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

Agnes Hitchcock and Call ’em Out were in forefront of battles against giveaways of Detroit schools, city jobs and services; shown here is protest against Mackinac Island Conference May 28 2009

Michigan Citizen prints Womack’s slanderous remarks re: Agnes Hitchcock 

By Agnes Hitchcock

July 30, 2012

Can you trust a candidate for public office who goes out of his way to tell a lie? In response to a question (“What is your position on Public Act 4 and, now that it is state law, what can be done during your next term to address the affects it has had on Detroit residents?) put to him by Michigan Citizen reporter, Eric Campbell, Womack responded “I’ve always opposed an emergency manager, or a financial manager, when Robert Bobb was appointed, even when some grassroots people—that includes Agnes Hitchcock—supported the appointment of Bobb..”)

Agnes Hitchcock receives surprise award from community. Speakers at the dinner included Tom Barrow, Al Garrett of AFSCME Council 25, Attorneys George Washington and Jerome Goldberg, and a host of others who also supported Hitchcock’s heroic efforts over the years.

I, Agnes Hitchcock, did not support Robert Bobb personally or as an activist because I have always held the belief that the people should have full control of their schools and all other forms of government by way of a vote in order insure accountability. I support and favor the people electing their representatives, even if they are self serving liars. This is not his first attempted character assination directed at me. Previously he has referred to me as a “Social Terrorist.”

I hosted the Call’em-Out weekly talk show, which was dedicated to holding elected officials accountable to the people on WHPR TV33 and Comcast 20 for several years. There is no one who listened to that program who can truthfully say I supported the appointed Robert Bobb or for that matter, any elected official who did not serve the interest of the people in the city of Detroit.

As school board president, Jimmy Womack testified against Agnes Hitchcock at her trial for throwing grapes at school board members after a majority, including Womack, voted to close the first 50 schools of many more to come in 2004.

Jimmy Womack took and apparently still takes issue with my views because he was often the butt of my rebuke due to the destruction he caused at the Detroit Public Schools. Jimmy Womack received a Lifetime Achievement Sambo Award at one of our Annual dinners. These awards are reserved for an individual who served the interest of his perceived master over the interest of his own people.

By the way, he never answered the question. He ended his statement by saying “There are more things we should be worried about other than this emergency manager—there are other rights being taken away.”

VOD editor Diane Bukowski has personally requested that the Michigan Citizen print an acknowledgment that Womack’s statement about Agnes Hitchcock is FALSE AND SLANDEROUS.

Agnes Hitchcock presents Sambo Award to Kwame Kilpatrick in protest of water shut-offs and policies of privatization.

Bukowski covered the Detroit Public Schools for the Michigan Citizen for eight years during the time Ms. Hitchcock and Call ’em Out campaigned aggressively against any state takeover or emergency manager, as well as numerous Call ’em Out protests on all matters adversely affecting Detroit residents and the residents of other poor cities.

Newspapers are not given carte blanche to publish quotes such as this without checking their veracity. All the editors and reporter had to do was check their own numerous stories by Bukowski published on Agnes Hitchcock and Call ’em Out.

Those included stories on the school board’s first vote to close 50 schools, of many more to come, when Womack was Board president.  Ms. Hitchcock took appropriately aggressive action, throwing the “grapes of wrath” at board members who voted “Yes,” including Womack. For that, she was arrested, tried and convicted, with Womack and board vice-president Joyce Hayes-Giles both testifying against Hitchcock.

Agnes Hitchcock chairs town hall forum to stop takeover of Detroit Water Department during Kilpatrick administration. Call ’em Out was once again in the forefront of this battle, years before Synagro-gate and Judge Sean Cox’s orders.

In 2008, the school board’s vote for a “consent agreement” with the state paved the way for Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s appointment of Robert Bobb as emergency manager. The only member to vote NO was Marie Thornton.

As leader of Call ’em Out, Agnes Hitchcock earned enormous respect across Detroit for their campaign against corrupt state, city, and school politicians (hence the name “Call ’em Out), their annual Sambo Awards Dinners, which were attended by hundreds, and their vanguard positions against water-shut-offs, privatization and other corruption that hurt the people of Detroit, Highland Park and elsewhere.

