JudgeApproves Bankruptcy Exit Plan for Detroit
法官批准底特律破产清退计划

FILE - This July 17, 2013 aerial photo shows the city of Detroit. On Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, federal bankruptcy judge Steven Rhodes is expected to decide whether Detroit's plan to exit bankruptcy is fair and feasible. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
图片为2013年7月17日底特律航拍资料图。2014年11月7日，周五，联邦法官史提芬罗德将对底特律破产计划是否合理、可行做出裁决。

A judge cleared Detroit to emerge from bankruptcy Friday, approving a hard-fought turnaround plan with a fervent plea to the people of this one-time industrial powerhouse to "move past your anger" and help fix the Motor City.
"What happened in Detroit must never happen again," federal Judge Steven Rhodes said in bringing the case to a close a relatively speedy 16 months after Detroit — the cradle of the auto industry — became the biggest city in U.S. history to file for bankruptcy.
The plan calls for cutting the pensions of 12,000 non-public safety retirees by 4.5 percent, erasing $7 billion of debt and spending $1.7 billion to demolish thousands of blighted buildings, make the city safer and improve long-neglected basic services.
Rhodes praised decisions that settled the most contentious issues in the case, including a deal to prevent the sale of world-class art at the Detroit Institute of Arts and a consensus that prevented pension cuts from getting even worse. He said the pension deal "borders on the miraculous," though he acknowledged the cuts could still cause severe misfortune for many who have been trying to get by on less than $20,000 a year.
Politicians and civic leaders, including Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, hailed Friday's milestone as a fresh start for the city. It was Snyder who agreed with state-appointed emergency manager Kevyn Orr to take the city into Chapter 9, a drastic, last-ditch move that he promoted during his fall re-election campaign.
周五，一名法官对处在破产边缘的底特律作出批复，为帮助这一个时代工业重地的民众“摆脱苦痛”，复兴汽车城，伴随着这种强烈的意愿，批准一项艰难的复苏计划，
“底特律的遭遇决不能再现”，联邦法官史提芬罗德表示，案件审理将尽快在16个月左右内结束，之后，汽车工业摇篮——底特律，将成为美国历史上最大规模的破产申请城市。
该计划将削减占4.5%即1万2千名非公共安全退休人员养老金，消除17亿美元债务，并斥资70亿美元拆除数千栋老旧建筑，以此让城市变的更安全并改善长期受忽视的基础服务。
罗德对该决议表示赞赏，（认为）它解决了时下最具争议的难题，包括避免具有世界级艺术水准的底特律艺术学院遭到拍卖，而且还达成了避免更进一步削减养老金的共识。他表示养老金协议处在“微妙边缘“，尽管他承认，这次削减计划，对于不少挣扎在年收入不足2万美元的人们来说，不吝于雪上加霜。
政治家们和市民领袖，包括共和党州长里克斯奈德在内，赞誉此次决议为星期五里程碑事件，并把它视为该城市一个新的起点。斯奈德在谋求秋季连任竞选时曾呼吁“作最后努力”，同意州任突发事件管理干事凯文奥尔按照（破产法）第九章处理该市破产问题。

