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Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan delivered a generally upbeat and powerful State of the City address,  striking a balance between cheerleader and realist Tuesday night before a crowd of about 2,500 at Second Ebenezer Church on the city's east side.

He highlighted his accomplishments, including knocking down thousands of homes, improved bus service, better police and fire response times and balanced budgets, while acknowledging that parts of the city still suffer from serious crimes and hardship and have yet to get a taste of the comeback so often touted in the national media.

But before he got into the meat of speech, Duggan, who has been a vocal opponent of the emergency manager concept, lashed out at the emergency manager and consultants who left the city after the bankruptcy with bad advice about the pension, saying all was fine. 

It is not fine, Duggan said, noting that the pension faces a $491 million shortfall that comes due in 2024. Monies would have to come from the city's general fund if necessary, detracting from city services. He called it a "problem" today, not crisis,  that must be dealt with intelligently.

"This wasn’t a problem of our making, but we’re going to manage it," he said.

'Hard to believe'

"How could this happen?," he asked. "And that question is a lot more disturbing because when we left bankruptcy the emergency manager and consultants left us with a plan of adjustment that said the pension fund would be fully funded;  and just moths later, the independent analysis showed there was a shortfall...It looks like the emergency manager and consultant used the wrong assumptions. I mean it's hard to believe . . . but it does appear that they used outdated mortality tables, they assumed people were not going to live as long and they were to make the numbers look more favorable."

He said the city is going to budget more money for the pension fund to help address the matter, but he has directed the city legal staff to look into taking possible legal action against the bankruptcy team

"I want to know,  how we could have paid these guys $177 million for the work they did and once they're out of town, there's a $491 million hole, a few months later."

Still, Duggan assured everyone that the pension will be made whole and no pensioners will not lose out.

Duggan said one of the best ways to address the issue is to grow the city and generate more revenue. He said that could be accomplished by reducing violent crime, creating more jobs and businesses, cutting car insurance rates and providing quality schools.

"If we can do all those things how much better would our city be?"

Protest shouters ejected

While the crowd was quite receptive, there were a few outbursts. Some told Duggan to shut up and yelled "Black lives matter." One yelled something about Flint. Police escorted them out.

After the first outburst, Duggan said, "Alright. I'm a great believer in free speech, but that was a little much."

Duggan said buses "are running on schedule for the first time in 20  years,"  and once again some routes are running 24-hours. He also noted that 100,000 more people a week are riding the buses compared to last year.

He touted a new program that makes it easier to get a mortgage in the city, and said police will now aggressively go after scrappers who are destroying neighborhoods. He said police will no longer just issue a ticket. He said residents can call 911 and police will respond to scrappers.

“They’re going to arrest them and haul them away,” Duggan said.

On the issue of repairing street lights, he said, the city lighting authority  is expected to finish its task a year ahead of schedule.

He also emphasized the importance of D-Insurance, a proposed car insurance for Detroiters that would drastically reduce rates. There's been some reluctance in the state legislature to allow Detroiters to carry a different type of insurance.

"We've got our work cut out for us," Duggan said.