Call em Out protest in front of Jimmy Womack’s home. A young Womack supporter (in red shirt) berates Ruth Williams, a member of the community group Call ‘Em Out, at a May 28, 2006 protest at Womack’s house. Call ‘Em Out has marched on the homes of school board members whom they feel are not acting in the best interest of DPS students. WYOMAN MITCHELL PHOTO

They marched in front of Womack’s house to protest his stances as Board president, which included the merciless and biased persecution of the only school board member who consistently stood up and voted “NO” on school closings, contracts, and privatization, Marie Thornton. He also consistently supported every private contract despite ties to the late Schools CEO Kenneth Burnley, who was later indicted, and others.

To read Bukowksi’s MC story on Call ’em Out protest at Womack’s house, click on: http://michigancitizen.com/womack-parties-while-call-em-out-pickets-p3105-1.htm.

Womack basically supported a corporate agenda designed for the city’s first elected school board since the 1999 state takeover. That agenda paved the way for the second takeover by the state in 2008 under Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who appointed Robert Bobb as EFM despite his affiliations to pro-charter school organizations.

Sandra Hines is hauled out by DPS Police at Jimmy Womack’s direction, for her passionate protest against school closings.

Womack created constant dissension on the board by pitting one board member against another and allowing certain audience members, notably the Rev. Loyce Lester, to loudly taunt his opponents on the board, particularly Thornton, during proceedings without sanctioning them.

At the same time, he directed DPS police to haul out those protesting school closings.

Call ’em Out campaigned against City Council members who voted in favor of privatization, including Kay Everett and Alonzo Bates, and against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick for the first 40,000 water shut-offs, initiated in force for the first time in Detroit’s history, during his administration.

Call ’em Out was part of mass demonstration protesting water shut-offs, bus cuts and other privatization at the Manoogian Mansion, at the time inhabited by Kwame Kilpatrick

Packed audience at Call ’em Out Sambo Awards Ceremony.

Call em Out “prayer vigil” at the late Councilwoman Kay Everett’s house; she was later indicted for taking bribes to vote for private contracts;

Hundreds at Call em Out’s 7th annual awards dinner Feb. 25, 2010 applauded as Agnes Hitchcock was presented with surpise Lifetime Achievements trophy.

Protesters hurl angry chants at police over Manuel Diaz killing.

Community explodes with fatal police shooting; Justice Dept. to probe incident

By Charlene Muhammad -National Correspondent–

FinalCall.com News

Updated Aug 3, 2012 – 9:46:00 AM

Manuel DIaz, assassinated by Anaheim police at the age of 25.

(FinalCall.com) – The family of a man killed by Anaheim Police filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court against the city and police department on July 24, while an outraged community took its battle for justice to the streets with a rally at City Hall that same afternoon.

Lawyers filed the $50 million lawsuit against the city and its police department on behalf of Genevieve Huizar. Her son, Manuel Diaz, was shot, unarmed, on July 21 after running from police, according to police officials.

“They had already incapacitated him. They shot him once, got him on the ground, and then they shot him in the head. This was like an assassination and that’s why people are outraged,” said John Parker, West Coast coordinator of the International Action Center, an anti-war effort that also fights against racism and economic exploitation.

Community memorial for Manuel Diaz at site of his murder by cop.

According to Sergeant Bob Dunn, Anaheim Police Department spokesperson, three officers are on paid leave as a result of officer-involved-shootings, not the protest. Officers shot and killed another man on July 22, in pursuit of a stolen car and also following a foot chase, he said.

Approximately 200 people surrounded City Hall for the July 24 rally while inside, council members unanimously voted to seek an independent review of the officer-involved shootings by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Early in the rally, a female protestor led call and response chants in English and Spanish: “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!”

The protestors attempted to enter Council Chambers but made it as far as the lobby, where they were met by uniformed officers—one in the lobby then three who secured the entrance to the chambers.

Protesters confront cops.

But when police in riot gear began to form a barrier between the entrance and demonstrators, the crowd chanted louder and tensions began to flare. “Tell me what a police state looks like,” a lone voice from a bullhorn rapidly instructed. “This is what a police state looks like!” protestors replied. “Just because you have a badge does not make you judge, jury and executioner,’” a man yelled during a tiny moment of silence.

