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

Greg Thrasher

By Greg Thrasher, VOD Washington Bureau

March 5, 2012 

One of the political realities of America today even during the Presidency of our nation’s first non-white President is the emergence of special interest political movements which have altered the legislative agendas of both state and federal political bodies. Here in Washington DC the influence of the Tea Party unlike any other special interest political movement has paid dividends.
 
The Tea Party has created an atmosphere that has influenced Congress and to a lesser extent the White House. The push for a smaller government with drastic cuts in government programs and expenditures is real in the beltway.  Even the Department of Defense has produced an austerity budget.

President Barack Obama has tendered a budget which proposed cuts in federal spending in excess of $4 trillion as well as reductions in existing entitlement programs This theme of smaller and compressed public spending and budgets now is a national trend in every state across the nation. What is insane about this national plea is that even seniors and others who are recipients of federal aid and support have surrendered      Washington, D.C.: Tea Party rally       to this madness and even promoted cutting their own federal benefits from Medicare to social security. 

Postal workers in Detroit protest drastic cutbacks

The national government spending cuts forecast a future of less government workers from postal clerks to reduced military troops and national military bases . The results of such large scale reductions in our federal budget simply mean more unemployment, and reduced healthcare and pension benefits. The dependents of federal employees, from spouses ,children and care givers,  will have to find a way to stay afloat when the breadwinners of these families are laid off and civil service jobs are eliminated. 

President Barack Obama

Instead of fighting back and becoming more vocal against the Tea Party movement and others who seek to shrink the federal budget, public workers’ unions are capitulating to the objectives of those who seek to reduce federal spending. The reality is that even traditional non-profit organizations, which have as part of their charters that they must care for the general welfare of their members, are also retreating and offering token pushback to the cries of reducing and cutting spending in Washington. 

Of course a progressive nation with an agenda that promotes the well being of its citizens must challenge the trends of downsizing government spending by all means necessary. It is incumbent on all of us to influence and demand that these groups challenge our President. We must articulate to President Barack Obama that his proposed budget cuts are not acceptable and more importantly he must change his course . Progressive leaders and activists must engage the president during his reelection campaign to realize that unless he steps up and protects the jobs of public employees and programs which help the poor, seniors and our children,  President Obama will not get our support in November.
 
We cannot allow special interest groups like the Tea Party and backward factions of the Democratic Party to shape and influence and create national policies that are against our interests and put all of us in peril. We must aggressively mount our own political  movement that goes beyond protesting in the streets to becoming unoccupied in the voting booth. Unless political power works for us in 2012, our political allies become our adversaries not our advocates.

greg_thrasher@msn.com

Ramarley Graham, 18, shot to deathy by NYPD in his own home as family watched

© By Alton H. Maddox, Jr.

February 19, 2012

NEW YORK CITY — Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson owes his job, as chief prosecutor, to C. Vernon Mason and myself.  It shows that two Black attorneys, pro bono, can secure more justice in New York than a slew of Black selected officials.  It started with a takeover of the World Trade Center in 1985 arising out of the death of Michael Stewart.  

NYC graffiti artist Michael Stewart in coma before his death at the hands of New York transit police

The problem, in 1985 with the fatal beating of Michael Stewart, was the same as the problem in 2012 with the police-sponsored death of Ramarley Graham in his home.  At least two members of the New York Police Department are credited with the death of Graham.  Eleven police officers of the NYC Transit Authority were credited with the fatal beating of Stewart. 

District attorneys are openly hostile to the notion of prosecuting cops for killing Blacks.  In the death of Michael Stewart, it took two grand juries before 11 cops were indicted for his fatal beating.  The Manhattan district attorney was stone-walling the investigation.  Similarly, no grand jury has been assembled to investigate the death of Graham. 

Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson

 Johnson became the first person of African ancestry to occupy the office of prosecutor in any of the sixty-two counties in New York.  District attorneys have symbiotic relationships with police agencies.  They prefer not to investigate and prosecute police personnel. (VOD editor: note record of Wayne Co. Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who has not charged a single Detroit cop herself in dozens of unjustified killings.)

 The two suspects in the death of Ramarley Graham are members of the NYPD. 

Regarding Johnson as Bronx district attorney, Blacks and Latinos alone can re-elect him.  On the other hand, the Patrolman’s Benevolent Association can gather and collect evidence in addition to its members giving testimony in criminal proceedings but the PBA lacks the political clout to elect a district attorney in the Bronx.  

