BREAKING NEWS: OAAC ANNOUNCES RALLY IN SUPPORT OF EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION, SAT. FEB. 12 4 P.M. DEARBORN CITY HALL, MICHIGAN AT SCHAEFER, WITH CELEBRATION AFTER RALLY AT 4337 MAPLE (turn right behind Deaborn City Hall, go two blocks.)

  Join us as we celebrate the victory in Egypt   

PRESS RELEASE CAAO- MI  

DEARBORN (2/11/2011) –

“We are witnessing history in the Arab world, the awakening of the Arab people and the beginning of democracy across the region,” said CAAO spokeperson Osama Siblani. “As Arab Americans we are extremely proud of the Egyptian people who stood up so courageously for their rights and we are ecstatic that they were able to oust the dictator Mubarak. We will be celebrating this victory for a long, long time.”

CAAO is an umbrella group for 40 organizations in Southeast Michigan

The Congress of Arab American Organizations in Michigan (CAAO) has announced that a celebration in honor of the freed Egyptian people will be held at the Lebanese American Heritage Club in Dearborn Friday evening, February 11, 2011 beginning at 5 p.m.The LAHC is located at 4337 Maple St. in Dearborn.  

 

“We urge the Obama administration and the U.S. Congress to take a firm and unwavering stance in support of the Egyptian people and the ousting of not just the dictator Hosni Mubarak but also his entire regime,” said Osama Siblani, CAAO spokesman and publisher of The Arab American News.

“We strongly urge the U.S. to reverse its support of oppressive totalitarian regimes in the Arab world in support of the ideals of freedom and democracy that we cherish here.” Siblani added.

Go to Al Jazeera link at right of Voice of Detroit site to reach and watch ongoing live coverage of the revolution in Egypt.

Click on link above to watch live streaming coverage of revolution in Egypt, as the masses are now marching on the Presidential Palace and the offices of state television, in the wake of Mubarak’s announcement that he will not step down as they have demanded.  Ignore Adobe alert to install Flash Player, it’s a diversion away from watching the video stream.

Tahrir (Liberation) Square Feb. 10, 2011

Suleiman: The CIA’s man in Cairo

Published on Al Jazeera opinion page

On January 29, Omar Suleiman, Egypt’s top spy chief, was anointed vice president by tottering dictator, Hosni Mubarak. By appointing Suleiman, part of a shake-up of the cabinet in an attempt to appease the masses of protesters and retain  his own grip on the presidency, Mubarak has once again shown his knack for devilish shrewdness. Suleiman has long been favoured by the US government for his ardent anti-Islamism, his willingness to talk and act tough on Iran – and he has long been the CIA’s main man in Cairo.

Omar Suleiman (r) with Israeli Pres. Shimon Peres in Tel Aviv, Nov. 2010

Mubarak knew that Suleiman would command an instant lobby of supporters at Langley and among ‘Iran nexters’ in Washington – not to mention among other authoritarian mukhabarat-dependent regimes in the region. Suleiman is a favourite of Israel too; he held the Israel dossier and directed Egypt’s efforts to crush Hamas by demolishing the tunnels that have functioned as a smuggling conduit for both weapons and foodstuffs into Gaza.

According to a WikiLeak(ed) US diplomatic cable, titled ‘Presidential Succession in Egypt’, dated May 14, 2007:

“Egyptian intelligence chief and Mubarak consigliere, in past years Soliman was often cited as likely to be named to the long-vacant vice-presidential post. In the past two years, Soliman has stepped out of the shadows, and allowed himself to be photographed, and his meetings with foreign leaders reported. Many of our contacts believe that Soliman, because of his military background, would at least have to figure in any succession scenario.”

From 1993 until Saturday, Suleiman was chief of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service. He remained largely in the shadows until 2001, when he started taking over powerful dossiers in the foreign ministry; he has since become a public figure, as the WikiLeak document attests. In 2009, he was touted by the London Telegraph and Foreign Policy as the most powerful spook in the region, topping even the head of Mossad.

In the mid-1990s, Suleiman worked closely with the Clinton administration in devising and implementing its rendition program; back then, rendition involved kidnapping suspected terrorists and transferring them to a third country for trial. In The Dark Side, Jane Mayer describes how the rendition program began:

“Each rendition was authorised at the very top levels of both governments [the US and Egypt] … The long-serving chief of the Egyptian central intelligence agency, Omar Suleiman, negotiated directly with top [CIA] officials. [Former US Ambassador to Egypt Edward] Walker described the Egyptian counterpart, Suleiman, as ‘very bright, very realistic’, adding that he was cognisant that there was a downside to ‘some of the negative things that the Egyptians engaged in, of torture and so on. But he was not squeamish, by the way’. (p. 113).

“Technically, US law required the CIA to seek ‘assurances’ from Egypt that rendered suspects wouldn’t face torture. But under Suleiman’s reign at the EGIS, such assurances were considered close to worthless. As Michael Scheuer, a former CIA officer [head of the al-Qaeda desk], who helped set up the practise of rendition, later testified, even if such ‘assurances’ were written in indelible ink, ‘they weren’t worth a bucket of warm spit’.”