Several hours later, the group of protestors numbered at least, 500-600, Ernest Arce, a journalist with 90.7 FM/KPFK, told The Final Call in an e-mail. The mostly young, very angry crowd left City Hall for a nearby intersection when police declared an unlawful assembly and began firing rubber bullets.

Women and children under attack by police at site of Manuel Diaz murder.

Once a large police line moved forward, some protestors began to break windows, smash trash bins and street signs, and vandalize businesses. “I attempted to enter the nearby Vons (grocery store) in order to take cover from police who seemed to be shooting indiscriminately but they were yelling at passersby not to get close because most of the supermarkets’ windows had also been smashed,” Mr. Arce recounted.

He witnessed at least five to 10 people who were bleeding from open wounds caused by the bullets and terrified Starbucks employees running out of the store as dozens of protestors smashed all of the chain store’s windows.

“It was total chaos for nearly 30 minutes. At least a half dozen fires were set throughout the downtown area as fire trucks were seen scrambling from one site to the next. In a moment too surreal for words, the Disneyland Resort launched its nightly fireworks show as it lit the night sky above what looked like a war zone below,” Mr. Arce said.

Protest at Starbucks.

Anaheim sits in Orange County, about 26 miles south of Los Angeles. Hispanics make up 53 percent of the city’s population of 336,000, according to a 2010 U.S. Census.

Edgar Ibarra, a resident, told Mr. Arce he’s lost trust in the police and feels there’s a lot of corruption and cover-ups. “For the officers to gain the trust of the city, it’s going to take a long time. They’re going to have to rebuild their trust. At this point, we feel disgusted. At this point, we feel they’re bullying us,” Mr. Ibarra said.

The protest at City Hall came after a July 23 demonstration that stemmed largely from the Diaz shooting. During the protest, police fired pepper balls and bean bags into a crowd of men, women and children. One man was bitten by a police dog.

According to Sgt. Dunn, police were securing the scene of the shooting for about two hours, waiting for the district attorney to investigate when people began to leave their apartments.

“Known gang members tried to incite the crowd. … Officers noticed one they wanted to detain and when they attempted to do that, other members of the crowd encroached on the officers,” he told The Final Call.

Protest at city hall.

According to Sgt. Dunn, officers shot the pepper balls to push the crowd back but when one man threw a bottle at them, they fired bean bag rounds toward him. “The dog’s deployment was actually accidental. He was able to escape when handlers got out to detain that individual,” he said.

Mr. Parker refuted the claim and likened it to driving under the influence, when drunk drivers who kill people are still responsible for creating situations for people to be killed.

“The cops did the same thing. … They got in a car drunk with racism, thinking they’re so entitled to attack toddlers, women, and the community with dogs and rubber bullets at close range. That’s an ‘accident’ waiting to happen and with recklessness,” he said.

Anaheim police guard Starbucks, city hall.

Bing conducts secret negotiations to lease island to state, cede city control

Feds, state give private RiverFront Conservancy $44 million, no strings attached; Bing, Pugh sit on Conservancy board

Rally against takeover Wed. Aug. 1, 2012 at 1 pm at the bandshell

By Diane Bukowski 

July 30, 2012 

DETROIT – Belle Isle is the largest public island park in the country, a gorgeous haven predominantly used by Detroiters except when events including the Grand Prix, the Gold Cup races, and the fireworks attract hordes of suburbanites like the fish flies that pester the riverfront this time of year.

Grosse Pointe and St. Clair Shores residents have exclusive access to this part of the beautiful shoreline of Lake St. Clair.

After all, residents of the Grosse Pointes and St. Clair Shores have their own river and lakefront parks, where admission is restricted only to them and their guests. There, they don’t have to be bothered mingling with the likes of Detroiters seen in the photo essay below.

But Mayor Dave Bing and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder are busy in secret negotiations to lease the island to the state. Such a lease would transfer control of its operations and workers from the city, and revenues from an annual park fee or other activities in the works, to the state.

Bing says his only objection is the state’s proposed term of the lease—99 years. He says the city needs state funding to upgrade the island.

