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

Mayor Dave Bing (r) stands at attention as Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (center) discusses state lease of Belle Isle Sept. 12. At left is George Jackson, CEO of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, and to Bing’s right is Keith Craig of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources/VOD photo

• “Has the time come to take to the streets and shut Detroit down–no cars in, no cars out?” 
• 90-year lease does not reserve new entrance fee for park improvements 
• State police and others to join city cops patrolling the island 
• Advisory board dominated by governor’s appointees established.

By Diane Bukowski

September 14, 2012

(To print formatted article from PDF, click on Belle isle lease VOD .)

DETROIT – A proposed state “lease” of Belle Isle, the largest island park in the country, a “jewel” deeded to Detroit in 1873 and designed by the same architect who designed New York City’s Grand Central Park, is angering many here in the world’s largest Black-majority city outside of Africa.

Aerial view of Belle Island, the largest public island park in the U.S.

The deal, announced by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and Detroit Mayor Bing Sept. 12,  would last for 90 years (including two renewals), cost the state no rent, put newly-instituted entrance fees into the state’s general fund, have state and federal police patrol the island along with city cops, and leave Detroit citizens to pay off outstanding improvement bonds for the island.

There is no specific financial commitment by the state in the lease for improvements. The lease provides for an 11-member advisory board, with Gov. Snyder appointing or approving seven of the members.

The City Council must still approve the lease, and is set to hold a discussion on it Mon. Sept. 17 at 1 p.m. (Click on CC cal09-17-12 – COW – Belle Isle). Public comment is invited.

Detroit COO Chris Brown (r) discusses “city employment terms” with Bing advisor Atty. Michael McGee, a co-author of PA 4, and PMD Kriss Andrews (r) prior to a meeting of the PA 4 financial advisory board June 28, 2012.

On April 4, Council passed the city’s PA 4 “consent agreement,” which includes the following language:

“Create park funding for Belle Isle while ensuring continued City ownership by designating Belle Isle as part of a cooperative relationship with Milliken State Park. This would include a long-term lease that would accrue the cost of the park’s maintenance and improvements out of the Park Endowmen Fund. We will partner with Belle Isle Conservancy and the City to implement a master plan for the island.”

Bing would not discuss what will happen if the Council votes down the lease. Under the consent agreement, decisions of the Council and even the Mayor can be overridden by a Financial Advisory Board, Project Management Director Kriss Andrews, State Treasurer Andy Dillon, and Snyder.

A referendum to repeal PA4 is on the state’s November ballot, temporarily suspending the Act, but Snyder and Bing have insisted that Detroit is still operating under the consent agreement, and that it will stand even if PA 4 is repealed.

BELLE ISLE BELONGS TO US! Youth cavort in front of statue of Dante Alghieri on a beautiful Saturday on the island, Sept. 14. They included Jimmy Young (third from left in back showing victory signs), Ms. Hamilton (r) and Breanna Dean, (center front). “Belle Isle is a safe place for the kids,” Young told VOD.

“This is a place to come where kids can be kids,” said Jimmy Young, as he and his friends and family played in front of the Dante Alghieri statue near the beach on Sept. 14, 2012. “We can be safe. There are no abandoned houses where someone can jump out at you from, no broken glass all in the streets.”

Nationally-known Detroit-born poet Jessica Care Moore and her son King Thomas Moore in front of giant slide, which has been closed for several years.

A young woman who identified herself as Ms. Hamilton said, “I could understand if the fee was going to maintain the park, but if it’s not for that, it will make things worse. If they sell Belle Isle, they can sell the rest of the zip codes.”

Jessica Care Moore, a nationally known poet from Detroit, was out enjoying the island with her son King Thomas Moore, who had just turned six.

Young King Thomas said, “I want the giant slide to be open.” The famed slide on Belle Isle has been closed for several years, and it is not clear whether the state will re-open it. Many other children were seen approaching the slide, turning away disappointed when they saw the locked gate.

New M-DOT toll booths at the Bluewater Bridge, an international crossing into Canada. Will such booths likewise block the Belle Isle Bridge?

“I love Belle Isle, Moore said. “I’ve been coming here since I was a little girl. It’s a public park that belongs to the city, and it should be free. I bring people here that I meet from New York City and everywhere. What else are they going to be looking for when they stop people at the entrance to pay the fee? And why do they close the park every night now before ten? When I got older, my friends and I would stay out here to all hours enjoying ourselves.”

Councilman Kwame Kenyatta addresses rally against Belle Isle takeover Aug. 1. He co-sponsored the rally with Councilwomen JoAnn Watson and Brenda Jones. Speakers included the Rev. Charles Williams II and other community leaders.

Snyder, Bing, and George Jackson, president of the private Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC), glossed over specifics during a press conference Sept. 12, touting the deal as “an equal partnership.”.

“This city-state collaboration will return Belle Isle to its original beauty through major improvements and regular maintenance overseen by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources,” Bing said. “It presents a win-win situation for the City and the entire State, by preserving a historic destination in the City of Detroit.”

Snyder vision of Belle Isle, patrolled by friendly state trooper to keep it “safe for families. Photoshop version was handed out to media at press conference.

Snyder said, “One of the two gems in the City is Belle Isle, but it requires many resources from the city at a difficult time. Neighborhoods and other parts of the city need those resources. Phased improvements such as revamping the picnic shelters and restrooms will begin as soon as we get approval from the Council. A public safety plan will be put in place to make sure the island is safe for families.”