Under the Bush administration, in the context of “the global war on terror”, US renditions became “extraordinary”, meaning the objective of kidnapping and extra-legal transfer was no longer to bring a suspect to trial – but rather for interrogation to seek actionable intelligence. The extraordinary rendition program landed some people in CIA black sites – and others were turned over for torture-by-proxy to other regimes. Egypt figured large as a torture destination of choice, as did Suleiman as Egypt’s torturer-in-chief. At least one person extraordinarily rendered by the CIA to Egypt — Egyptian-born Australian citizen Mamdouh Habib — was reportedly tortured by Suleiman himself.

Suleiman the torturer

In October 2001, Habib was seized from a bus by Pakistani security forces. While detained in Pakistan, at the behest of American agents, he was suspended from a hook and electrocuted repeatedly. He was then turned over to the CIA, and in the process of transporting him to Egypt he endured the usual treatment: his clothes were cut off, a suppository was stuffed in his anus, he was put into a diaper – and ‘wrapped up like a spring roll’.

In Egypt, as Habib recounts in his memoir, My Story: The Tale of a Terrorist Who Wasn’t, he was repeatedly subjected to electric shocks, immersed in water up to his nostrils and beaten. His fingers were broken and he was hung from metal hooks. At one point, his interrogator slapped him so hard that his blindfold was dislodged, revealing the identity of his tormentor: Suleiman.

Frustrated that Habib was not providing useful information or confessing to involvement in terrorism, Suleiman ordered a guard to murder a shackled prisoner in front of Habib, which he did with a vicious karate kick. In April 2002, after five months in Egypt, Habib was rendered to American custody at Bagram prison in Afghanistan – and then transported to Guantanamo. On January 11, 2005, the day before he was scheduled to be charged, Dana Priest of the Washington Post published an exposé about Habib’s torture. The US government immediately announced that he would not be charged and would be repatriated to Australia.

A far more infamous torture case, in which Suleiman also is directly implicated, is that of Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi. Unlike Habib, who was innocent of any ties to terror or militancy, al-Libi was allegedly a trainer at al-Khaldan camp in Afghanistan. He was captured by the Pakistanis while fleeing across the border in November 2001. He was sent to Bagram, and questioned by the FBI. But the CIA wanted to take over, which they did, and he was transported to a black site on the USS Bataan in the Arabian Sea, then extraordinarily rendered to Egypt. Under torture there, al-Libi “confessed” knowledge about an al-Qaeda–Saddam connection, claiming that two al-Qaeda operatives had received training in Iraq for use in chemical and biological weapons. In early 2003, this was exactly the kind of information that the Bush administration was seeking to justify attacking Iraq and to persuade reluctant allies to go along. Indeed, al-Libi’s “confession” was one the central pieces of “evidence” presented at the United Nations by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell to make the case for war.

As it turns out, that confession was a lie tortured out of him by Egyptians. Here is how former CIA chief George Tenet describes the whole al-Libi situation in his 2007 memoir, At The Center Of The Storm:

“We believed that al-Libi was withholding critical threat information at the time, so we transferred him to a third country for further debriefing. Allegations were made that we did so knowing that he would be tortured, but this is false. The country in question [Egypt] understood and agreed that they would hold al-Libi for a limited period. In the course of questioning while he was in US custody in Afghanistan, al-Libi made initial references to possible al-Qa’ida training in Iraq. He offered up information that a militant known as Abu Abdullah had told him that at least three times between 1997 and 2000, the now-deceased al-Qa’ida leader Mohammad Atef had sent Abu Abdullah to Iraq to seek training in poisons and mustard gas.

“Another senior al-Qa’ida detainee told us that Mohammad Atef was interested in expanding al-Qa’ida’s ties to Iraq, which, in our eyes, added credibility to the reporting. Then, shortly after the Iraq war got under way, al-Libi recanted his story. Now, suddenly, he was saying that there was no such cooperative training. Inside the CIA, there was sharp division on his recantation. It led us to recall his reporting, and here is where the mystery begins.

“Al-Libi’s story will no doubt be that he decided to fabricate in order to get better treatment and avoid harsh punishment. He clearly lied. We just don’t know when. Did he lie when he first said that al-Qa’ida members received training in Iraq – or did he lie when he said they did not? In my mind, either case might still be true. Perhaps, early on, he was under pressure, assumed his interrogators already knew the story, and sang away. After time passed and it became clear that he would not be harmed, he might have changed his story to cloud the minds of his captors. Al-Qa’ida operatives are trained to do just that. A recantation would restore his stature as someone who had successfully confounded the enemy. The fact is, we don’t know which story is true, and since we don’t know, we can assume nothing. (pp. 353-354)”

Al-Libi was eventually sent off, quietly, to Libya – though he reportedly made a few other stops along the way – where he was imprisoned. The use of al-Libi’s statement in the build-up to the Iraq war made him a huge American liability once it became clear that the purported al-Qaeda–Saddam connection was a tortured lie. His whereabouts were, in fact, a secret for years, until April 2009 when Human Rights Watch researchers investigating the treatment of Libyan prisoners encountered him in the courtyard of a prison. Two weeks later, on May 10, al-Libi was dead, and the Gaddafi regime claimed it was a suicide.

