Detroit seeks to avoid record bankruptcy

Detroit is suspending payments on $2 billion of unsecured debt, marketing parking garages and telling retirees to rely on President Barack Obama's healthcare law to avoid a record municipal bankruptcy.

Those are among proposed changes in a 128-page restructuring plan Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr offered on Friday at a meeting of creditors in Detroit. The moves, including spending $1.25 billion over 10 years to bolster safety and remove blight, will give an insolvent city a viable future, Orr said.

"We have to strike a balance between the legacy obligations to our creditors and our employees and retirees and the duty as a city to 700,000 residents for lights, police, fire, emergency management, cleaning the streets," Orr told reporters after the meeting.