Leid Stories - 02/24/14

City Jobs, Pensions Take Huge Hit in Detroit’s ‘Adjustment’ Plan;

Obama’s Class Act: $140-Million High-Tech Project for Detroit Suburb

 

A draconian cost-cutting plan submitted Friday (Feb. 21) by emergency manager Kevyn Orr for approval by the federal judge overseeing Detroit’s disputed $18-billion bankruptcy set  off a series of strategy meetings by groups all over the city vowing both challenges to the plan in court and amped-up protests in the streets.

Leid Stories speaks to two members of Detroiters Resisting Emergency Management—a former attorney for the City Council and a retired Water Department worker—fresh from a news conference responding to Orr’s plan.

Meanwhile, President Obama, whose administration has avoided any direct involvement in the nation’s largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, announced Saturday (Feb. 22) that Canton Township, about 25 miles west of Detroit, will be the hub of a $140-million new-tech research and manufacturing institute specializing in lightweight and modern metals. It will “attract the good-paying jobs that a growing middle class requires,” a White House statement says. It is yet another example of Obama’s class-centered political priorities, Leid Stories says.