— like health care for retirees —
which totaled $5 billion.
Detroit’s two pension plans
accumulated $3.5 billion in
debt obligations Rhodes said.
Bond debt was another factor,
estimated between $500 million
and $1 billion when the city filed
for bankruptcy.
“I
assumed
one
way
or
another the debt would get
worked out in the bankruptcy
process,” Rhodes said. “What
really concerned me was the
anger of the people of the city.”
Many
Detroiters
were
angry their city’s bankruptcy
proceedings were being handled
by an unelected emergency
manager,
University
alum
Kevyn
Orr,
whom
Rhodes
said the people believed had
unlawfully
displaced
their
elected government.
“They were protesting about
that,” Rhodes said, “There were
demonstrations in the streets.”
Bargain and bankruptcy
Rosen, who served as the
chief
judicial
mediator
for
Detroit’s bankruptcy case, said
in addition to the city’s financial
obligations, there were human
costs to Detroit’s debt.
“Detroit was what municipal
bankruptcy experts refer to as
service, delivery and solve,”
Rosen said. “That means for the
city’s residents, businesses and
visitors, the city really isn’t a
city at all.”
Rosen said prior to the filing,
the city was not effectively
providing basic public safety
services like police, firefighters
and
emergency
medical
services.
“Response time for police was
running close to an hour against
the national average of 11 minute
response times,” Rosen said.
Rosen said 12,000 fires a
year went unanswered, and 40
percent of the city’s roughly
90,000 streetlights were out in
Detroit, leaving large portions
of the city in the dark.
“And of course, criminals
thrive
in
the
darkened
streets,” Rosen said.
Rosen said in 2013, the city
had less than eight weeks of
operating cash when it filed
for bankruptcy. He said time
was running out for Detroit,
and the bargain could not
wait.
Stallworth,
who
represented
Michigan’s
seventh legislative district
during the creation of the
grand bargain, said it was
heavily debated when it was
introduced, and attributed
its success to the strong
leadership in the Senate
and House interested in
putting partisanship aside.
As part of the deal, the state
of Michigan, private donors
and
foundations
cobbled
together $800 million to pay
down the debt. The bargain
also resulted in cuts to
pensions for many retired
city workers.
Pensions
Controversy
surrounded
Detroit’s
eligibility
for
bankruptcy when the General
Retirement
System
and
the Detroit Police and Fire
Retirement Committee argued
that by filing for bankruptcy,
Detroit violated its pension
policies protected under the
state’s constitution.
“The city wasn’t even making
its contributions to the pensions,
and the retirees who had given
their working lives,” Rosen said.
Stallworth said he still gets
targeted by citizens who say
he’s responsible for losing their
pensions, but he is at peace with
his actions during his time.
Approving the grand bargain
required pensioners to approve
reductions to the benefits they
owed as a condition of forgiving
some of the city’s debt.
“When
we
talk
about
outcomes, everyone wants to get
well but nobody wants to take
their medicine,” Stallworth said.
Stallworth said police and
firefighters were not required
to take pension cuts under the
bargain.
The Detroit Institute of Arts
An aim of the bargain was to
preserve the Detroit Institute of
Arts, and rumors circulated that
the museum would be forced to
sell city-owned artwork.
“The art was the only readily
monetized asset, as the only
asset that I, as the mediator, had
available to monetize,” Rosen
said.
However, Rhodes disagreed
that creditors had the potential
to monetize the art outside of
bankruptcy.
“Creditors would not have
access to the art outside of
the
bankruptcy
under
any
circumstance,
and
they
admitted that,” Rhodes said.
Rosen said liquidating the
DIA would be devastating to the
region and the state, however
Rhodes
could
not
override
Orr’s authority as emergency
manager.
“It would suck the life out of
Midtown and create a civil war,”
Rosen said.
Detroit Public Schools
Gadola said the grand bargain
cannot be replicated to address
Detroit’s other issues without
the leverage of an asset like the
DIA.
“The DIA was the lynchpin
of the grand bargain,” Gadola
said.
The panelists discussed how
the bankruptcy had negatively
impacted Detroit Public Schools.
Livengood said bailing out
DPS would require the state to
spend $715 million over 10 years,
doubling the amount of the
grand bargain. DPS currently
faces as $200 million deficit.
“Not only is DPS failing, so
are the charters,” Stallworth
said. “There’s no real question
of who’s to blame.”
In confronting how the debt
affected Detroit Public Schools,
Rhodes said there was nothing
worse than denying there was a
problem.
“Denial is a river in Egypt,”
he said. “Denial can play no
part in the rational solution of
insolvency.”
Rhodes said the city exceeded
its constitutional debt rate, and
raising taxes would not increase
their revenues, but actually
lower them because people
would flee the city.
“Residents
and
businesses
look at cost of living in a city
compared to what services they
get,” Rhodes said. “Detroit was
in no position to compete, let
alone if they raised taxes.”
