VOICE OF DETROIT: The city's independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

14-year-old Rafael Jones leads march for Justice for Aiyana and freedom for Charles Jones April 23 at Frank Murphy Hall in downtown Detroit, with his grandmother Mertilla Jones (l), and aunt LaKrystal Sanders (r) holding signs behind him.

Apparent collusion between court, attorneys for both sides, to get cop off

By Diane Bukowski 

September 29, 2012 

Killer cop Joseph Weekley, Jr (l), Aiyana Stanley-Jones (r); below is expert depiction of Aiyana’s killing by Weekley as she slept with her grandmother.

DETROIT – Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway delayed  ruling on a motion to dismiss charges against Detroit Officer Joseph Weekley, Jr., killer of Aiyana Stanley Jones, 7, during a hearing Sept. 28, until after the child’s father is tried for first-degree murder in another case.

Weekley faces involuntary manslaughter and firearms charges for shooting Aiyana through the head after a Detroit police “Special Response Team” conducted a military-style raid on her home in a poor east-side Detroit neighborhood March 16, 2010. A&E’s “First 48” was filming the midnight raid for national television.

Instead, world-wide media told the story of a little girl’s killing by Detroit police.

Charles Jones with his only daughter Aiyana. Jones also has six younger sons.

Weekley is free on personal bond, while Aiyana’s father Charles Jones and Chauncey Owens have been remanded without bail, charged with killing 17-year-old Je’Rean Blake two days earlier.  Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Robert Moran is prosecuting both Weekley and Jones, in what some have termed a “conflict of interest.”

“It took him a few seconds to murder my baby in front of my eyes,” the child’s grandmother Mertilla Jones wept outside the court after the motion hearing. “But two and a half years later, they haven’t tried him yet. Instead they’re going after her father who’s still grieving for his child.”

Jones was sleeping on a front-room couch with Aiyana when police lobbed an incendiary grenade through a window overhead, and watched as Weekley shot her granddaughter to death.

Joseph Weekley at arraignment. He lives in wealthy Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe.

During the hearing, the diminutive Weekley sat stone-faced in the courtroom and avoided looking at Jones as she passed by.

“They arrested me and held me in jail for days,” Jones said, “but the man who killed my baby hasn’t spent a minute in jail.”

Police claimed Jones had “interfered” with Weekley, but never charged her. According to witnesses, after racing Aiyana’s body out of the house, they terrorized the rest of the family, including infants and children, before arresting Owens. He lived in a flat upstairs from the Jones family.

Weekley and Charles Jones were arrested a year-and-a-half later, after a prolonged Michigan State Police investigation and secret one-man grand jury proceedings in front of Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Timothy Kenny. Kenny charged Weekley, while Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy charged Jones and Owens.

Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway

Hathaway, the prosecution and the defense appeared to collude during the Sept. 28 hearing.

“I’ve discussed the situation at length with Officer Weekley, and he absolutely agrees with me and quite frankly with the prosecutor and the court that his trial should be delayed,” defense attorney Steven Fishman said.

Moran had just explained that the prosecution is waiting for a ruling from the Michigan Supreme Court in Jones’ case. He and Owens face trial before Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Richard Skutt, who earlier barred the use of hearsay testimony by “jail-house snitch” Jay Schlenkerman against Jones.

Robert Moran

Moran at first called the Blake killing case a “companion case,” then corrected himself. The companion case in Weekley’s trial is that of Allison Howard, an A&E producer charged with perjury and interfering with an investigation of Aiyana’s killing.

Skutt said the testimony could be used against Owens, who Schlenkerman cited as his source, but not against Jones, under Michigan Rules of Evidence. He said that Schlenkerman, a six-time felon with a history of severe domestic abuse and drunk driving, appeared to have constantly prompted Owens to obtain an alleged statement that Charles Jones gave him the gun used to kill Blake.

Steven FIshman

The prosecution asked the Michigan Court of Appeals for leave to appeal. Instead, an appeals court panel consisting of Judges Michael Talbot, a member of the right-wing Federalist Society, Kurtis Wilder and Kirsten Kelly summarily reversed Skutt’s decision Aug. 13.

Jones’ attorneys, from the offices of nationally-known attorney Geoffrey Fieger, have asked the Supreme Court for leave to appeal that ruling, and according to Moran received a stay pending their decision.

“Our intent was to try that case first anyway,” Moran said. “The appellate office says they expect the Supreme Court to deny the application by the end of the year, since they don’t usually get involved in pre-trial proceedings.”

Hathaway held a lengthy secret sidebar with both Moran and Fishman prior to her ruling.

Aiyana’s aunt LaKrystal Sanders, grandmother Mertilla Jones, and mother Dominika Stanley at national police brutality coalition meeting in May.

“I basically called this pre-trial today to admonish both the prosecution and defense,” she said, although the hearing was listed in court records as a motion hearing. “ I don’t see how I can adequately decide on [the motion to dismiss] without receiving the indictment discovery, which is two to three feet high. I’m going to need time to review this material.”

She indicated that it would be best to postpone her ruling on the dismissal until after the Jones/ Owens trials, since that would give her time to review the discovery materials.

