Rev. Edward Pinkney of BANCO rallies crowd before the march May 26, 2012
By Diane Bukowski
May 30, 2012
BENTON HARBOR – The stark contrast between the rich white corporate elite who showed up for the Senior PGA tournament in Benton Harbor, and the poor Black community they have largely displaced, was stunningly evident May 26.
Rally on steps of City Hall
Rev. Edward Pinkney of the Benton Harbor chapter of the Black Autonomy Community Network (BANCO), and a coalition of groups led an “Occupy the PGA” march from city hall, now under the control of Public Act 4 Emergency Manager Joe Harris. The five-mile march, styled as a funeral cortege, complete with coffin, wound past Whirlpool’s gleaming new $85 million global headquarters on the St. Joseph River, then in front of luxurious new lakefront homes, from which white families emerged to watch.
One of hundreds of new homes built for well-to-do whites in Harbor Shores.
Their homes are part of the Harbor Shores development, which, subsidized by Whirlpool, cost $500 million and includes the Jack Nicklaus golf course where the tournament was played. Most of the Harbor Shores land was deeded to the citizens of Benton Harbor, which is 89.2 percent African-American, as part of Jean Klock Park. It overlooks a spectacular stretch of beach on Lake Michigan.
“We are sending a message to Whirlpool, to Kitchen-Aid, to Mercedes-Benz,” Pinkney called out during the initial rally at city hall. He was swamped by reporters and TV cameras.
Marchers pass Whirlpool's offices adjacent to Harbor Shores.
“Don’t just come here to support the PGA, come here to support the people,” Pinkney said. “Whirlpool promised Benton Harbor’s residents 2,000 new jobs which never materialized, but that promise kept the residents from rising up. Just 25 percent of the profits from this tournament would take care of Benton Harbor’s $5 million deficit. There are people rallying here from all over Michigan, from New York City, Colorado, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, and other parts of the world.”
Pinkney called on the crowd to boycott Whirlpool and KitchenAid. The boycott also covers Whirlpool subsidiaries Amana, Estate, Gladiator Garage Works, Insperience, Jenn-Air, Magic Chef, Maytag, Roper, Acros, Inglis, Bauknecht, Brastemp, Admiral, IKEA and some Kenmore applicances.
Marcher confronts PGA visitors boarding bus.
Signs from Traverse City, Muskegon and Detroit were also seen throughout the parade. Cecily McClellan, vice-president of the Association of Professional and Technical Employees (APTE). Les Little, and member s of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization made up part of the Detroit delegation.
Jerome Buchanan, a staff representative for Michigan AFSCME Council 25, said he represents city employees in Benton Harbor.
PGA visitors watch from golf course as march passes
“Whirlpool is stealing our water revenues,” Buchanan said. “Lay-offs are looming that could have been avoided if Whirlpool pulled its water from the city’s system so Benton Harbor could collect the revenues.”
Through its publicly-owned water system, Benton Harbor previously provided most of the water to residents and businesses in the area of Benton Township, according to the website WhatistheBigSqueeze.com.
“Benton Harbor has not been able to keep [water] customers,” says an article there.
Benton Harbor's water plant on Lake Michigan
“Benton Township (aka Whirlpool), purchased a pipeline from Benton Harbor–inked by Mr. Harris–and has built its own water plant. Benton Township has recently sued Benton Harbor for over $500,000 in delinquent payments. Prior to independence, Harbor Shores illegally tapped Benton Harbor’s municipal supply. After paying damages ($142,000), Harbor Shores then illegally tapped free water from the Paw Paw River. Without counting Harbor Shores’ thirsty golf course, Benton Township represented 40% of Benton Harbor’s income.”
Part of Detroit delegation with Rev. Pinkney: (l) Cecily McClellan, (r) Les Little
(“Independence” in the article refers to Harbor Shores’ construction of its own water reservoir to feed the development.)
The result of the raid on Benton Harbor’s water has been a 45 percent rate hike for residents and small businesses in the area.
“The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) says it’s absurd for such small towns situated in a close area to have different water supplies,” the article continues. “Furthermore, it devastates the city’s fiscal health. Water provided the second largest source of income for Benton Harbor, next to property taxes.”