Snyder refused to set a dollar amount on state investment or give other details of the improvements, also not included in the proposed lease document itself (see link at end of story to read entire document, not just executive summary given to media Sept. 12.) The lease does say that any improvements will be subject to the availability of funds.

“Pastors, community leaders and citizens, has the time come to take to the streets and shut Detroit down–no cars in, no cars out?,” asked former mayoral candidate and community activist Jerroll Sanders in a column on her Facebook page.

Jerroll Sanders

“The taking of assets in Detroit is racism prima facie,” Sanders said. “In less than seven years, Michigan State officials, colluding with selected members of Detroit’s City Council, the City’s current and former mayors, and powerful backers, seized Detroit’s billion dollar art institute, billion dollar waterfront convention facility, prime golf courses, thousands of acreage of camp and park land, billion dollar water assets, billion dollar historical museum assets, as well as countless other properties and conferred them to suburban and personal corporate interests, often without providing one dime in return.”

Sanders recalled her childhood basking on the island’s beach, which has a gorgeous view of Detroit’s downtown skyline. During the warmer months, national family re-unions, church, union and neighborhood picnics, concerts and other events fill the island.  It is one of the few places left where Detroit youth can “cruise” on week-end night nights in a dating ritual that is decades-old and continues on major roadways in Detroit’s suburbs.

Mayoral candidate Tom Barrow in 2009.

Asked whether the new joint “public safety” force might target Black youth from Detroit, Snyder said, “We just want to make the island safe for families.” 

Tom Barrow, who also ran against Bing in 2009 and is appealing the election results to the U.S. Supreme Court, called for the people of Detroit to vote on the proposed deal.

“Belle Isle is not a ‘tattered’ gem,” he said. “It is a city park which Detroiters enjoy immensely on warm days.  My view is the island is owned and controlled by Detroit and should remain so. If the state wants to fix something up, tell us what it is and then provide a specific grant narrowly defined for that purpose. That is a partnership, not giving it to [the state] under some clever guise.”

Riverfront Conservancy runs Detroit Riverwalk, shown here east of Belle Isle bridge. VOD visited this park Mon. Sept. 11 and found the restrooms closed, and the park patrolled to keep the homeless out.

In contrast, Detroit’s private Riverfront Conservancy, run by prominent corporate executives, received $44 million in state and federal funds in June, no strings attached, to fix up the east riverfront across from Belle Isle.

The deal converts the island into a state park run by the Department of Natural Resources. Vehicle entry after March, 2013 would require annual purchase of a $10 state “Recreation Passport.” A previous law included an $8 daily fee for non-residents, such as relatives attending family re-unions from out-of-state, but the daily fee is not mentioned in the new regulations.

The lease does not include revenue from the so-called “Recreation Passports,” which would be substantial, in any fund set aside for Belle Isle improvements.  It would set up “sub-account” for the island in the state’s park management fund as follows:

“During any term of this Lease, Lessee [the state] will collect, receive, and administer, subject to applicable law, all revenue generated or earned from grants, endowments, special events, fees collected and revenue generated or earned from sponsorships, advertising, and cooperative ventures (collectively ‘Park Revenue’). PARK REVENUE DOES NOT INCLUDE RECREATION PASSPORT REVENUE.” 

Fishing on Belle Isle with beautiful view of downtown Detroit skyline. Such fishers could be stopped by “conservation officers,” who are state troopers, to ask them to show their fishing license and state ID, among other requirements.

Many go to Belle Isle to fish in the river and its ponds and streams. DNR regulations  require those fishing in state parks to purchase fishing licenses, at costs ranging from a daily $7 to $42. (Click on DNR fishing license-info_274655_7.) Possession of such licenses is restricted. It involves carrying one’s state ID in addition to the license at all times, and producing it upon the request of a state conservation officer. Such officers are actually certified state troopers according to the DNR website. (Click on DNR Fishing License Requirements.)

The lease additionally says that all unspent revenues the city has collected for the island until now (that includes rthe Grand Prix, APBA Hydroplane races, breast cancer walks, suburban bicyle marathons, Free Press Marathon), and all city equipment and property on the island, will go to the state.  Funds directed to Detroit from public and private agencies including the federal government will now also go instead to the state instead for administration by the DNR.

The APBA has been sued for racial discrimination by not allowing Black hydoplaners to race. Look at the video above closely: are there any Black folks in evidence?” Is Snyder making Belle Isle safe for the APBA, Grand Prix, etc.?

Federal EPA re-development of Blue Heron Lagoon, currently on-going. The EPA is also re-develping Belle Isle’s south fishing pier and has granted other funds to Detroit for Belle Isle in the past. These would go to the state under termas of the proposed lease.

Bing earlier railed against any 90-year lease of the island, and is presenting this option as a 30-year-lease. However it automatically includes two 30-year renewals unless the city opts out when the time comes.

This picnic shelter near the beach was totally renovated only last year. Snyder claimed an advantage of the lease would be shelter improvements, but a VOD tour of Belle Isle Sept. 14, 2012 showed most shelters in good repair.