Hathaway has had the cases against Weekley and Howard since November 11, 2011.

Meanwhile, she scheduled another pre-trial hearing for Weekley for Oct. 29, after pre-trial hearings in the Jones/Owens case are held.

Jones’ trial had been set for Oct. 22.

In a civil case brought against him by Aiyana’s family members, Weekley’s attorneys are trying to delay that trial until after the Jones/Owens’ criminal trial. On Oct. 11, at 9 a.m. Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Daphne Means Curtis will hold a hearing on a defense motion for a stay of proceedings. A status conference is set for October 26, with trial scheduled for November 11, 2012.

Curtis earlier denied a defense motion for a “protective order” to seal records in the case, including depositions of the officers involved in the raid. She ruled that those depositions should go forward on the completion of the State Police investigation. It is unclear from court records, however, if the officers have been deposed. Defense attorneys from the firm of Plunkett & Cooney, paid by the City of Detroit, have however deposed many of those in the Jones family, according to Mertilla Jones.

Sky banner flown by the Justice for Aiyana Jones Committee across Detroit on the first anniversary of her death, May 16, 2012.

Phyllis McMillon, president of AFSCME Local 452, who represents city workers on Belle Isle, tells rally, Bing told a lie when he said we have 36 workers here. There are only four permanent workers, the rest are seasonal from April to September. The seasonals are being laid off Sept. 23, and the four permanent workers have been re-assigned even though the lease deal is not approved.”

•  Detroiters rally on island to save largest  public river park in country
• Union president says city workers re-assigned without lease approval
• Councilman Kwame Kenyatta calls for public to weigh in at committee meeting Thurs. Oct. 4, 1 p.m.

By Diane Bukowski 

September 24, 2012 

(Note: story upcoming on Detroit City Council hearing on Belle Isle takeover Sept. 25, 2012, with analysis. Meanwhile, Councilman Kwame Kenyatta has set public discussion on the Belle Isle takeover for his committee meeting October 4, 2012.)  

DETROIT – Grass roots Detroiters, many from community groups, turned out Sept. 21 to save their beloved Belle Isle from a state takeover Sept. 21, rallying in front of a bright yellow banner declaring “Hands Off Belle, No More Takeovers, Occupy Detroit,” affixed to Picnic Shelter #2.

They were also mobilizing to defeat Public Act 4, popularly known as “The Dictator Act” in the coming November elections, vowing to go door-to-door in the community to educate people about the dangers of PA 4. It led to the April 4 “Fiscal Stability [consent] Agreement” which has stripped Detroit’s elected officials of most of their final powers. Even if Detroit’s City Council votes down a proposed state lease of Belle Isle, their decision can be overridden under that agreement, contrary to City Charter provisions.

Punco of the Black Motorcycle Riders Club pull up to rally, is greeted by Valerie Glenn of Free Detroit-No Consent.

“This is family here, real Detroiters,” declared Debra Taylor, who chaired the rally. “We purposely pulled together just grass roots folk who love our city and Belle Isle.”

They swelled the ranks to at least 100 on a rainy day. Among them was “Puncho,” who roared in on his brilliant white and chrome bike, representing the Black Motorcycle Riders Association. Although state proposals for an annual Belle Isle entry fee say that pedestrians, bicyclists and boaters can enter the island free, all vehicles including motorcycles would have to have a $10 annual state “Recreation Pass” to get on the island.

Classic Chevy Caprice on island.

“We must draw a line in the sand,” Monica Patrick Detroit No Consent told the crowd. “This is a family meeting. We will not tolerate tyranny in our own city.”

Beach on Lake Michigan at Jean Klock Park in Benton Harbor.

Cecily McClellan of Free Detroit No Consent compared the Belle Isle proposal to what has happened in Benton Harbor, where corporations including Whirlpool took over land adjacent to the publicly-owned Jean Klock Park, which has a gorgeous beach with a spectacular view of Lake Michigan.

“Benton Harbor residents have been impoverished, unemployed, and foreclosed on since the takeovers there,” McClellan, who has spoken at rallies in the small majority-Black city on Michigan’s west coast, said.

Some of Belle Isle ralliers, including Puncho, who denounced Mayor Dave Bing.

“They didn’t get bailed out like the banks did,” she said. “Here in Detroit, we have lost Cobo Hall and the water and sewerage department is facing an 81 percent cut in jobs. People are being laid off, shrinking our tax base. The same thing has happened with the Public Lighting Department, lights are out in most of our neighborhoods while we pay DTE to power them. It’s being done on purpose to set us up to fail. They’re doing the same thing on Belle Isle, laying off the staff who maintain it. Detroiters have voted millions in bonds for Belle Isle, but for some reason we can’t find it. Who wants to own Belle Isle, if you have no control or gain no benefit from the island?”

Phyllis McMillan, president of Recreation Department Local 542 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees , gave an eye-opening report on the reality of what has been happening to the island.

Grass roots crowd listens to speakers at Belle isle rally 9 22 12.