Rev. Al Sharpton

Nearly a month after the death of Graham, no grand jury has been sworn to investigate this killing in his home.  There is no obvious justification for the delay in the investigation of the Graham killing.  Delay only helps the defense and weakens the criminal investigation.  An indifferent prosecution can lead to an acquittal. 

 Rev. Al Sharpton is demanding justice on behalf of the Graham family while he has a desk next to the New York state attorney general.  This desk was promised to Rev. Sharpton during the campaign for state prosecutor.  The New York State attorney general is obviously listening to Rev. Sharpton who is also a close friend of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.  He is the “water boy” for the Democratic Party. 

 This appears to be an open and shut case.  The police lacked probable cause to enter his home.  No one observed Ramarley engaged in criminal activities.  The police entered Graham’s home without consent, probable cause or a warrant.  No life was being threatened.  Nonetheless, the police fatally shot Graham in the chest.  See earlier VOD article with videos at: http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/02/07/police-shoot-unarmed-nyc-teen-to-death-at-home-in-front-of-his-family-including-six-year-old-brother/ 

Wayne County, MI Prosecutor Kym Worthy

The shooting happened on February 2, 2012.  As of February 18, no grand jury has been empanelled to investigate the shooting.  Soon, the shooting will be ready for the cold case file.  New York is prepared to cough up hush money to Graham’s next-of-kin.  It is not prepared to send a police officer to prison for killing a Black youth. 

 New York has made it clear that only a personal injury lawyer may participate in cases of police criminality or police brutality.  Lawyers must accept a stipulation for hush money.  There is no room for a private attorney general.  A public trial, for hush money, is out of the question. Moreover, there must be no jail time for the shooter. 

 I am the only person in the United States who has ever secured a special prosecutor in two racially-motivated cases.  The reason is simple.  I am not afraid to bargain with whites.  A slave is not entitled to the right to bargain and there is no demand for justice.  Whites know that I will put a demand on the table ab initio. 

 A demand includes a declarative statement followed by “or else”.  When it comes to life, liberty and property, I am a person who “says what I mean and mean what I say”.  Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. said it best:  “A man who has nothing to die for has nothing to live for.”  It boils down to philosophy, logic and ethics. 

Attorney Alton Maddox, Jr.

ALTON H. MADDOX, JR.         
CHAIRMAN          

UNITED AFRICAN MOVEMENT

TEL.: (718) 834-9034

FAX : (718) 884-8241
P.O. BOX 35
BRONX, NY 10471

VIDEO ABOVE: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on May 17, 2010, that juveniles may not be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for a non-homicide. Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative and a MacArthur Fellow, presented one of the cases before the Court. Stevenson argued, in Sullivan v Florida, that a sentence of life without parole for juveniles is cruel and unusual punishment and, therefore, unconstitutional. The Court’s decision was issued in the companion case, Graham v. Florida.

By Diane Bukowski

March 1, 2012

KALAMAZOO, MI – In the first ruling of its kind since the U.S. Supreme Court declared juvenile life without parole sentences for non-capital crimes unconstitutional in 2010, a judge here overturned the sentence of Michigan prisoner Anthony Shamont Jones, 50, on Dec. 21, 2011. He re-sentenced him to life with parole on Feb. 6.

Anthony Shamont Jones, flanked by attorneys Kimberly Thomas (r) and Deborah LaBelle (l) addresses court Feb. 2, 2012 Photo: Kalamazoo Gazette

Ninth Circuit Court Judge Gary C. Giguere, Jr.’ s ruling means that Jones will have the opportunity to go before the parole board, after 33 years in prison. Jones was 17 when he was convicted of first-degree felony murder in 1979. He ran from the scene before the victim, Kalamazoo store owner Ronald Hermans, was shot to death.

The ruling has raised the hopes of more than 350 Michigan prisoners who were sentenced as juveniles to die in prison. Jones’ attorneys filed his motion for relief from judgment based on the Graham v. Florida case, in April, 2011, after Jones had long ago exhausted all other appeals.

Ninth District Court Judge Gary C. Giguere, Jr.

Giguere cited Graham in his December ruling.

“In 2010, the United States Supreme Court established a new rule in Graham v. Florida . . . .” Giguere said. “In that case the U.S Supreme Court held that a sentence of life in prison without parole is cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment, when imposed on a juvenile convicted of a non-homicide crime.”

He noted that although defendants are normally entitled to only one motion for relief from judgment, “a defendant may file a second or subsequent motion based on a retroactive change in the law that occurred after the first motion for relief from judgment [MCR 6.502(G)(2).”

Jones’ attorneys were Kimberly Thomas of the University of Michigan Juvenile Justice Clinic, Deborah LaBelle, and Daniel Korobkin of the Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Giguere upheld all their arguments, which he cited in his decision.