Bing also sits (or sat) on the board of the private Riverfront Conservancy, which just raked in $44 million in state and federal funds, no strings attached, to re-develop the east riverfront, including Mt. Elliott Park, Gabriel Richard Park, the Detroit RiverWalk, and the Uniroyal site by the Belle Isle Bridge.

Council President Charles Pugh, along with 40 plus prominent corporate executives, also sits on the Riverfront Conservancy board. (See sidebar.) The Conservancy has assets of $94 million, and investments worth over $20 million. It raked in revenue in 2010 totaling over $14 million, most of it from “contributions and grants.” Two of its directors, David Page and Ann Lang, belong represent entities which have lucrative contracts with the Conservancy.

Detroit Riverfront Conservancy Board of Directors.

Couldn’t Bing and Pugh have used their influence there to get $44 million for the people of the City of Detroit as well?

“Belle Isle is not a “tattered” gem; it is a city park which Detroiters enjoy immensely on warm days,” Tom Barrow, Bing’s opponent in the last mayoral election, said on-line. “It is supposed to look used after a day of activity but it is cleaned the next morning as it should be. 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 you under some clever guise.’

He added, “It is painfully obvious that many in Lansing condescend when it comes to Detroit and see themselves as superior to the city and its leadership. Why is it not obvious that the busting of our city’s unions, making teachers and organized labor into bad people and seeking the transfer of the city’s pension funds is not part of an obvious plan to effectively subjugate Detroit and make it politically toothless?” . . . We are deeply offended in having a master lord over us condescending with vague offers all of which ultimately result in them gaining control over another of our city’s gems . . .”

Mayoral candidate Tom Barrow in 2010. He has appealed his case charging vote-tampering to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The City Council approved a non-binding resolution against ceding control of Belle Isle to the state, voting 5-4. Councilwoman JoAnn Watson called for court action including a temporary restraining order.

“It’s outrageous to even have a discussion about someone taking away Belle Isle,” Watson said. She and Council members Brenda Jones and Kwame Kenyatta are sponsoring a rally to save Belle Isle this Wed. Aug. 1 at 1 p.m. at the bandshell.

Unfortunately, the “Fatal Five” Council members, Charles Pugh, Gary Brown, Saunteel Jenkins, James Tate, and Kenneth Cockrel, Jr. earlier approved a “Fiscal Stability Agreement” which includes as part of its “reform program” the following language:

“Belle Isle—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 Endowment Fund. We will partner with Belle Isle Conservancy and the City to implement a master plan for the island.”

Considering recent state court rulings on various aspects of the fall-out of the consent agreement and Public Act 4, it is likely legal action against the takeover will involve an uphill battle.

Council members (l to r) JoAnn Watson, Brenda Jones and Kwame Kenyatta are sponsoring the Aug. 1 rally to save Belle Isle. Council member Andre Spivey voted with them against the consent agreement, but also voted against the Council resolution urging Bing to oppose the state takeover of the island.

The City of Detroit bought Belle Isle in 1879 for $100,000, and has financed what likely amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars in improvements on the island since then. (See Recreation Department history of Belle Isle and improvements by clicking on BELLE ISLE HISTORY.)

Detroit Free Press columnist Stephen Henderson trumpeted recently, “Way back in 1879, it was the state that made it possible for the City of Detroit to buy the nearly 1,000-acre island. House Bill 584 of 133 years ago authorized — yes, authorized — the Detroit Common Council to purchase Belle Isle for up to $200,000, and to sell bonds both to pay for it and to erect a bridge connecting the island to the city’s shoreline. The council then forked over $180,000 to members of the Campau family, who owned the island.”

Henderson, in his haste to celebrate state and city “co-operation,” and ignore Detroiters’ right to self-determination,  neglects to admit that any municipal bonds have always had to go through a perfunctory state approval process.

The bottom line is: Detroiters paid OUR money to:

• Buy Belle Isle
• Expand it with infill
• Construct a park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of New York City’s Central Park
• Build its canals (yes, they are man-made)
• Construct the Belle Isle Bridge twice (it burned the first time)
• Put bridges and ponds on the island
• Clear the way for a gorgeous beach
• Construct the conservatory, casino, skating pavilion, Scott Fountain, picnic shelters, comfort stations, and maintenance buildings to cite a few.
• Hire CITY WORKERS to maintain the island at decent union wages and benefits.