“This is no new thing,” McMillan said. “I’m here at 6 a.m. every morning, but we have no equipment to clean the island. We do the best we can anyway, even bending and stooping to pick up trash. Bing told a lie when he said we have 36 workers here. There are only four permanent workers, the rest are seasonal from April to September. The seasonals are being laid off Sept. 23, and the four permanent workers have been re-assigned even though the lease deal is not approved.”

Rally included rap.

She said Detroit City Councilman Andre Spivey was on the island earlier in the week to take a tour before dealing with the state proposal.

“He crouched down when he saw me because he didn’t want to hear the truth,” McMillan said. “The state’s lying in their proposal. They’re not going to put any more money into an island we own. None of that money is coming to the city, just like happened at the DIA, the Science Center, the Historical Museum, and Cobo Hall. They want Compuware to take over our payroll system.”

Monica Patrick speaks: Belle Isle for our children!

McMillan said Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Paula Manderfield invalidated two sections of the Detroit consent agreement in her ruling on a lawsuit by AFSCME Sept. 12, Sections 4.1 and 4.3, restoring collective bargaining rights that would force the city to negotiate terms of any changes to the Belle Isle workforce.

Although she said she would issue a written stay of her order while the City appealed, according to state records, she has not done so yet. But Mayor Dave Bing and Michigan Governor Snyder are proceeding as if she never ruled.

(Click on Manderfield decision 9 12 12, also Ingham judge strikes down 2 parts of Detroit consent agreement with state. )

Crowd listens to speakers.

As wind gusts and rain brought an end to the rally Attorney Jerry Goldberg of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition wrapped up it, pinpointing the devil behind the scenes.

“Driving to Belle Isle today, I thought of the recent report by the Pew Center which shows that 57 percent of Detroit’s children are living in poverty,” he said. “Detroit families need every single penny to survive and must not be charged to enter their own island. The banks have destroyed our neighborhoods with illegal mortgages and are holding the city hostage with billions in debt. Detroit paid $597 million to them just this past year. Public Act 4 is a bankers’ bill—it busts union contracts, but the banks get guaranteed payment of their debts. The fight against Public Act 4 is one step in the struggle, but we must go beyond that to take back our city, and force the state and the banks to pay reparations to Detroit.”

Jerry Goldberg, Cecily McClellan, Chris Griffiths

The rally was sponsored by Free Detroit-No Consent, Hood Research, and We the People of Detroit.

Worker marching with others at Coleman A. Young Center Aug. 2, 2012. Local 207 has been conducting periodic informational pickets to mobilize its members for the possibility of a strike.

VOD UPDATE SEPT. 27, 2012: Detroit’s AFSCME Local 207 , representing workers at the Detroit Water & Sewerage Dept., voted to authorize a strike yesterday, with 64 percent of members voting “YES,” according to union officials. Local 2920, representing clerical and other DWSD workers,  authorized a strike Sept. 25  if ongoing contract negotiations fail.  Union leaders are still negotiating, but have said that negotiations are so far not productive.  The Detroit Water Board recently approved a $46 million second-stage contract with the EMA Group, which involves cutting 81 percent of the DWSD workforce. The locals are asking all city workers to join to fight the city’s nullification of their union contracts under the Detroit PA 4 consent agreement, and severe lay-offs, wage and benefit reductions, and entire department cuts that have resulted. They are also asking for broad community support.

Marchers in downtown Detroit May 9, 2012 demand cancellation of Detroit’s debt to the banks.

News From Bloomberg

By Darrell Preston dpreston@bloomberg.net

September 13, 2012

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), the third-largest muni-bond underwriter, stood to gain more than just its share of $7.8 million in fees by helping Detroit’s water and sewer (87962MF) unit issue new debt after the city staved off insolvency.

AFSCME Local 207 Secretary-Treasurer Mike Mulholland pickets with large group of DWSD workers at DWSD Huber plant Aug. 15, 2012.

The municipal department’s $659.8 million June bond sale let it pay more than $300 million to banks, including JPMorgan, to end interest-rate swap agreements while raising its borrowing cost. The utility, with 1,978 employees, plans to fire four of every five workers, while debt service has climbed to more than 40 percent of revenue, internal documents show.

As cash-strapped cities from San Bernardino, California, to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, grapple with insolvency, the Detroit example shows that Wall Street banks never lose. That’s especially true when it comes to arranging transactions to escape distressed debt and swaps initially sold by the lenders. Along with the fees, the deal helped banks such as UBS AG (UBSN), once an underwriter of the debt, recover payments to terminate swaps.

“Interest-rate transactions that have gone horribly wrong”

During an orgy of Wall Street predatory lending before the big bust in 2008, Detroit also borrowed $1.5 BILLION in pension obligation certficates from UBS and Siebert, Brandford and Shank. It has several times defaulted on the debt, and ended up having to commit to another $1 billion to UBS to stave off complete economic collapse, according to a report from the Detroit Financial Review Team appointed by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder under Public Act 4. The Swiss-based UBS is one of six banks being sued by Britain, the city of Baltimore, and other municipalities across the U.S. in the LIBOR interest-rate fixing scandal.

