrowth," exploring the new
industries that will drive the city
and investigating how to reinvig-
orate the traditional sectors that
made the city strong. The confer-
ence, which was attended mostly
by graduate business students,
included panels on the inter-
section between education and
business, as well as a forum for
students interested in working in
the city upon graduation.
"As a lot of us try to figure out
where we're going to settle, it
makes you think twice about, 'Do
I wantto go to Chicago, doI want
to go to New York, (or) do I want
to go be involved in a new revital-
ization (in Detroit),"' Deshpande
said.
Faculty, as well as students,
seemed to view Orr's address
positively.
Business lecturer Peter Allen
said in an e-mail interview that
he was impressed with Orr's
resolve to have a two-year budget
and 10-year projection in place by
the time his appointment ends 10
months from now, and was also
pleased with Orr's apparent will-
ingness to work in concert with
the city's elected officials.
Emergency financial manag-
ers have been criticized by many
for having too much power and
being able to override the power
of elected officials.
"Overall, if I were a Detroit
investor, I would feel very com-
fortable making an investment
today," Allen wrote.
The attendees' seeming-
ly favorable reaction to Orr's
remarks reflect that, while
unequivocal in his assessment of
the city's fiscal state, he was able
to inject a dose of optimism as
well.
"At the end of the day, there
are twothings I have to leave this
process with," Orr said. "A city
that functions effectively and
some semblance of hope that peo-
ple who depend on these services
to live, will be able to live out rest
of their lives with some form of
dignity and hope."
Mourners pray and sing to celebrate the life of Nelson Mandela outside his old house in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa
South Africans odda
of prayer for Mandela
South Africans of
all faiths pray
for Mandela
CAPE TOWN, South Africa
(AP) - In death, Nelson Mandela
unified South Africans of all races
and backgrounds Sunday on a day
of prayer for the global statesman
- from a vaulted cathedral with
hymns and incense to a rural,
hilltop church with goat-skin
drums and barefoot dancing.
Mandela was remembered
in old bedrocks of resistance to
white domination as well as for-
mer bastions of loyalty to apart-
heid.
"May his long walk to freedom
be enjoyed and realized in our
time by all of us," worshippers
said in a prayer at the majestic
St. George's Cathedral in Cape
Town, where the first white
settlers arrived centuries ago
aboard European ships.
South Africa's reflection on
Mandela's astonishing life was a
prelude to a massive memorial in
a Johannesburg stadium Tues-
day that will draw world leaders
and luminaries. They will gather
to mourn, but also to salute the
achievements ofthe prisoner who
became president and an emblem
of humanity's best instincts.
The extended farewell - a
bittersweet mix of grief and cel-
ebration - ends Dec. 15, when
Mandela is to be buried in his
rural hometown of Qunu in East-
ern Cape province.
The anti-apartheid campaign-
er wanted to die in those mod-
est, traditional surroundings;
instead, he died Thursday at age
95 in his home in an exclusive
Johannesburg area. He was sur-
rounded by family after months
of a debilitating illness that
required the constant care of a
team of doctors.
Family friend Bantu Holomisa
told The Associated Press that
Mandela wasn't on life support in
his final hours. He appeared to be
sleeping calmly but it was obvi-
ous that he was finally succumb-
ing, added Holomisa, who said
he saw Mandela about two hours
before his death.
"I've seen people who are on
their last hours and I could sense
that he is now giving up," said
Holomisa, who is the leader of
the United Democratic Move-
ment in parliament.
"You could see it is not Madi-
ba anymore," Holomisa added,
using Mandela's clan name.
The government and Man-
dela's family have revealed few
details about Mandela's death.
Ahmed Kathrada, who was
sentenced to life in prison with
Mandela in 1964, said he was
informed shortly before Mande-
la's death that his old friend had
little time left.
Kathrada said Graca Machel,
Mandela's wife, conveyed the
message to him through another
person that Mandela "will be
leaving us that night" and "the
doctors have said, 'Anytime."'
COUZENS collected, and they're always programs including caroling at
full," Chochla said. "We usually St. Joseph's Hospital in Ypsilanti
From Page 1A remove the gifts for the night so and decorating cookies at the
each day there is a huge amount Ronald McDonald house near
only about 40 tags remained of gifts that get turned in." Mary Markley Residence Hall.
unclaimed. Although this is the Giving The organization is planning sev-
"Every day I pass by the yel- Tree program's first year, the eral other charitable events for
low bins where the gifts are being club participates in outreach the holiday season.
C4l A.idiigan Batl
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