DETROIT BANKRUPTCY PUBLIC HEARING - JULY 15, 2014, 2 pm
I was one on the @ 80 members of the public selected to appear before Federal Judge Steven W. Rhodes, at the US Court House, in Detroit, to talk about the Detroit Bankruptcy Case.
I was allowed five minutes and I had a prepared statement, typed in all CAPS, so that I could read it, there was no telepromter. Below is my prepared statement, but I went off message, because we were in Federal Judge Julian Cook's courtroom, who is in charge of the Department of Justice DPD Consent Decree Case, which began in 2003.
I was upset to be in the court room that I had been in with DPD PC Warren Evans, just after he was appointed Chief. I was there then to ask Judge Cook, to do his job and to accelerate the compliance of DPD with the Decrees. It has cost Detroit $$$ millions of dollars $$$ since 2003 and still as of July 15, 2014, there is still not full compliance with the Decrees.
Mark Diaz, President of the DPOA, told me that Detroit is paying $40,000 a month while the Decree Case drags on on and on.
I started off telling Judge Rhodes that I had been in this courtroom with PC Evans, to ask Judge Cook to do his job, and today I told Judge Rhodes that it has cost Detroit millions of dollars and still there is no compliance and that I belived that Judge Cook was not doing his job, he was failing to do his job and that Judge Rhodes and EFM Orr should order Judge Cook to end the Case, because the money that it was costing Detroit, could be better used by Detroit, the DPD or used for City retirees.
I told Judge Rhodes that the $40,000 a month could be paying for one DPD officer a month. One officer a month that is not protecting Detroit residents.
I concluded this none prepared statement again requesting that Judge Rhodes look into Judge Cooks conduct, in regards to, the DOJ Consent Decrees.
Because I had used part of my time talking about the Decrees and could not fully complete reading my complete statement, I asked Judge Rhodes to accept my statement and to have it 'read into the court record' ...he agreed and has my statement and a letter to him, dated May 15, 2014 which details the loss of my DPD health coverage and the costs $15,170.16, (37%) of my pension check that I have to pay in 2014, and that the NEWS MEDIA was ingnoring in articles about the loss of medical coverage by DPD / DFD retirees.The news media keeps reporting (?) that DPD / DFD retirees, lost nothing from their pension checks - which is completely WRONG.
My prepared statement: ALLL CAPS...so that I could read it.
JUDGE RHODES, I AM DAVID LAWRENCE MALHALAB,A DUTY DISABLED RETIRED DETROIT POLICE SERGEANT, SINCE MAY 2005.
I HAVE COME TO EXPRESS MY DISPLEASURE OF THE DETROIT BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS. WE HEAR ABOUT RESTRUCTURING OF DETROIT
GOVERNMENT SO THAT WHEN IT EMERGES FROM BANKRUPTCY IT WILL BE ABLE TO BETTER SERVE DETROIT RESIDENTS…BUT IN 2 AREAS I SEE A GLARING PROBLEM THAT HAS NOT BEEN ADDRESSED. AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE FIRST CHANGES…DETROIT HAS TOO MANY COUNCIL MEMBERS…FOR 650,000 RESIDENTS…
EFM ORR AND YOU SHOULD IMMEDIATELY REDUCE COUNCIL MEMBERS BY 2 TO 4 MEMBERS…THE COUNCIL IS BLOATED AND NOT EFFICIENT,AND THE COUNCIL JUST GOT A 5% RAISE AND NOT ONE MEMBER HAS REJECTED THE RAISE – WHILE CITY WORKERS HAVE LOST MORE.. AND SOME RETIREES LOST 4.5% OF THEIR PENSION CHECKS AND WE ALL LOST OR MEDICAL BENEFITS…THIS IS NOT FAIR …RIGHT …OR JUST. WHERES IS THE SHARED SACRIFICE…A GOOD FAITH EFFORT TO UNDERSTAND HOW HARD IT IS FOR RETIREES.PUBLIC SAFETY IS SAID BY SOME TO BE THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES.
