Detroit has long endured what other communities have never faced, government continuing to chip away at the quality of life and potential for improvement for Detroit. A growing number of city assets and institutions have been taken away, or what some would say given away over the past twenty years. Instead of working to make [...]
Read more →Who exactly is trying to continue the use of Emergency Managers in Michigan? What is the agenda of those behind the emergency managers? There are multiple people from various backgrounds supporting the law. Now they will have to find alternate methods to accomplish their goals.
Read more →Is the State of Michigan a good place to raise a family? Build, grow or locate a business? Can Michigan offer advantages over other states, or even other countries, to encourage people to locate here, or discourage current residents from moving? Should someone live in Michigan? Can people prosper in Michigan? Does Michigan exhibit the best qualities as written in our countries constitution?
Read more →Two successive politically weak mayors have hurt Detroit. Dennis Archer and Kwame Kilpatrick have worked to support interests and the interests of their supporters that did not help the city. They both employed the adage of winner take all. Only they supported this believe after their victory in their political campaigns. Prior to their victory their message was to share everything. After they were the political victors they refused to share resources with the entire city. Their policies have mirrored the worst of economic principles while ignoring the best of democratic beliefs. Under Archer and Kilpatrick, the government has spent more money but the quality of life in Detroit has fallen. While the number of jobs has decreased the unemployment rate has increased. Housing values have risen but more people are losing their homes, many due to high taxes, others to gentrification. Also the number of low-income homes in Detroit has fallen to an all time low. Archer demolished every housing complex in the city and refused to construct new places for those displaced residents to live. They moved out of the city and took Detroit’s population to below one million residents. The population change was a historic event and a black eye for the city. The next mayor of Detroit needs to be someone who can ignore corporate interests and push for actions that will benefit the people.
Read more →Detroit has today at its roots a strong Black community. Like many American cities it didn’t begin that way but the lure of jobs and prosperity helped to increase the numbers of Black families in the city and stabilize the patterns of migration. Once the Black community was firmly established, the power structure began a process of attempts at destabilizing the Black community to disrupt its growing political influence.
Read more →Gentrification is to some people a means to an end. To those losing their homes it’s a cruel abuse of power. Detroit has been enduring gentrification for many years. Every time a community becomes a political threat to the current power structure. When the first freeway was built and as the others were constructed, it was placed through the most vibrant parts of the Black community. Today, more than 40 years since the last freeway was built, new housing is being placed on old housing locations. But those old housing locations are not empty. Rather they are inhabited and the owners are being forced to sell and relocate to make way for the new development.
Read more →Detroit’s past two mayors have made questionable decisions on the city’s revenue generating departments. Seemingly giving money away, or poring money down the drain, these actions might have gone un-noticed if a deficit which threatens hundreds of city jobs and rising taxes was not a current reality. But instead of looking to reverse bad decision making, the policy has been to continue the hurtful programs or actions. But there is always a limit to what can be cut, eliminated or transferred to eliminate debt.
Read more →Detroit has a large budget deficit. The exact amount is up for interpretation. Mayoral Candidate Freman Hendrix claims it’s near $750 million. Irvin Corley the city council’s Fiscal Analysts has said the deficit is nearly $350 million. The finance department under Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has announced a deficit in the $250 million range. Regardless of the exact figure, Detroit will have to make cuts in spending. But the past mayors have not made optimum use of the revenue generating functions or departments of Detroit in order to offset this deficit or reduce taxes.
Read more →When it comes to Michigan’s constitution, it is said that folks will change or modify it to suit their mood. This year the topic of marriage and gambling are scheduled for a statewide vote. When those two subjects are working well, everyone is happy. But when these two fail, the fallout can affect more than just the direct parties involved.
The two sides are primarily the Detroit casinos who seek to slow down the expansion of non-Indian gaming in the state and then those forces who seek to open new an expand existing gaming facilities in the state. These facilities include racetracks with the addition of slot machines, bars and restaurants with the introduction of specialized computer gambling machines and the state lottery system who seeks to introduce new forms of gambling to generate more revenue of the state. All designed to increase revenue to an industry slowing in growth and sales or boost foot traffic to existing bars and restaurants.
Read more →There has been a lot of discussion concerning recent legislation from the Michigan State legislator. One bill that is now law has the city of Detroit voting on whether to reorganize the City Council into Districts beginning with the 2006 election. The City Council and the Election Commission challenged this law but a judge recently declared that state law takes precedence over the City Charter and therefore the measure must go before the voters. Another piece of legislation that has yet to become law concerns the issues of government owned land in the city of Detroit. Popularly referred to as Land Banking. The range of bills (see the section, Political Reports – State Law) would remove the City Council from the process of dealing with tax reverted land and instead appoint two authorities one that would deal with the land the state owns and one that deals with the land the city owns.
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