Snyder said during the press conference that bonds for improvements to Belle Isle will be proposed and paid for by the state. However, the state is not assuming payment of outstanding bond debt for Belle Isle (part of the City’s Recreation Department), and any other city department which has instituted improvements on the island.

Detroiters approved bond proposals which included upgrades that would include Belle Isle in 1997, 2000, 2004, and 2009.

Family and friends enjoying Shelter No. 3 on Sept. 14, 2011.

According to documents from the city’s Fiscal Analyst Irvin Corley, proposals for “Museums, Libraries, Recreation and other Cultural Facilities” totaled $197 million. Bonds for Public Lighting were $72 million, for Transportation $46 million (city buses operate on Belle Isle), and public safety $219 million (Detroit police have a station on the island).

Those amounts do not include interest rates for the bonds, most of which are to be paid on by the city through the year 2035. Detroit Water and Sewerage bonds would add to the total.

Detroit Water and Sewerage facility on Belle Isle.

It is not clear exactly what amounts of these bonds have been expended on Belle Isle alone.

The lease leaves Detroit with the continuing responsibility for maintenance and improvements of all utilities on the island, except for the improvements necessitated by future state projects.

That includes water, lighting, and heat for facilities like the island’s “casino” and the Detroit Yacht Club, which pays $1 a year for land it uses, launching yachts and boats for the well-to-do from its docks while hosting social events as well.

Ironically, according to historical documents, the City gave eviction notices to the Yacht Club and the Detroit Boat Club in 1969 because they would not admit Blacks. When they relented, they were allowed to continue their $1 a year lease payments.

Wealthy Detroit Yacht Club pays $1 a year to lease prime riverfront land; state will pay nothing to lease whole of Belle Isle for 90 years.

Related documents and articles:

Belle Isle lease proposal

Belle Isle Bing release

FSA Consent Agreement 4 4 12

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/09/14/belle-isle-in-detroit-is-our-last-dance/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/08/05/save-belle-isle-save-detroit/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/07/30/occupy-belle-isle-stop-the-takeover-of-detroit/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/07/30/belle-isle-belongs-to-us-2/

Family picnics on the Belle Isle beach in between swims with gorgeous view of downtown Detroit skyline.

SHUT DETROIT DOWN!

By Jerroll Sanders on Friday, September 14, 2012 at 7:07am

(News story from VOD, which attended Rick/Dave press conference, coming shortly. Meanwhile Ms. Sanders has SAID IT ALL in her excellent column from her Facebook page. The City Council is holding a special discussion on Belle Isle Monday, Sept. 17, 2012 at 1 p.m. PLAN TO BE THERE!

Jerroll Sanders

DETROIT —Perhaps you wonder why “they” are planning to take Belle Isle–the crown jewel of Detroit. The taking of assets in Detroit is racism prima facie (on the face). Powerful non-African Americans who want Detroit’s billion dollar assets “fixed” Detroit’s 2009 Mayoral election so Dave Bing–a man from the suburbs of the same race as a majority of Detroit’s citizens–could lead the charge.

In less than seven years, Michigan State officials, colluding with selected members of Detroit’s City Council , the City’s current and former mayors, and powerful backers, seized Detroit’s billion dollar art institute, billion dollar waterfront convention facility, prime golf courses, thousands of acreage of camp and park land, billion dollar water assets, billion dollar historical museum assets, as well as countless other properties and conferred them to suburban and personal corporate interests, often without providing one dime in return.

Family re-union picnic on Belle Isle. Families travel from all over the country for these events. Cach carload coming on the island will now be forced to buy an annual pass or pay the $8 daily rate.

The charge to strip the citizens of Detroit continues the enactment of PA4 and the consent agreement–legislation that removes from citizens their most important asset–the right to vote. The progression of trampling citizens’ rights in Detroit has taken a new turn with an effort to take away Belle Isle–a place where I spent summer days with my family playing baseball, swimming and basking along the beach in the Detroit River as vessels from around the globe sailed by.

Lakefront parks in the five Grosse Pointes and St. Clair Shores bar Detroiters and other non-residents from entering. Detroiters sued Dearborn successfully to open up access to its parks. Time for racial discrimination suits against the Pointes and Shores! (VOD opinion)

Why Belle Isle? Why now? The citizens of Detroit are emotionally connected to Belle Isle. If “they” had taken Belle Isle before removing other assets, it may have ignited a war on the streets of Detroit. But now, they see Detroiters as aggressively passive, Facebook talkers with no “street cred,” no determination to shut the City of Detroit down to stop people from coming in taking what is rightfully ours.

They view our efforts to focus national attention on the rank discrimination that is occurring in Detroit as fleeting–maybe a story here or a story there, but nothing akin to the sustained focus needed to turn the tide and stop Detroit’s leadership and multi-racial cohorts from bleeding the citizens and City dry.

I ask: Pastors, community leaders and citizens has the time come to take to the streets and shut Detroit down–no cars in, no cars out?

Occupy Wall Street blocks Brooklyn Bridge in 2011.

I consider the Bible the ultimate book of wisdom. So I share with you the following biblical passage that I included in my book, The Physics of Money: If You’ve Got My Dollar, I Don’t!  Not one bean.

One of my favorite passages from the Bible, 2nd Samuel 23:11, states: “The Philistines had gathered together into a troop, where there was a piece of ground full of lentils. So the people fled from the Philistines. But he [one of the villagers] stationed himself in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory.”