“They’re paying huge amounts of money for interest-rate transactions that have gone horribly wrong,” said Michael Greenberger, an expert on derivatives at the University of Maryland’s law school. “If this is a strategy that makes sense to do, then you do it, and you hire a banker. You can’t just walk to the corner store to underwrite bonds.”

Costly Swaps

Municipal borrowers from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWDSCZ) in Los Angeles to Italian towns and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, have paid billions of dollars to banks to end interest-rate swaps that didn’t protect taxpayers from unforeseen changes in interest rates. In the bets on borrowing costs, a municipal issuer and another party exchange payments tied to interest-rate indexes.

DWSD bond graph from Bond Buyer magazine.

Obligations linked to swaps initially sold by Wall Street banks as hedges to save tax dollars have cost the Detroit utility more than $500 million to unwind, an amount added to its debt. Before paying $314 million to end some of the agreements in June, it spent $222 million raised in a December 2011 bond sale to end others.

The money used to unwind the swaps would almost cover the utility’s $571.7 million in planned capital spending for the five years through June 2016, according to bond documents. Or it would be enough for the sewer system’s $519.8 million fiscal 2013 budget, with millions to spare.

Separate Entity

Part of Aug. 15, 2012 protest at DWSD Huber facility.

The department, while a part of a city that’s under state fiscal oversight, operates as a separate entity with its own board and serves areas outside the municipality. It provides water to 3.8 million people in Detroit and 124 other communities, as well as sewerage to 2.8 million people in the city and 76 more cities and towns.

Beyond the utility’s cost to end the swaps, it bought back auction-rate securities at a premium from proceeds of its bond sale in June and is paying a higher interest rate on the debt it sold to raise the money for the purchases. Trading in the bonds shows that the borrowing through a deal lead-managed by Goldman Sachs & Co. (GS) cost the city more than was necessary, because the price was too low.

AFSCME Local 207 President John Riehl (l) and Vice-President Lakita Thomas (r) consult with another member during protest at Coleman A. Young Municipal Center. Locals 207 and 2920 are taking strike votes Sept. 25 and 26.

“Detroit has a bad history in the bond market,” said John Riehl, president of the local public-workers union and a senior sewage plant operator for the utility. “They’ve done some foolish things over the years.”

No Comments

Naomi Patton, a spokeswoman for Mayor Dave Bing, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Detroit’s borrowing history and referred questions about the June sale to utility officials.

Matthew Schenk, the utility’s chief operating officer, and James George, assistant finance director, didn’t respond to at least two telephone calls seeking comment on the deals. Tiffany Galvin, a Goldman Sachs spokeswoman, and Elizabeth Seymour of New York-based JPMorgan, also an underwriter, both declined to comment.

Karina Byrne, a UBS spokeswoman, didn’t respond to a request for comment. Another swap counterparty whose agreement was terminated in June was Loop Financial Products.

The transaction in June added to the utility’s financial pressures at a time when Detroit was trying to avoid insolvency that could have forced it to default on its debt. The city’s predicament added to the department’s reasons to get out from under the swaps.

Termination Triggers

Under terms of the derivative deals, appointment of a review team by the state to oversee the city’s finances was one event that could trigger termination and require the utility to make payments to unwind its swaps, according to bond documents. Continue reading →

Spaniards rage against austerity near Parliament

By ALAN CLENDENNING

Associated Press / September 25, 2012

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s government was hit hard by the country’s financial crisis on multiple fronts Tuesday as protestors enraged with austerity cutbacks and tax hikes clashed with police near Parliament, a separatist-minded region set elections seen as an independence referendum and the nation’s high borrowing costs rose again

More than 1,000 riot police blocked off access to the Parliament building in the heart of Madrid, forcing most protesters to crowd nearby avenues and shutting down traffic at the height of the evening rush hour.

Police used batons to push back some protesters at the front of the march attended by an estimated 6,000 people as tempers flared, and some demonstrators broke down barricades and threw rocks and bottles toward authorities.

Protestors march to the parliament against austerity measures announced by the Spanish government, in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012. Spain’s Parliament has taken on the appearance of a heavily guarded fortress with dozens of police blocking access from every possible angle, hours ahead of a protest against the conservative government’s handling of the economic crisis. The demonstration, organized behind the slogan ‘Occupy Congress,’ is expected to draw thousands of people. It is due to start around 1730 GMT Tuesday. Madrid authorities said some 1,300 police would be deployed. The protestors call for Parliament to be dissolved and fresh elections held, claiming the government’s austerity measures show the ruling Popular Party misled voters to get elected last November. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

Television images showed officers beating protesters in response, and an Associated Press television producer saw five people dragged away by police and two protesters bloodied. Spanish state TV said at least 28 were injured, including two officers, and that 22 people were detained. Independent Spanish media reported higher numbers that could not immediately be confirmed.

Spanish police haul a protester away.

The demonstration, organized with an ‘‘Occupy Congress’’ slogan, drew protesters from all walks of life weary of nine straight months of painful economic austerity measures imposed by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his solid majority of lawmakers. Smaller demonstrations Tuesday attracted hundreds of protesters in Barcelona and Seville.