They were that “1) his sentence is categorically unconstitional under the Eighth Amendment because he was less than 18 years old at the time of the offense and he did not commit the homicide within the meaning intended in Graham; 2) his sentence is unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment because it is grossly disproportionate to his offense; and 3) his sentence is unconstitutional based on the Michigan constitution’s ban on cruel or unusual punishment because it is broader than the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.”

Attorney Thomas earlier wrote in a Michigan Bar Journal article, “ . . . . the most sympathetic 15-year-old accomplice to a felony-murder and the most sociopathic adult serial killer will receive the same sentence without any judicial ability to take stock of the difference between the two for sentencing purposes. This complete inability of a court to consider the gravity of the offense, including the culpability of the offender, results in disproportionately cruel punishment.”

She noted that Michigan has the second highest number of juveniles sentenced to death in prison of any state. The U.S. is the only country in the world that has this practice.

Giguere also cited a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Roper v. Simmons, which outlawed the death penalty for juveniles and set the stage for changing judicial attitudes about juvenile incarceration.

“This Court finds persuasive and compelling the U.S. Supreme Court’s position that studies, statistics and general trends support the notion that juveniles have lessened culpability. . . .juveniles have a lack of maturity, an underdeveloped sense of responsibility, and an increased vulnerability and susceptibility to peer pressure and influence.”

Anthony Dunigan

Attorney LaBelle said in published remarks about Jones’ re-sentencing, “We will urge the parole board to immediately consider him. His co-defendant had that opportunity more than 20 years ago.”

Jones co-defendant Anthony Dunigan, who shot the storeowner during a struggle over the gun, pled guilty to second-degree murder and received a parolable life sentence. He was only 16 at the time and is still in prison. His situation highlights additionally the plight of thousands of the state’s parolable lifers, who were eligible for parole after 10-15 years, but have served far beyond the time their sentencing judges intended.

Juvenile lifer Edward Sanders’ case is almost identical to Jones’ situation. Sanders was convicted of first-degree murder in 1975 although he was not the shooter in an alcohol-fueled drive-by situation involving groups of teenagers, when he was 17.

Edward Sanders “keeping the faith after 36 years”

During his time in prison, Sanders attained a bachelor’s degree (before the state eliminated higher education for prisoners), and has assisted other prisoners with their legal cases as well as spiritually. VOD featured him last year when he was nearly killed by another prisoner known for his history of repeated violent assaults on other prisoners. (Click on http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/09/06/sign-petition-to-transfer-edward-sanders-victim-of-brutal-prison-attack/ ).

Another of the state’s juvenile lifers, Dante Collingham, argued for justice for juveniles in an earlier VOD article.

“Some of the most powerful things that I read in the sentences that detail my history is the fact that a child has absolutely NO place in an adult prison, I see that a child has absolutely NO place within an adult court room, I see the fact Judges and Lawyers, Parents and Politicians were/are smart enough to do better for the most vulnerable sector of our society,” Collingham said. “Smart enough to adjudicate its children in a more responsible way that is directly connected to the spirit of rehabilitation that values a child’s potential, and that respects cutting edge science.”

Dante D. Collingham, “Voice of Juvenile Lifers”

What will happen in the future for other Michigan prisoners like Sanders and Collingham, as well as parolable lifers like Dunigan, remains to be seen. They all need attorneys like the three who won the Jones’ case, and judges like Giguere. In fact, they need judges who will sentence them to time served, and prosecutors who will not appeal such rulings, but that is not currently the reality.

Attorney LaBelle and the ACLU continue to pursue a federal class action complaint that would afford the opportunity for parole to juvenile lifers, “a meaningful opportunity to obtain release based on their demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation.”

U.S. District Court Judge John Corbett O’Meara earlier dismissed the complaint, Hill v. Granholm, for all but one plaintiff , Keith Maxey, based on statutes of limitation. Since that time, LaBelle has added the names of Giovanni Casper, Jean Carlos Cintron, Nicole Dupur, and Dontez Tillman to the list of plaintiffs.

On Feb. 21, O’Meara allowed the case to proceed on behalf of Maxey and the newly added plaintiffs, but again dismissed it with regard to the other eight original plaintiffs. The final pre-trial conference on that case, which could affect many others, is to be held Jan. 23, 2013, with trial set for Feb. 5, 2013.