As water department workers mobilize for a city-wide strike, direct action is also needed to save Belle Isle. Detroiters have occupied the island for 140 years—occupy Belle Isle now!

Family enjoys cook-out on west end of island with skyline as backdrop.

VOD editor and life-long Detroiter Diane Bukowski has bicycled around Belle Isle, near where she lives, for the last 32 years. On July 28, 2012, a beautiful Saturday, she took her camera along. While the daily media has shown photos of white folks on the beach and a pictorial history of the island beginning in 1901, her bike tour was a reality check.

SAVE BELLE ISLE!  IT BELONGS TO US!

Wally Safford, a Central High School alumni, at New Missionary Baptist Church picnic, seen in background, on southwest end of island.

Friends enjoy a quiet talk on the river with Windsor in the background.

Couple who were bicycling around the island take a break in the shade.

Doing the hustle at SEIU picnic and health fair near the Belle Isle Carillon.

Kids really enjoyed the dance at SEIU picnic.

Friends and family attending Smith family picnic on east end of Belle Isle.

Family picnic along cut-away to south end of island, near inland pond.

City of Detroit Public Lighting Department workers take care of streetlight. Their jobs, as well as those of hundreds of others, mostly Detroiters, are endangered by any state take-over of the island. A regional lighting authority bill in the state legislature would get rid of PLD period.

AFSCME Local 457 President Laurie Walker and class action plaintiff against consent agreement Yolanda King at AFSCME Council 25 picnic. Local 457 represents workers at the Detroit Health Department, which along with two other federally-funded departments, Human Services and Workforce Development, are being dismantled and privatized for non-financial reasons.

Kids enjoy the swings at AFSCME picnic.

AFSCME DJ tent at picnic.

AFSCME family members say NO to EM! Public Act 4, the “emergency manager act,” jeopardizes the assets, services, voting rights, and jobs of city residents around Michigan. So far, over half the state’s African-American population is under its pall.

Couple and baby view deer in pen at “Nature Zoo.” Deer lived free on Belle Isle for centuries, an attraction for families who came with their kids to feed them in the winter. Those deer were killed, allegedly due to disease, and replaced with these (ironically white) deer by Zoo Director Ron Kagan after the Detroit Zoo system was privatized.

Detroit Yacht Club on west side of island, for members and guests only. This club for the well-to-do pays only $1 A YEAR as rent to the City of Detroit. Another source of revenue: charge market-rate rent to the DYC.

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

Family and friends picnic in front of former Belle Isle Zoo, closed by Kagan in order to direct funds predominantly to the Zoo in Royal Oak.

Blesset, Shaffer and Gussie family re-union at one of island’s largest shelters on west end of island near the beach.

Picnic under the willow trees with view of downtown Detroit.

Coming back, Bukowski took this photo of the section of the Riverwalk near the bridge. The Riverwalk is owned by the private Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, whose board members are primarily corporate executives.

An AP article published July 24 said:

“Efforts to complete a recreational development project along Detroit’s east riverfront are getting a $44 million boost from the federal government and the state, officials announced Monday.

The Detroit RiverFront Conservancy said new partnerships and a series of construction projects will wrap up work in the area. They include the redevelopment of Mount Elliott Park, improvements at Gabriel Richard Park and expanding the reach of the Detroit RiverWalk.

The project is getting $29 million in federal highway money and a $15 million investment by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund, officials said. It includes work at a site once home to a Uniroyal tire factory.”

But under Ric-tator Snyder’s administration, the state will not fund improvements on Belle Isle itself unless it takes over with a 99-year-lease.  The state already owns the Milliken riverfront park just east of the RenCen.

Part of a large crowd who rallied at the gates of the Wastewater Treatment Plant in Detroit July 24 to demand Detroit control of DWSD, a good contract for workers.

Over 150 pack protest at WWTP in support of city-wide strike, Detroit control of DWSD

By Diane Bukowski 

July 27, 2012 

DETROIT – City of Detroit water department workers mobilizing for a city-wide strike turned out an impressive show of support July 24. A diverse march and rally of over 150 people packed the entrance to the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) on W. Jefferson. It drew media attention and brought hope to many city residents looking for new leadership.