Livengood said people had to
come to terms with what was
in front of them, facts ignored
by the former Gov. Jennifer
Granholm
administration,
Detroit
residents
and
the
media.
“It was a classic case of a city
that had been mismanaged at
several levels,” Livengood said.
that would never happen, but the
key to preventing something like
that from happening is having
dialogue.”
Jim Baird, interim chief of the
Ann Arbor Police Department,
said fostering police-community
relations is a priority throughout
his time as interim chief.
“I would like to reaffirm our
commitment to continuing the
relationships that we’ve spoken to
already,” he said.
Former AAPD Police Chief
John Seto retired after 25 years
with the AAPD. During the
event, Baird said a new chief of
police would be appointed by the
end of the year.
Attorney Angie Martell raised
the first question of the dialogue,
asking about police confrontations
with Hispanics and transgender
individuals.
Martell
said
she
wants to start a conversation with
police about diversity training.
Baird told the group the AAPD
is working to target these issues.
“We have had a diversity
training and awareness level,
understanding
that
there’s
different perspectives,” Baird said.
“I think that we can take that both
ways so we can get perceptions
of community, especially specific
groups, and understand where
they’re coming from and how
they may experience the contact
of police. We can also educate the
community why we do some of the
things we do.”
The treatment of residents that
may suffer from mental health
issues, such as veterans or autistic
individuals, was also addressed.
Police
leadership
across
the
panel spoke to the issue, telling
attendees they are working hard
to give officers training related to
mental health. Marlene Radzik,
lieutenant with the Washtenaw
County Sheriff’s Department, said
the department is confronting
these issues with extra training.
“We are moving towards crisis
intervention
training,
which
would help train the officers and
allow us to be more capable of
handling situations that involve
mental illness,” Radzik said.
In
November
2014,
Ann
Arbor resident Aura Rosser was
killed by an AAPD officer who
was responding to a domestic
violence call. Rosser reportedly
suffered from mental illness.
After the incident, many Ann
Arbor residents called on the
department to come up with
better protocols for interacting
with residents who may struggle
with mental health issues.
Chuck Warpehoski, Ann
Arbor City Council member
(D–Ward 5), brought up the
mitigation of police bias when
performing arrests.
Local
attorney
Erane
Washington
agreed
with
Warpehoski
that
implicit
biases present a significant
issue in the community. She
asked the panel to address
implicit bias and cultural
competency.
“When
we
talk
about
implicit biases, we’re talking
about a whole gamut of issues,”
Washington said. “I don’t
really know what cultural
competency really means, so
my question for the panel is
to explain in more detail on
what is cultural competency
training.”
Robert
Neumann,
University
of
Michigan
Police Department chief, said
implicit bias is an important
issue for police everywhere.
“Every human being has
implicit bias. No one is free of
some kind of bias,” Neumann
said.
“Part
of
cultural
competency training is helping
everyone
understand
that
they are a product of their
experiences. First, recognizing
that and recognizing that you’re
not above making an unfair
decision based on your implicit
biases.”
Though the forum raised a
lot of topics, Warpehoski said
further discussion is needed
before the relationship of police
and community is where it
should be.
“The challenge of a format
like this is that there’s a little
bit of conversation about a lot of
issues with a lot of jurisdictions,”
Warpehoski said. “We don’t get
the chance to go in depth on any
one of them.”
He said police officers and
community members need to
keep
communications
open
year-round and not just annually
at these forums.
“This
conversation
about
fundamental levels of training
is something that we have
the
opportunity
to
make
right and to make better,”
Warpehoski
said.
“Whether
we’re
dealing
with
mental
illness, dealing with race and
diversity issues, dealing with
conflict resolution, we need
to create a clear standard and
policies. We need a system of
ongoing training where we’re
continuously
working
with
our officers on these specific
issues.”
career thus far, with a torn ACL
and a broken foot and last season
trying to regroup from those
injuries, but in practice, she has
been incredible. I know we are
only 10 practices in, but we are
hoping she can have a Cyesha
Goree-type of breakout season.”
Goree, a senior last year,
stepped into the spotlight by
improving her average of 1.1
points per game to 12.1 during her
junior year. While Barnes Arico
doesn’t anticipate those types
of numbers right out of the gate
from Mitchell, she expressed her
excitement to finally witness the
potential that has been tucked
away for the past three years.
Mitchell, at 6 feet, is one of the
shortest forwards on the team,
but she is still expected to play in
the paint and size up some of the
bigger guards in the conference.
“Even though she’s only about
6 foot, her power is equal to
(freshman center) Hallie Thome’s
height (6-foot-5),” said sophomore
center Terra Stapleton. “She
knows how to maneuver around
people, and she definitely knows
how to body somebody.”
Stapleton,
whose
locker
neighbors Mitchell’s, said the
senior is not the type of person
“that’ll take no for an answer,”
and that she’s been bursting
with energy for the first handful
of practices.