According to Evan Kohlmann, who enjoys favoured status among US officials as an ‘al-Qaeda expert’, citing a classified source: ‘Al-Libi’s death coincided with the first visit by Egypt’s spymaster Omar Suleiman to Tripoli.’

Kohlmann surmises and opines that, after al-Libi recounted his story about about an al-Qaeda–Saddam-WMD connection, “The Egyptians were embarassed by this admission – and the Bush government found itself in hot water internationally. Then, in May 2009, Omar Suleiman saw an opportunity to get even with al-Libi and travelled to Tripoli. By the time Omar Suleiman’s plane left Tripoli, Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi had committed ‘suicide’.”

As people in Egypt and around the world speculate about the fate of the Mubarak regime, one thing should be very clear: Omar Suleiman is not the man to bring democracy to the country. His hands are too dirty, and any ‘stability’ he might be imagined to bring to the country and the region comes at way too high a price. Hopefully, the Egyptians who are thronging the streets and demanding a new era of freedom will make his removal from power part of their demands, too.

Lisa Hajjar teaches sociology at the University of California – Santa Barbara and is a co-editor of Jadaliyya.

This article first appeared on Jadaliyya.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.

Meet Asmaa Mahfouz and the vlog that Helped Spark the Revolution 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgjIgMdsEuk&feature=player_embedded

Asmaa Mahfouz is the leader who started the demonstrations in Tahrir Square (Midan Tahrir) in Cairo. In this video, made on 18 January 2011, Asmaa told how she had gone alone to the square to demonstrate, and three men joined her, three armoured cars and a crowd of thugs. Then she says that the people must join her on 25^th January or they will be just as responsible as the regime for what is happening to Egypt.

 Kenneth Snodgrass –
Author of  “From Victimization to Empowerment
The Challenge Of African American Leadership
The Need of Real Power” website: www.trafford.com/07-0913
eBook available at http://ebookstore.sony.com/search?keyword=Kenneth+Snodgrass 

KennySnod – 208 Video’s on YouTube at, www.YouTube.com/KennySnod

 In Struggle and Peace, Development, Advancement, and Revolution! 

As a result of the labor-community action described below, articles appeared in the city’s two dailies at 

http://detnews.com/article/20110207/SCHOOLS/102070387/DPS-unions-say-Bobb-chose-outsourcing-over-greater-savings and 

http://www.freep.com/article/20110207/NEWS01/110207048/Union-questions-DPS-savings-from-outsourcing?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE.

NOTE THE FREEP ARTICLE SAYS THAT SODEXO IS ALSO CONDUCTING DRUG TESTS AND BACKGROUND CHECKS ON DPS WORKERS WHO ARE RE-APPLYING FOR THESE JOBS; MANY OF THE WORKERS HAVE HAD THEIR JOBS FOR 20 TO 30 YEARS.

BOBB MUST GO!! PROTESTERS CHANT AT SCHOOL BOARD MEETING LAST OCTOBER

FROM HELEN MOORE, RUSS BELLANT and AURORA HARRIS:

This is a call for and from Detroit Public School community advocates to be in Lansing this Wednesday at 8:30 am for a joint hearing of the House and Senate Education committees, where Robert Bobb is scheduled to testify.

While they state that no specific legislation is before the committee, legislation could be proposed that day or shortly thereafter that affects the governance, finances and operation of DPS.

Bobb recently told the Detroit News that DPS should be governed and administered by appointees of the Mayor. We have been told that the committees will soon consider legislation to give the EFM power over academics, which would negate the Board’s lawsuit against Bobb. Last year the votes were not there for such legislation; this year the votes could be there.

If such legislation is brought to the committees Wednesday, this could be our only chance to speak against it. It is therefore essential that all advocates for DPS come to Lansing to constructively educate the new legislators as to what is really going on at DPS.

We will assemble at 6:45 am at the Northwest Activities Center for car pools. Please call 368-2148 any hour day or night to let us know if you need a ride or can drive others. Please pass this message on to others.

Helen and Russ

P.S. At 3 pm that afternoon, the House education and local government committees will hold a hearing regarding Public Act 72, which governs emergency financial managers for cities and school districts. Those who can stay for that hearing should indicate that in their phone call, since that may be where the changes will be proposed.

The attached legislative bills are sponsored by Detroit Democrat David Nathan. The first two bills relate to the EFM and are referred to the Local Government committee. The third bill is referred to the Education Committee. The prospect of these bills is unknown. Go to HB-4176-2011[1], HB-4177-2011[1], HB-4178-2011[1] to read text of Nathan’s bills.