“If we shut this place down, we will settle a contract in one week,” AFSCME Local 207 President John Riehl told the protesters. He and others said that administration of President Barack Obama cannot afford a massive strike in Detroit as November elections approach.

Raymond Love tells workers to “stand up and fight!”

“We have to stand up and fight,” Raymond Love, a water department worker for 10 years, said. “The Detroit water department belongs to the citizens of Detroit, not to Snyder and Bing.” He referred to Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing.

“We are representing the whole city, whose people are dying to support someone who is fighting, not just talking about fighting.” Local 207 Secretary-Treasurer Mike Mulholland said.

Under terms of orders issued by U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department is negotiating with its workers separately from other city workers, who face imposed terms under a Public Act 4 consent agreement.

Sue McCormick addresses meeting during previous tenure as Ann Arbor public services administrator. Photo: AA.com

On July 17, DWSD management, led by newly-appointed Director Sue F. McCormick,  presented demands similar to those included in the unilateral “City Employment Terms” document being imposed by state officials, the Financial Advisory Board, and the Bing administration.

They include withdrawal of the Local’s ongoing legal challenge to Cox’s order,  inclusion of water department workers in the consent agreement,  which bars collective bargaining, a 10 percent wage cut, 12 month probationary periods for new hires and newly promoted workers, attacks on pension and seniority rights, and other anti-union measures.

Speakers at the rally said they are fighting not only for a good contract, but to win back Detroiters’ control and ownership of DWSD, axed last year by U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox. Former U.S. President George W. Bush appointed Cox, who is a right-wing Federalist Society member, to the bench.

AFSCME Local 207 Vice-President Lakita Thomas represents over 1200 DWSD workers.

Lakita Thomas, Local 207 Vice-President, told VOD, “They want the water department, and they are trying to design it to fail, make it look as dirty and rotten as possible so they can easily take it over. But we are going to fight, and we’re fighting to win. We are trying to protest everywhere.”

DWSD has been decimated by massive private contracting, hundreds of lay-offs, and the departure of experienced staff due to draconian pension proposals. It is also under attack by Wall Street, whose rating agencies have several times downgraded its previously sterling bond ratings in order to have lenders profit from higher interest rates.

“We just came from occupying a woman’s home to stop her from being evicted, and the community-wide efforts are working, they are re-opening her case,” Shanta Driver, head of the national By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) coalition, said. “We must likewise turn the corner on our entire city’s destruction and save Detroit.”

U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox, a George W. Bush appointee.

Under an initial consent agreement reached in Feb. 2011 between Bing and the leaders of surrounding counties at the direction of Judge Cox, suburban representatives led by Board of Water Commissioners (BOWD) Chair James Fausone now control BOWC votes on contracts and rates. The Detroit City Council’s right to approve contracts has been eliminated. They approve rates only for Detroit proper.

Later that year, Bing and the City Council approved the sale of the mammoth Oakland-Macomb County Interceptor, in violation of the City Charter which requires a popular vote on sale or privatization of DWSD assets. The revised City Charter has maintained that provision for DWSD and D-DOT.

On Nov. 4, 2011, Cox ruled that DWSD would no longer be subject to that Charter provision, a city ordinance limiting privatization, workers’ rights under the Michigan Employment Relations Commission, and access to state courts.

He launched an all-out attack on union rights, abolishing seniority rights in many areas, union grievance procedures, and full-time release for the Local’s three top officers.  Local 207 has over 1,200 members and is the largest AFSCME union local in the city.

His order diminished opportunities for Black-owned businesses and Detroit resident construction workers under DWSD contracting procedures, and opened the door to unbridled privatization.

Mass press conference held by DWSD unions to announce legal challenges to U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox’s takeover of the department.

Michigan AFSCME Council 25, AFSCME Local 207, the city’s Senior Accountants, Analysts and Appraisers (SAAA), and UAW Region IA Local 2200 have appealed. AFSCME 207 accused Cox of bias and asked him to recuse himself, which he has refused to do. He also denied motions by the unions to intervene in the case, which originated in 1977 with a federal challenge claiming DWSD was in violation of the Clean Water Act.