Angry Madrid marchers who got as close as they could to Parliament, 250 meters (yards) away, yelled ‘‘Get out!, Get out! They don’t represent us! Fire them!’’ Continue reading →

Members of the North End Woodward Community Coalition (NEWCC) who attended the Sept. 18 City Council meeting, including the group’s director, Rev. Joan Ross (third from left.)

• New D-DOT cuts to take effect Sept. 29
• NEWCC petitions Council to roll back previous cuts, files federal complaint
• D-DOT ridership down under private management

 By Diane Bukowski 

September 25, 2012 

D-DOT Director Ronald Freeland and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing at press conference Feb. 21, 2012.

DETROIT – Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and Department of Transportation (D-DOT) Director Ronald Freeland have announced bus route changes effective Sept. 29 which they say will benefit passengers. However, riders at a City Council hearing Sept. 18 said they have been throwing Detroiters “under the bus.”

The changes include the combination of Fort Route 19 with Jefferson Route 25,  increased evening wait times on the Michigan route from 30 minutes to one hour, and ending some neighborhood routes before they get all the way downtown. (Click on DDOT Sep 2012 Service Changes.)

Riders boarding and leaving bus on Grand River near the Rosa Parks Terminal.

Bing hired Envisurage/Transpro, a private company, to manage D-DOT in January with promises it would increase ridership.  The system then purchased 46 new buses in February and, along with the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART), received a $30 million federal grant in July.

However, according to figures released by the Mayor’s office Sept. 25, ridership has declined.

“Within the 1st quarter (August 2011), ridership tallied at 2,625,204 bus-riding passengers,” Bing’s chief of communications Naomi Patton said in a statement. “Within the same period for August 2012, the ridership amount totaled 2,608,718.” That is a decrease of 3,514 riders.

Speakers from NEWCC at City Council meeting Sept. 18 included Dennis Sloan at right, who said he lost his job due to cuts on the Telegraph route.

The Mayor’s office said, however, that rider complaints had decreased from 547 to 293 in the same period.

But there were plenty of complaints at Detroit City Council’s Sept. 18 community meeting held on the east campus of Wayne County Community College, from members of the North End Woodward Community Coalition (NEWCC).

“Detroit’s main bus terminal is named after Rosa Parks, who worked on behalf of poor people,” Lila Cabbell told the Council. “But people in Detroit are not able to get to work, and the whole Medical Center is not really connected to D-DOT. Most people in Detroit cannot afford a car. For us now, it’s not a matter of being in the back of the bus. It’s a matter of being under the bus.”

Rosa Parks began the Montgomery bus boycott by her act of civil disobedience.

A study just released by the U.S. Census Bureau shows that 57 percent of Detroit’s children are living in poverty. Federally-required Title VI studies on D-DOT’s website show that route changes have disproportionately affected poor and “minority” neighborhoods.

“I’m unemployed now because of schedule cuts,” Dennis Sloan said. “Things are so bad in my neighborhood that I was robbed going to a bus stop by a group of 13-year-olds. Detroiters’ lives have become a lot more unmanageable, but meanwhile Bing turned D-DOT over to a company with a manager from New York who is a member of the Tea Party and hosts a right-wing radio talk show.” (See sidebar on Bill Nojay.)

In April, Bing and Freeland established a so-called “4-15” plan, promising that buses on the city’s four busiest routes, Woodward, Gratiot, Dexter and Grand River, would run every 15 minutes on week-days from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Some riders have reported that 4-15 is not working.

“Service continues to be erratic and unpredictable on Woodward,” D-DOT rider and NEWCC member Syri Simpson wrote on the group’s website. She also spoke at the Council meeting.

“I find myself wondering, ‘Who thought that nobody wants to go to Woodward and Jefferson on the weekend?’” Simpson said. “The city spends big bucks advertising the River Walk, then makes getting to it a Herculean effort on the weekend. It already seemed odd to me that you cannot take the Woodward Bus to the downtown CVS or Charter One Bank during the week because the Woodward Bus misses several blocks of Woodward. You have to walk blocks to the downtown library or those cute restaurants (Olga’s, Hard Rock Café, etc.) on or off Woodward.”

Another rider told the Council that she recently waited two and one-half hours for the Cadillac-Harper bus at the Rosa Parks terminal.

NEWCC presented petitions with 1,300 signatures to the Council, demanding fulfillment of the City Charter mandate to provide “reliable, convenient and comfortable transportation” for the people, and a rollback of the March 3 cuts.

Those cuts included elimination of bus service between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m., elimination of the Imperial Express freeway route, discontinuation of weekend service on the Clairmount route and Sunday service on the Southfield route, and ending the Vernor route at the Rosa Parks Transit Center.

The group earlier filed a Title VI civil rights complaint against D-DOT, saying it did not hold public hearings prior to those cuts, and that its Title VI reports do not provide “a least harmful alternative,”  among other charges. A federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuit is also ongoing against D-DOT based on accessibility complaints from wheel-chair users.

Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh promises NEWCC members that Council will consider their demands, presented along with 1300 petition signatures.

No hearings were held prior to the Sept 29 changes either. Title VI requires public hearings on “major changes,” which include route eliminations and increased wait times more than 20 minutes during non-peak hours.

