Carole Kronberg of Detroit
By Carole Kronberg
Dear Charter Commission Members and Members of the Media Serving Detroit:
I write in the hope of mitigating the future, potentially disastrous effects (which will reflect upon all of you) of what I continue to see as a great injustice being done to myself and most other civic-minded citizens of Detroit.
Detroit’s New City Charter, as it is proposed now, includes some very constructive improvements, but for all the work you obviously have done, it fails to preserve/perpetuate the most basic of Detroit values: self-determination through democracy or, stated another way, freedom through hard-won voting rights.
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If adopted without amendment, the new City Charter will not only give each Detroit resident/voter FEWER votes and options through which to make “our” City Council more accountable; it will also give us representatives who may be the most outstanding of (not the whole city, but) smaller neighborhood pools. but deprive us of choosing more than one city-wide champion. It will also provide for a WEAKER, more divided Council (less able to defend the interests of the city as a whole — our collective culture as well as property interests) and NO defense whatsoever against potential misuse of police presence/powers by uniquely (not electively/democratically) empowered entities.
We have been advised that those of us reconsidering (or STILL alarmed by) the prospect of leaving our city so vulnerable and “up for grabs” are “too late” to undo the damage already done by certain interests’ deliberate misrepresentation of their plan in order to promote (and go BACKWARDS to) “Council-by-District.”
Therefore, I write to ask this: Is it too late for the People of Detroit to demand inclusion in the new Charter of a “contingency plan” which would describe and provide a non-violent means to return control of the city to its residents if/when a majority of Detroiters realize that they have been systematically deceived and robbed?
Respectfully submitted,
Carole A. Kronberg
VOD ed, note: DETROITERS HAVE THE OPTION TO VOTE THIS CHARTER DOWN AS A WHOLE. IF IT IS NOT SATISFACTORY, VOTE NO!! IN NOVEMBER!.
I dsagree with the writer . I beleive that a concil elected by districts will make the council More acountable. As we have now is a “name recognition ” at large election.
Also adding to that is the high illiteracy rate and you still keep geetting what youv’er been getting .Change or “same ole same ole”.