U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Judge Steven Rhodes heard Tuesday there is more value in the city's decaying lighting department than in Joe Louis Arena after the Red Wings leave for their new arena,Rod Meloni reports on WDIV-TV.
City testimony showed there is about 13 million pounds of copper wire -- more than 6,000 tons -- underground and in the air. The city hopes to get between $35 million and $40 million in scrap value.
"You want to recover that, you want to salvage that. But that's also a very dangerous proposition," Emergency manager Kevyn Orr told Meloni. "Some of that wiring is enclosed in contaminated insulation, PCB's and other carcinogens, so you have to be very careful."
Over the next couple of weeks, the city will auction off old busses and police cars. It's the small details like this that Judge Rhodes will have to consider when deciding whether to grant Detroit its exit from this historic Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy.