“This [U.S. Supreme Court] scrutiny should be a signal to Michigan to examine its own jurisprudence on juveniles receiving sentences of life without parole,” Attorney Thomas said in her article. “Michigan’s constitution, article 1, §16, provides broader protection than the federal constitution under its analogous ban on ‘cruel or unusual punishment.’ Further . . . .in many cases, juveniles sentenced to life without parole in Michigan will never have a judge assess anything about their individual culpability, maturity, or relative role in the offense.”

(Note following article on Tony Sparks, whose similar case has reached the Texas Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.)

By Michael Harris 

Published Feb. 29, 2012 

(VOD editor: This article is very timely considering the ongoing debate among presidential candidates over ex-offenders’ right to vote. In Michigan and some other states, ex-felons DO have the right to vote, but Mitt Romney and others have made it appear that is not the case.

In other parts of the world, voting ights for prisoners are viewed ifferently. The European Court for Human Rights recently overruled Britain’s blanket ban on prisoners’ right to vote. (For details, click on http://echrblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/voting-rights-for-detaines-reform.html. the website for the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.) 

Prisoners in China voting

The U.S. is one of the few countries that incarcerates people for life without parole, and the ONLY country that sentences juveniles to die in prison. Certainly, during these lifetime terms, prisoners should be enfranchised. Over 2.5 million men and women are incarcerated in the U.S., many unjustly. The participation of these millions, who know this system from inside the belly of the beast, would drastically change the landscape of elections in favor of poor and working people, Black, Latino, and of all races. Additionally, they could be COUNTED ON TO TURN OUT TO VOTE!) 

KINCHELOE, MI – I, on behalf of the local chapter of the National Lifers of America, Inc. at Kinross Correctional Facility, would like to share proposals with you that I have submitted to our executive board at Kinross. Our local National Lifers of America Executive Board has endorsed a proposal which I sponsor, for Michigan prisoner voting rights. 

We believe that it is long overdue for Michigan prisoners to obtain voting rights. Under Art. II Sec. 2 of the Michigan Constitution, and MCL 168.758b, Michigan inmates cannot vote in state or federal elections. We believe that those laws should be changed in favor of Michigan inmate voting rights. 

Michigan inmates are forced to pay sales taxes and medical fees, as well as “surcharges” on various consumer products. The Michigan Department of Corrections has been benefiting from those taxes and surcharges coming from Michigan inmate accounts. Those funds have been used for government projects, like building Michigan State Police offices, buying law enforcement tools to help officials locate cellular phones in Michigan’s prisons, and taser guns.

Michigan inmates pay for health care visists, surcharges on commissary items (commissary food items), catalog orders, and inmate phone services, which is one of the government’s biggest tax revenues for the Michigan Department of Corrections. 

Thirty percent of Michigan's budget is spent on prisons

We believe that if Michigan is going to have Michigan inmates pay taxes like first class citizens, then we should be able to vote like first class citizens. We believe that we can also make a difference on issues like adequate affordable health care, reduction in spending in the Michigan Department of Corrections, judicial reform, corrections reform, and support for economic growth in Michigan. We also would like to see Michigan with a new public corruption law that would “get tough” on public officials who violate the public trust. 

We would like to introduce our legislative proposal to the Michigan legislature, to have it voted on before the November, 2012 general elections, or have it on the state ballot for the November, 2012 general elections. But as it stands, we believe that it is hypocritical for Michigan government to make inmates pay taxes and surcharges, but not allow them to vote. 

We know that we face opposition. Because politicians and judges, as well as prosecutors, like to use that “get tough on crime” issue to win elections. We believe that if Michigan prisoners have voting rights, politicians would have to address corrections reforms. More spending in schools instead of prisons, and making sure that all inmates are computer literate, and skilled, which will help reduce crime.

The Michigan Department of Corrections has become a business, and it wants to keep the prisons full for two reasons: (1) to make money off Michigan inmates through taxes and surcharges, so that government budgets will continue to obtain financial relief. (2) to create government jobs, and wrongfully make it appear that the economy is back on track. 

We would like to see term limits for federal judges. Not even the President of the United States has a life-time job. We would like to see the Governor of Michigan sign an executive order, or the legislature create a new law, that would appoint a state cold case division of the Michigan Attorney General’s office, that would examine all claims of false imprisonment, regarding inmates whose cases have long been closed. We would like to see more commutation of sentences for inmates who have been rehabilitated, but are serving life sentences, and long indeterminate sentences. We would also like to see a cap on juvenile sentences for youth who were tried as adults for capital offenses. 

We would like to see amendments to state and federal post-conviction laws, which procedurally bar claims that are untimely, by those claiming actual innocence. 

We would like to have a say on what leaders are elected, and what leaders have control over our lives. If Michigan is going to insist that we pay taxes and surcharges, then Michigan should let us vote.

