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| Famed museum could fall victim to Detroit bankruptcy |
| 2013-10-27 |
| [Pak Daily Times] There are few places where the former majesty of the US auto industry is more keenly captured than among the Diego Rivera murals at the bankrupt, increasingly impoverished, reliably Democrat, Detroit ... ruled by Democrats since 1962. A city whose Golden Age included the Purple Gang... Institute of Arts. Those stunning, sun-drenched walls could be lost to public view if the museum's collection is allowed to be even partially sold to pay off Detroit's creditors during the city's bankruptcy proceedings. "This is really an existential threat," warned Annmarie Erickson, the museum's chief operating officer. "Selling art could close the museum." Founded in 1885, the museum has amassed a world-class collection through the patronage of press barons and auto industry giants. It was the first American museum to buy works by Van Gogh and Matisse. It has one of just two works by the Dutch master Bruegel that can be viewed in the United States. There are galleries devoted to African American, Asian and Native American art and others containing modern works by Picasso, Warhol and Rothko. Rivera's "Detroit Industry" frescos -- a grand vision depicting the benefits and harm of industry and the beautiful complexity of Ford's Rouge plant -- are the heart of the Beaux-Arts temple that draws nearly 600,000 visitors a year. But, like the Motor City itself, the museum has a troubled history. The city -- which owns the building and the collection -- stopped providing funds to buy art in the 1950s and eventually withdrew support for daily operations. The state of Michigan stepped in to help fund the museum in the 1980s and early 1990's and then in 1997 a non-profit took over. The museum finally got on sound financial footing last year when voters in three counties agreed to a new tax that provides $23 million a year to fund its operations. "Two of those counties have said that if we sell art they will stop the property tax," Erickson told AFP. "That represents about two thirds of our annual operating budget. If they stop that tax we will be sent into a death spiral." It could take months or even years for the complex case to make its way through bankruptcy court. Detroit became the largest US city to declare bankruptcy on July 18. A federal judge will continue to hear arguments next week as to whether it even has the legal standing to do so. "It's very hard to predict what's going to happen to that art work," said John Pottow, a bankruptcy expert at the University of Michigan's law school. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #6 Sell tickets.. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2013-10-27 12:00 |
#5 Miscellaneous Detroit News article today about yet another shooting on the mean streets of Detroit: Workers next door at ABE Auto Service heard the shots and stopped their work Friday. "We heard ‘pop, pop, pop, pop’ — about five or six rounds," said Mark Mayer, a St. Clair Shores resident who works at the shop. His co-worker, Detroit resident Jerry Miller, instinctively threw himself on the ground when he heard the shots. "I grew up on the northwest side of town," he said. "It's a natural reaction." |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2013-10-27 10:30 |
| #4 Detroit News editorial on the city's current candidates for mayor: Clueless on the Detroit mayoral campaign trail Nolan Finley Sometimes itÂ’s hard to tell what city Mike Duggan and Benny Napoleon are talking about on the campaign trail. Twice last week I heard the two Detroit mayoral candidates say the city has no business in bankruptcy court, doesnÂ’t need an emergency manager, shouldnÂ’t touch pensions or sell assets and doesnÂ’t need to rewrite labor contracts. It makes me wonder if candidates so detached from the reality of DetroitÂ’s financial crisis can make legitimate claims to being capable of leading Detroit out of this crisis. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2013-10-27 10:24 |
| #3 ...Yeah, this ain't happening. The DIA hasn't relied on city funds for decades as far as acquisitions are concerned, and it would take a remarkably generous (as in appealed immediately to SCOTUS and overturned with hysterical laughter)reading of the law to rule that DIAs possessions could be sold off. The real problem here is that DIA has been a Seriously Big Dog in Detroit for nearly 75 years, and if the restructuring plans go through, they won't be any more. At the very least, the overpaid art majors who run the place will lose, as tu1031 pointed out, "their phoney baloney jobs." And these folks will fight just as hard and viciously for their rice bowls as the union thugs. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2013-10-27 07:21 |
| #2 A sorry state of affairs, but you know where you can 'sorry' in the dictionary. Let the 'no reserve' bidding begin before the stuff mysteriously disappears. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-10-27 06:09 |
| #1 "This is really an existential threat," warned Annmarie Erickson, the museum's chief operating officer. Mainly to my phony baloney job! |
| Posted by: tu3031 2013-10-27 01:11 |