  

AFSCME Co. 25's Ed McNeil (center) talks with Detroit News reporter Jennifer Chambers (l) after dozens of union and community representatives flooded the lobby of the newspaper's HQ Feb. 7, to protest DPS layoffs and privatization; Local 345 President Keith January at McNeil's right, OEIU Local 324 rep. Dan Ringo at his left; Helen Moore of Keep the Vote No Takeover at far right

700 workers laid off, reapplying with human rights violator Sodexo

DETROIT – When big media wouldn’t come to hear Detroit Public School union leaders, ministers, and community groups protest DPS czar Robert Bobb’s decision to outsource 700 jobs to the mammoth French-based Sodexo corporation at a press conference Feb. 7, they went to big media.

“I have been calling the governor’s office every day to demand an immediate moratorium on outsourcing and school closings,” Keith January, President of AFSCME Local 345, told Detroit News reporter Jennifer Chambers, who finally came down after dozens crowded into the Detroit Media Partnership headquarters lobby to demand coverage. “Our custodians make $11.45 an hour already—how can the district save any money by replacing them? Our people are down at the Welcome Center right now re-applying for jobs they’ve had for 25 and 30 years.”

Channel 4 denies access to prominent union and community leaders, including (l to r) Marian Kramer of Michigan Welfare Rights, Helen Moore of KTVNT, Rev. Charles Williams II, Saundra Williams, president of Metro Detroit AFL-CIO (in rear with hooded jacket) and AFSCME Local 345 Pres. Keith January at far right

January said he represents 70 percent of the workers affected by Bobb’s outsourcing move, aimed at custodial, building repair, maintenance, engineering and grounds services workers. The district said in a Jan. 27 release that the $43.9 million five-year contract with Sodexo involving seven subcontractors, which is to take effect Feb. 21, would save $75 million over five years, while the unions contended proposals they put on the table would save $92 million.

Bobb said in the release, “This is about reinventing Detroit Public Schools and redirecting resources to the classroom. At the end of the day, we have to ask ourselves, ‘What is our core mission?’ Is our core mission cleaning schools?’ We need clean and well-kept facilities. However, our core mission is educating students.”

The district said 45 percent of the work was to be done by “seven local businesses, five of which are Detroit-headquartered and minority owned.” The release specified that the Sodexo contract would give “priority” to all current DPS workers, with all vacancies being filled by Detroit residents first at DPS wage scales, with 90 percent of health care premiums paid by the employer. Instead of the current DPS pension plan, administered under the Michigan Employee Retirement System (MERS), the employer would establish a 401k plan.

Danny Glover arrested at protest against Sodexo at its US HQ in Gaithersburg, Md. April 16, 2010

“When we met with Sodexo, they told us no contract has even been signed and no subcontractors have been hired,” said Dan Ringo, of Operating Engineers International Union (OEIU) Local 324. Other unions have requested the contract through the Freedom of Information Act, with no success.

During the confrontation at the Detroit Media Partnership, and earlier at Channel Four headquarters, where they were denied access to the premises, union representatives reported that DPS workers re-applying for their jobs with Sodexo at the Welcome Center were calling them to say that Sodexo is requiring them to undergo credit checks and sign releases for information from their personnel records. They said they were not being allowed union representation as they interview for their jobs, to protect them from discrimination and violations of their contract rights.

AFSCME Co. 25's Ed McNeil, and pastors Ed Rowe and Bill Wylie-Kellerman, are denied entrance to Channel 4 HQ Feb. 7, 2011

Sodexo settled a racial discrimination lawsuit against it brought by Black workers for $80 million in 2005. It has been the subject of least nine boycotts nationally over the past 10 years.

VOD contacted press representatives for Bobb and Sodexo to ask about the discrepancies, but had received no response before publication time.

Sodexo says it is the 21st largest employer world-wide, with 380,000 employees at 34,000 sites, and 50 million consumers served daily in 80 countries. In 2009, it reported revenues of 15.3 billion euros, or $20.7 billion.

Marian Kramer of Michigan Welfare Rights, Helen Moore of Keep the Vote No Takeover, and other community and union leaders were denied entrance to Ch. 4 HQ Feb. 7 2011

Sodexo provides food service at the Detroit Institute of Arts, which was privatized during the Dennis Archer administration. Mayor Dave Bing joined Sodexo during its announcement at the DIA last August of a $20,000 grant to feed Detroit schoolchildren during the summer.

Ironically, Sodexo paid $20 million last October to settle a lawsuit brought against it by the State of New York, which charged it with school meal rebate fraud.

“This company cut sweetheart deals with suppliers and then denied taxpayer-supported schools the benefits,” New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. According to Cuomo, over a five-year period beginning in 2004, Sodexo “received significant rebates from its suppliers without acknowledging or passing the savings on to these schools — in violation of the contracts [between Sodexo and the schools] as well as state and federal laws.” (See article from GRIST below.)

Sodexo Inc. HQ

Michel Landel, CEO Sodexo

DPS employees charged Aramark with an identical scheme in 2008. That company ran DPS food services from 2001 until the end of 2008.

