Detroit thread. Post Kwame, Monica, and $1 houses here.

[Caliga]

When I hear the name "Kwame", I reach for my Browning. 

[jimmy olsen]

When I hear the name "Kwame", I reach for my Browning. 

Nazi!

[Caliga]

No, Concerned Citizen. 

[DontSayBanana]

I read it the first time. It just makes the situation more horrifying in my opinion. It's an absolutely insane situation, and the legislature that passed the law should have been impeached. A city council should have no ability whatsoever to nullify state legislation.  That the city council in question is Detroit's just makes it 100 times worse.

The state was being civil. They were talking about switching control of a city agency to a state-overseen one that operated on the county level. A hostile takeover usually doesn't work very well on the scale of local government; they were, in fact, managing this better than similar moves that have been made here in NJ (NJDOL switched One Stop from a county center to a regional one, so we have people coming from an hour and two counties away; it's had a violent impact on traffic congestion, and the agency in question's service has plummeted since the transition).

[Savonarola]

Welcome to Detroit!

Despite mugging, Dutch reporter won't beat up on Detroit
By BILL McGRAW • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • April 14, 2009

Award-winning Dutch journalist Jacqueline Maris is back in the Netherlands, safe and sound after her reporting trip to Detroit last week during which she and a photographer were carjacked.

Her three-part series on Detroit is running this week on VPRO, Dutch public radio. While Maris plans to include the carjacking incident in Part 3, she said having her rented Chevy Cobalt stolen at gunpoint will not affect the tone or conclusion of her reports.

She said she plans to construct a portrait of a city that goes beyond out-of-town journalists' stereotypes of abandoned houses and car-company woes.

"I don't want to stop where every journalists stops," Maris said in a phone interview Monday.

"When you read about Detroit, you read about the auto industry, the train station and some collapsing buildings. There's never people."

Her desire to do a comprehensive report on Detroit doesn't mean Maris — a veteran journalist who has reported from war zones in Africa and the Middle East — will tell a story that would be approved by the chamber of commerce.

"I could have done a very positive story," she said, "but there are drugs, gangs, wild dogs and garbage."

On the VPRO Web site, the reports are headlined: "Stories from a city in free fall."

In other American cities she has visited, such as Boston and New Orleans, decay was limited to specific districts, Maris said.

In Detroit, she was struck by how much the entire city outside of the central business district appears to be in distress.

"It looks nice in downtown," Maris said. "The Book Cadillac is very nice, and you see the potential. But when you get in the neighborhoods, it is very shocking. Wherever you go you see the houses that were once the houses of dreams. You see once there was a thriving life there."


The reporting trip was Maris' first visit to Detroit. Working with photographer Daimon Xanthopoulos, Maris spent nine days in the city, which is longer than many visiting reporters stay


Each report will be 35 minutes long, an eternity by even American public radio standards. Xanthopoulos' photos will appear on the station's Web site starting Wednesday: http://weblogs.vpro.nl/buitenland/

Maris said Part 1 deals with the history of Detroit and the auto industry, and what making cars meant to African Americans who came from the south for the city's good pay and relative freedom.

Part 2 will discuss people who are taking the initiative to improve life in the city, including the Motor City Blight Busters in northwest Detroit, the venerable Capuchin Soup Kitchen on the east side and parents in southwest Detroit who have organized to get rid of stray dogs.

"People in Detroit seem very strong and resilient," Maris said.

Part 3 will tell a more personal story, partly through Xanthopoulos' photos. Xanthopoulos spent time in Detroit during the winter, exploring the city on foot and met, among other people, a homeless single mother. They will tell of her search for shelter, and they will also discuss their experience of coming face to face with a 9mm pistol.

The carjacking took place in the former Brewster Projects, near Ford Field. Xanthopoulos handed over the keys to two men, one who wore a ski mask. Xanthopoulos and Maris fled; the thieves did not attempt to steal the journalists' recording equipment or expensive cameras. Maris said Detroit police responded promptly.

Maris, 50, the mother of two sons, said she will use the incident not to illustrate her bad luck, but tell to tell a bigger story, much as she did when she witnessed atrocities while reporting on the Liberian civil war in 1993.

"I went home to safe Holland," Maris said, where there is a solid safety net, and not everyone can own a gun and many fewer people fall into desperate poverty.

She's not going to tell her listeners not to go to Detroit for fear of getting shot.

But, she said, she will say that in Detroit, "many people are trapped."

[Malthus]

Great. Detroit, new destination for adventure tourism.

Move over, Papua New Guinea.

[Valmy]

She said she plans to construct a portrait of a city that goes beyond out-of-town journalists' stereotypes of abandoned houses and car-company woes.

I bet they are celebrating at the Detroit Chamber of Commerce!