Cover of Whitney Houston family funeral program

 To view entire 12-page program for seven days from date of this post, click on the link below:

https://sendnow.acrobat.com/?i=-Nr32mmHRSYJ-pW5dGS2Rg

To view second version, click on WHouston_0001_NEW  (this version was size reduced because this site does not support size of original pdf. It will not be as clear as original document.) Kenny Snodgrass sent program to VOD>

WHITNEY HOUSTON (1963-2012)                  

[col. writ. 2/11/12] © ‘12 Mumia Abu-Jamal  

The death of songbird Whitney Houston, hit like a thunderclap.

At the age of 48, she was found dead in a Beverly Hills hotel room, as of this writing, cause unknown. 

Her voice was an instrument at which one can only marvel. 

Apparently, many, many others felt likewise, for she sold an estimated 170 million records and videos. 

She won virtually every award available: Grammys, it seemed, by the double. 

But more important was her music: love songs, pop songs, ballads and show tunes that dazzled and delighted. 

Like “I Will Always Love You,” “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” “Savin’ All My Love For You,” “Run to You,” “You Give Good Love”–and many, many more. 

Her voice, her pace, her phrasing, her stage presence and her beauty were a package that virtually defined Star. Indeed, she was that rarest of creatures: Superstar. 

Ironically, the very media that savaged her for years, flipped into worship mode, when she was gone and could no longer hear them. 

Whitney Houston was a daughter, wife, mother and actress. Her songs will be heard, sung and loved for generations.

 Detroit mother Maryanne Godboldo receiving a Human Rights Award from actors Danny Masterson and Ethan Suplee at the CCHR International annual human rights awards banquet in Los Angeles on Feb. 13, 2012.   Former Human Rights awardees include members of Congress, state legislators,
psychologists, medical doctors, attorneys, whistleblowers, civil and
human rights activists. The Citizens Committee for Human Rights’ website is at http://www.cchr.org/.

From the Justice 4 Maryanne Godboldo Committee, Feb. 23, 2012 

On December 12, 2011 Judge Gregory Bill signed an order affirming the decision of Judge Ronald Giles’ ruling to dismiss the criminal case against Maryanne Godboldo. 

Actor Danny Masterson of CCHR (center) with (l to r) Attorney Byron Pitts, Penny Godboldo, Maryanne Godboldo, and Attorney Allison Folmar

From the date of December 12, the Wayne County prosecutor’s office had 21 days to appeal Judge Bill’s decision.  The Prosecutor’s office missed the deadline.  On February 6, 2012 the Wayne County Prosecutors office requested that the Michigan Court of Appeals allow them to appeal Judge Bill’s ruling, despite the fact that the Wayne County Prosecutor missed the deadline.  

 Wayne County Prosecutor’s application to appeal was filed almost 30 days after the deadline.  The Prosecutor’s Office has not provided the Court of Appeals with an explanation for their failure to meet the deadline by the Michigan Court rules.  The Wayne County Prosecutor’s office claimed to be too busy to adhere to the deadline. 

Because of the late filing, counsel for Maryanne Godboldo, Byron Pitts and Allison Folmar intend to fight the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Application to Appeal. 

For further information, go to: http://justice4maryanne.com/. Also click on http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/12/13/double-victories-for-maryanne-godboldo-and-family/ for most recent VOD story on Maryanne’s case. Put “Godboldo” in VOD search engine to read numerous other stories on her case by Diane Bukowski.

Updates on her legal situation will be announced here as soon as VOD speaks with her attorneys and Prosecutor Kym Worthy’s office.

Angry DTE customers march outside HQ Feb. 17, 2012

By Diane Bukowski 

February 20, 2012 

DETROIT  —  Bishop William Starghill told VOD Feb. 17 that he and other pastors from western Wayne County had scheduled a meeting with DTE representatives for that day, to follow-up on issues raised by hundreds of protesters who occupied DTE’s downtown lobby for an hour January 26. 

(Story at http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/01/29/angry-protesters-occupy-dte-headquarters/.) 

Bishop William Starghill of Face-to-Face Outreach Ministries in Inkster leads chants

“We were supposed to meet with Mark Cousino and staff,” Starghill said outside the headquarters, as hundreds of protesters rallied again, chanting, “DTE, pay your taxes,” and “No more shut-offs!” Cousino is president of DTE Biomass Energy, a division of DTE Energy. 

