Newly appointed Detroit Financial Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr began his job Monday of re-stabilizing the city’s struggling finances, at the same time that the Reverend Jesse Jackson calls for a dispute of his hiring.
Detroit is the largest city ever to be put under the financial control of the state, and if Orr manages to fix the debt and budget issues he will be celebrated as a hero. However, as an employee of the state of Michigan, he has already earned enemies in the city.
Civil rights leader Jackson called for a “major mass nonviolent demonstration” to protest the state’s decision to appoint an emergency manager. During a rally at Detroit’s Coleman A. Young Municipal Center Friday, Jackson announced his intention to combat the law allowing Michigan to seize control of the city, and asked citizens to join him in a non-violent demonstration.
Though he did not attack Orr directly, Jackson criticized the seizure as “boldly anti-democratic,” while speaking to the Huffington Post. The emergency manager law, Public Act 436, will officially come into effect March 28, several days after Orr begins his work. The citizens who organized Friday’s rally plan to file a lawsuit questioning whether PA 436 is constitutional during the week.
“As opposed to having a city council that’s democratically elected and a mayor, you’ll have a plantocracy, a plantation-ocracy, replacing a democracy,” Jackson said Friday.
“Centered around the filing will be protests and civil disobedience,” he added. “I certainly agree that we need and we seek federal intervention, but we must make our federal government do what they are supposed to do on our behalf.”
State officials have criticized Jackson’s comments and role in the city’s politics. Gov. Rick Snyder, whose office deemed Detroit to be in a state of emergency and appointed Orr earlier this month, released a statement saying that continued legal action would make solutions more difficult to execute. Michigan GOP spokesman Matt Frendewey suggested that Jackson was impeding on the city’s progress, calling the comments “irresponsible.”
“The citizens are anxious for solutions, and it’s disappointing that all the Rev. Jackson wants to do is provide some sound bites and stand in the way of necessary solutions to fix Detroit’s problems,” Frendewey said according to the Detroit Free Press.
Mayor Dave Bing and other city officials were against the appointment of an emergency manager, but declined to comment on Jackson’s actions. Detroit is currently facing over $14 billion in long term debt.
The people have a right to voice their opinion, concerning the issues and financial situation of their city. Rev
Rev Jackson is destroying what little credibility he has left. Jackson should have done this LONG AGO but ala he didn't care and the only reason he cares now is because of the dem party and Unions ( Unions who have paid for those crooks who have run that city into the ground and thus it's failed leaders ) who is not only stuffing his pockets but as well the two culprits behind this city's demise. I live just west of Detroit and most who I know that have relatives etc living INSIDE THIS CITY are happy something is finally being done. They have become fully aware of who and what is responsible for destroying that once great city and it's people. Amazing how soo many forget who and what controls the Unions and that the Unions basically now control the democrat party at the state level. Talking about those same unions who took the jobs and everything else from the city out into suburbia and most of the jobs left are city jobs which are directly connected to those Unions and thus see the massive debt the city has incurred. Anyone thinks those Unions ( or their leaders ) have the peoples best interest at hand living INSIDE the city had better think again. Thus how Detroit got to this point. So yeah Jesse would be wise to rethink his stance on this matter and stop thinking of himself and instead do the right thing for those poor people living inside that city.