10 percent pay cuts for all Detroit workers start Wednesday - KMSP-TV

"We die.  The city lies.  No police.  No peace," said Scott Pellerito from the Detroit Police Officers Association.

Despite the repeated cries and even a drawn up "eviction notice", the state appointed Financial Advisory Board took residence for an hour and a half meeting on Wayne State's campus and moving ahead with decisions about how to clean up the city's financial mess.  The board's powers and decisions that stood before the suspension of Public Act 4 still stand, and so ten percent wage cuts for all city workers start this Wednesday.

"We're moving forward with the project manager.  We're moving forward with all the initiatives, imposing the contracts on the unions, and we're trying to save money," said Detroit Mayor Pro-tem Gary Brown.

The city plans to address the Financial Advisory Board when it comes to police issues.  That will be in October.  Then in November, they'll talk about fire needs, and then EMS in December, but are they moving at a quick enough pace.  We're in crisis mode many would argue.

"You'd like to do everything at once, but you just can't.  I think if we could show the citizens that together we can make some movement, we can turn some streetlights on, we can accelerate the houses coming down, we can make the place safer, I think that will go a long way," said Ken Whipple, who serves on the board.

Members of the board understand the anger, but say they are here for nothing more than leverage in a back and forth power grab between the city and the state.

"Whether it's the city using us as leverage to make some proposals of things that badly need to be done or soliciting some help from the state, whatever else it is, we're not a bunch of outsiders coming in to dictate to Detroit at all," Whipple said.

The next time the Financially Advisory Board will meet will be September 10 despite some of the protesters not wanting them to get together.