[Neil]

Well of course it's no big deal for her.  As crime-ridden as Detroit is, it's nothing compared to Europe.

[Savonarola]

Well that didn't last long:

Council president Conyers skips TV show filming
Darren A. Nichols / The Detroit News
Detroit -- One week into Monica Conyers' stint as a talk show host, and she's already relying on reruns.

The City Council president was a no-show Tuesday for "Ask the Councilwoman With Monica Conyers" on WHPR-TV (Channel 33).

The show is filmed live at 3:30 p.m. at the station's studios in Highland Park.

After showing commercials for 10 minutes, the station aired last week's debut episode.

"She didn't make it," said R.J. Watkins, owner of the station. "The staff is here. The guest is here. She didn't show."

Left waiting was her guest, the Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit Branch NAACP.

Conyers spokeswoman Denise Tolliver blamed an undisclosed meeting that ran long. Tolliver said she expects Conyers to appear next week.

"Her meeting ran long. She couldn't be right on time (for the live show)," Tolliver said. "We had to make a quick decision to run the old show. Because it's live, we had to get something on."

Conyers, the wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, will interview guests, offer two minutes of commentary and take calls from the public. She's reached out to mayoral candidates Mayor Kenneth Cockrel Jr. and Dave Bing, but neither has agreed to be on the show. 

A 13-week contract is being negotiated, said Henry Tyler, the station's program director.

Conyers joins fellow council member JoAnn Watson and state Rep. Coleman A. Young II, both of whom have air time.

Watch highlights of last week's show at detnews.com/detroitcityhallinsider.com.

[Scipio]

Aging, dingy and in severe need of more space and renovations, Granholm, the Legislature and regional leaders agreed in December on a five-member regional authority to run Cobo and the extension of hotel, liquor and cigarette taxes to pay for $288 million in upgrades.

Now, that's one hell of a misplaced modifier.  Granholm may be in early middle age, but for a Canadian, she's not that dingy.

[Savonarola]

Aging, dingy and in severe need of more space and renovations, Granholm, the Legislature and regional leaders agreed in December on a five-member regional authority to run Cobo and the extension of hotel, liquor and cigarette taxes to pay for $288 million in upgrades.

Now, that's one hell of a misplaced modifier.  Granholm may be in early middle age, but for a Canadian, she's not that dingy.

Good catch, and from the Pulitzer winning Free Press.

[Barrister]

Great. Detroit, new destination for adventure tourism.

Move over, Papua New Guinea.

I've heard that it is.  Something about Urban Exploring / Spelunking.

http://www.forgottendetroit.com/

[Scipio]

Aging, dingy and in severe need of more space and renovations, Granholm, the Legislature and regional leaders agreed in December on a five-member regional authority to run Cobo and the extension of hotel, liquor and cigarette taxes to pay for $288 million in upgrades.

Now, that's one hell of a misplaced modifier.  Granholm may be in early middle age, but for a Canadian, she's not that dingy.

Good catch, and from the Pulitzer winning Free Press.

Are we sure that's not Pullet Surprise?

[Savonarola]

Cobo may lose grip on car show
Expansion deal dies after Cockrel loses appeal
Darren A. Nichols and Christina Stolarz / The Detroit News
Detroit --The Cobo Center expansion is dead, organizers of the North American International Auto Show -- its premier event -- may explore leaving town, and city and suburban leaders are squabbling over who's to blame.

Hours after the Michigan Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling Friday killing the deal, auto show organizers said they're open to other venues, while acknowledging few alternatives exist in southeast Michigan. The court ruling nixed a transfer to a regional authority -- once hailed as an example of area cooperation -- that would have overseen a $288 million expansion to the decades-old facility.

"We've got an obligation and a responsibility to the show to provide it with the best venue possible," said Joe Serra, the co-chairman of the 2009 show. The event pumps $350 million to $500 million into the economy.

"It's only proper we keep an open mind to all options. Our dream was to stay at Cobo and make (the show) a part of Detroit. That's why we've been so patient over the years and make that work. Our hearts are with Detroit and Cobo."

Doug Fox, a show co-chairman, said organizers aren't interested in leaving Cobo, but would "at least listen to those options and consider them." They have a commitment to stay at Cobo through 2010.

"I don't believe there is a facility that meets our needs," Fox said. "We were hopeful this was going to be our solution, and maybe it can still be our solution. Our goal all along is to stay in Detroit. We've made this clear for many years."

The two antagonists in the deal -- Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson and City Council President Monica Conyers -- blame each other for the deal's collapse. Patterson said he's open to revisiting the deal after the November city elections, should voters elect a new council.

'Let the dust settle'
"We have to back it up and let the dust settle," Patterson said. "When the (mayoral and Detroit City Council) elections are over, maybe we'll have a more reasonable group with which to engage. I'd be willing to submit the identical legislation. If they try to change the terms, Oakland County has no interest."

