Shirley Lightsey talks about her experience as a pensioner affected by Detroit’s bankruptcy.

DETROIT — The city emerged from the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history one year ago, but not all residents think the process has been positive.

A forum held Wednesday night to discuss the state of the city post-bankruptcy became a show of anger and dissatisfaction when members of the audience raised their voices against Gov. Snyder and other speakers. Hecklers brought the event to an early end.

The Detroit Journalism Cooperative organized the discussion at Wayne State University, featuring Snyder, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and former U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes, who decided the case. 

The cooperative has funded reporting by local media outlets on Detroit’s transition through bankruptcy over the past year; and the forum aimed to address the city’s progress on the anniversary of its emergence from bankruptcy. 

Snyder, the first featured speaker, entered the auditorium to boos from some in the crowd. 

He said he appreciates the work of the mayor and City Council. Protesters answered with shouts, criticisms and hisses. 

“Bankruptcy should be a last resort,” Snyder said. “It is a very dramatic step and it’s not without costs and challenges and asking for sacrifices from people.”

His statement referred to cuts to pensioners’ checks as part of the “grand bargain.” 

Snyder said he worked for three years to solve the city’s financial issues without involving the legal system. His comments drew ire from protesters. 

While Judge Rhodes was on stage, one member of the audience yelled out that ordinary Detroiters were “infuriated” with the results of the bankruptcy.

However, Rhodes himself expressed concerns with some aspects of the bankruptcy plan. Among them are ensuring obligations to pensioners are met and the ailing Detroit Public Schools System.

“Families will only move back into the city, which is what we all want, when the school system is fixed,” Rhodes said. 

The event was scheduled to last two hours, but after protesters drowned out Rhodes and warnings from the co-hosts did little to quell the audience, organizers cancelled the remainder of the program. Mayor Duggan and other guests didn’t make it to the stage. 

The city is working to improve services, boost its economy and attract new residents to counter population decline and spur long-term recovery.

The installation of 65,000 LED streetlights that will illuminate Detroit neighborhoods that have been dark for decades is almost complete. Public safety response times have improved in the past year. Although the city’s murder rate is still among the highest in the nation, it declined in 2014. By the end of the year, the city will have torn down about 8,000 vacant homes to address blight since 2014, according to an analysis by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

“Yes, the city is improving,” said Shirley Lightsey, president of the Detroit Retired City Employees Association, during the discussion. “And in the long run, I guess our children and grandchildren will see the full results in the next 20 to 30 years.”

Lightsey was one of about 20,000 city retirees affected by Detroit’s bankruptcy and was part of the negotiations. She described the process as disheartening, unexpected and disappointing.

“Everything that had been promised to us while we were working was taken away,” she said.  

Lightsey worked for Detroit’s Water and Sewerage Department for 30 years. 

“The bottom line is the workers and the taxpayers in the city of Detroit are the ones who pay for it in the long run,” she said of problems created by elected officials. 

Nevertheless, Lightsey said the bankruptcy saved Detroit.

William Davis, president of Detroit Active and Retired Employees Association, retired from his job as a group supervisor with the city’s water department in 2012. He said his pension benefits have been cut by 23 percent. 

Davis said the city after bankruptcy is much different from how the governor and others presented it at the event. 

“The average Detroiter is not benefitting from this,” he said. 

In his view, poor, non-White residents in the city are not faring well.

“There are some new, young White people moving in that have money, but the majority of the city is poorer now than it was before the bankruptcy,” Davis said.

Julianne Lindsey, a Detroit resident who works as an artist, said she has experienced some benefits of the bankruptcy, but also knows Detroiters who have been negatively affected.

“I was shocked and then I understood,” Lindsey said of the protesters who interrupted the forum. “I think it was good that they were able to voice their concerns, that they were able to show that they were very upset. I think they took it too far.”

Lindsey added that she was interested in listening to the speakers. 

“It’s one thing to make your point, but it’s another to cut off discussion completely,” she said.

Harriet Berg, a 90-year resident, said her fellow Detroiters need other opportunities to speak with city leaders and voice their concerns. 

“There needs to be more forums like this,” she said.