Imagine a small village of people threatened by the great Philistine army. The entire village fled in fear. One lone villager, however, was unwilling to retreat. He realized that the Philistines would never be content with the bean patch where the lentils grew. He knew that if he gave up the lentil patch, the Philistines would want the livestock, and then the houses, and finally the women and children. The lone villager knew a fight was imminent. The question was should he fight now or should he fight later? Knowing he would have to fight eventually, he proclaimed that he was not willing to relinquish even one bean. So he stood his ground. He fought and he prevailed.”

23 Jun 1963, Detroit, Michigan, USA — Martin Luther King Jr Leading March in Detroit — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

Sometimes, we the citizens are forced to employ non-violence as a means of standing our ground. That is how Dr. Martin Luther King, Gandhi and other greats non-violent protesters have slain abusive giants.

Detroit: Belle Isle is your last dance. Tell elected officials we don’t need meetings to discuss plans others have for Detroit; No longer we will be impressed with their demonstrated aggression in meetings and great oratory skills when in the end, we lose our assets. We need them to stand now, prevent the sale [or lease] of Belle Isle, and aggressively work to retake every asset wrongfully removed from the citizens of Detroit. Krystal Crittendon, City Council members—it’s time to act!

VOD: This is an initiative launched by one of Detroit’s young folks. Letter from his mother is below.

Hello to all of my friends and family,

Just a note to inform you of my son, Thomas’s latest endeavor. He has launched a new T-shirt line called Detroit vs Everybody.

I would appreciate it if you would go to the web-site (www.detroitvseverybody.com ) enjoy the video, spread the word, and if  possible purchase a shirt in an effort to help his new business succeed. As you know Detroit is a phenomenal city. Let’s support and display the fact that Detroit is a city to be reckoned with. Your support in his lastest endeavor will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Diane Walker

VOD UPDATE: Video above shows storming of U.S. Embassy in Yemen. Read http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120913/NATION/209130397/Obama-sends-Marines-Libya?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|p  on new U.S. invasion of Libya subsequent to the events on Sept. 11. This news lends credence to Gordon Duff’s analysis of events but also exposes the bi-partisan nature of the U.S. war drive.

By Gordon Duff

Published by Press TV

September 12, 2012

Christopher Stevens, newly appointed U.S. ambassador to Libya, shakes hands with Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil (R)

VOD editor: The news of the death of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens during an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi is being reported with standard expressions of horror and condemnation by the global corporate media and leaders in parts of the world. Stevens previously served as the U.S. representative to the National Transitional Council of Libya after CIA-backed forces overthrow the People’s Jamahiriya of Col. Muammar Gadhafi. 

Such expressions were missing when Col. Gadhafi was brutally beaten, tortured and assassinated in 2011 by the CIA-backed forces that Stevens helped bring to power. Gadhafi was a leader of enormous stature on the African continent, who at one time served as president of the African Union. He was planning to introduce an all-African currency onto the world market, and was in the process of building a continental African army. He had welcomed workers from across Africa into Libya to benefit from its oil wealth, just as the people of Libya did.  

The late Col. Muammar Gadhafi, leader of the Libyan People’s Jamahiriya, surrounded by presidents from across the African continent.

Libya’s infrastructure now lies in ruins as a result of the U.S.-NATO blanket bombing of civilian areas. Its people now face poverty, homelessness and unemployment, after being murdered and lynched during the invasion by the tens of thousands. U.S. troops have boots on the ground not only in Libya but in other Afican nations like Uganda.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Two days before Col. Gadhafi’s assassination, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Libya and gave the go-ahead to the counter-revolutionary forces to murder this esteemed African leader.  

Now Clinton says, “How can this happen in a country we helped liberate, in a city we helped save from destruction? This question reflects just how complicated, and at times, how confounding the world can be. But we must be clear-eyed even in our grief. This was an attack by a small and savage group — not the people or government of Libya.”

Gordon Duff’s column  presents an interesting perspective on the anti-Islamic U.S.-made film which allegedly led to uprisings not only in Libya, but Egypt, Tunisia, Sudan and Morocco as well.

Egyptians torch U.S. flag outside embassy in Cairo Sept. 11 2012.

Terry Jones is a spy, CIA trained, run by rogue handlers, and heavily promoted by Mossad elements throughout the Middle East and able to garner national news attention in the US when anyone else of his minor following and total lack of credibility would be ignored.

U.S. “pastpr” Terry Jones and the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in flames after the U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens was killed.

He calls himself a religious leader, a “preacher,” this Terry Jones, the man responsible for blaspheming the prophet Mohammed. He has made threats before, burned the Holy Quran, spouted obscenities, demanded attention and has acted with demonic intent.

This week, Jones released a streaming video on his website attacking Islam and purposefully attempting to incite violence against the United States.

The timing of his video, on an obscure website that is nearly impossible to find and its release through the Middle East was no accident. This was very much an attempt on the part of political forces to harm the image of the United States and was only a part of a much larger conspiracy. Continue reading →

Alesia Thomas, mother of two, died July 22 after kick by LAPD police

By David Edwards

Friday, August 31, 2012 9:37 EDT

Patrol car video camera captured a struggle between police and Alesia Thomas and several officers on July 22, according to the Los Angeles Times.

