Tag: Cowardly with Detroits Financial Disaster (page 3)

Detroit - The Westin Book Cadillac avoided defaulting on a $15 million loan this month after a city pension fund intervened, raising questions about the health of a landmark hotel and symbol of the city's economic redevelopment.

The Detroit Police and Fire pension fund made a partial interest payment March 1 after hotel owner John Ferchill outlined the Book Cadillac's financial condition.

The Cleveland-based developer told pension trustees the project has lost $23 million after deals to sell condominiums atop the hotel fell through.  ~Rest here

Yup.  Just like Ferchill Group boasts on its own website.

"The high cost of renovating The Book-Cadillac Hotel required creative financing involving the city, county and state, along with tax credits and other sources that previous developers couldn't handle. The Ferchill Group brought to the table financing tools that Detroit had never used. With the Ferchill team on board, we are confident that we will finally see this project become a reality."

Walt Watkins
Former Chief Development Officer, City of Detroit

Detroit - Part of an $11 million grant intended to provide business attire to 400 low-income job-seekers instead helped only two people, an audit of the city's Department of Human Services has found.

The audit, conducted by the city's auditor general for the period from July 2009 to September 2011, found the department failed to control the operations and finances of a boutique that was to provide the clothes.

The department did not safeguard grant funds or create an inventory for the clothing, the audit found.

Among the most telling findings, which will be discussed today during a City Council committee meeting, is that a third-party contractor advanced $148,000 to a downtown Detroit clothing store and opened an account, but did not include the city on the account.

Rest here

Michigan's tax on pensions and retirement accounts kicked in on Jan. 1 and, not long after that, Jack Vassallo kicked back.

When the retired chemical engineering technician got his monthly payment from his Fidelity Investments 401(k) retirement savings account, the check was short. The $87.43 withheld for the new state tax would have made the check the right amount -- except that Vassallo is 79 years old and exempt from the retirement levy.

"I was furious," says the Woodhaven retiree. "It really irked me."

Read the rest here

Caterpillar has caused an uproar in Canada with a controversial plant closing. But the company attracted so many people to an Indiana jobs fair that the event had to be shut down earlier than planned.

On Friday, Caterpillar's Progress Rail Services said it was closing the 62-year-old Electro-Motive Canada plant in London, Ontario, about two hours west of Toronto.
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In explaining the shutdown, Billy Ainsworth, the CEO of Progress Rail, said in a letter to employees that all the company's facilities "must achieve competitive costs, quality and operating flexibility to compete and win in the global marketplace, and expectations at the London plant were no different."

It's the second big closing in that part of Canada in a year's time. Navistar shut its truck plant in nearby Chatham, Ontario in 2010, eliminating 1,100 jobs.

But at the moment, Caterpillar is the toast of Muncie, in east central Indiana.

Over the weekend, Caterpillar held a jobs fair that attracted about 3,000 applicants for jobs paying between $12.50 and $18 an hour, according to the Muncie Free Press.

Rest here

With the clock ticking to Michigan's Feb. 28 primary, Gov. Rick Snyder hasn't decided whom to endorse as the Republican presidential nominee.

The governor, who has said many times he wouldn't announce his endorsement until 30 days before the primary, has 20 days left to figure out his choice.

"He's still deciding," spokeswoman Sara Wurfel said Wednesday. "He's evaluating things in terms of candidates and jobs."

Bill Ballenger, editor of the Inside Michigan Politics newsletter, said there might be more to Snyder's reticence.

"Maybe Mitt Romney's asked him not to -- I'm not sure how much help that would be at this point," Ballenger said.

Washington-- Gov. Rick Snyder says he expects to make an endorsement in the GOP presidential race "as early as this week."

"I'm really close," Snyder told reporters ahead of a Wednesday appearance before the House Education and Workforce Committee, where he discussed jobs issues.

Most likely also in DC consulting with Barry Oweblamebush about what to do with the snag with his boondoggle gummint bridge too.  Nerdholm's just got to have them Federal tax 'debt dollars' to redistribute to his goonion labor base in Detoilet don'tchya know.

Snyder said he is focused on which candidate will be best for Michigan.

The state has its presidential primary Feb. 28. "I've been reviewing the candidates and coming up with who will be best suited for Michigan from the perspective of jobs and our long-term future."

Snyder says he has a good relationship with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Michigan native whose father served three terms as Michigan's governor. Romney, a Republican, campaigned on Snyder's behalf, but Snyder declined to say if he would endorse the front-runner.