“We had an agenda set up for the meeting, but when they found out we were bringing our membes too, they canceled,” Bishop Starghill said. “However, we will not be moved. Pastors representing the 99 percent and our supporters are going to present the names of 1500 customers who are in shut-off status or close to it. We are demanding no shut-offs, bill reductions, and assistance on payments. DTE can certainly afford it. Their CEO Gerard Anderson made $8.5 million last year.” 

DTE CEO Gerard Anderson

According to a public website, Anderson lives at 191 Orchard Hills Ct, Ann Arbor, MI 48104. This is also the address for the two-acre Frank Lloyd House Palmer House, located on a secluded forested site in suburban Ann Arbor.

DTE Energy also reported revenues last year of $8.9 billion, up from $8.6 billion the year before. Their 2011 operating earnings were $633 million, compared with 2010 operating earnings of $607 million. (Click on  DTE Energy Reports Solid 2011 Results for DTE’s full release.) 

Protesters carried large placards with the names of the 1500 needy customers listed. Bishop Starghill presented the list to a DTE representative outside the building. Neither the Bishop nor any of the protesters were allowed inside this time. 

Part of the two-acre Frank Lloyd Wright Palmer House where DTE's CEO apparently resides

Alejandro Bhodipa-Mejia, press spokesman for DTE, said, “DTE has looked into the cases and is investigating each and every one of the names provided and the circumstances of each account. We don’t have a timeline for completion.” 

VOD asked why DTE with its substantial revenues and profits cannot forgive the bills of the customers involved, or at least establish income-based, affordable rates. 

Bhodipa-Mejia quoted from a public utilities report, “Private individuals and corporations cannot, between themselves, enter into a contract to oust the state of its power and authority to regulate rates and prevent unjust discrimination.” 

Sylvia Young's house on Bangor, where her three toddlers died in a fire after DTE shut off power in 2009; youth outside include those who tried to rescue the children

He said DTE held 170 customer assistance events last year, helped The Heat and Warmth Fund (THAW) and other non-profit agencies raise $123 million to assist low-income customers, and takes 6.5 million customer calls every year asking for help. 

He did not have figures on the current number of DTE customers in Michigan in shut-off status, but said he would provide them later. He denied DTE has any tax delinquencies and said the company paid over a billion dollars in federal, state and local taxes last year. 

However, the Wayne County Treasurer’s website indicates that DTE owes $1,353,931.78 in personal property taxes applicable to its address at 2000 Second, for the year 2005. Under current state law, such a delinquency would mean the resident of the address involved would have been foreclosed on and had its property sold at auction by now. 

“I just bought a house, and to think that if I don’t pay my property taxes, I will lose it, angers me when I see DTE get away with not paying their taxes,” said protester Dannette Hollingshead. 

Keith Owens, press spokesman for the Wayne County Treasurer’s office, has not yet responded to a phone call and emails sent to him asking him to verify DTE’s delinquency, as well as provide data on DTE’s tax status on its other sites in Wayne County.

 “WE’LL BE BACK!” protesters chanted angrily as they left.

Protesters carried signs with names of 1500 customers facing shut-off

Mitt Romney will be appearing at a Detroit Economic Club event at Ford Field on Friday, February 24. The event begins at 11:30 a.m. A large crowd, as well as local and national media, is expected. We will be there starting at 10:30 a.m. with “No War with Iran” and similar signs and fliers in an attempt to counter the war mongering and fear mongering that has been going on lately. Signs provided or bring your own.  

Car pool: Leaving from Royal Oak at 10:00 a.m. Park in the parking lot of an abandoned bank on the southbound I-75 service drive. It is 50 feet south of 11 Mile. The bank is just north of Belle Tire. Reply to this email if you’d like to carpool: detroit.alerts@organizerweb.org     

Feel free to contact us with any questions or suggestions.  

Chuck Altman and Rich Peacock,
on behalf of 11th Hour for Peace 

Event Details: http://www.econclub.org/Meetings/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=94a72719-71f7-4019-b89e-f8da5cccafd8

p.s. Price: $45 DEC Members; $55 Guests of Members; $100 Non-Members (though we have no plans of purchasing tickets and going in)

New D-DOT CEO Ronald Freeland (at mike) and Mayor Dave Bing show off new buses Feb. 22, 2012

Detroit route cuts and lay-offs still to go into effect 

By Diane Bukowski 

February 22, 2012 

DETROIT – Two days before public hearings on drastic cuts to Detroit bus routes and jobs, Mayor Dave Bing announced the city’s acquisition of 46 new buses, funded with federal dollars given to Detroit. He also introduced a new D-DOT CEO, Ronald Freeland, of the private start-up company Envisurage, Inc. 