According to an internal report discovered by Operating Engineers Local 547, Aramark pocketed over $1.1 million from “National Volume Discounts” or rebates from Aramark suppliers. A 2004 audit by Plante & Moran also noted that Aramark did not comply with federal requirements to perform a competitive bidding process when purchasing food items.

“It appears that Aramark may not be returning these cost rebates from favored suppliers to DPS,” said OEIU attorney Doyle O’Connor at the time. “All reading of federal regulations related to school lunches indicates that any such rebates should go for the benefit of the schools and the children.”

O’Connor called Aramark’s profit margin of 46 percent “obscene.

Ed McNeil (holding press release) talks with Freep reporter at right Feb. 7, 2011

During the Feb. 7 press conference, held at the Michigan AFSCME Council 25 hall across the street from Channel 4 and the Detroit Media Partnership offices, union leaders said the district has produced no documentation showing how it would achieve even the $75 million in savings it claims the Sodexo deal will produce. Additionally, the district has not revealed what profit margin Sodexo will reap.

Sodexo has been the target of a concerted campaign by the Service Employees International Union, which says it thwarts union organizing attempts across the U.S., and pays its workers below poverty-level wages in order to make the profits it does.

Go to: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vy2evhUc3M&feature=player_profilepage

for video on strike against Sodexo at Tulane University in Louisiana.

Human Rights Watch cited Sodexo in Sept., 2010 in a report, “A Strange Case: Violations of Workers’ Freedom of Association in the United States by European Multinational Corporations.” (Read entire report at Sodexo Human Rights Watch report A Strange Case.) 

State Sen. Coleman Young II, who sits on the Senate Education Committee, said at press conference that he thinks Emergency Financial Managers need to be eliminated completely, Keith January at left, School Board Pres. Anthony Adams at right Feb. 7, 2011

“Despite claims of adherence to international standards on workers’ freedom of association,” Human Rights Watch reported, “Sodexo has launched aggressive campaigns against some of its US employees’ efforts to form unions and bargain collectively. Sodexo managers have used many of the tactics . . . . that, while legal under US law, violate international standards . . . .

“These have included: holding captive audience meetings in which workers must sit through managers’ diatribes against trade unions without being able to hear from union representatives in the workplace at any time, including during breaks or lunch periods; requiring front-line supervisors to carry management’s anti-union message into one-on-one conversations with employees; and threatening workers that they can be permanently replaced if they exercise the right to strike for improved wages and conditions.”

The report also cited specific Sodexho union-busting campaigns that did violate U.S. law, by using tactics like firing union organizers, in Phoenix, Arizona, West Orange, New Jersey, and Easton, Pennsylvania.

AFSCME Co. 25 Pres. Al Garrett speaks at press conference, DFT rep at left, January at right

“What good has outsourcing done in all the years the District has been privatizing, since 1999?” asked Ed McNeil, assistant to the President of Michigan AFSCME Council 25. “There has been nothing but red ink and more red ink in the district’s budgets.”

McNeil pointed out that the district has even ignored the recommendations of a costly report commissioned in 2005 by a transition team appointed by former Governor Jennifer Granholm. (Read report at Diagnotic Financial Assessment of DPS).

That report, authored by the Florida-based MGT of America, made 31 recommendations. Among them was a call for a reduction in the numbers of DPS administrators, which it said far exceeded those of comparable districts, and reviews of the sale of the DPS headquarters on Woodward and the leasing of office spaces in the Fisher Building and elsewhere.

Additionally, MGT called for review of over-expenditures for contracted food services, and an independent review of other services being outsourced “to determine if each of these contracts is still in the best financial and operational interests of Detroit Public Schools.”

DPS Safeway bus drivers protest outsourcing outside board meeting Mar. 15, 2010

The review never happened, and outsourcing continued to grow through every administration. Prior to the announcement of the latest lay-offs, Bobb privatized 400  transportation jobs and laid off service guards as well.

Additionally, Bobb has hired numerous high-paid consultants at will, with no report on their salaries or other matters. (See VOD http://voiceofdetroit.net/?p=3911, which reported that Bobb now has seven additional Assistant Superintendents and other top-ranking jobs on the books.)

Russ Bellant asked why Bobb has not yet complied with Public Act 181 of 2009, which requires full financial disclosure by Emergency Financial Managers such as Bobb.

The Act reads as follows:

“Sec. 21a. (1) An emergency financial manager appointed under this article shall file with the governor, the senate majority leader, and the speaker of the house of representatives and post on the internet on the website of the local unit of government a report that contains all of the following:

Mark Gaffney, president of State AFL-CIO, spoke at DPS unions press conference which big media boycotted Feb. 7, 2011

(a) A description of each expenditure made, approved, or disapproved during the reporting period that has a cumulative value of $10,000.00 or more and the source of the funds.

(b) A list of each contract that the emergency financial manager awarded or approved with a cumulative value of $10,000.00 or more, the purpose of the contract, and the identity of the contractor.

(c) A description of each loan sought, approved, or disapproved during the reporting period that has a cumulative value of $10,000.00 or more and the proposed use of the funds.

