Ex-Detroiter Roz Warren, "a diehard Tigers fan" as an adolescent and teen, is "still rooting for my old hometown" -- financially, as well as emotionally.
"It was an investment decision made more with my heart than with my head," says Pennsylvania blogger Roz Warren, a Detroiter until age 18. (Facebook photos)
The 59-year-old suburban Philadelphia writer blogs about deciding to keep a Detroit municipal bond that her late father bought in 2001 for $15,.000.
I’m sure it seemed like a terrific idea at the time. Municipalities rarely file for bankruptcy. Dad, a psychoanalyst who began life as a house painter’s son, probably felt good about investing in his hometown. And, of course, there was that attractive interest rate.
She inherited the bond in 2006.
Although I knew about Detroit’s financial problems, I’ve hung onto my Detroit muni. It was a little part of Detroit. It was from Dad. And, to be sure, it was paying 5.5 percent, an interest rate that was hard to beat.
Even so, it was an investment decision made more with my heart than with my head.
I’ve held my Detroit muni through countless news stories about the city’s dire financial situation, mismanagement, and shrinking footprint, and despite many magazine articles and books about Motown’s decline, all accompanied by haunting photos of devastated neighborhoods that I remember as thriving when I was a kid.
"I still love Detroit. Detroit will always be part of who I am."
Warren, who went on to become -- wait for it -- a bankruptcy attorney, recalls "pleasant, tree-filled neighborhoods" during the 1960s, when she "attended a more than adequate (and mostly integrated) public school. After school, I happily roamed the neighborhood with my pals."
Even though I’ve lived on the East Coast for years, I still love Detroit. . . .
Detroit will always be part of who I am. . . .
When I heard about Detroit’s bankruptcy filing, I thought, “Oh no!” imagining the impact on the folks who now live in the neighborhood where I grew up.
My next thought was of my Detroit muni, now circling the drain. (Ironic, given that it’s a sewer bond.)
The day after the filing, as the lawyers got down to wrangling about who would get what, I looked into unloading my Detroit muni. If I cashed it in, I was told, I could get $8,000.
Even though my years of experience both as a bankruptcy attorney and a risk-averse investor screamed, “Take the money!” I found myself saying, “No, thanks.”
I just can’t give up on Detroit. I’d rather hope, against long odds, for a successful comeback.
