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

[Savonarola]

Angry bar patron attacks Girls Gone Wild party bus
Police say a shortage of scantily clad women led a 51-year-old man to attack a Girls Gone Wild bus outside a Saginaw-area bar.

The co-owner of the Red Horse Bar in Saginaw County's Saginaw Township says the Girls Gone Wild promoters disappointed him and his patrons.
Chris Adams tells The Saginaw News the organization contacted the bar three months ago and scheduled Wednesday's stop. He says promoters agreed to provide security, a DJ and publicity, in exchange for the $10 cover charge.

Adams says the event didn't live up to standards and no Girls Gone Wild-employed women participated. He says it drew about 100 customers, twice the normal crowd.

Township police say a Portland man snapped the bus's two rear-view mirrors. He wasn't immediately charged because police had no complaint.

Our freedom of speech is freedom or death
We got to fight the powers that be
Lemme hear you say
Fight the power

[Savonarola]

$1,100 trash cans part of library fixup
Review of work at cash-strapped facility continues
Christine MacDonald / / The Detroit News
Detroit — Chairs aren't the only thing that cost $1,100 apiece in a controversial renovation of a Detroit Public Library wing.

So did the trash cans.

The $2.3 million remodel of the South Wing of the Main Library opened to the public Tuesday, and documents obtained this week by The Detroit News show it includes eight stainless-steel trash cans that cost taxpayers about $8,900.

The expense is fueling an outcry that began last week after The News reported the system spent $1,092 apiece for 20 European-designed lounge chairs for the wing — at the same time officials are considering closing 18 of 23 neighborhood branches and laying off workers because of an $11 million shortfall.

"There are some branches that don't have air conditioning," said Michael Wells, president of UAW Local 2200, representing about 120 library staffers.

"But we have $1,100 trash cans in the main library? I think it's exorbitant."

Library commissioners may soon take action. An investigation into the South Wing renovation found "inexplicable irregularities" in awarding contracts, and staffers could soon be disciplined, said Russ Bellant, a member of the Detroit Public Library Commission.

"It appears abuses took place regarding the South Wing construction," Bellant said. "Policies were ignored in the awarding of contracts."

"We've narrowed down the review and are taking steps to resolve it."

He declined further comment. But a copy of the investigation obtained by The News shows the library granted a $125,600 contract to a Chicago architecture firm to manage and design the South Wing, even though the company's initial bid didn't include any prices.

The report also found that it was "common knowledge" among library staff that the firm, Frye Gillan Molinaro Architects, wasn't supposed to get more work because of legal issues related to claims of unpaid subcontractors on another library project it managed.

A company representative declined comment Wednesday.

"We inquired as to why employees had not stepped forward sooner to express their concerns regarding the procurement policy," the investigator hired by commissioners wrote. "The general response was that they feared their employment with the library would be in jeopardy."

The project began in 2007 as a $300,000 furniture update and morphed into a larger renovation, including new floors, study rooms, lighting and built-in wood-frame bookshelves.

In addition to the trash cans and chairs, records show that $78,100 was spent to custom build a circular wooden service desk.

Twenty-one staff workstations cost $3,600 apiece and eight filing cabinets cost $630 each. The rehab also includes two alcohol-burning $5,000 fireplaces and 24 pendant light fixtures for $531 each.

Library user John Franklin Mason called the rehab "beautiful" but questioned the cost.

"Don't get me wrong, I love it," he said Wednesday. "But I don't think it was needed that bad."

Edward Thomas, chairman of the library commission, said he hasn't seen the trash cans but isn't concerned as long as they are heavy duty.

"You want it to be something that will last as opposed to something that will break down," Thomas said.

He said the library's financial problems stem from a drop in property taxes — not the South Wing project. In addition to closing branches, the system is considering laying off as many as 191 of 333 workers.

"If I was in a position to be laid off, I would be upset, too," Thomas said. "I would be looking for someone to blame, too."

