Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr addressed Detroiters during a packed public hearing Monday night, saying “painful sacrifices” are coming if the city is to avoid financial collapse, Darren A. Nichols reports in The Detroit News.
“I’m acutely aware of the demands that we have on city services and the needs we need to address,” Orr said. “Not only have I heard them, I’ve seen them.”
Speaking to a respectful audience at Wayne State University’s Law School as protesters gathered outside, Orr said he doesn’t want to have to resort to bankruptcy, but that he is prepared to do so if he must. He laid out a bleak snapshot of the city’s financial state, but also sought to encourage Detroiters to aspire to a better future.
“This path will require painful sacrifices from all interested parties,” Orr said. “It’s going to take some very difficult decision-making. It’s going to be hard ... (but) we can do it. ... The city shall rise from the ashes.”
Addressing those who believe an EM isn’t necessary, Orr said the city had a chance to correct its problems through a consent agreement forged in March 2012 that “put out certain prescriptions for things that were supposed to be accomplished in a year’s time. And they weren’t.”
In one bit of news, Orr said he’ll pursue leasing Belle Isle to Michigan, as suggested earlier this year by the governor's Department of Natural Resources and rejected by the city council.