Benton Harbor mother shouts at Gov. Rick Snyder as he passes by in 2011 Blossomtime Parade.
Benton Harbor is the poorest city in Michigan, with 48.7 percent of its residents below the poverty level according to official U.S. Census statistics. It also has the highest rate of foreclosures, and worsening police brutality, which Rev. Pinkney has fought for years.
Teacher Ralph Pointer traveled all the way from New York City for the event.
“They are sending our students not to be educated, but to end up in prison,” Pointer said, referring to the devastated state of public schools in Benton Harbor and nationally. “Benton Harbor’s people are now disenfranchised, but this is just a trial run. They are coming to the rest of the country as well. We must awaken people any way we can.”
"Thank you Kitchen Aid" signs sprouted throughout the area in anticipation of the PGA. Rev. Pinkney takes a pause in leading the march to show the enemy.
Raphael Adley of Occupy Lansing read his poem targeting Whirlpool. which is published below.
The march concluded with a picnic and rally at a shelter on the Jean Klock Park beach. Police accompanied the march in large numbers. Rev. Pinkney attempted to lead the march on a sidewalk closer to the PGA itself on May 25, according to published reports, but was threatened with arrest by the police. Pinkney already served over one year in prison for quoting the Bible to a Berrien County judge, on behalf of the cause.
This reporter’s section of the Detroit delegation traveled back from the Benton Harbor beach rally via a PGA shuttle bus, which first passed through St. Joseph, across the river, before stopping back in downtown Benton Harbor. White folks in St. Joseph were out in large numbers, enjoying THEIR beach (why do they need Benton Harbor’s beach as well?) and strolling though a luxurious downtown area replete with fancy shops and restauarants. The homes we saw were for the well-to-do, whereas Benton Harbor homes we saw on the way into town were small wooden frame houses, many foreclosed and vacant.
St. Joseph is 90.7 percent white, with a poverty level of 15.1 percent, slightly over the national average, compared to Benton Harbor’s poverty rate of 48.7 percent.
Mainstream media often portray African-American youths, especially black men and boys, as criminals, crime victims and predators. These stereotypes, according to social justice advocates, can create a racially charged atmosphere that results in violence such as the shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin.
U.S. popular culture has become increasingly desensitized to one-dimensional portrayals of Black youths. Perpetuation of them as dangerous has been embedded in American society not only by words and images projected by journalists but also by a wide variety of other media and entertainment sources, including the Internet, movies and video games.
Clearly, the perception of African-Americans and other people of color as inferior to whites is rooted in the nation’s legacy of racial hierarchy, a system of stratification based on belief that skin color makes whites superior. Also contributing to embedding these stereotypes is that even as U.S. Census data show a growing number of nonwhites in America, fewer people of color are in decision-making positions at daily newspapers, television and radiostations, and online news organizations.
Trayvon Martin
Media coverage of the February shooting of Trayvon Martin, 17, in Sanford, Fla., by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman, exemplifies negative treatment of black youths in the media. After a controversial delay, Zimmerman was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in the unarmed teenager’s death.
At the center of the case are issues related to race, gun rights and whether Zimmerman was acting in self-defense.
In most media stories last week, autopsy results showing that Martin’s blood had traces of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, overshadowed other new evidence. An Associated Press report from Orlando, Fla., began: “Trayvon Martin had marijuana in his system. He was shot through the heart at close range.”
Some photos of George Zimmerman claimed to show cuts on his head
Many of these stories were published with photographs showing cuts and scratches on Zimmerman’s face and head. A police report said he”appeared to have a broken and a bloody nose and swelling of his face.”
In the same week, an all-white, six-person jury in Houston acquitted Andrew Blomberg, 29, a white police officer, in the alleged beating of 15-year-old Chad Holley after Holley was arrested for burglary in March 2010.
In video footage from a security camera, which jurors were shown in court, Holley was seen falling to the ground after trying to hurdle a police squad car, the AP reported, and was “surrounded by at least five officers, some who appear to kick and hit his head, abdomen and legs.”
Chad Holley, 14, after Houston police beating
Blomberg testified that he didn’t kick or stomp Holley. Community activists decried the verdict and the racial makeup of the jury.
