stated before, was a struggling city like the city of detroit. there was close to 1,000 employees in the city of pontiac. we re now down to less than 60. every city asset from 1,000 employees down to 60 employees? yeah. 60 city employees right now through primary, through layoffs, through outsourcing and privatizing of all of the jobs that the emergency manager has made. and wait a minute. i want to go slow so i and everyone can understand you. through outsourcing the layoffs and canceling privatizing contracts, all of this was decided by the emergency city manager who was selected by the governor, never elected by the people in pontiac? absolutely. so the people of pontiac have no authority at all to stop this man from doing anything? he does not have to consult the city council on any
years, it hasn t gone well for the people there or democracy. joining me now is pontiac city councilman donald whitecage who has been working without pay since 2011. thank you for being here tonight. thank you, reverend sharpton. good to be here. councilman, you ve had four years of the emergency manager. you told the new york times, quote, an emergency manager is like a man coming into your house. he takes your checkbook, he takes your credit cards, he lives in your house and he sleeps in your bed with your wife. he tells you it s still your house but he doesn t clean up, he sells off everything, and then he packs his bag and leaves. now, those are strong words. what is happening in pontiac since the emergency manager took over? well, reverend, since we ve gotten here, first of all, the city of pontiac, just as you
in auction at november, you get more more than just a world renowned stadium and the prime real estate on which it sits. if the new owner has other ideas, the city of pontiac says they are fully supported. the reason we want to sell without reserve is we don t want to exclude any potential bidders. we want people to think out of the box, to be as creative as possible and use this site for the best possible use that they would like to bring forward. this is an excellent location, and will be a great value for potential bidders. you can be part of this historic auction of the pontiac silverdome. joining us now from the interview is michael moore. nice to see you. good to see you. thank you. for many months i have been reporting on michigan and every time i finish reporting on something going on in michigan, i ask what the sam hill is up in michigan. the republican rescue plan for the towns and cities in michigan
anymore. the pontiac city count sit s vote against silling selling the silverdome meant zip, nothing. the city council s vote meant nothing. he pit it up for sale with ad like this. out here at the silverdome we have anything from your dirt shows, home and garden shows, trade shows, concerts. all the way down to anything you would like to do on top of a football field, soccer, flag football, indoor football, arena football. you can have lacrosse down there. up to anything you want and more. we ll help you. that was the message from the emergency manager as he sold the public s silverdome. of course, if the new owner has other ideas for silverdome, and the land on which it stands, the city of pontiac says they are fully supportive. the reason we want to sell without reserve is we don t want to exclude potential bidders.
just this past weekend with the afl-cio. arlene baker there had a king labor town hall meeting and you are talking about janitors. you know what the governor of michigan has done? he has taken the city of pontiac and one of the things they ve done is they ve gotten rid of all the janitors in the schools. all the janitors in the school. we had a city councilman tell us who teaches school that he has to vacuum his own classrooms. he has to bring toilet paper to his own classroom. and he also said under emergency management, as we as you ve talked about on your show and others. i was in detroit yesterday on emergency management. they fired the first person they fired was the city attorney. they fired the city clerk. they might they might unincorporate the city. and they are heading to try and do the same thing to detroit, wipe out all union contracts