(d) A description of any new position created or any vacancy in a permanent position filled by the appointing authority.         

(e) A description of any position that has been eliminated or from which an employee has been laid off.

(2) The report required under this section shall be submitted every 6 months, beginning 6 months after the starting date of the emergency financial manager.”

Russ Bellant (l) and Helen Moore strategize on way to Lansing to protest bus attendant lay-offs in Jan. 2011

Bellant said Bobb should have filed the district’s first six-month report in July of 2010, but has not filed that or any subsequently due reports. There are currently no such reports on the district’s website, despite Bobb’s claims of transparency.

Bobb was expected to make a “presentation” to a joint meeting of the Michigan State House and Senate Education committees on Wed. Feb. 9 at 8:30 a.m. in Lansing. Bellant, Helen Moore of Keep the Vote No Takeover, and Al Garrett, President of Michigan AFSCME Council 25, said they are organizing people to go to the meeting to make their own presentations.

“Bobb is trying to get the state law for the Emergency Financial Manager changed before Feb. 11, when Judge Wendy Baxter will hold another hearing on the school board’s lawsuit,” Moore said. The lawsuit demanded that academic control of the district be returned to Bobb, and Baxter essentially ruled in the board’s favor. However, the board recently approved an altered settlement agreement with Bobb, which some in the community said does not go as far as Baxter’s ruling.

Community organizers said in an email, “Our task is to educate all legislators willing to listen on Bobb’s failure as an academic policy maker, convey the harm to students and staff.    It is essential that concerned Detroiters show in numbers that indicate the depth of our concerns about Bobb and opposition to any action that expands his power. Car pools will be organized. Please call 368-2148 if you can go, so that we can plan in a timely manner. Please state your phone number twice if you get a voice mail.” (See article above.)

Union leaders said during the press conference that Andy Dillon, formerly Speaker of the House as a Democratic representative, has been going around the state training potential emergency financial managers for the 40 other districts who are in deficit in addition to the Detroit Public Schools. Dillon, who lost his race for the Democratic nomination for governor, is now working for Republican Governor Rick Snyder.

Sodexo to pay New York $20 million for school-meal rebate fraud

by Ed Bruske  GRIST Oct. 2010

http://www.grist.org/article/food-sodexo-to-pay-new-york-20-million-for-fraud

Sodexo, one of the world’s largest food service companies, has agreed to pay New York $20 million to settle complaints that it fraudulently pocketed rebates from food manufacturers that it was supposed to turn over to some 21 public school districts and the State University of New York, New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo announced today.

“This company cut sweetheart deals with suppliers and then denied taxpayer-supported schools the benefits,” Cuomo said in a statement. An investigation revealed that over a five-year period beginning in 2004, Sodexo “received significant rebates from its suppliers without acknowledging or passing the savings on to these schools — in violation of the contracts [between Sodexo and the schools] as well as state and federal laws.”

New York’s investigation was sparked by two former Sodexo employees, brothers John and Jay Carciero, who were general managers for the company in Massachussetts and were “outraged when they discovered Sodexo’s practice of pressuring food and beverage vendors to kick back huge rebates and then secretly pocketing the savings rather than passing them on to government clients as required by their contracts,” according to a statement released by the Carcieros’ attorney. The clients included hospitals, universities, schools, and nursing homes.

John Carciero complained he was fired after he complained internally about Sodexo’s rebate practices. Jay Carciero said he was demoted and later fired for the same reason. The brothers filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Sodexo under the federal False Claims Act in Massachusetts, and later added claims under similar state laws in New York.

The settlement was described as the largest ever under New York’s false claims statute that did not involve Medicaid.

Jay Carciero has since died. John Carciero yesterday issued a statement, saying, “My brother, Jay, and I were angry when we learned that Sodexo, a multi-billion dollar company, was ripping off school lunch programs and other government food services. The million of dollars from the rebates should have gone back to schools and other government clients. Sodexo betrayed the trust of the clients it was supposed to serve and hurt taxpayers at the same time.”

Under New York state law, the Carcieros as whistleblowers are entitled to $3.6 million of the $20 million. The rest will be divided among the school districts involved.

Manufacturers commonly give rebates for purchases from large food service companies such as Sodexo, Chartwells, and Aramark, as I detailed in this previous post. Under federal law, contractors are supposed to credit those rebates as part of their invoices, so that federal agencies are paying only “net costs.” Under U.S. Department of Agriculture rules governing the federally-subsidized school lunch program, school contracts with food service providers must explicitly state that all rebates will be credited to the schools. But it has been widely assumed in school-food circles that the big food service vendors were not returning all of the rebates they receive.

The investigation in New York “has revealed that it is common practice within the food service industry for service providers like Sodexo to leverage their size and market dominance to obtain these rebates from vendors that supply food products, equipment, and supplies,” said Cuomo. Those rebates typically amounted to about 14 percent of Sodexo’s purchases from suppliers, according to the New York attorney general’s office. Cuomo said his investigation “continues to examine the rebating practices of other large, multi-national corporate providers of food service and facilities management.”