During the press conference, held at the newly re-opened Shoemaker Terminal on Detroit’s east side, Bing admitted that he supports Gov. Rick Snyder’s plan for a Southeast Michigan Regional Transit System (SMRTS) which would include Detroit. 

Ronald Freeland and Dave Bing Feb. 2, 2012

“I have bought into Gov. Snyder’s plan, which would include the counties of Wayne, Oakland, Washtenaw and Macomb,” Bing said. “But we have to fix the problems we have in D-DOT first, so D-DOT can be folded into the new system. We are still looking at a reduction in routes, and lay-offs are still part of our fiscal stabilization plan.” 

Hearings on route reductions and the lay-offs of 78 D-DOT drivers and   mechanics are set for Friday, Feb. 24. (Click on http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/02/16/drastic-detroit-bus-cuts-finally-acknowledged-hearings-feb-24/  for hearing schedule and other issues.)

Bing said only 15 of the buses will be on the road by the end of this month, with the remainder expected to be in service by May. He said that the delay is due to “training” drivers to operate the new buses, which have GRS tracking systems and other devices. Buses marked “Training” and “Shoemaker Terminal” could be seen cruising around the site. 

NEW D-DOT CEO PART OF ANTI-WORKER ENVISURAGE CO.

Ronald Freeland

According to his bio, Freeland had been Vice-President and Mid-Atlantic District Director at T.Y. Lin International, a private global, multi-disciplinary engineering services firm since Aug. 2010. T.Y. Lin International has offices in Rochester, N.Y., where Envisurage CEO Mark Aesch spent the last seven years as CEO of the Rochester Genesee Regional Transit Authority.

Freeland’s bio also says that he has “more than twenty-five years of experience in the transportation industry in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S., including projects involving railroads, motor carriers, automakers, and highway authorities He served as the Executive Secretary of the Maryland Transportation Authority (MdTA) since February 6, 2007.” 

Mark Aesch, Envisurage CEO and Freeland's real boss

Freeland said he would be working as part of the Envisurage team. Mark Aesch is CEO of that company. VOD asked Freeland about the Envisurage work order published in VOD’s first article on the cuts (click on http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/02/09/bing-to-slash-bus-routes-d-dot-jobs-feb-24-contractor-gets-big/),   It denigrated D-DOT workers essentially as lazy and inefficient and said significant staff and route reductions would have to be made. 

“I don’t think any responsible management team looks to get rid of workers,” Freeland responded. “But we need to look at what kind of transportation is needed in a smaller Detroit, and how many employees would be needed. Some might have to be laid off.” 

He said he plans to meet with Henry Gaffney, President of Amalgamated Transit Union Div. 26, who represents D-DOT drivers, in the next two weeks. He has made no arrangements to meet with Leamon Wilson, President of AFSCME Local 312, representing bus mechanics.  

DETROIT SPENT AT LEAST $13.8 MILLION FROM FEDS ON BUSES

New bus interior

Bing said the city purchased the new buses from Gillig. Gillig is a California-based company now owned by the multi-billion dollar investment fund Henry Crown & Co. of Chicago, whose chief competitors include the likes of the infamous Carlyle Group. Before his death, Henry Crown was reputed to have ties with the Chicago mob. 

Gillig buses cost at least $300,000 each for normal diesel-powered buses, according to an article on the Ann Arbor Transit Authority’s Gillig buses. That means that the city of Detroit used federal funding of approximately $13.8 million for buses, and additional federal funds to upgrade D-DOT terminals and facilities, all of which will likely become part of a new regional transit system. 

But that is not the worst of this scenario.

DEMS SPONSOR ANTI-DETROIT REGIONAL TRANSIT BILLS 

State Rep. Bert Johnson at forum against PA4 Feb. 21, 2012

A set of six bills pending in the State Senate and House, sponsored by a bi-partisan crew, would create a regional authority with a ten-member governing board that includes only one representative appointed by the Mayor of the City of Detroit, despite the fact that D-DOT is the largest system in the region, with 48 bus routes that serve 138 square miles in Detroit and an  estimated 140,000 people each day.

Sponsors include Senators Tom Casperson (R-UP), Bert Johnson (D-Detroit, Highland Park),  Michael Kowall (R-Oakland County),  and Rebekah Warren (D-Washtenaw County).