Detroit was brought down by a combination of factors, including corruption and mismanagement at City Hall, a long decline in the auto industry, and a flight to the suburbs that caused the population to plummet to 688,000 from 1.2 million in 1980. The exodus has turned entire neighborhoods into desolate, boarded-up landscapes.
With more square miles than Manhattan, Boston and San Francisco combined, Detroit didn't have enough tax revenue to cover pensions, retiree health insurance and buckets of debt sold to keep the budget afloat.
"Detroit's inability to provide adequate municipal services runs deep and has for years. It is inhumane and intolerable, and it must be fixed," the judge said.
In signing off on the plan, Rhodes appealed to residents who expressed sorrow and disgust about the city's woes.
"Move past your anger. Move past it and join in the work that is necessary to fix this city," he said. "Help your city leaders do that. It is your city."
With Orr's term over and the city recently returned to the control of elected officials, "It is now time to restore democracy to the people," the judge said.
The case concluded in lightning speed by bankruptcy standards. The success was largely due to a series of deals between Detroit and major creditors, especially retirees who agreed to accept smaller pension checks after Rhodes said they had no protection under the Michigan Constitution. Also, bond insurers with more than $1 billion in claims eventually dropped their push to sell off art and settled for much less.
底特律的衰败是由一些综合因素引起的，包括市政府腐败和管理不善，汽车产业长期萎缩，随着人口外流，底特律人口已从1980年的120万人锐减到68.8万人。大批人口外迁使得整个社区变得荒凉，随处都是用木板条封住的房屋
底特律的面积比曼哈顿，波士顿和旧金山合起来还要大，底特律没有足够的税收来源，用来支付养老金，退休医疗保险、中和大量债务。
“底特律无法提供足够的市政服务，多年来毫无改变。这是不人道的，无法忍受的，它必须治理，”该法官说道。
在签署的计划里，罗德鼓励市民倾诉出对这座城市所感到的悲伤与厌恶。
“抛去你的怒火。化悲痛为动力加入到恢复城市的建设中来”他说。”帮帮你的市领导。这，是你们的城市。”
随着奥尔团队执政结束，城市很快就会回到民选官员的掌控下，“现在是时候把民主交换给人们了（还政于民），”法官说。
案件审理以闪电般的速度通过破产程序，(处理)成功在很大程度上取决于底特律和主要债权人之间达成的一系列妥协，尤其是退休人员同意接受较少金额的养老金支票，之后罗德表示，他们没享受到密歇根宪法中的保护政策。同时，索赔超过10亿美元的债券保险公司，最终放弃拍卖博物馆，没有什么结果比这更让人满意的了。

It took more than two years for a smaller city, Stockton, California, to get out of bankruptcy. San Bernardino, a California city even smaller than Stockton, is still operating under Chapter 9 protection more than two years after filing.
Rhodes had to accept Detroit's remedy or reject it in full, not pick pieces. His appointed expert, Martha "Marti" Kopacz of Boston, said it was "skinny" but "feasible," and she linked any future success to the skills of the mayor and City Council and a badly needed overhaul of technology at City Hall.
The most unusual feature of the plan is an $816 million pot of money funded by the state, foundations, philanthropists and the Detroit Institute of Arts. The money will forestall even deeper pension cuts and avert the sale of city-owned art at the museum — a step the judge warned "would forfeit Detroit's future."
Mayor Mike Duggan, in office less than a year, is the fourth mayor since 2008, when Kwame Kilpatrick resigned in a scandal. A dreadful debt deal under Kilpatrick that locked Detroit into a high interest rate when rates were falling during the recession contributed to the bankruptcy.
Detroit Regional Chamber President and CEO Sandy K. Baruah declared Detroit to be "on the cusp of a new era and primed to reinvent itself in a way many people did not think possible."
"Exiting bankruptcy so effectively and thoughtfully has wiped out decades of mismanagement and created a historic opportunity to move the city without mortgaging its future," Baruah said.
对于加利福尼亚的斯托克顿市这个小城市来说，为了摆脱破产耗去了两年多的时间。圣贝纳迪诺，一座比加利福尼亚、托克顿市还小的城市，在提出（破产）请求之后，仍在（破产法）第九章的保护下维持了近两年多的时间。
罗德要么接受补救底特律的办法，要么完全排斥，没有其他选择。由他委任的波士顿专家，玛莎“马蒂”科帕奇，表示这虽然“抠门”，但“具有操作性，”她将未来的成功同市长和市议会的能力水平联系起来，而且市政厅急需一种改革方法。
该方案最不同寻常的一点是，其中8.16亿美元资金是由国家，基金会组织，一些慈善家和底特律艺术学院共同出资的。这笔钱将防止养老金进一步被削减，避免市属博物馆被拍卖——对于这点法官曾警告过“（如果不采取措施）将断送底特律的未来”。
麦克杜根市长，就任不到一年，是自2008年以来第四位市长，当时（08年）的夸梅基尔帕特里克（市长）因丑闻而辞职。基尔帕特里克离任后留下一堆极其糟糕的债务合同，让底特律陷于高息陷阱中，在经济衰退期高利率直接导致底特律滑向破产边缘。
底特律地区商会主席、首席执行官Sandy K. Baruah宣布，底特律正“站在新时代的前沿，准备做一件史无前例的大事。”
“高效破产清退再加上深思熟虑让十几年间管理上的不作为一扫而空，创造了一个为城市发展而无需透支未来的历史性机遇”,Baruah说道。