LAPD Cmdr. Bob Green admitted to the Times that a female officer had followed through with a threat to kick Thomas in the genitals when she resisted being put into the patrol car. Video shows a restrained Thomas struggling to breath in the back of the patrol car. She was taken to a local hospital and later died.

“I take all in-custody death investigations very seriously and directed the officers involved be removed from field duties until further details are known, including what part intoxicants and physical conditions contributed,” a statementfrom LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said. “I am confident we will get to the truth no matter where that leads us.”

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck.

Neighbor Gerald McCrary Sr., 55, told the Times that the woman was the aggressor, not the police.

“They were talking to her, asking her to calm down, that everything will be all right,” he explained.

The investigation comes just one day after Beck reassigned the commanding officer of the department’s Foothill Division after video showed two of his officers repeatedly body slamming a handcuffed 34-year-old nurse.

Watch this video from KTLA, broadcast Aug. 31, 2012.

LAPD identifies woman slammed to ground in Tujunga traffic stop

Los Angeles Times August 28, 2012 | 10:09pm

Continue reading →

CPS FAILS TO NEGOTIATE FAIR CONTRACT TO PREVENT FIRST LABOR STRIKE IN 25 YEARS

CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION NEWS RELEASE

September 9, 2012

More than 29,000 teachers and education professionals will not report to work today 9/10.

CHICAGO – After hours of intense negotiations, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) have failed to reach an agreement that will prevent the first teachers strike in 25 years. Pickets are expected to begin Monday at 675 schools and the Board of Education as early as 6:30 a.m. Teachers, paraprofessionals and school clinicians have been without a labor agreement since June of this year.

Chicago teachers on strike. Photo from their Facebook page.

Union leaders expressed disappointment in the District’s refusal to concede on issues involving compensation, job security and resources for their students. CTU President Karen Lewis said, “Negotiations have been intense but productive, however we have failed to reach an agreement that will prevent a labor strike. This is a difficult decision and one we hoped we could avoid. Throughout these negotiations have I remained hopeful but determined. We must do things differently in this city if we are to provide our students with the education they so rightfully deserve.

“Talks have been productive in many areas. We have successfully won concessions for nursing mothers and have put more than 500 of our members back to work. We have restored some of the art, music, world language, technology and physical education classes to many of our students. The Board also agreed that we will now have textbooks on the first day of school rather than have our students and teachers wait up to six weeks before receiving instructional materials.

Chicago teachers at Labor Day, 2012 march.

“Recognizing the Board’s fiscal woes, we are not far apart on compensation. However, we are apart on benefits. We want to maintain the existing health benefits.

“Another concern is evaluation procedures. After the initial phase-in of the new evaluation system it could result in 6,000 teachers (or nearly 30 percent of our members) being discharged within one or two years. This is unacceptable. We are also concerned that too much of the new evaluations will be based on students’ standardized test scores. This is no way to measure the effectiveness of an educator. Further there are too many factors beyond our control which impact how well some students perform on standardized tests such as poverty, exposure to violence, homelessness, hunger and other social issues beyond our control.

“We want job security. Despite a new curriculum and new, stringent evaluation system, CPS proposes no increase (or even decreases) in teacher training. This is notable because our Union through our Quest Center is at the forefront teacher professional development in Illinois. We have been lauded by the District and our colleagues across the country for our extensive teacher training programs that helped emerging teachers strengthen their craft and increased the number of nationally board certified educators.

“We are demanding a reasonable timetable for the installation of air-conditioning in student classrooms–a sweltering, 98-degree classroom is not a productive learning environment for children. This type of environment is unacceptable for our members and all school personnel. A lack of climate control is unacceptable to our parents.

Chicago teachers and parents on earlier informational picket line.

“As we continue to bargain in good faith, we stand in solidarity with parents, clergy and community-based organizations who are advocating for smaller class sizes, a better school day and an elected school board. Class size matters. It matters to parents. In the third largest school district in Illinois there are only 350 social workers-putting their caseloads at nearly 1,000 students each. We join them in their call for more social workers, counselors, audio/visual and hearing technicians and school nurses. Our children are exposed to unprecedented levels of neighborhood violence and other social issues, so the fight for wraparound services is critically important to all of us. Our members will continue to support this ground swell of parent activism and grassroots engagement on these issues. And we hope the Board will not shut these voices out.

Rally in support of CTU strike.

“While new Illinois law prohibits us from striking over the recall of laid-off teachers and compensation for a longer school year, we do not intend to sign an agreement until these matters are addressed.

“Again, we are committed to staying at the table until a contract is place. However, in the morning no CTU member will be inside our schools. We will walk the picket lines. We will talk to parents. We will talk to clergy. We will talk to the community. We will talk to anyone who will listen-we demand a fair contract today, we demand a fair contract now. And, until there is one in place that our members accept, we will on the line.

“We stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters throughout the state and country who are currently bargaining for their own fair contracts. We stand with those who have already declared they too are prepared to strike, in the best interests of their students.”

“This announcement is made now so our parents and community are empowered with this knowledge and will know that schools will not open on tomorrow. Please seek alternative care for your children. And, we ask all of you to join us in our education justice fight-for a fair contract-and call on the mayor and CEO Brizard to settle this matter now. Thank you.”
###
The union is not on strike over matters governed exclusively by IELRA Section 4.5 and 12(b).