WE HAVE A NEW POLICE CHIEF WHO IS CLEANING UP THE MESS FROM PAST BAD AND CORRUPT POLICE CHIEFS THAT HAS HELPED LEAVE DETROIT UNSAFE. THE POLICE DEPARTMENT WILL HAVE TO HIRE NEW POLICE OFFICERS BECAUSE IT IS SEVERELYUNDERSTAFFED – INDEED THE LACK OF POLICE OFFICERS IS ONE REASON THAT DETROIT IS STILL UNSAFE – NO MATTER WHAT CHIEF CRAIG DOES OR SAYS…EFM ORR AND YOU MUST ORDER THE CITY TO RAISE THE HIRING STANDARDS FOR NEW POLICE OFFICERS… A GED REQUIREMENT IS TO LOW A STANDARD FOR A 21ST CENTURY POLICE DEPARTMENT.
DETROIT NEEDS A 2 OR 4 YR COLLEGE REQUIREMENT AND OR MILITARY EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENT AND A QUALITY PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION SYSTEM FOR NEW OFFICERS,ANDFOR ALL OFFICERS.AND EFM ORR AND YOU MUST IMPOSE A STARTING SALARY FOR NEW OFFICERS THAT WILL ATTRACT APPLICANTS TO DETROIT AND RETAIN OFFICERS
THAT ARE SACRIFICING EVERY DAY TO PROTECT DETROIT RESIDENTS…$14 ($17 added in)A PROPSED PAY RATE FOR NEW OFFICERS AND WITH A 8% DEDUCTION FOR PENSION WILL NOT ATTRACT AND RETAIN THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST POLICE OFFICERS.INDEED SOME OFFICERS MAY HAVE TO GO ON WELFARE TO KEEP THEIR JOBS. FUNDING MUST BE FOUND FROM FEDERAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS (AND HOMELAND SECURITY, BECAUSE WE ARE THE BIGGEST BORDER CITY IN US (added) TO PAY FOR THIS MOST BASIC PUBLIC SERVICE YOU SHOULD ORDER JUDGE JULIAN COOK TO END THE DOJ DETROIT DECREE CASE, THAT HAS DRAGGED ON FOR 11 YEARS, AND HAS COST DETROIT MILLIONS OF DOLLARS AND SHOULD HAVE ENDED LONG AGO.IF ANY POLICE DEPARTMENT HAD BEEN THOROUGHLY BAD AND CORRUPT – IT SHOULD NOT HAVE TAKEN THIS LONG TO CORRECT THE PROBLEMS OF THAT DEPARTMENT OR DETROIT’S.
I AM UPSET BECAUSE THE NEWS MEDIA CONTINUES TO MAKE FALSE STATEMENTS – THAT WE DID NOT LOSE ANYTHING FROM OUR PENSIONS…PENSION CHECKS…WHEN IN FACT EVERY RETIREE MUST NOW PAY FOR THEIR HEALTH CARE BENEFITS WITH MONEY FROM OUR / THEIR PENSION CHECKS.I HAD AS A RETIRED SERGEANT A BC-BS MASTER MEDICAL BENEFIT WITH DENTAL AND VISION. NOW,I DON’T HAVE EITHER…10 DAYS AFTER MY DUTY DISABILITY NOTICE CAME THRU – AT THE REQUEST
OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT – PC ELLA BULLY CUMMINGS I HAD A TRIPLE HEART BYPASS WITH A BRIDGE…I NEEDED MY HARD EARNED MEDICAL BENEFITS THEN, AND NOW MORE THAN EVER…AS I APPROACH 10 YEARS WITH A HEART BYPASS.I NOW PAY ALMOST $900 A MONTH FOR A BC BS POLICY THAT HAS NO DENTAL AND NO VISION - I HAVE CATARACTS AND GLAUCOMA – AND TWO TORN ROTAR CUFFS FROM MY DUTY RELATED INJURY…I WILL PAY ABOUT $15,170. – ABOUT 37% FROM MY PENSION CHECK…OUT OF POCKET COSTS TO ME…THE STIPENDS ARE TOO LITTLE AND ARE NOW CAUSING CONFUSION, DUE TO DUTY DISABILITY QUESTIONS AND POSSIBLY GETTING A SUPPLEMENT TO THE STIPEND..AND NOW WE HEAR OF A VEBA HEALTH SYSTEM ??? WE ARE CONFUSED AND FELT FORCED TO VOTE YES ON RESTRUCTURING PLAN – THAT IS CONFUSING TO LAWYER AND TO US AND WE DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HOW VEBA WILL WORK OR