The presumption of guilt can also apply to young black women. When Rekia Boyd, 22, was fatally shot by an off-duty Chicago police detective in March, her death was overshadowed in mainstream media by the Martin case.
Boyd was with friends on a street near the detective’s home when words were apparently exchanged and he fired several shots, one of which struck Boyd in the head. No charges have been filed in the incident. Boyd’s family has filed a civil lawsuit against the detective and the city.
Rekia Boyd's famly protests her murder by off-duty cop
In its report on the shooting, one Chicago television station noted that Boyd was hanging out with a group “at 1 in the morning.”
Stories about black youths that don’t reinforce stereotypes, don’t involve celebrities and that tell narratives about everyday lives of black people haven’t been a priority in news coverage, says author Bakari Kitwana, executive director of Rap Sessions in Westlake, Ohio. Through Rap Sessions, Kitwana leads discussions on college and high school campuses nationwide to counter mainstream media narratives about the hip-hop generation.
In addition to being stereotyped in media, Kitwana says, black youths are also criminalized by three other circumstances. Continue reading →
If you require a speedy reply to any communication, I’d suggest you telephone me and leave a message on my 24/7 answering machine. I have an UNLIMITED, AT&T USA long distance calling plan and can return your call and talk at length (if necessary) at no further cost to you.
Ethics Board, Corporation Counsel have enhanced powers under revised City Charter
By Diane Bukowski
March 25, 2012
DETROIT – In the wake of revelations that City of Detroit Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon advised Mayor Dave Bing and the City Council against signing the “Consent Financial Stability Agreement” (CFSA), Detroiters have begun filing ethics complaints against the Bing, the Council’s “Fatal Five,” Deputy Mayor Kirk Lewis, and COO Chris Brown.
COO Chris Brown, Mayor Dave Bing, Deputy Mayor Kirk Lewis
The “Fatal Five” are Council President Charles Pugh, President Pro-Tem Gary Brown, and members Saunteel Jenkins, James Tate and Kenneth Cockrel, Jr. They voted on April 4 for the CFSA on the advice of Deputy Mayor Kirk Lewis and attorney Michael McGee, a co-author of Public Act 4, from which the FSA derived.
Phyllis "Chris" Griffiths confronts Council during Sept. 13, 2011 session.
They ignored Crittendon’s advice. New language in the Revised City Charter, Sec. 7.5-209, gives the Corporation Counsel for the first time the power to enforce the charter and remedy violations through “all reasonable actions up to and including . . . judicial action.”
The complaint campaign was begun by a newly formed organization, “Free Detroit.”
Several of the five complaints filed so far cite the eight officials for violating state and city laws which say that the city cannot contract with anyone who has defaulted on debts to the city.
“Based on Michigan Compiled Law 117.5 (a) (f), the City of Detroit, its executive branch departments and legislative branch agencies, is prohibited from making a contract with, or giving an official position to, one who is in default to the city,” says Phyllis Griffiths’ complaint, filed May 22.
APTE VP Cecily McClellan at Charter Revision Commission meeting Aug. 10, 2010.
Crittendon told State Treasurer Andy Dillon in a letter May 11 that the agreement is null and void because the state has not paid outstanding debts to the city, including $224 million in revenue sharing payments, and a $4.75 million water bill. She is scheduled to hold a “conference call” with State Treasurer Andy Dillon and State Attorney General Bill Schuette next week, a step required prior to taking court action.
Other complaints cite violations of state and city laws that Crittendon listef in an opinion dated April 1, given to the Mayor’s Office and Council three days before the Council’s vote.
Cecily McClellan, Vice-President of the Association of Professional and Technical Employees (APTE), cited some of those provisions in her complaint, also filed May 22.
“. . . . the Consent Financial Stability Agreement relinquished control of City of Detroit finances to the State of Michigan via a Chief Financial Officer, Program Management Director, and nine non-elected and potentially non-Detroit residents. The Detroit City Council does not have the authority to delegate the power of their elected positions to a non-elected body and cause increased financial harm to the city . . . ,” McClellan wrote.