CONTACT: Stephanie Gadlin 312/329-6250

The Chicago Teachers Union represents 30,000 teachers and educational support personnel working in the Chicago Public Schools, and by extension, the more than 400,000 students and families they serve. The CTU is an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Federation of Teachers and is the third largest teachers local in the United States and the largest local union in Illinois. For more information please visit CTU’s website at http://www.ctunet.com.

Website of Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE), which brought reform slate to power in Chicago Teachers Union: http://www.coreteachers.com/ Continue reading →

Peoples’ Water Board demonstrates at Detroit Water Board Building Aug. 21, 2012.

Detroit water/sewer system is third largest in U.S., serves 40 percent of Michigan population 

Environmental groups oppose privatization; union threatens strike

Bond manager SBS says rate increases are imperative, wants more debt

By Diane Bukowski 

September 9, 2012

DETROIT – Despite adamant opposition from Detroit Water & Sewerage Department (DWSD) workers, environmental groups, and union leaders, the city’s Board of Water Commissioners (BOWC) unanimously authorized Phase II and III of a 5-year, $48 million consulting contract with the EMA Group, Inc. on Sept. 7.

EMA recommends the elimination of 81 percent of the DWSD workforce over the next five years, reduction of job classifications from 257 to 31, changes in business process and IT design, and outsourcing of “non-core” services.

EMA Exec. Brian Hurding at BOWC meeting Sept. 7, 2012. He refused comment on flooding of Toronto subways, homes and streets due to sewage back-up after rainstorm in June, after 16 yers of EMA oversight. He earlier refused to return a VOD phone call to his office in Toronto.

A Minneapolis-based firm with offices throughout the U.S. and Canada, EMA claims DWSD will save $.9 billion over 10 years through their plans.

“We have a number of pressures, including increasing citizen expense, the deferment of infrastructure investment needs, mounting system debt, and rising personnel costs including health care and pension costs,” DWSD Director Sue McCormick, who has headed the Department for nine months, told the BOWC.

DWSD is the third largest water and sewerage system in the U.S. It provides water for 40 percent of the state of Michigan’s population, over 1,079 square miles including Detroit and six surrounding counties, and wastewater service over 946 square miles. (See DWSD website at http://www.dwsd.org.)

WWTP worker Susan Ryan tells BOWC EMA plan will destroy DWSD sewage system.

DWSD water has long been recognized as among the safest in the country, despite federal oversight since 1978, after the city’s first Black Mayor, Coleman A. Young, Jr., took office. The system is not running a deficit. Until recently, Wall Street rating agencies scored its bonds at top levels.

Susan Ryan is a senior Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) worker with 15 years on the job.

“This reduction in staff will cause the complete failure of our sewage system,” she told the BOWC at its hastily-called “special” meeting. “They are selling you a fantasy. You are flushing $48 million down the toilet.”

Mike Mulholland, Sec’y.-Treasurer AFSCME Local 207 at Aug. 15 protest outside Huber DWSD plant.

She and Mike Mulholland, a 29-year WWTP worker and union representative, told the BOWC that lesser cutbacks in previous years have resulted in high levels of sewage contamination of the area’s waterways, among other problems.

After EMA spent 18 years advising and managing Toronto’s water system, that city experienced record flooding of its world-famed subway system, neighborhood homes, and streets in June, attributed to sewage back-ups.

“You have not shown any data explaining the need for these cutbacks.” Sierra Club member Melissa Damaeschke told the BOWC. “You have not shared the EMA studies. There is no transparency and this will cause public unrest. We fear this will take away public ownership of our system.”

Representatives of Sierra Club, Peoples Water Board, and Food and Water Watch at BOWC Sept. 7 meeting protested EMA plan.

DWSD has released power point presentations on EMA’s plans on its website. But it has so far refused to make public copies of “due diligence” studies on EMA which Fausone said back up the company’s reliability, reports by EMA, EMA contracts, and a huge notebook of documents on the EMA proposal provided to the BOWC Sept. 7.

Catherine Phillips is chief negotiator for the Detroit locals of Michigan Council 25 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). She said DWSD management has also refused to give any of those documents to the union.

AFSCME Co. 25 negotiator Catherine Phillips speaks to reporter after BOWC meeting Sept. 7, 2012.

“DWSD has never been broke, it has all the money and resources,” she said. “We are angry. They want to take away everything that the people of Detroit have built.  Now they want us to go sit at the bargaining table and in good faith negotiate an agreement to send our members out into the streets. Well, whatever they get from us, they’re going to have to take it.”

AFSCME Local 207, the largest DWSD local, has been mobilizing for a city-wide strike for several months.

U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox, a right-wing member of the Federalist Society.

Meanwhile, said Phillips, Council 25 will argue its case against orders by U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox in an Oct. 9 hearing in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Last year, Cox changed the make-up of the BOWC so that ultimate control of rates and contracts rests with its suburban members, most of them connected to various corporations and banks.

He also instituted draconian anti-worker changes.

Suburban and out-state forces have long campaigned for control of DWSD, a racially-charged situation since Detroit’s population is close to 84 percent African-American, and the DWSD workforce is also predominantly Black. EMA claimed it will ensure “diversity” in future workforces at the plant, but refused to commit to any numbers.