Library administrators agree the furniture prices are excessive, but blame each other. Commissioners said they never received a breakdown of expenses — or asked for one.

Executive Director Jo Anne Mondowney came aboard 19 months ago. Before she started, the commission approved the furniture budget — and a committee of staffers led by Deputy Director Juliet Machie picked the project's overall design direction but left individual furniture purchases to Frye, said library spokesman A.J. Funchess.

The commission approved construction on the project in September 2009, the same month Mondowney started. Machie was interim director for about three months before that.

Machie said she was involved only in general design, not furniture. She said Mondowney removed her from the project in November 2009.

Commission minutes show the $624,000 contract for furniture and shelving to vendor Library Design Associates of Plymouth was approved in May 2010, under Mondowney's watch.

The commission's investigation concluded that Machie recommended in 2008 the commission approve the contract with Frye, but Machie said she consulted a library lawyer on the choice and was told there was no issue with the contractor from its previous job.

Machie declined further comment about the investigation.

Yeah, $1100 trash cans are nice, but I *still* have to share the library with homeless people

[Savonarola]

Whitey just keeps on keeping the house of Cheeks-Kilpatrick down.

Kilpatrick's cousin Nneka Cheeks to be arraigned for racketeering, embezzlement charges
George Hunterand Robert Snell / / The Detroit News
Detroit— Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's cousin is to be arraigned today on charges she took money meant for the city's official mayoral residence, the Manoogian mansion.

Nneka Cheeks, 40, of Livonia is to be charged in the city's 36th District Court with racketeering and eight counts of embezzlement for allegedly raiding almost $20,000 from the Manoogian Mansion Restoration Society's bank account between 2007 and 2009, Attorney General Bill Schuette announced Thursday.

Schuette said Cheeks spent the money on furniture, cosmetic injections, personal fitness training, relatives' debts, veterinary services and her own wedding.

"Ms. Cheeks abused her position of trust by converting these funds for her own personal use," Schuette said. "The criminal acts of Ms. Cheeks were not an isolated event, but rather a series of events."

FBI Special Agent Rob Howard said the investigation of Cheeks was an "offshoot" of the agency's other probes of alleged corruption during Kilpatrick's administration of City Hall. Kilpatrick, jailed for failing to pay restitution associated with obstruction of justice and assault charges related to the text message scandal, also has been charged with federal racketeering and tax violations.

Cheeks previously faced a civil lawsuit over allegations she tapped the Manoogian Mansion Restoration Society's bank account. The state won a default judgment against her in September. The civil complaint asked the court to order Cheeks to return the money and pay triple the amount she diverted.

Cheeks is expected to turn herself in today to face the charges that carry potential penalties of up to 20 years.

Michigan State Police and FBI agents earlier this month raided Cheeks' Livonia home and her parents' home in Detroit as part of an embezzlement investigation. The Detroit home on Cherrylawn, which is registered with the state as the restoration society's address, is owned by Kilpatrick's uncle, Raymond Cheeks, Nneka Cheeks' father.

[Caliga]

These sorts of posts would be more interesting if similar corruption didn't occur in basically every American city.

[Malthus]

These sorts of posts would be more interesting if similar corruption didn't occur in basically every American city.

The seeming complete collapse of the city makes the corruption stand out more.

[Savonarola]

Meanwhile in the suburbs:

Macomb County restaurateurs charged in beating of rival
Christine Ferretti and Charles E. Ramirez / / The Detroit News
Shelby Township— The owners of a Shelby Township restaurant are facing up to life in prison on allegations they attempted to kill the owner of a competing restaurant with a baseball bat.

Brothers Giuseppe D'Anna, 58, and Girolamo D'Anna, 46, owners of Tiramisu Restaurant, were arraigned Friday in 41-A District Court on charges of assault with intent to murder, Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith said Monday.

Prosecutors say the pair is expected to be arraigned on additional counts of extortion and witness intimidation on May 16 during a scheduled preliminary examination in Shelby Township.