Attorney Michael McGee, co-author of Public Act 4, and Deputy Mayor Kirk Lewis at Council table.
Her complaint says the eight officials violated state law by approving “unfunded mandates” included in the CFSA, that the CFSA exceeds the “police powers” of the Council, and that there is no legal ground to put a Financial Advisory Board in charge of approving union contracts.
Crittendon’s April 1 opinion also said there is no statutory authority to establish a Financial Advisory Board period.
State Treasurer Andy Dillon during FInancial Review Team meeting March 26, confronted by a chanting crowd.
“The five City Council members, Mayor and appointed officials listed above have engaged in willful misconduct, willful or gross neglect of duty, and other misfeasance or malfeasance,” McClellan wrote. “The elected officials of the City of Detroit should forfeit their positions and all appointed officers should be dismissed.”
McClellan also noted that Pugh, Tate and Cockrel, Jr. negotiated terms of the deal secretly with State Treasurer Andy Dillon, although they were not delegated by Council to do so. Lewis named the three during a Council meeting April 2.
The Revised City Charter’s Ethics Section 2-107(B) newly lists six grounds for mandatory forfeiture of office. It says, “The office of an elective city officer shall be forfeited for the following: a. Lacks at any time any qualifications required by law or by section 2-101 of this Charter; b. Plead to, or is convicted of, a felony while holding the office; c. Engages in official misconduct; d. Willful or gross neglect of duty; e. Corrupt conduct in office; or f. Any other misfeasance or malfeasance.”
The Board of Ethics meets in the First National Building, where the City's Law offices are located.
If, after investigation, the Ethics Board finds officials guilty of the complaints brought against the, it can issue a “public admonishments,” recommend disciplinary action against non-elected employees, recommend that the City Council initiate removal or forfeiture [of office] proceedings against elected or appointed officials, impose financial administrative sanctions, or have the City’s Law Department (which is headed by the Corporation Counsel), initiate prosecution of the individual(s) involved.
According to the city’s website, the Ethics Board is comprised of Executive Director Deborah J. Gaskin, Chairperson James W. Heath, Esq., Vice-Chairperson Hon. Harold Hood, and members Dr. Marsha Foster Boyd, Beth Greenberg Morrow, Esq. and Alicia J. Skillman, Esq.
They are not allowed to discuss pending complaints, without the presence of the party being charged.
Hon.Harold Hood
Gaskin, a criminal defense attorney who has practiced law since 1973, was one of the attorneys who represented Charles Beckham and Darralyn Bowers against 1983 federal complaints involving contract-peddling in the water department, during Mayor Coleman A. Young’s administration. At the time, many felt the investigation’s real target was Young.
James W. Heath is a Wayne County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in the Public Integrity Section. The Hon. Harold Hood retired as Chief Judge Pro Tem from the Michigan Court of Appeals after serving in both Recorders and Wayne County Circuit Courts. He currently works with the National Consortium on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts.
Alicia J. Skillman, Esq.
Dr. Marsha Foster Boyd is President of the Ecumenical Theological Seminary and a board member of ARISE Detroit. Beth Greenberg Morrow is a criminal defense attorney, a deputy defender at the Legal Aid and Defender Association (LADA), and a research attorney with the State Appellate Defenders’ Office.
Alicia J. Skillman is Director of LADA’s Fair Housing division, and Executive Director of the Triangle Foundation.
To read complaints (with addresses and phones redacted), click on Ethics complaints 2)
PHILADELPHIA — Thousands of demonstrators statewide took to the streets Wednesday to protest education cuts they say have decimated school districts across Pennsylvania, and they called for lawmakers to reject further reductions Gov. Tom Corbett proposes for next year.
Philly protesters May 23, 2012
A total of 25 people were arrested during massive demonstrations in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh as they blocked traffic downtown in both cities, police said. Hundreds more demonstrated at the Capitol in Harrisburg, and organizers said similar rallies were scheduled in cities including Doylestown, Hollidaysburg, Bethlehem, Hazleton, and Greensburg.
“We’re demanding that education funding be restored and that they take back this plan to privatize Philadelphia schools, stop threatening to lay off thousands of workers and instead sit down with parents, sit down with workers, sit down with elected officials and figure out a plan that saves our schools,” said Gabe Morgan, Pennsylvania director of the Service Employees International Union chapter 32BJ, which organized the rally in Philadelphia.