(Left to right) DWSD Director Sue McCormick, nine months on the job, BOWC Detroit member Linda Forte, a Comerica bank exec, BOWC chair and Oakland Co. member James Fausone, who was president of an environmental remediation, industrial service, and waste transportation company for three years, BOWC member Macomb County rep. Fred Barnes, who owns his own engineering consulting company and is a West Point graduate, and former BOWC chair Mary Blackmon of Detroit, also head of Wayne County RESA. Board members asked questions but all gave excuses for their votes in favor of the EMA cutbacks.

During the Sept. 7 meeting, BOWC chair James Fausone tried to justify personnel cutbacks by pitting DWSD customers against the workers.

The late Mary Shoemake (l) of Call ’em Out, participates in protest against DWSD water shut-offs during Kwame Kilpatrick administration.

“Water rates are unaffordable for most of our customers,” he said. “Thirty percent of Detroit customers can’t pay their water bills on time. Sewage rates have gone up over the last 10 years in Detroit 10.1 percent, and in the suburbs 5.2 percent, with water rates rising 6.4 percent in Detroit and 7.2 percent in the suburbs.”

However, no written guarantees of rate reductions are included in documents that DWSD has made publicly available so far. On Aug. 29, a prominent municipal bond management firm told the BOWC that in fact customers must be prepared for more rate increases.

During a workshop that day, Siebert, Brandford, Shank & Co. (SBS) told the BOWC that to “enhance DWSD credit,” primary goals must include “educating the public about [infrastructure] projects and the need for water and sewer rate increases.”

Then Detroit CFO Sean Werdlow, SBS rep Brian Doherty, Fitch Ratings’ Joe O’Keefe, Standand & Poor’s Stephen Murphy and Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams pressure Council to approve disastrous $1.5 billion pension obligaton certifcate loans Jan. 31, 2005. Werdlow is now a managing partner of SBS, which conducted workshop for BOWC Aug. 29 stressing need for rate increases and more debt. UBS is one of several companies being sued by Boston and other municipalities for fraud for manipulating interest rates before 2008 economic bust.

SBS partnered with global giant UBS to get the City of Detroit to borrow a record $1.5 billion in “pension obligation certificates” in 2005, during the Wall Street profit bubble which burst in 2008. To stave off default on UBS-SBS debt in 2009, the city agreed to funnel all of its casino tax revenues through a trustee, US Bank NA, to ensure payment.  Its state-revenue sharing funds have been similarly handed over.

Despite McCormick’s earlier report that 40 percent of DWSD expenses currently come from debt payments, SBS currently recommends additional borrowing to pay for upcoming infrastructure needs.

Detroit additionally labors under the constraints of a “consent agreement” negotiated under Michigan’s Public Act 4.  PA 4 hands dictatorial control of municipalities and school districts in deficit to unelected “emergency managers.” The “consent agreement” hands similar control to a “Financial Advisory Board” and state officials. In November, Michigan voters will decide whether to repeal PA 4.

The Mayors’ Water Council of the U.S. Conference of Mayors said in a blistering report in 2011 that what cities really need is increased federal investment in their water and sewerage infrastructures.

“The Federal government, (i.e., Congress and the relevant Federal Agencies) has performed one of the most sophisticated acts of avoiding responsibility for the policies it has imposed on the nation’s cities in modern history when it comes to public water and wastewater,” says the Mayors’ report.

“Local government was a willing partner with Congress in setting the lofty goals of the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Acts . . . but the Federal government has abdicated its role as ‘partner’ in this effort.  Instead of sharing the responsibility to finance the necessary infrastructure Congress has taken the position that achieving the goals of the water laws is not a federal responsibility.”

The report goes on to say that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has instead assumed the role of “prosecutor” in situations related to compliance issues, much as it has done in Detroit.

It sets a “National Action Agenda to Renew and Strengthen the Intergovernmental Commitment to Water and Wastewater Structure.” (See sidebar.)

Related documents and articles:

ema_phase_2_resolution; DWSD ema_phase_2_and_3_proposal; dwsd_phase_2_and_3_presentation_09072012; US Mayors Water Council report

http://www.candgnews.com/news/algae-lake-muck-contains-human-waste

http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_21298325/exodus-leaves-san-jose-wastewater-plant-shorthanded

http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_21313263/san-jose-approves-costly-contract-wastewater-plant

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/08/22/contractor-ema-proposes-to-cut-81-percent-of-dwsd-jobs-workers-mobilize-for-strike/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/08/22/toronto-under-water-sewage-in-wake-of-ema-plan/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/08/19/former-head-engineer-weighs-in-on-dwsd-restructuring-plan/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/08/12/picket-dwsd-huber-facility-wed-aug-15-4-pm-save-our-water-dept/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/07/30/shut-detroit-down-save-our-water-department-save-our-city/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/07/23/detroit-cut-2-billion-pension-bond-deal-with-ubs-one-of-banks-sued-by-baltimore-others-in-libor-scandal/

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/aug2012/ints-a13.shtml

Chicago Teachers Union members at Labor Day march Sept. 3, 2012.

By Theresa Moran

 September 7, 2012

With Chicago teachers preparing to strike Monday, unionists say it’s a “which side are you on?” moment for Democrats. But from the looks of this week’s convention, it would seem Democrats have already made their choice.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel addresses Democratic convention Sept. 4, 2012.