Authorities say the brothers stormed into Nonna's Restaurant near 23 Mile and Schoenherr at 10 p.m. Thursday and hit owner Pietro Ventimiglia over the head 11 times with an aluminum bat.

During the beating, Giuseppe D'Anna allegedly told Ventimiglia that he was going to kill him "so the problem would be over." He told Ventimiglia that if he went to the police, he would kill Ventimiglia's children, his family and his parents back in Italy, prosecutors said.

"We will not tolerate this sort of violent, lawless intimidation in Macomb County," Smith said in a statement Monday.

Giupseppe D'Anna's Detroit-based attorney, James Thomas, said Monday his client has pleaded not guilty and has posted bond, which court officials said was set at $250,000 cash or surety. Thomas described the case as "essentially a family dispute" but declined to elaborate.

"The case will unfold in the courts," he said.

Girolamo's attorney, Vincenzo Manzella, said he had no comment on the case. He said as of late Monday afternoon he still had not seen a police report.

Smith said the D'Anna brothers had allegedly been threatening Ventimiglia, asking: "Don't you know who we are?" since he opened his restaurant in 2009.

Nonna's is across the street from Tiramisu and had recently expanded its seating capacity from 40 to 90, despite continued threats from the D'Annas against it, prosecutors say.

The assault charge carries a penalty of up to life in prison. Extortion is a 20-year felony and the witness intimidation charge is a 10-year offense.

Maria Ventimiglia, Nonna's general manager, said Monday Pietro is recovering.

The restaurant is open for business.

That part of metro Detroit has a fair number of immigrants from Italy; it's nice to see they keep their traditions in this foreign land.  It gives the east side some old world charm.

[Berkut]

These sorts of posts would be more interesting if similar corruption didn't occur in basically every American city.

I don't think this level of corruption does occur in every American city, actually. Probably in some, but hardly all of them.

[MadImmortalMan]

Mayor Bloomberg has a solution for Detroit.

MR. GREGORY:  Well, the--this, this disconnect where we hear that the economy is getting better, stock market is improving.  So much has gone on on Wall Street to get healthy again, with major banks getting healthy again, and yet we're in this state where you have stubbornly high unemployment.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG:  Well, there's a couple of different things here.  One, there is a crisis of confidence, and the one that really is worrisome is not just when you go out and say, "Do you feel better or worse about the economy?" It is a crisis of confidence among business people.  They look at Washington and they say, "You can't run something this way." No company would survive if you ran it the way Washington runs, where they focus on small issues that have nothing to do with the, the real America, on issues they can't come together on.  The most obvious one is immigration.  This is a country that was built by immigrants, this is a country that became a superpower by--because of its immigrant population.  And unless we continue to have immigrants, we cannot maintain as a superpower.

And I'll give you a good example of how you can fix some of the problems in America.  Take a look at the big old industrial cities--Detroit, for example. Got a great mayor in Mayor Bing.  But the population has left.  You got to do something about that.  And if I were the federal government, assuming you could wave a magic wand and pull everybody together, you pass a law letting immigrants come in as long as they agree to go to Detroit and live there for five or 10 years, start businesses, take jobs, whatever.  You would populate Detroit overnight because half the world wants to come here.  We forget, we, we whip ourselves a little bit too much.  We still are the world's greatest democracy.  We still have hope for--if you want to have a better life for yourself and your kids, this is where you want to come.  And you could use something like immigration policy, at no cost to the federal government, to fix a lot of the problems that we have.

Sound intriguing at first. One of the things wrong in places like that is clearly a lack of cohesive community and a sense of connection to the place-a desire for it to not be a shithole. On the other hand, another problem is the built-in institutional and structural atmosphere that is clearly poisonous to progress. I wouldn't want to force some poor souls into a kind of indentured servitude that locks them into staying there while the leadership they inherit can abuse them with impunity because they can't leave.