A report I recently published based on documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act showed that D.C. Public Schools had received more than $1 million in rebates from Chartwells, its contracted food service provider, since Chartwells took over the job two years ago. The rebates help explain why children in D.C. schools are often served brand-name products of dubious nutritional value. But the rebates Chartwells declared on its invoices totaled only 5 percent of purchases, a rate some observers say is low — and certainly far less than the 14 percent cited by Cuomo in the Sodexo case.

D.C. school officials said they requested an itemized accounting from Chartwells last October of where the rebates it claimed had come from, but had only recently received it. They have not made it public.

An attorney for the Carcieros in Washington, D.C., Colette G. Matzzie, said in a statement, “New York is not the only state where Sodexo operates school cafeterias and accepts rebates from vendors. With so many state and local governments short on funds, we hope that other governments will look to what New York has done for its citizens and make sure that Sodexo and other food vendors pass along savings to those who are paying the bills.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACTS:

 Jitu Sadiki, BACDO, Inc.                                   Amir Khalid Samad, Peace in the Hood, Inc.   

 760-409-1745                                                        (216) 538-4043  

 BACDO@aol.com                                                  peaceinthehood@yahoo.com

T. Rashad Byrdsong,                                            Minister Kuratibish Rashid

(412) 371-3689                                                       (786) 402-5286

Community Empowerment, Inc.                        PGRNA/Black Legion

trbyrdsong@ceapittsburgh.org                           rashids@bellsouth.net

Ibrahim Abdul-Qahhar                                        Nisa Shabazz         

(404) -207-7026                                                      (678) 480-6555        

yangankrumah@yahoo.com                                jabarisekou@sbcglobal.net 

Minister Adamu Crenshaw-El                             Wallace “Gator” Bradley

(216)-559-1536                                                          (312) 371-6914    

                                                                                           lagatorb4peace@yahoo.com

Moorish Science Temple of America    

Msta7@sbcglobal.net                                                                         

January 23, 2011

Los Angeles,  California–Leaders from traditional and nontraditional faith and community based organizations, as well as street organizations from the National Urban Peace movement will come together in Los Angeles,  California April 29-May 1, 2011 for a Peace, Justice and Empowerment Summit hosted by the West Coast Coalition and The International Council for Urban Peace, Justice and Empowerment.

Many of those leaders who plan to attend this summit attended the first and second Peace and Justice Summit in Kansas City in 1993 and 2008, as well as regional summits.  The 1993 summit resulted in as much as a 25% drop in gang related violence and crime in participating cities across the United States (see FBI crime statistics). However, the promised peace dividends did not materialize from the philanthropic, governmental or corporate communities. Youth gang crime and violence, minority overrepresentation in the criminal/prison industrial complex, criminalization of communities of color and the easy availability of guns and drug have created a state of urban warfare.

Law enforcement officials have stated that they alone are not the answer.  Youth violence cost the citizens of this country in excess of $158 billion dollars a year through direct and indirect costs and lost productivity and diminished quality of life.  (Children’s Safety Network Economics & Data Analysis Resource Center 2000).  The cost of lost human lives lost to society is immeasurable.  

The summit is being convened by the International Council for Urban Peace, Justice and Empowerment.  The Council is the largest National Network of grassroots, faith and community based organization dedicated to Urban Peace, Justice and Empowerment.  ICUPJE serves as an umbrella organization with over 35 affiliates throughout the United States and globally.  For over 17 years, the Council has sponsored several National Urban Peace (Street Organization) and Justice Summits.  The Council has initiated prevention, intervention and transformation work all over the U.S. and globally to affect change in the lives of youth impacted by racism, poverty, inequality and injustice.

The goals and objectives of the summit are:  1) Develop working relationships (Warrior’s Respect) among rival street organizations, primarily black and brown, but inclusive of other groups, to decrease the level of violence impacting target communities;2) collaborate with residents of target communities to address issues negatively affecting their community and empowering those residents to become advocates for positive change within their neighborhoods; 3) address pervasive problems of law enforcement misconduct and abuse which is a major contributing factor to community disharmony and destabilization; and 4) discuss implementation of sustainable models to revitalize our neighborhoods, constructively address issues with youth from the perspective of reformative justice such as supporting Congressman Bobby Scott’s – Youth Promise Act. 

Peace Summit Activities / Workshops will include: Car / Motorcycle Show; Conscious Hip Hop Symposium / Spoken Word Presentation; Impact of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress/Slave Disorder) as a war zone health issue affecting our communities and social coping tools;/ Entrepreneurial Opportunities; Police Misconduct / Abuse; Criminal Prison Industrial Complex and related issues; Sisters’ Collaborative Sunday Church Services – Unity and Community Restoration ; and Warrior’s Respect (invitation only session).