Conyers said Patterson should "stop trashing Detroit and its leaders and act like a grownup and come back to the table." She added that Patterson, whom she reached out to late Friday afternoon to urge him to come back to the table, is upset "because he cannot control us."

"Do not make this about me instead of dealing with the issues," Conyers said. "We are tired of his divisiveness and attacks on our elected officials. When he wants to deal with the issues instead of attacking the person, then we can talk."

In a unanimous decision, the Court of Appeals affirmed Wayne Circuit Judge Isidore Torres' decision that Mayor Kenneth Cockrel Jr. illegally vetoed a City Council resolution blocking the transfer. Cockrel argued the city charter allows mayors to veto council resolutions, but the court agreed that a December law gave the council sole power to thwart the deal.

Council members said Detroit should have received more than $20 million for the facility and more than one vote on the authority. The five-member authority was to be composed of one representative apiece from Detroit, the state and Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.

The authority was set to take over Monday. Instead, the city retains ownership and has no plans for renovations.

Cockrel, who will not appeal, said he disagreed with the ruling but has no regrets.

"A modern, improved Cobo Center is critical to the competitiveness of Detroit and the region," Cockrel said. "I will do whatever is needed to ensure that the much-needed improvements to the facility are made as soon as possible."

Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano said he's not giving up because "we were very close to a deal." He wants to bring the issue back after the May 5 mayoral election.

Granholm sees few options
But Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who signed the legislation in January surrounded by council members who later voted against the deal, said there is little interest in Lansing to create a better one.

"Today's ruling leaves very few options," Granholm said in a released statement. "Once the mayor and the City Council agree on a plan that is acceptable to all of the interested parties, then we will be in a position to move forward."

Two weeks of talks spurred by Torres broke down after members of the regional authority deadlocked over giving Detroiters an edge when awarding contracts, according to those close to the negotiations. Patterson's authority representative, Mike Carroll, wanted all bidders to have an equal shot at doing business at Cobo Center and opposed a plan that benefited Detroit-based enterprises

"Will Oakland County enter into a family and friends purchasing policy? No, not a chance. We don't do that out here," said Bob Daddow, Oakland's deputy executive.

"There isn't much else that can be done. The City Council, who decided to challenge the legislation, got what they wanted. They have to develop a plan to renovate it to save the auto show."

While Patterson called the court ruling a "setback," he did say he wants the auto show to remain in Detroit because "that's where it belongs."

But if the council can't make that happen, Patterson said he'd rather have the event move into the suburbs than Chicago or Las Vegas.

Obviously no one can control the Detroit City Council.  They can't control themselves.

[Savonarola]

Of course Detroit isn't the only city with problems:

Ignominious end for financial manager
April 18, 2009

There's vandalism, and there's vandalizing someone's wheelchair.


There's burglary, and there's burglarizing the home of a widow who's attending her husband's funeral.

There's double-dipping, and there's skimming hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars from a city that had to close its own fire department.

That's what a three-member state oversight board suggested former Wayne County Commissioner Art Blackwell did when he served as Highland Park's emergency financial manager. Blackwell was fired Friday after board members concluded he had committed "an egregious breach of public trust" by paying himself hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the state had authorized.

Friday's emergency meeting of the Local Emergency Financial Assistance Loan Board was called after Highland Park school board member Robert Davis said records he obtained under the Freedom of Information Act showed that Blackwell cosigned 14 checks to himself from city funds between April and December 2008. The records suggest that Blackwell has collected a total of $495,000 from the state and the city.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm named Blackwell as Highland Park's emergency financial manager at a salary of $1 a year, but the Local Emergency Financial Assistance Loan Board raised his salary last April to $11,000 a month and made it retroactive to October 2007 -- for a current total far less than he has apparently collected.

Blackwell says his critics should focus on Highland Park's improved fiscal posture, for which he claims credit.

Highland Park employees will doubtless be delighted to learn their pension fund is solvent. But the allegation that its emergency financial manager exploited his extraordinary authority to enrich himself beyond what those he worked for authorized or can afford is a gravely serious one that undermines public confidence in the government's integrity.

Blackwell had better come up with a more detailed explanation for his profligate check-writing. And it looks as if he'd better get ready to share it with a jury of his peers.

Boy, Jenny sure can pick them.

There are two municipalities surrounded entirely by Detroit; Highland Park and Hamtramck.  Hamtramck is the old Polish area of town and is still largely populated by immigrants from Eastern Europe.  Highland Park was the world headquarters of Chrysler until they moved to Auburn Hills in the early 90s.  Both cities have had fiscal problems over the years; but Highland Park was in much worse shape, which is why they had a state appointed fiscal manager.