PA governor Tom Corbett
Public school instruction and operations this fiscal year, Corbett’s first budget year, shrank by about $860 million, or more than 10 percent. His $27.1 billion budget plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1 would hold most public school aid relatively flat, but eliminate a $100 million grant that helps underwrite full-day kindergarten.
A $27.7 billion budget proposal that passed the Senate earlier this month would add $50 million for the grant program, plus another $50 million for distressed school districts. Corbett spokesman Kevin Harley on Wednesday attributed this year’s funding losses to the end of federal stimulus money, and noted that about 40 percent of the state’s general budget is devoted to education.
“Pennsylvania taxpayers now pay more toward basic education than at any time in the state’s history,” Harley said in a statement.
Children marched with their parents and teachers
About 200 protesters marched to the governor’s office in Pittsburgh. Eleven people were charged with obstructing traffic, according to police spokeswoman Diane Richard. In Philadelphia, hundreds of protesters from SEIU 32BJ and several other district unions — plus concerned parents and community members — marched about a mile up Broad Street from City Hall to school district headquarters where they chanted, “Shame on you!”
The district suffered through more than $700 million in cuts this year, and is considering a radical overhaul that would close 40 buildings, cut hundreds of administrative jobs and allow outside companies to manage “networks” of schools.
Philly protest May 23 2012
SEIU 32BJ represents about 3,000 bus drivers, custodians and others in the school district. Most members have received layoff notices as the district seeks to negotiate $50 million in union givebacks to help balance next year’s $218 million deficit.
Protester Melanie Sullivan, who said she spent 15 years working on Philadelphia school buses and 10 years helping special education students, is among those receiving a layoff notice.
“And for 25 years of doing a good job to get a layoff letter, I don’t quite understand that. Just to get cheaper workers?” Sullivan said. “I’d like to know are you worried about the cost … or are you worried about the children? I feel as though the children should come first.”
Morgan, the state 32BJ director, and five other union members — including local president George Ricchezza — were among 14 people arrested peacefully as the group marched back to City Hall from district headquarters. A police spokeswoman could not immediately confirm the charges.
Drones will be authorized to use weapons against U.S. citizens at home.
Critics warn military industrial complex pushing US “willy-nilly toward an era of aerial surveillance”
Steve Watson
Infowars.com February 8, 2012
A bill passed in by Congress this week paves the way for the use of surveillance drones in US skies. The FAA predicts that by 2020 there could be up to 30,000 drones in operation.
Once signed by president Obama, the FAA Reauthorization Act allows for the FAA to permit the use of drones and develop regulations for testing and licensing by 2015.
The bill will exponentially speed up and streamline the process by which the FAA authorizes the use of drones by federal, state and local police and other government agencies. Currently, the FAA issues a certificate on a case by case basis.
The legislation represents the result of a huge push by the military industrial complex to open up US skies to what will become a multi-million dollar business.
“Unfortunately, nothing in the bill would address the very serious privacy issues raised by drone aircraft,” Jay Stanley of the ACLU said. “This bill would push the nation willy-nilly toward an era of aerial surveillance without any steps to protect the traditional privacy that Americans have always enjoyed and expected.”
“We don’t want to wonder, every time we step out our front door, whether some eye in the sky is watching our every move.” the ACLU statement reads.
“The bottom line is: domestic drones are potentially extremely powerful surveillance tools, and that power — like all government power — needs to be subject to checks and balances,” Stanley concluded. “We hope that Congress will carefully consider the privacy implications that this technology can lead to.”
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) re-iterated those privacy concerns, noting that the bill has “implications for surveillance by government agencies.”
The EFF is suing the FAA to obtain records of which agencies were granted certificates to operate drones in the past year, following a refusal by the federal agency to disclose which agencies have the certificates and for what purpose.
Other privacy advocates also share concern over the legislation.
“Currently, the only barrier to the routine use of drones for persistent surveillance are the procedural requirements imposed by the FAA for the issuance of certificates,” said Amie Stepanovich, national security counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).