Welcome to America. Now you're paying outrageous taxes and slaving under a tide of outright oppression so I can embezzle city funds and you can't do shit about it--because whatcha gonna do, go back to Guatemala?

Edit: I'm also not much a fan of immigrant ghettoization and compartmentalization, and I think that would be another side-effect of this.

[The Brain]

I thought they had saved Detroit by now? They certainly have destroyed it.

[jimmy olsen]

WTF?

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/05/04/report-nearly-half-of-detroiters-cant-read/

[ulmont]

WTF?

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/05/04/report-nearly-half-of-detroiters-cant-read/

You left out the best part.  From the linked report:

We also know that of the 200,000 adults who are functionally illiterate, approximately half have a high school diploma or GED

http://cbsdetroit.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/basicskillsreport_final.pdf

[Tonitrus]

Inactive for about four months....has Detroit lost yet another treasure? 

[Neil]

Sound intriguing at first. One of the things wrong in places like that is clearly a lack of cohesive community and a sense of connection to the place-a desire for it to not be a shithole. On the other hand, another problem is the built-in institutional and structural atmosphere that is clearly poisonous to progress. I wouldn't want to force some poor souls into a kind of indentured servitude that locks them into staying there while the leadership they inherit can abuse them with impunity because they can't leave.

Welcome to America. Now you're paying outrageous taxes and slaving under a tide of outright oppression so I can embezzle city funds and you can't do shit about it--because whatcha gonna do, go back to Guatemala?

Edit: I'm also not much a fan of immigrant ghettoization and compartmentalization, and I think that would be another side-effect of this.

Yeah, that's a crazy idea.  Not only for the reasons you stated, but it's also morally wrong to force people to live in a place where they'll be preyed upon by negro criminals.

[11B4V]

Ive seen this somewhere before.....Ah, Fallout 3 many times.

[MadImmortalMan]

Detroit's been ignored for far too long!


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/30/detroit-high-school-prote_n_1392436.html

Detroit High School Protest: Students Suspended After Demanding 'An Education'


About 50 students were suspended Thursday from the all-boys Frederick Douglass Academy in Detroit, Mich. for walking out of classes in protest, demanding "an education."

Among their complaints: a lack of consistent teachers, the reassignment of the school principal, educators who abuse sick time and a shortage of textbooks.

"We've been wronged and disrespected and lied to and cheated," senior Tevin Hill told the Detroit Free Press. "They didn't listen to us when we complained to the administration. They didn't listen to the parents when they complained to the administration, so I guess this is the only way to get things solved."

One math teacher, parent Sharise Smith tells WJBK-TV, has been absent for more than 68 days.

The students marched outside the school and chanted, "We want... education! When do we want it? Now!"

Students and parents became increasingly alarmed when Frederick Douglass was no longer listed as an application school in the district -- current students had to apply to attend. Smith told the Free Press that her son was given an A in geometry without taking a final exam.

"It was by default, just for showing up. It wasn't because he earned an A," she said.

The Frederick Douglass boys are just some of many students in a city that proved to be the worst-performing urban school area among 21 surveyed across the country. Despite its national rank, Detroit's overall performance increased on the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in 2009 branded Detroit "ground zero" for education reform, but changed his tone to a more optimistic one last year. Still, the district is hundreds of millions of dollars in debt and faces dwindling enrollment -- the first day of academic year 2011-2012 saw a 55 percent attendance rate.

Detroit Public Schools spokesperson Steve Wasko noted that Frederick Douglass teachers who abuse sick time "will be reprimanded," and the district aims to keep the school open while adding new courses like debate and engineering.

The 17-year-old Hill told The Detroit News that so many teachers have been simultaneously absent from school that dozens of students had been forced to gather in the gym or other common school areas. Students also went for long periods without homework, and Hill said he struggled on a recent placement exam at Bowling Green State University, where he's been accepted to attend next year.

"I literally couldn't answer a question on there," Hill said. "Right now, I'm not going to be as successful as I should be because I haven't been properly taught."