AFSCME Local 207 appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, asking the Court to issue a stay of Cox’s Nov. 4 order, order Cox’s removal from the case due to bias, and approve the unions’ intervention.

The Sixth Circuit Court denied the immediate motions Dec. 21, 2011, but allowed aspects of the case as a whole to proceed on appeal.

Judges on the panel were Cuban-born Danny J. Boggs, named in  1986 by{President Ronald Reagan, Ronald Lee Gilman, named by President Bill Clinton in 1997, and Richard Allen Griffin, named in 2002 by Bush, but not approved by the Senate until 2005 after partisan controversy, during which he was described as a “deeply conservative jurist.”

DWSD COO Matthew Schenk

Since then, Cox has ordered the addition of a Chief Operating Officer to DWSD administration. Matthew Schenck was plucked directly from the scandal-ridden administration of Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano to fill that post. His background is primarily in legal matters.

Earlier, the BOWC appointed Sue F. McCormick as department director. She was previously Public Services administrator in Ann Arbor, in charge of the city’s entire infrastructure including its water department. There, she established water rates that increased by seven levels according to a tenant’s usage of water, as well as privatization initiatives.

As director, she has broad powers under Cox’s order to hire, promote and fire workers, outsource services, and further remove the department from Detroit’s control.

DWSD service area

“One of the largest systems in the nation, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department has a rich history in public utility service dating back to the early 1800s,” says DWSD’s website.

“DWSD provides water service to the entire city of Detroit and neighboring southeastern Michigan communities throughout Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, St. Clair, Lapeer, Genessee, Washtenaw and Monroe counties. The 1,079-square-mile water service area, which includes Detroit and 126 suburban communities, makes up approximately 40 percent of the state’s population. Wastewater service is also provided to a 946-square-mile area that encompasses Detroit and 76 neighboring communities.”

Detroiters built and paid for the system, known as the primary jewel of the city, through billions in bond issues over the years.

Local 207 is planning another rally Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012 at 4:30 p.m. in front of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center at Jefferson and Woodward in downtown Detroit. (See flier below.)

Related VOD stories: 

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/11/16/union-challenges-cox%e2%80%99s-water-dept-takeover-order/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/09/14/sean-cox-right-wing-affiliations/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/11/10/cox-axes-detroiters-control-over-water-department/

VOD: As Local 207’s flier above says, “Bing even pissed off the cops.” This rally took place July 26, 2012 outside the Coleman A. Young Center. Inside, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Amy Hathaway had just dismissed a class action lawsuit by AFSCME leaders Rose Roots, Yolanda King, and Yvonne Ross against the consent agreement, claiming that the state did not fit the definition of “one” as in “municipalities are not allowed to contract with ONE in default.” Story on that later. Meanwhile, for background on that lawsuit click on http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/07/16/detroiters-sue-city-officials-to-void-consent-agreement-next-hearing-thurs-july-26-9am/.

Where the real crooks are.

DPD! Who Do You Call? DPD! – – A No Struggle, No Development Production! By KennySnod *

Press Release, July 26, 2012 By Joseph Duncan, President DPOA.

Today we stand as united members of Detroit Public Safety (Police, Fire Department, EMS etc., to tell Mayor Bing and Governor Snyder that cuts to our pay and benefits, cut to our retiree benefits, will not be tolerated. This is total disregard of our Labor Contracts.

The Terms of Employment strips workers of their basic right. These Rights have taken over 50 years of collective bargaining to achieve, and it won’t be easily taken…
Citizens of this city will not accept the substandard service that administration has forced them to endure.

No trucks, rigs, no firefighters, no EMS techs.

Closing Police and Fire Stations, reducing service, reducing man/womanpower, places their lives in overwhelming danger from crime and violence…
The citizens of Detroit have reached a boiling point and are demanding they be protected. Public safety workers have reached their breaking point and demand they are demanding they be treated fairly. We took an oath, a promise to protect the citizens of this city and place our lives on the line everyday… Mr. Mayor you have an obligation to keep your word. And, I have every intention to see that promise is kept… This fight, the struggle has just begun! – –

Pension cuts hurt families too.

A No Struggle, No Development Production!