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Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.net, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham in England.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Our country spends billions of dollars on the purchase of weapons and hi tech security devices under the premise of national defense and the protection and safety of the home land. Retired generals leave our armed forces to peddle their services to defense contractors in the weapons industry.
America not only arms itself but our nation is also the number one arms dealer and weapons supplier in the world. We have more weapons of mass destruction than any other nation on the globe. America is indeed a profitable merchant in the market of warfare products.
CREECH AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- An MQ-1 Predator takes off.
Last week this escalation in military purchases and devices came to the our homeland, not to protect us from our external foes but to assist and augment the armory of our local police departments.
The Federal Aviation Administration loosened the restrictions on local police departments’ surveillance of us to allow them to use Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, also commonly known as DRONES. Our nation’s high court, the Supreme Court, has even ruled that warrantless surveillance by manned aircraft is not unconstitutional and does not violate the 4th Amendment of our federal constitution.
Linwood Avenue Detroit: Not 1967, but 2010, part of a police army that descended on the home of a lone mother and child, Maryanne and Ariana Godboldo, as she stood her ground to keep courts and police from illegally seizing her child.
In far too many powerful public and private circles there are advocates focused on introducing the military into our cities and other venues. We now face the specter of entire cities being profiled by the usage of military-designed DRONES. Local municipalities, already burdened by fiscal deficits and lousy revenues, are actually spending huge outlays of their budgets in the purchase of these hi tech anti- freedom profile driven devices.
Where is the outrage from our public officials, activist groups and even police unions over these invasive surveillance and anti -privacy domestic military machines in our nation’s urban airspace??
Detroit FBI chief (center) with Police Chief Ralph Godbee at right announce joint federal, state, county and city :"war on crime" in Feb. 2012.;
One of the real dark potentials of these DRONES is not only their ugly invasion and violation of privacy rights, but these DRONES also have the capacity to be lethal and deadly. The applications and operational features of DRONES are truly unimaginable. The growing militarization of our local law enforcement departments is not to be excused by fictional claims of terrorism and excessive urban crimes . We must reject and defeat the myths about crime and anarchy in our cities. We must defuse and deflate the notions that our cities are cesspools of violence and crime.
The proliferation of the myth of crime and the profiling of entire bandwidths of people based upon their hue and types of clothing is dangerous. Such a public policy creates a fertile soil for the introduction of military devices like DRONES into our domestic venues. DRONES are part of the arsenal of gadgets and devices which destroy the freedoms of all Americans. We must reject all kinds of devices and gadgets which at the end of the day are WMD’s on American xoil.
The UIN IPTV and streaming movie Network is handling the live worldwide Pay Per View broadcast of the Detroit Harmonie Park electronic music festival. It will be held this Memorial Day weekend, Friday the 25th to Monday the 28th. The free outdoor performances will be held at Harmonie Park. The Carr Center is the location for indoor parties and seminars on electronic music.
The best local and international DJ’s and performers including Claus Bochas of Germany, Uchikawa from Japan, Jeff Woodward of the UK, Twist and more than 100 hundred others. If you cannot be there, go to www.uinmovies.com and click on the DMMF poster to register for the Pay Per View broadcast. Bill Foster runs the Carr Center, and previously owned and operated the Serengeti Nightclub. Angelo Thompson is the festival organizer and one of the founders of this genre of music. Join us in Detroit , the birthplace of techno music. For information on the live Pay Per View, call Tim at 313 285 9910. Bill Foster can be reached at 313-715-0170 and Angelo Thompson at 313-544-8866.
(VOD note: the Movement Electronic Festival being held at Hart Plaza the same weekend is charging $45.00 a day, or $80.00 for a three-day weekend pass, despite multiple major corporate sponsorships. It was originally known as the Detroit Electronic Musical Festival world-wide, acknowledging Detroit as the birthplace of techno music, and it was originally free. To honor the original spirit of Detroit techno, patronize the free mini-festival at Harmonie Park or buy a pay-per-view ticket for only $5.00. Proceeds of the pay-per-view will help fund detiptv programming. Look for interviews with the mini-festival’s sponsors upcoming on VOD.)
