Detroit is in a big financial hole, and the man in charge of righting the ship wants to know what can be sold.
Mark Stryker and John Gallagher of the Detroit Free Press report that Detroit's emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, is considering whether the DIA's art collection, with a roughly-estimated value of $14 billion, should be counted as assets that can be sold to pay debts:
Liquidating DIA art to pay down debt likely would be a monstrously complicated, controversial and contentious process never before tested on such as large scale and with no certain outcome. The DIA is unusual among major civic museums in that the city retains ownership of the building and collection while daily operations, including fund-raising, are overseen by a nonprofit institution.
Stryker and Gallagher report on the many hurdles facing such a sale, including...
- restrictions on selling off city assets in municipal bankruptcy law,
- museum ethics and operating rules that forbid selling art,
- opposition from patrons who donated art,
- and major a public outcry against such a sale:
“There would be hue and cry the likes of which you’ve never heard,” said Ford Bell, president of the American Alliance of Museums in Washington, D.C. “The museum should be a rallying point for the rebirth of Detroit and not a source of funds.”
Orr spokesman Bill Nowling said there's no plan yet to sell any asset of the city, but he said all the city's assets must be accounted for.