State Reps sponsoring a virtually identical House bill include a shocking number of Democrats. They are Vickie Barnett (D-Farmington Hills), Tim Bledsoe (D-Grosse Pointe),

State Rep. Fred Durhal campaigns against PA4 in Benton Harbor

Charles Brunner (D-Bay County), Phil Cavanaugh (D-Redford, Livonia, Dearborn Hts.), Bob Constan (D-Dearborn Heights), Brandon Dillon (D-Grand Rapids), Fred Durhal (D-Detroit), Andrew Kandrevas (D-Downriver Wayne County),  Marilyn Lane (D-Macomb County, part), Ellen Lipton (D-Huntington Woods), Lesia Liss (D-Warren, Centerline), Matt Lori (R-Constantine), Rick Olson (R-Saline), David Rutledge (D-Ypsilanti), Wayne Schmidt (R-Traverse City), Dian Slavens (D-Canton), Thomas Stallworth (D-Detroit), Jon Switalski (D-Warren), and Jim Townsend (D-Royal Oak).

The SMRTA would be funded in part by an increase in motor vehicle registration fees, tax levies, bond purchases and other arrangements approved by the board, which will disproportionately affect the poorest residents of Michigan. 

Gov. Rick Snyder and Mayor Dave Bing cuddle it up

Snyder earlier touted this plan after SMART (the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation) ran into problems related to its non-compliance with federal requirements guaranteeing the rights of workers whose systems receive U.S. funds. After its unions complained, SMART laid off workers and cut routes. 

The groups Transportation Riders United (TRU) and MOSES are also pushing the bills. TRU was set to go to Lansing in their support Feb. 23, a day before hearings on the bus cuts.

The legislation includes Senate Bills 909 through 912, and House Bills 5309-5311. (Click on  Regional Transit Authority 2012-SIB-0909[1]) 

Gov. Snyder's chief of staff Dennis Muchmore and Rev. Chas. Williams II at PA4 protest outside Snyder's home Jan. 16, 2012

“We need quality transportation, and this bus rapid transit is that opportunity,” the Rev. Charles Williams II of Historic King Solomon Baptist Church, president of Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength (MOSES), told the Detroit Free Press Feb. 2. 

Johnson, Rev. Williams, and others among the bills sponsors have campaigned vociferously against Public Act 4, the emergency manager act which currently threatens the city of Detroit. But they have said nothing about the threats these regional transit bills pose to Detroit’s citizens and workers. 

Sec. 5 of Senate Bill 909 says: 

“(1) An authority shall be directed and governed by a board consisting of all of the following:

• (a) One governor’s representative appointed by the governor.
• (b) Two individuals appointed by the county executive of a  county within the public transit region that has a population of not less than 1,200,000 and not more than 1,500,000.
• (c) Two individuals appointed by the county executive of a county within the public transit region that has a population of not less than 800,000 and not more than 850,000.
• (d) Two individuals appointed by the chair of the board of county commissioners of a county within the public transit regionthat has a population of not less than 330,000 and not more than 380,000.
• (e) Two individuals appointed by the county executive of a county within the public transit region that has a population of not less than 1,800,000 and not more than 2,000,000. One of the 2 individuals appointed under this subdivision shall be a resident of a city within the public transit region with a population of at least 600,000.
• (f) One individual appointed by the mayor of a city within the public transit region with a population of at least 600,000.” 

This means that the Detroit representative will be vastly outnumbered on the board, even when certain matters require a super-majority (4/5) vote. Those matters include placing on the state ballot the levy of a special tax assessment and its amount, and approval of a motor vehicle registration fee hike and its amount. 

Where is Detroit's power now?

The only three matters requiring a unanimous vote are construction of a rail passenger service, “a determination to acquire an existing public transit authority or agency,” and having state voters decide if the regional authority would assume responsibility for the acquired agency’s debt, “swap losses” (on debt interest), pensions, health care or other existing post-employment benefits. 

No mention is made in the bills of dealing with unions representing transit workers in Southeast Michigan. 

The bill specifies that its provisions supercede those of local governments. One glaring problem is the fact that the City of Detroit charter requires a vote of the city’s people before any assets of D-DOT are sold or transferred. That requirement, which also applies to the Detroit Water & Sewerage Department, was already ignored by Mayor Bing and the City Council last year when they sold off the Oakland-Macomb County Interceptor without a popular vote. 

DWSD worker Andrew Daniels-El holds city charter at rally Jan. 28, 2009

Only a simple majority of the board is required to approve contracts (which are not subject to set-asides for minority vendors unless required by federal law), rates, routes, and bond purchases (not backed by the authority; payment of bond principal and interest  would come from individual agencies’ revenues, e.g. those of D-DOT.) 

Both the Senate and House Bills were referred to committee Jan. 26, 2012. Given the make-up of the sponsors and support from Snyder and Bing, they are virtually assured of passage.