Bing’s office said the new schedule does not constitute “major changes,” and is based in part on “school-open” changes to routes from summertime schedules.

It said the Fort-Jefferson route combination is not a route elimination, and makes it more convenient for passengers to travel east to west without a transfer. It said the Michigan route wait time increases are based on the formula D-DOT uses to determine “low-performing routes.” (Full comments at DDOT Statement on September 29 route changes .)

On Sept. 20, bus riders raised more complaints at D-DOT’s monthly “community information meeting.”

Regular attendees at D-DOT community information meetings on Feb. 16, 2012. That meeting was canceled without notification. They are standing in front of bike rack at D-DOT headquarters. Wheelchair users are continuing their non-accessibility lawsuit against DDOT in federal court.

D-DOT scheduling manager Larry Tiller told them that the Sept. 29 changes are not due to financial problems, but to the need to “right-size” the city’s bus service by taking buses from “low-performing” routes and putting them on heavily used routes.

According to D-DOT’s Title VI report, “DDOT’s service standards say that any service that operates at less than 50% system average for two consecutive quarters is subject to elimination. System average was 34.87 passengers per hour in FY11 and DDOT’s standard is 33.92.”

Customers at the meeting, however, said that lower ridership on many routes is due to unreliable bus schedules, which force riders to find alternate means of transportation. They said these include car and cab-pooling, and  riding bicycles part of the way to catch up with the buses.

D-DOT has installed bike racks on the sides of some buses in a pilot program, and sidewalk bike racks at some stops. It has also instituted a “Text Your Bus” program which says riders can find out when the next bus is coming by texting 50464. (Click on D-DOT website link at end of story for full information, and see video below.)

Despite the video’s claims, however, D-DOT officials at the meeting said the text system is not working on Boost Mobile and Metro PCS cell phones, commonly used by Detroiters because of their low monthly rates. They said an alternative phone number is available, at 313-499-0937.

Envisurage/Transpro CEO Mark Aesch advocates transit privatization in talks all over the country, and has published a book. Both he and former D-DOT Deputy Director Bill Nojay are former chairs of the Rochester-Genessee Transit Authority in New York.

According to news reports, Envisurage/Transpro CEO Mark Aesch told Detroit’s
appointed “Financial Advisory Board” Sept. 11 that ridership increased to 2.9 million in May from 2.7 million in January. He also boasted that driver salaries and overtime decreased from  $3.2 million in January to $1.9 in May.

The Financial Advisory Board was established under the Public Act 4 “Fiscal Stability [consent] Agreement.” However, a referendum to end PA 4 was put on the November state ballot Aug. 4. Under state law, all provisions of the act, including the establishment of consent agreements, are supposed to be suspended until the November vote.

Bing and Michigan Governor Snyder, however, have declared that the consent agreement is not part of Public Act 4, disagreeing with the city’s Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon.

The website for the North End Woodward Community Coalition is at http://www.newcommunitycoalition.info/Home_Page.html.

The D-DOT website is at tttp://www.detroitmi.gov/Departments/DetroitDepartmentofTransportation/tabid/80/Default.aspx.

Related documents and articles:

Title VI_DDOT_Service_Equity_Analysis_of_MARCH_3_2012_Service

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/08/27/d-dot-deputy-dumped-will-feds-charge-nojay-bing-brown/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/02/22/regional-authority-will-likely-own-46-new-d-dot-buses-10-member-board-has-only-one-detroit-rep/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/02/16/drastic-detroit-bus-cuts-finally-acknowledged-hearings-feb-24/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/02/09/bing-to-slash-bus-routes-d-dot-jobs-feb-24-contractor-gets-big/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/09/20/bus-workers-riders-blast-bing/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/06/01/reparations-for-detroit%e2%80%94make-the-banks-pay/

VERY IMPORTANT PROPOSAL (VIP) SLATE: ABSENTEE VOTERS TAKE NOTE!

The VIP Slate was put together by a coalition of Detroiters, including those from Free Detroit – NO CONSENT! To go to their blogspot for further info, click on http://votevipslate.blogspot.com , or they can be reached at phone number in flyer.

DO NOT FORGET THESE MAJOR EVENTS:

• SAT. SEPT. 22, 2012 NOON AT BELLE ISLE CASINO: SAVE OUR ISLAND!
   
• TUES. SEPT. 25  1 pm. CITY COUNCIL MEETING ON BELLE ISLE LEASE.
   
• TUES. SEPT. 25 6-8 PM: SAVE OUR PENSION SYSTEMS MEETING AT FELLOWSHIP CHAPEL 7707 W. Outer Drive, w. of Southfield Fwy.

President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton at Democratic National Convention Sept. 5, 2012.

[col. writ. 9/7/12] © ’12 Mumia Abu-Jamal

I’ve not wasted a lot of time watching the conventions, for conventions are essentially – well – conventional.

Politicians make promises that they have no intention of keeping, and do so with earnest smiles; even tears, if need be.

Free Mumia Abu-Jamal!