Have Democrats abandoned teacher unions in their pursuit of a corporate-backed education overhaul? From the looks of the Democratic National Convention, it would seem so.

At the podium, speakers like Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and former North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt praised the Obama administration’s willingness to embrace such change, singling out the controversial Race to the Top program for special attention. The program requires states to link teacher evaluations to student standardized test scores and pushes charter schools and ‘turnarounds’—in which at least 50 percent of teachers are fired—to replace struggling public schools.

The program fits perfectly with the corporate reform agenda of destroying job security for teachers, privatizing public schools, testing everything, and turning whatever can be quantified into a statistic, no matter how disconnected from the realities of teaching children.

Chicago teacher and students. Photo: CTU

As he praises corporate reform on the federal level, Emanuel has fomented a confrontation over education reform in his hometown. The 26,000-member Chicago Teachers Union looks to be heading for a strike Monday over class size, better funding for school programs and services, fair pay, and job security.

Observers see the strike as a “which side are you on?” moment for Democrats. On one side is the teacher union, which says too big class sizes, too few school services, and too little support for teachers are the problems. On the other are the corporate-education pushers, who heap blame on bad teachers.

“There are two distinct constituencies with conflicting goals and we’re going to highlight that with a strike. You can’t gloss over it very easily,” says Bill Lamme, a Chicago public high school teacher.

President Barack Obama, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

Some Chicago teachers think Obama could not stomach a strike in his hometown on the eve of the November election and will lean on Emanuel, his former chief of staff, to settle. Others fear national Democrats could welcome the chance to look tough by fighting the union. If the Democratic convention is any indication, their fears may be warranted.

Parent Tricker

The teacher-bashing at the Democratic convention started Monday with a pre-release screening of the anti-union drama “Won’t Back Down,” sponsored by Democrats for Education Reform.

DFER is a political action committee made up of hedge fund managers seeking investment opportunities in education. The group supports privatization, vouchers, merit pay, teacher evaluations based on student test scores, and doing away with teacher tenure. It flaunts its hostility toward teacher unions.

The film, starring Maggie Gyllenhall and Viola Davis, shows a mother and a teacher battling an evil teachers union to convert their struggling public school into a charter through a “parent trigger” law.

While at first blush it sounds like a feel-good tale of community empowerment, the film has drawn sharp criticism from teacher advocates for its unfavorable portrayal of urban teachers and their unions. Continue reading →

Greg Thrasher in DC.

By Greg Thrasher
Washington DC Bureau Chief
Voice of Detroit

September 7, 2012

According to the latest studies and mainstream media accounts which populate the chatter rooms and the evening news, the narrative is how broke and poor the Black community is after the financial meltdown of 2008.

In the recent Pew Study on this topic it was documented that white families on average have 27 times more wealth than the average Black family. This gap of course increased after the financial meltdown. The core reason for this wealth gap is the loss of home ownership that Black families have suffered from as a result of this economic turbulence.

Black income has never reached parity at any time in the history of our nation so this latest scorecard really reflects the economic disparity between the whites and Blacks in America.

One of the really ugly aspects of this loss of wealth in our community is the fact this plunge in assets and wealth has taken place under the tenure of the country’s first Black president. This stings on many levels and this very fact is often employed to fuel divisive attacks and indictment of our president by his critics and those who enjoy observing misery and difficulty in the Black community.

So into this landscape of economic duress and fragile financial status it is critical that we develop a collective posture and strategy to confront yet another obstacle and challenge in being Black in America. I opine and reason that instead of evaluating and viewing our worth and value based upon the metrics of money and status the Black community must now develop a new equation and template to measure and value our wealth. We must create a more pragmatic reference and base line to value and appraise our assets and wealth.

In other words we must conduct an inventory of our human and personal assets and insert these assets into the marketplace. We must increase our personal relationships with each other, we must volunteer, donate, share, contribute, loan, convey, transfer, and use are existing assets that we took for granted and give them new a new purpose and status.

When we create an exchange system based upon the utility of the items we bargain and negotiate such a system augments our collective and individual wealth.

We can create and develop a new currency based upon an exchange of our existing material assets and wealth and blend and merged these units of wealth into a community collective with a theme which is underwritten by sharing and relationships rather than profit and budgets based upon money and traditional wealth.

In truth we really have no choice. Our communities are broke and in fiscal disarray. Far too many Black families are on financial life support. Entire families are now being fed by non-profits and food programs and housed in shelters, facing foreclosures, holding part time jobs, and have exhausted 401(k) plans which have reached their limits. We are in a crisis but there is a way forward.

Today we can begin to ignore our pride and start contacting family and friends and create pools of shared assets and wealth, from car- pooling to offering up empty bedrooms for families living in shelters. We can share coupons, old furniture, clothes and household wares.

In reality we are a rich community full of assets and materials that we take for granted . In the new era of economics our community can become rich with the recognition of our present assets by taking an inventory of the material assets we all have in our homes and families that are under-utilized.

We have so much wealth in our communities that simply needs to be inventoried and then made operational.  Instead of pawn shops and consignment shops run by major non -profits we can use these retail models as community base depots to feed our poor and hungry for free.

In this new era of currency the Black community will be quite wealthy. It is just a matter of how we want to count our new money and how then to spend it.

Related:  http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/07/26/wealth-gaps-rise-to-record-highs-between-whites-blacks-hispanics/