Detroit Judge to Residents: Your Anger Will Prevent Another Meltdown

“I just said that your leaders are about to get the city back. Actually of course it is you who are about get your city back. It is your city.” -U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes

The judge who cleared Detroit to leave bankruptcy gave the city’s 700,000 residents a two-minute pep talk on Friday, urging those who fought the bankruptcy to try to move past their anger and help city leaders execute a $1.4 billion revitalization.

Referring to a bankruptcy pension deal nicknamed the Grand Bargain, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes declared there to be a “grander bargain” at play: democracy.

“In our nation, we join together in the promise and in the ideal of a much grander bargain,” he said. “It is the bargain by which we interact with each other and with our government, all for the common good. That grander bargain enshrined in our Constitution is democracy. Now is the time to restore democracy to the people of the city of Detroit.”

Judge Rhodes said he realized that some residents weren’t happy about the bankruptcy, which cuts $7 billion in debt, including money owed on retired city workers’ pensions. They protested outside the federal courthouse, and Judge Rhodes even gave them a daylong hearing to vent.

On Friday, Judge Rhodes said that their anger can be used to prevent another failure.

“Your enduring and collective memory of what happened here and your memory of your anger about it will be exactly what will prevent this from ever happening again,” Judge Rhodes said. “It must never happen again.”

Listen to the pep talk here:

Write to Katy Stech at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @KatyStech.