By Kenny Snodgrass, Activist, Photographer, Videographer, Author of           1} From Victimization To Empowerment… www.trafford.com/07-0913  eBook available at www.ebookstore.sony.com
2} The World As I’ve Seen It! My Greatest Experience! {Photo Book}
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Detroit residents joined the protest “They say cut back, we say fight back!”

Most of the publicity went to the DPOA, but Detroit firefighters and EMS workers were out in force as well, to protest the shutdown of firehouses as the city burns, and the elimination of EMS rigs, directly causing the deaths of Detroiters. Detroit Firefighters Association officer Teresa Sanderfer is shown with DPOA President Joseph Duncan in video above.

DFFA officer Theresa Sanderfer is interviewed with DPOA President Joseph Duncan behind her.

She told VOD, “We have had to close 15 fire stations and 17 companies. There have been 164 lay-offs and 255 demotions resulting in $15,000 to $25,000 pay cuts. The fire prevention and community relations divisions have been cut.”

Duncan said the DPOA is not threatening to strike, but has filed suit in the State Court of Claims against the contract imposition. A three judge Court of Appeals panel later denied their request for relief, according to the DPOA website.

Detroit firefighters were out in force.

Chicago Teachers’ Union (CTU) strike vote.

By Theresa Moran

July 25, 2012

The Chicago Teachers Union won a major victory yesterday when the city halted its plans to increase teacher work hours.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago school board announced in April that they were unilaterally increasing the school day by 20 percent in the fall—without increasing teaching staff or providing proportional compensation for the additional hours.

Chicago teachers at Puerto Rican Day parade.

Chicago teachers already work an average of 58 hours a week, according to a recent report. Under Illinois labor law, the board is not required to negotiate with teachers over work hours.

Under yesterday’s interim agreement, students will be spending more time in the classroom when they start back to school next month, but teacher work hours won’t spike. Instead, the city will create 500 new positions.

The union also won recall rights for teachers who lose their jobs due to downsizing or school closures. If more than three tenured teachers displaced within the last three years apply for one of the new positions, the job must go to one of them. Currently, Chicago teachers have no recall rights.

While not as strong as recall rights enjoyed by teachers in New York and other cities, the provision is still “precedent-setting,” says CTU financial secretary Kristine Mayle. “This is the first recall of any sort that we’ve ever had. It kicks the door open to us getting real recall for our people.”

MOBILIZING GETS RESULTS

Teachers pack auditorium.

The agreement comes after months of months of member mobilization. Union members have been a regular presence at school board meetings and closure hearings. In May, a sea of 6,000 red shirts marched on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange shareholders meeting to protest government handouts for the Merc while education and other public services are being compacted.

After negotiations deadlocked, the union held “practice strike authorization votes” in schools across the city. Practice made perfect: in June, an overwhelming 92 percent of the union’s membership voted to authorize a strike.

According to Mayle, yesterday’s agreement proves that people power and direct action get the goods. “It only took 10,000 people in the street, a strike authorization vote, and a fact finder to tell them that they’re crazy but, hey, whatever works!”

The longer school day has been among the most contentious issues in the heated negotiations between the union and the city. Teachers were angered not only by the imposition of more work without a raise, but by the city’s lack of a plan to fill the extra time. Teachers and parents alike questioned the value of more time in the classroom with no increase in resources or new programming.

The union has been advocating for guaranteed art, music, and physical education for all students, and calling for increased funding for school nurses and social workers.

But Chicago has been slashing resources and cutting programs across the system, especially in low-income black and Latino communities, depriving students at many schools of such basics as libraries and recess.

The 500 new hires will likely fill gaps for much-needed “enrichment” subjects like music, library science, and languages.

“We’ve been pushing for a better school day and this is our chance to get it,” said Mayle.

FULL SPEED AHEAD

Negotiations between the union and the city are far from over. The interim agreement leaves salary and healthcare costs unresolved, and doesn’t address disputes over evaluations and discipline procedures.

And while new teachers will increase the variety of classes offered, the increase amounts to only one additional teacher per school, on average. The change will do nothing to fix the problem of too-large classes.

Until those issues are resolved, says Mayle, the CTU is still “going full speed ahead” with preparations for a possible strike in September.

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