Deetroit Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon (center) advises Council as Council members JoAnn Watson (r) and Kwame Kenyatta (l) listen April 3, 2012
Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon, City Council members in stand-off with State Treasurer Andy Dillon
Protesters pack Cadillac Place May 17, rally in lobby as appeals hearing on PA4 referendum takes place
By Diane Bukowski
May 22, 2012
DETROIT – City of Detroit Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon is expected to seek a judge’s decision this week on whether the “Financial Stability Agreement” (FSA) with the state, approved by City Council April 4, is “void and unenforceable as a matter of law,” as she told State Treasurer Andy Dillon in a letter May 11.
State Treasurer Andy Dillon, frantic during Detroit Financial Review Team meeting March 26, 2012, as audience rose up and drowned out proceedings.
Crittendon said state debts to Detroit including a $4.75 million water bill and $224 million in revenue sharing prevent the city from entering into any contract with state government until the debts are paid, under terms of state law and the City Charter. She also said her office is “in the process of gathering information relative to other outstanding debts.” (Click on Crittendon letter 5 11 12 to read entire letter.)
Officials told the City Council of the likely lawsuit today. As a result, the Council voted to postpone further action under the FSA, including Council’s two appointments to the nine member Financial Advisory Board established by the consent deal, until the matter is resolved.
Councilwoman JoAnn Watson said Crittendon “has provided an opinion that the consent deal is null and void and it doesn’t exist. There’s nothing to vote on.” Watson, along with Council members Kwame Kenyatta, Brenda Jones, and Andre Spivey, voted against the FSA after dozens of Detroiters vehemently opposed it at Council meetings.
Gary Brown on WJR with right-wing commentator Frank Beckmann
The Council tabled a motion by Council President Pro-Tem Gary Brown, an adamant supporter of the FSA, to vote on the 2012-13 city budget under terms of the FSA until Thursday. Earlier, the city and state missed a deadline for appointing a Program Management Director required under the FSA because Bing would not agree to Snyder’s choice.
Crittendon may be taking swift action because Dillon in his May 16 response to her letter threatened to withhold Detroit’s revenue sharing funds, disapprove credit requests, call in city debts to the state, go to court, and/or appoint an emergency financial manager, if city officials fail to comply with the FSA. Those actions are cited as possible “default cures” in the FSA.
Michigan owes Detroit
“It naturally remains our intent to move forward in resolving the City’s severe financial problems under the terms of the FSA. To be clear, the State is not in default to the City,” Dillon said. (Click on Dillon response to Crittendon letter 5 16 12 to read entire letter.)
Dillon disputed the water debt, claiming there are ongoing “administrative proceedings on the debt, in Deborah Gillis v. Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. He also denied the state’s $224 million revenue sharing debt to the city, claims of which arose from an agreement between then Governor John Engler and then Mayor Dennis Archer in 1998.
Crittendon noted in her letter that Dillon had admitted the revenue-sharing debt on the Mildred Gaddis show on WCHB.
Dillon said the Mayor of Detroit and the City Council voluntarily agreed to the FSA. But but now that Bing is back to work after several months of illness, he has expressed at least partial agreement with Crittendon’s letter.
Michael McGee (center) advises Kirk Lewis (r) and Council on consent agreement, although he co-authored Public Act 4
His stance raises questions regarding the authority of “Deputy Mayor” Kirk Lewis and Chief Operating Officer Chris Brown to negotiate the FSA in his stead. Councilwoman JoAnn Watson had asked the Council to wait until the elected Mayor was back to work before voting on the consent agreement.
Instead of using Crittendon for advice, who represents both the Mayor and Council under provisions of the new City Charter, Lewis brought Attorney Michael McGee, a co-author of Public Act 4, to the Council table to tout the FSA. His actions may constitute at the very least a conflict of interest and ethics violations. (Click on VOD article with quotes from McGee at http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/04/10/bing-lewis-advisor-mcgee-helped-draft-pa4/.)
Additionally, Council members Charles Pugh, James Tate and Kenneth Cockrel, Jr. met in Lansing with Dillon and other state officials on the FSA, although they were admittedly not designated by the Council to do so, opening them up to charges of ethics violations as well.
