Links, References

Contact the Save the DPL Coalition:

Detroiters For Tax Justice explainer on tax captures:

An explanation of what the DDA really is:

Here can be found the minutes of all past library commission meetings as well as scheduled future meetings:

Here can be found the calendar for Downtown Development Authority meetings:

Probably the best article on the library fight so far, from January 20, 2023:

Further reading on tax captures:

Local journalist Bankole Thompson interviewing Library Commissioner Russ Bellant on radio station 910AM about the Detroit library takeover scheme on May 4th, 2022: 

A 2016 documentary on how the municipal bankruptcy was contrived for corporate looting of public assets:
"Five Things the Mainstream Media won't tell you about Detroit's Bankruptcy," from the MetroTimes:
https://www.metrotimes.com/news/five-things-the-mainstream-media-wont-tell-you-about-detroits-bankruptcy-2265905

Some recent articles on library privatization as it has occurred in other communities:
"A For-Profit Company Is Trying to Privatize as Many Public Libraries as They Can"
https://fair.org/home/a-for-profit-company-is-trying-to-privatize-as-many-public-libraries-as-they-can
"Why the Hell Would You Want to Privatize Libraries?"
https://lithub.com/why-the-hell-would-you-want-to-privatize-libraries/
"When Public Libraries Become Private, Who Will Support Them?"





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Welcome to the Save the Detroit Public Library Coalition

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The Detroit Public Library is currently facing extraordinary threats to its future, ranging from a political takeover of its governing structure, to unjust looting of its finances.  The Detroit Public Library has been losing  $3-4 Million  of their operational budget every year since 2016 because it is being siphoned off by the Downtown Development Authority (DDA), which is appointed and chaired by Mayor Duggan, using “tax captures.” That money is being redistributed to rich private developers like the Ilitch family and Dan Gilbert, with no restrictions on its use. Detroit is the only city in the State of Michigan where this is done to the libraries by force; every other library in Michigan is exempt from tax capture under state law. Furthermore, other DDAs in Michigan typically capture less than 5% from the budget of any millage-funded institution, but Detroit’s DDA has been capturing above 12% of the DPL’s budget in recent years, and they are projected to c...
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