Detroit Resurrected

February 15, 2016
The Motor City’s recent fiscal implosion sparks an unlikely outbreak of civic-mindedness in this stirring saga of municipal finance. Bomey, a former Detroit Free Press reporter, recounts Detroit’s 2013 Chapter 9 filing—the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history—after decades of plummeting population, dwindling tax revenue, and criminal mismanagement of public finances. The city’s staggering $9.2 billion debt crowded out funding for police, fire protection, and other basic services. The story begins as a dogfight in bankruptcy court, where Detroit’s appointed emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, is pitted against retirees whose pensions could be slashed and Wall Street creditors whose city bonds are worth pennies on the dollar. Soon, everyone starts eyeing the magnificent city-owned art museum as a piggy bank of priceless works to be auctioned off. That looming travesty prompts philanthropic foundations and Michigan’s governor to join a “grand bargain” to save the collection, partially protect pensioners, stabilize Detroit’s budget, and restore public services. Bomey deftly elucidates the intricacies of law and finance that shaped the case while painting colorful profiles of the principals and their sharp-tongued, profane wrangling (and occasional fits of conscience). Scrupulously fair to all parties and their grievances, Bomey reveals that behind the crass bean counting stood a fractious community pulling together to value and rescue a long-neglected city. Agent: Karen Gantz, Karen Gantz Zahler Literary Management.

January 15, 2016
A chronicle of the infamous bankruptcy of the Motor City, from financial mismanagement to rebirth. In retrospect, the headline-stealing bankruptcy of Detroit, the largest municipality to file in American history, seems both tragically inevitable and necessary. For decades, the automotive industry that defined the city had been shrinking and consolidating, putting pressure on the city's finances to deal with growing expenses and a shortage of tax income. But that's only a single example identified by USA Today journalist Bomey in a lengthy list of reasons that gets at the complexity and systemic nature of Detroit's problems, including an overextension and overcommitment to debt service, pension payments, and retiree health care costs. The author, who was the lead reporter for the Detroit Free Press on the city's bankruptcy, hints at the chain of events that led to Detroit's ruin, but his focus is on the elected officials, bureaucrats, and financiers tasked with trying to rescue the city. Among them are the appointed emergency manager Kevyn Orr and former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, whose embarrassing corruption scandal led to his conviction on racketeering charges following the end of his term in 2008, an event that can be read as the symbolic death knell of the city. As Bomey breaks down the numbers behind the city's default, he provides eye-popping statistics that perfectly capture the near-apocalyptic level of duress. For instance, adjusted for inflation, the total value of private property in Detroit fell from $45.2 billion in 1958 to $9.6 billion in 2012. Though the book is well-paced and highly readable, the collapse of Detroit is not an undocumented subject, and there is little in this narrative that has not already been dissected at length. But it's an important subject, since the tale of Detroit's financial woes can serve as a case study on how other cities can deal with economic transition. An engaging reconstruction of Detroit's financial crisis and the broader implications of its comeback for other American cities.

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March 1, 2016
When the City of Detroit filed for bankruptcy in July 2013, it became the largest U.S. municipality ever to do so. Plagued by a series of questionable financial deals, intractable union demands, corrupt city officials, and the lingering effects of the 2008 recession, Detroit was the epicenter of a perfect storm of monetary, managerial, and moral mismanagement. Letting this once-great city sink further into ruin was not an option, but pulling it out of its dire straits would not be an easy task. As other cities flirt with a similar financial fate, Bomey's intricate saga of how Detroit walked back from the brink of destruction provides an unrivaled glimpse into what went wrong and an unflinching evaluation of what it takes to overcome detrimental political shenanigans and dubious financial practices. Best suited for those well-versed in the ways of city government and large-scale economics, Bomey's insider account nevertheless entertains with its fly-on-the-wall intimacy and keen observations.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)