“Snyder must be thinking that he should have ignored the howling and wailing from City Hall and a few community malcontents and just appointed an emergency manager,” Finley, noted for his thinly-veiled hatred of Black Detroit, said. “Had he done so, the process of saving Detroit would be well under way.”
On another front, Detroiters are awaiting an Appeals Court ruling on whether a referendum repealing Public Act 4, also known as “The Dictator Act,” can appear on Michigan’s November ballot.
Crittendon warned Council prior to its vote April 4 that most of the Financial Stability [consent] Agreement derives from language in Public Act 4, not other Acts the state cited, including Public Act 7. She said any action under the FSA would be frozen once PA 4 goes on the ballot, and that the Council could be subjecting itself to legal action for violating numerous provisions of the City Charter if PA 4 is overturned. But the “Fatal Five” on Council ignored her advice and listened instead to McGee.
Protesters outside Cadillac Place during Appeals Court hearing May 17, 2012
Crittendon also said there is no statutory authority under PA 4 or any other law to allow for the appointment of a “Financial Advisory Board” with dictatorial controls over city officials.
Protesters rally inside Cadillac Place during appeals hearing on PA4 referendum
“Malcontent” opponents of Public Act 4 showed up en masse at Cadillac Place Thurs. May 19 for a State Court of Appeals hearing on an emergency request by Stand Up for Democracy to put the referendum to repeal the Act on the November ballot, in the wake of the State Board of Canvassers’ failure to do so. Despite the fact that they validated over 203,000 petition signatures, far more than the 161,000 required, the Republican canvassers said the font size on the petition was too small.
They refused to let an expert who said the text complied with legal requirements testify, and the Court of Appeals panel refused to allow his testimony in at their hearing since it was not part of the original proceedings. The panel is composed of Judges Kurtis Wilder (an Engler appointee in 1998), Michael J. Riordan (a Snyder appointee in 2012), and Kirsten Frank Kelly, was elected to the bench in 2000.
Protesters inside Cadillac Place May 17, 2012
Protesters packed the court and overflowed into the street level lobby, where they conducted an angry march for over an hour, chanting loudly.
“The PA4 Detroit consent agreement isn’t going to fix one streetlight in the city, prevent one crime, get any trash picked up, provide any health or human services, house one family, or provide lower water bills,” said one protester, challenging Finley’s assertion that the FSA will solve the city’s crisis. “The only people who will benefit are the rich criminals at the top.”
Edith Payne shows PA 4 petition with legal size text
Edith Payne, who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and is a litigant in a statewide lawsuit against Public Act 4, said, “We’re going to have to do the same things we did in the 1960’s. We’ll have to march and engage in civil disobedience. We didn’t have the right to vote then, and now they’re taking it away again, disenfranchising us and robbing us of all our civil rights and human rights. In this lobby, you see people of all races, colors and religions. We are all under the same assault and we are all uniting together.
Pat Driscoll, a member of United Steelworkers Local 1299, and of Occupy Detroit, said, “I’m here to put the people before the banks. They are denying people in Michigan the right to vote so they can pay the cities’ debt to the banks, while they blame the unions and refuse to provide services.”
Many autoworkers from Local 600 participated in the protest.
One, who identified himself as Kirk, said, “Get rid of the Governor and all his cronies. I’m tired of big business trying to rule over us. The middle class built this country, not the politicians. We expect them to act in our best interests, but there is clearly corruption in Lansing.”
Rev. Edward Pinkney with UAW Local 600 protesters May 17, 2012
Rev. Edward Pinkney, of the Black Autonomy Network of Community Organizations (BANCO), in Benton Harbor, said, “Victory belongs to the people. I’m looking forward to a positive decision from the Appeals Court. Democracy will come back not only to Benton Harbor but to the City of Detroit. If the people would have stood up everywhere when they attacked Benton Harbor, we would not be here today. But this is an opportunity for us to start over.”
Meanwhile, the State Court of Appeals today overturned lower court rulings that State Financial Review Teams in Detroit and Flint are “public bodies” subject to the Open Meetings Act, in lawsuits filed by Robert Davis and AFSCME Council 25’s Ed McNeil.