All of Mitchell’s teammates
attested that her confidence
jumped
this
year,
and
she
couldn’t deny it either. On the
tail end of her Michigan career,
it is reassuring for Mitchell to
know she is, at long last, healthy
enough to contribute.
“I have to say I’ve improved
most in my confidence in myself,”
Mitchell said. “Just in my ability
and knowing I’ll be physically OK
to play at this high of a level.”
The kind of gritty, hard-nosed
presence
Mitchell
provides
is
just
what
Barnes
Arico
is looking for, as this year’s
biggest concern is replacing the
graduated seniors — a stalwart
trio that made up 59 percent of
the team’s total rebounding.
Filling such a large void will
take the entire team, but Barnes
Arico believes Mitchell could
put a chunk of that weight on
her shoulders.
“I’m hoping that Kelsey can
stay healthy enough, because
she really has been a spark in
practice,” Barnes Arico said. “She
is showing things that I haven’t
seen in four years.
“She hasn’t experienced the
grind of doing it on a regular
basis, and that’s making me a
little nervous about her because
of the wear and tear on her body,
but if she can hold off and be even
half of what (Goree) was able to
contribute (two years ago), it
could be a special year.”
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Thursday, October 22, 2015 — 3A
BASKETBALL
From Page 1A
ENPACT
From Page 1A
DETROIT
From Page 1A
commercialization
represents
the school’s understanding that
research should be directly applied
to society whenever possible.
“Over a period of time, it’s really
become understood that part of
our mission is not only to pursue
knowledge for knowledge’s sake or
understanding’s sake, but to use it
and apply it to improve the human
condition,” he said.
The
University’s
Office
of
Tech
Transfer
is
responsible
for
commercializing
research
discoveries from all three University
campuses. A recent press release
announced a bevy of tech transfer
improvements since last year. The
Medical School produced 166 new
invention reports compared to 133
from the previous year, 51 patent
applications compared to 45, 10
new startups as opposed to one and
$74.8 million in total revenue.
Ken
Nisbet,
the
Office
of
Technology Transfer’s associate
vice president for research, said
the new Fast Forward Medical
Innovation program helped drive
the commercialization increases.
“The results are a function of
several things,” Nisbet said. “I
would say that FFMI, in particular,
is a real influencer in the number of
ideas that reach us.”
A team of Medical School
administrators
and
doctors
started the FFMI program in
2014 to encourage researchers to
commercialize
their
inventions.
The program provides awareness
programs,
funding,
idea
consultations and business seminars
to expand awareness about the
opportunities in commercialization.
The Office of Tech Transfer’s
responsibilities
are
broader.
It
focuses
on
the
entire
commercialization
process
—
including licensing agreements and
intellectual property protection —
and works with departments from
all University campuses. The two
organizations have partnered on
many projects, however, including
the
Michigan
Translational
Research and Commercialization
for Life Sciences Program, or
MTRAC, which awards extra
funding
and
consultation
to
especially promising projects.
Nisbet said the University’s
excellence in research is a factor
in its commercial success.
“Our researchers here — our
faculty — win competitive grants
to answer questions from the
proposals
that
these
federal
agencies have, which is why we
have $1.3 billion of total spending,”
Nisbet said. “We have a number of
very high-quality faculty that win
these grants so we answer some
basic science questions. So, that is
sort of the root of everything here:
our research operation.”
Wooliscroft said the University’s
excellence in a broad variety of
disciplines is another reason for
the recent success.
“One of the things that we
have here that is a phenomenal
advantage over the vast majority of
universities is that we have a top-
ranked engineering college, top-
ranked medical school, business
school, etc.,” he said. “So there’s
great expertise across campus
the likes of which only one or two
other universities can duplicate.”
Nisbet said he believes these
levels of success will continue
because researchers will come
back to the Office of Tech Transfer
after successful experiences.
“I think it’s a gradual build,”
he said. “FFMI was definitely
a major component, but there
were a whole lot of other factors
that led to it. And that’s good
news because it means that this
momentum will continue.”
Woolliscroft
said
a
new
generation of wearable health-
monitoring devices, which could
be developed through the Office of
Tech Transfer’s IT health program,
could revolutionize future medical
practices.
Despite this positive momentum,
Nisbet and Woolliscroft said there
are many hurdles to overcome.
Both
mentioned
the
sheer
difficulty of guiding a product from
conception to profitability. Nisbet
said the threat of declining federal
funding means the University will
have to fight to increase the share of
grants it receives, and Woolliscroft
said regulatory issues often slow
the progress.
“Too frequently, our regulatory
processes and agencies have not
kept up with the progress in science
and technology,” Woolliscroft said.
“There’s a big push through the 21st
Century Cures bill to modernize
the FDA and these processes, but
we’ll have to see with our political
process if that goes forward or not.”
PATENTS
From Page 1A
DAVID SONG/Daily
Ann Arbor resident William Holllins entertains other Pop-X attendees at Liberty Square on Wednesday. Never
formally taught piano, Hollins learned to play by teaching himself and using his hear.
PIANO M AN