DETROIT (AP) — An effort by deep-pocketed philanthropists
to save the bankrupt city of Detroit’s art treasures began with a
chance meeting last year and culminated Friday when Michigan Gov. Rick
Snyder signed a bill authorizing millions in state help.
But all
parties excited about the bill signing know that work could be for
naught if the city’s pensioners and workers, who are nearing a deadline
for a historic vote on Detroit’s plan to get out of bankruptcy, reject
what has been dubbed the Grand Bargain.
"It is really not in our
hands," said Rip Rapson, president of the Kresge Foundation, which has
pledged $100 million toward the plan. "We fully understand that the
pensioners have to make very hard decisions as to whether this is
something they can support."
The state’s contribution of $195
million, along with $366 million from foundations and a $100 million
pledge from the Detroit Institute of Arts, would replace hundreds of
millions being cut from retiree pensions, while stopping bond insurers
and other creditors from forcing the sell-off of city-owned art such as
Van Gogh’s "Self Portrait." The money would come over 20 years, placing
the value at about $816 million.
As part of the deal, the artwork will go into a charitable trust.
Retirees
and city workers have until July 11 to vote on the proposal, which is
included in state-appointed emergency manager Kevyn Orr’s plan for
Detroit’s restructuring. The city filed for the largest municipal
bankruptcy in history last summer, and a trial on the restructuring is
set for August. Orr has said he hopes to have Detroit out of bankruptcy
by the end of this summer.
"This huge amount of resources is not
there if they vote ‘no,’ and they’re much worse off financially," Snyder
said Friday. "By voting ‘yes,’ they are going to be taking sacrifices,
but hopefully they’ve been reduced dramatically from what they otherwise
would have been, and it’s something that will allow the city to come
back faster and better."
In May, Orr said early ballots showed
workers and retirees supporting the plan by about 2 to 1. His spokesman,
Bill Nowling, said Thursday that they cannot release detailed numbers,
but "are encouraged by the voting activity."
The 32,000 retirees
and current and former city workers would see base pension cuts of no
more than 4.5 percent under the plan instead of as much as 26 percent.
Despite pressure to vote yes, some retirees insist that bankruptcy
should not be a reason to break the state constitutional protections of
public pensions. They would prefer to take the fight to a higher court,
even if Detroit is broke and the pension funds are struggling.
Retiree Mary Highgate, who plans to return her ballot July 1, believes Orr’s plan will proceed regardless
of the vote result.
"Everybody I know is voting ‘no’ because we don’t trust them," said Highgate, 69. "I’m
voting No! No! No!"
The
financial contributions from the foundations, state and museum also
mean little to her because Highgate doubts that concern for retirees is
the true motivation.
"All they care about is the art," she said. "Do you really think they care about the
little people? Have they ever?"
The
philanthropic support may never have played into the proceedings if
Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan President Mariam Noland had
not bumped into Detroit federal Judge Gerald Rosen last year at a
downtown deli.
Rosen, appointed by bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes to head mediation efforts, told Noland about his task.

"And she said, probably as a throwaway line, ‘Let me know if there’s anything we can do to
help,’" Rosen said.
Rosen said he gave Noland details of his plan. "Within three weeks we had 13 foundation
leaders," he said.
The group included Kresge, the Kellogg Foundation and the New York-based Ford Foundation, which pledged
$125 million.
"Serendipity
was in our favor," Ford Foundation President Darren Walker said. "This
is unprecedented in the history of American philanthropy that this
number of major institutions would be galvanized to help solve the
challenges of a once-great American city."
By comparison,
foundations gave $550 million — nationally — between 2008 and 2012 to
programs and causes related to America’s economic crisis, said Lawrence
T. McGill, vice president for research at the New York-based Foundation
Center, which oversees philanthropy research.
"It’s hugely
significant and different from the kind of giving we usually see on a
kind of one-time basis," McGill said. "Foundations have missions and
they stick to their missions."
___
Associated Press writer David Eggert in Detroit contributed to this report.