Today’s conventions are the creation less of political parties than of corporate paymasters (called “sponsors” in news speak)

The sites, provisions, transportation and hotel accommodations are often corporate gifts; the ‘better to bribe you with, my dears!’

With the possible exception of Massachusetts senatorial candidate, Elizabeth Warren (who made her name criticizing the bank bailouts), few speakers held my interest, even if Michelle was a beautiful sight to see.

What I found most remarkable was the presentation of ex-President, Bill Clinton, and his oratory about jobs and the economy.

Bill Clinton signing NAFTA.

Clinton, easily the most masterful politician of his generation, is so distinguished precisely because he’s also probably the smartest.

What Clinton knows is that no matter who gets the nod in November, jobs – good-paying, manufacturing gigs – are gone for good, thanks in large part to his gift to the business and financial bigwigs in 1994: NAFTA.

NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) opened the doors abroad for business flight to countries with lower labor costs, dooming millions of American jobs, forever.

I bet, even if you watched every moment of every convention – you didn’t hear the acronym NAFTA once.

Protest in Mexico against NAFTA, which hurt workers in all countries.

I betcha.

For NAFTA, which also affected tariffs, textiles, and loosened controls on banks and high finance, it too put a barrier on high, working-class manufacturing wages – by giving businesses a way out – abroad.

Clinton not only signed it, he campaigned for it.

He represents the party politics of betrayal that is at the very heart of the corporatist electoral machinery.

To have Bill Clinton talk about jobs is a lot like Dracula giving advice on blood banks (he knows a lot about it, but from the wrong end)

That’s today’s political system, and why so many are so turned off.

–© ’12 maj

By the CNN Wire Staff

updated 10:15 AM EDT, Sun September 23, 2012

• The owner of the home said he gave Brian Claunch a pen two days earlier
• Claunch lost an arm and a leg in a train accident
• Claunch used his wheelchair to corner a police officer, authorities said
• He attempted to stab the officers with a pen, authorities said

(CNN)— A Houston police officer shot and killed a schizophrenic, wheelchair-bound double amputee threatening people with a pen at a group home for the mentally ill after authorities said the man advanced on the officer’s partner.

Brian Claunch

The shooting occurred early Saturday morning after police responded to a call that resident Brian Claunch was acting aggressively after his caretaker refused to give him a cigarette and a soda, the owner of the home and police said.

“The officers made verbal commands for the suspect to drop whatever he had in his hand, to stay still and to speak with the officers, but the suspect continued to make threats,” Jodi Silva, a police spokeswoman, told CNN affiliate KTRK in Houston.

Claunch, who lost an arm and a leg in a train accident, trapped one of the officers with his wheelchair in the corner of a room and attempted to stab the officer with an object that turned out to be a pen.

Officer Matt Marin, “in fear of the safety of his partner and the safety of himself, discharges his duty weapon, striking the suspect,” Silva said.

Marin shot Claunch once. He died at the scene, according to investigators.

It was the second time Marin was involved in a shooting. In October 2009, he shot and killed a knife-wielding man who stabbed his girlfriend and a neighbor, according to published reports at the time. Marin joined the Houston Police Department in 2007.

CNN could not reach the department for comment, but Houston police said the officer was placed on administrative leave per policy.

Claunch, who was in his 40s, had been at the Healing Hands home for 18 months, John Garcia, the owner of the group home, told KRTK.

Houston police have not released the identity of the man, though Garcia identified him as Claunch.

Garcia told the Houston Chronicle that Claunch liked to “doodle.”

Two days earlier, Garcia gave Claunch a black felt pen to draw. Garcia told the newspaper he did not know if it was that pen or another one that Clauch had in his hand when he was shot.

Garcia said Claunch suffered from schizophrenia and a bipolar disorder.

“He had a temper. He could fly off once in awhile,” he told CNN affiliate KHOU.

Claunch was capable of making people in the house feel threatened during an outrage, even though he was confined to a wheelchair, Garcia said.

[“He sometimes would go off a bit, but you just ignore it,” Garcia also told the Houston Chronicle.]

“Emotionally disturbed individuals, when threatened, are going to react in most instances, excessively,” Dr. Ed Reitman, a clinical psychologist, told KRTK.

“This was an incident that didn’t have to take place if the individual — a police officer — had been trained in dealing with emotionally disturbed individuals.”

The Houston Police Department has officers trained to deal with the mentally ill, though the department would not say whether Marin received training, according to KRTK.

Related articles:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/05/18/protest-erupts-after-all-white-jury-acquits-ex-houston-cop-over-teens-beating/

http://keyconversationsradio.com/investigating-houston-police-department-police-brutality/

Kimberly Rivera, along with her partner Mario, son Christian (10 years old) and daughter Rebecca (8 years old), came to Canada in January 2007 when she refused redeployment to Iraq. Kim has two Canadian-born children, Katie and Gabriel.

•  Rivera first woman to refuse return to Iraq, take refuge in Canada
• USDOJ had told Canadian judge they would not detain her

Compiled from reports by the War Resisters Support Campaign

September 20, 2012

U.S. Iraq War resister Kimberly Rivera voluntarily presented herself at the U.S.-Canada border this morning, after requests to have Canada’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney process her humanitarian and compassionate application to remain in Canada were denied.

Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney with Prince Charles of Britain, a U.S. partner in wars against Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. Kenney also wants to reduce health care for immigrants to Canada and is anti-choice.

Rivera was immediately arrested and detained, and transferred to military custody. She now awaits transfer to a different military facility where she faces punishment for being absent from her unit.

Her family, including four minor children, crossed separately. Kimberly did not want her children to have to see her detained by the U.S. military, as this would be traumatic for them.

On Aug. 30, the Canadian government ordered Rivera, her husband Mario and their children deported to the United States. Kimberly served in Iraq in 2006, and sought refuge in Canada in 2007 after making the decision that she could no longer participate in the Iraq War. Kimberly was the first woman U.S. Iraq War resister to come to Canada. She and her family were living in Toronto.

Robin Long

She now faces harsh punishment. Iraq war resisters Robin Long and Clifford Cornell, also deported by the government of Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper, were court-martialed and sentenced to 15 months and 12 months respectively for speaking out against the Iraq War, upon their return to the U.S.

Clifford Cornell

Rivera and her attorneys appealed the deportation order.

During a Federal Court hearing in Toronto Sept. 16, lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice argued that Kimberly would not be detained when she crossed the border. Justice David Near, of the Federal Court, ultimately denied her request for a stay of removal, finding arrest and detention to be speculative.

But despite the USDOJ’s guarantees, Rivera was indeed arrested immediately on her re-entry into the U.S.

Rivera has mass international support for her war resistance.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu  of South Africa earlier called on Canada to welcome Rivera.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa

“Despite all of the ghastliness in the world, human beings are made for goodness,” Tutu said. “The ones who are held in high regard are not militarily powerful nor even economically prosperous. They have a commitment to try to make the world a better place. I truly believe that Kimberly Rivera is such a person, and that Canada can only benefit from allowing her to stay.” Read the full opinion piece here.

An overflow crowd of residents from the Parkdale neighborhood of Toronto turned out to an emergency meeting on September 5th to show their support for Rivera and her family, and to call on the government to allow her to stay in their community. The meeting heard from all three elected representatives from her riding, and Archbishop Tutu’s  statement of support was read. The meeting then spilled into the streets for a candlelight procession through the neighbourhood.

Delegation supports Rivera family at Labour Day parade in Toronto Sept. 3.

During the Sept. 3 Labour Day parade, Rivera marched with The War Resisters Support Campaign, part of the United Steelworkers contingent, along with Vietnam Veterans against the War and supporters from Buffalo, N.Y.

Member of Parliament Peggy Nash, who represents the Parkside neighborhood where the Rivera family lived, with Kimberly Rivera and two of her children.

Canada’s elected Parliament has adopted two motions calling on the federal government to allow war resisters to stay in Canada. But Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney has publicly labeled Iraq War resisters as “bogus refugee claimants.”

In July 2010, Kenney issued a bulletin to all Immigration Officers requiring them to red-flag applications that involve US war resisters, labeling them as ‘criminally inadmissible’.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is actually an appointee of the British Governor General of Canada, not an elected official. Book shown is available online.

Amnesty International Canada and former Immigration and Refugee Board Chair Peter Showler have called for Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Operational Bulletin 202 to be rescinded because it “fails to recognize that military desertion for reasons of conscience is in fact clearly recognized as a legitimate ground for refugee protection” and it “misstates the law and seeks to intrude on the independence of both IRB members and Immigration Officers.”

URGENT APPEAL for funds to assist Iraq War resisters facing deportation

In addition to Rivera and her family, other war resisters living in Canada face imminent deportation to the United States. Another war resister has been told to complete all of the submissions for his case by September 20th and to expect a decision shortly afterwards. Many other resisters are awaiting decisions on Humanitarian & Compassionate applications or spousal sponsorships. It appears that these decisions will now start coming in quickly.

Protesters at Canadian consulate in San Francisco.

The War Resisters Support Campaign is urgently appealing for financial help to assist with this crucial phase of the fight to win asylum for war resisters.

Faith communities, human rights organizations, refugee rights groups and thousands of Canadians have called on the Minister to implement their Parliament’s motions, or, at a minimum, to allow the individual cases to be heard on their own merit.

The only reason that US Iraq War resisters have been able to stay in Canada as long as they have is because of the tremendous support they have received from Canadians for their courageous decision to stand up against a war that was internationally recognized as illegal and immoral.

The campaign says on their website, “Nobody deserves to spend even a single day in jail for making a conscientious decision not to participate in the Iraq war. We hope you will give as generously as you can. A victory for U.S. war resisters in Canada will be a major victory for peace and justice, and for the kind of Canada we want this country to be.”

Here’s how to donate:

1. Donate online by going here:
http://resisters.chipin.com

2. Donate by cheque:
To mail a donation, make a cheque payable to the War Resisters Support Campaign and mail it to:

War Resisters Support Campaign
Box 13, 427 Bloor Street West
Toronto, ON M5S 1X7
CANADA

http://resisters.ca/

Also see U.S. war resisters’ website at http://couragetoresist.org/.