IF IT WILL HAPPEN THIS IS WRONG…
ALL RETIREES HAVE BEEN WRONGED BY THE LOSS OF THEIR HEALTH CARE BENEFITS.. AND THIS MUST BE MADE RIGHT.RETIREES MUST KNOW THAT THEIR SACRIFICES ON THE JOB AND NOW IN RETIREMENT WERE NOT WRONG AND IN VAIN. I HAVE SAID PUBLICALLY THAT THE DETROIT BANKRUPTCY IS WRONG AND BE BOTCHED FROM THE BEGINNING I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT THE ACTIONS PRIOR TO FILING THE BANKRUPTCY WERE LEGAL, TRANSPARENT AND IN THE BEST INTEREST OF DETROIT RESIDENTS AND RETIREES.IF THE DETROIT BOND DEAL IS FOUND ILLEGAL OR A STRONG BELIEF THAT IT IS…THERE MUST BE AN FBI AND SEC INVESTIGATION, AND PEOPLE SHOULD GO TO JAIL. DETROIT POLICE AND FIRE RETIREES WERE MADE OUT TO BE A REASON THAT DETROIT WAS IN SUCH A DIRE FINANCIAL CONDITION.THE PUBLIC WAS TOLD THAT THE DETROIT POLICE FIRE PENSION WAS UNDER FUNDED AND RUN BY CROOKS AND SCAM ARTISTS…WE WERE SET UP TO BE THE FALL GUY IN EVENT THAT A RESOLUTION OF THE BANKRUPTCY WAS NOT PROPERLY ACCOMPLISHED. EFM ORR WENT AROUND SAYING HE WAS GOING CONDUCT AN INVESTIGATION, WHILE KNOWING THAT THE FBI HAD AN ONGOING INVESTIGATION AND THAT NUMEROUS PEOPLE HAD BEEN INDICTED,BUT IN FACT OUR PENSION WAS FULLY FUNDED @ $3 BILLION DOLLARS AND WAS A VIABLE AND WELL STRUCTURED PENSION CAPABLE OF PAYING ITS RETIREES. ESPECIALLY, NOW WITH THE NEW PENSION REQUIREMENT FOR DPD / FFs ALL OF THIS FALSE INFORMATION WAS A SET UP TO STEAL OUR HEALTH CARE BENEFITS AND TAKE CONTROL OF OUR PENSION SYSTEM ONLY AT THE LAST MINUTES DID EMF ORR ADMIT THAT THE OUR
PENSION WAS NOT UNDERFUNDED.
YOU RULED THAT OUR MICHIGAN CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED PENSIONS WERE A CONTRACT THAT COULD BE BROKEN – WE WILL NOW NEVER KNOW. SO POLICE AND FIRE FIGHTERS LOST THEIR, HARD EARNED HEALTH CARE BENEFITS….BENEFITS THAT WE WORKED HARD FOR AND SACRIFICED FOR GONE…AT A TIME IN OUR LIVES THAT WE NEEDED
THEM MOST – IN RETIREMENT.
Read to Federal Judge Steven W. Rhodes, July 15, 2014, in part, and
to be 'read into the court record' per Judge Rhodes.
David L. Malhalab
Sgt DPD Retired
Duty Disability 2005
ALERT...LISTEN TO WWJ RADIO...AM-950 THIS MORNING...JUST INTERVIEWED BY CHARLIE. LANGTON. ..ABOUT WHAT I WILL SAY IN DET BANKRUPTCY CRT...TODAY. .2PM..
SEGMENTS AIRED: 7:07 am / 7:34 am
Listen after news segments
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