 The member organizations of the International Council have made a commitment based on a consensus of leadership from over 35 cities that our house is on fire and it is critical for an indigenous, cultural specific grass roots leadership such as the one that came together in the late 80’s and 90’s to engage, mobilize and organize and take it to the streets.  Today, as in the first Kansas City Summit, there is no urban policy in America that addresses these issues.  In the midst of our efforts to redeem, and bring peace to the streets, we face the challenge of those who oppose peace, stability and empowerment of our people. 

Through the collective and unified voices of affiliated organizations, grassroots leadership and community residents we intend to create a national referendum to influence urban policies which will effect changes in laws that treat our communities with respect, provide resources and tools to empower families and youth to rejuvenate their neighborhoods and live as dignified humans free from terror and poverty.

We invite all who are honestly interested in coming to the table to reach solutions to the challenges facing our youth and our communities to attend this major summit. For more information, please contact any of the people listed.

Robert Bobb speaks in support of Prop S at Mayor Dave Bing press conference in 2009

Posted By Aurora Harris to Detroit Parents With Special Ed Students 2/06/2011  

Go to Lansing Wed. Feb. 9, 8:30 am

TO STOP THE STATE LEGISLATURE FROM GIVING BOBB MORE POWER, PERMANENT POSITION 

(From Michigan Legislature Website) 

A new date has been set for the joint House and Senate education committees to meet on Wednesday, February 9 at 8:30 am. 

Based on discussions with sources in Lansing this is what we believe is going on (hopefully we are wrong):  

City, school and county workers protest service cuts and layoffs Feb. 2010

The committees intend to introduce legislation to give Bobb academic power (or more precisely, the Emergency Financial Manager) and expedite it through the Legislature and send it to the Governor for his signature.  

This hearing comes just before the February 11 court hearing (no time of day is known yet) in Judge Wendy Baxter’s courtroom to issue an order defining the board’s academic power and ways that Bobb must concede or share decision-making authority. All that is based on the current language of Public Act 72. The proposed changes will undoubtedly undo Baxter’s decision.  

The hearing was scheduled for this last Wednesday but was cancelled due to the weather. There was a reluctance to cancel because they were in a hurry to act but would not say last week why they wanted to act.  

State Sen. Phil Pavlov (R-St. Clair Twp.) Chair Senate Education Committee

This goal is consistent with the history of Sen. Phil Pavlov, the Senate Education Committee chair. As minority vice chair of the House Education Committee he wrote a bill to give the EFM power over academics, dated January 14, 2010, even before the committee hearings were completed. (Read bill at Pavlov EFM bill 2010-HIB-5747.)  

Now we must go to Lansing to educate the legislators of both parties. The Senate Republican Caucus has adopted a mission statement to call for more charters and to support the EFM (go to:  Bobb-Republicansupport[1]).  

Our task is to educate all legislators willing to listen on Bobb’s failure as an academic policy maker, convey the harm to students and staff.    

It is essential that concerned Detroiters show in numbers that indicate the depth of our concerns about Bobb and opposition to any action that expands his power. Car pools will be organized. Please call 368-2148 if you can go, so that we can plan in a timely manner. Please state your phone number twice if you get a voice mail.  

BOBB OUT OF DETROIT!    

Students, teachers, others demand "BOBB MUST GO" at school board meeting Oct. 14, 2010

EMAIL, CALL THE SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE, OR THE CLERK THAT SENT THE INFO AND TELL THEM NO TO THE ACT 72 AMENDMENT

ACT 72 IS THE LAW THAT STATES THAT THE EMERGENCY FINANCIAL MANAGER REPORTS TO THE STATE SUPERINTENTDENT.  (Ed.–go to Act 72 Emergency Financial Manager).  

AS WE (PARENTS AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS) POINTED OUT ON JANUARY 11TH TO THE STATE BOARD OF ED,  ROBERT BOBB REPORTS TO MIKE FLANAGAN. THEREFORE FLANAGAN HAS THE POWER TO REMOVE ROBERT BOBB FROM DETROIT.  

ON JANUARY 11TH MIKE FLANAGAN TOLD THE PARENTS THAT THEY ( THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION) WOULD HAVE TO REVISE OR RE-WRITE THE LAW WHEN WE ASKED FLANAGAN TO GET ROBERT BOBB OUT OF DETROIT.   

UNDER BOBB, FEDERAL VIOLATIONS OF CIVIL RIGHTS, 504,  IDEA AND ADA ARE COMMITTED DAILY THAT AFFECT SPECIAL ED AND BI-LINGUAL POPULATIONS IN DETROIT. (ed. note: in addition to hundreds of lay-offs and school closures Bobb has announced).   

GO TO LANSING, GO TO THE HEARING, TELL THE REPS WE WANT ROBERT BOBB OUT NOW.  

Aurora Harris

 Aurora Harris, M.A. Social Foundations of Education, B.A. Sociology
Published Poet, Educator, Lecturer, Advocate, Independent Scholar and Researcher
http://detroitparentswithspecialedstudents.blogspot.com/
Board Member of Detroit’s Broadside Press. http://broadsidepress.org/
http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/ead/mums571.htm  (for archived info)
Producer and Reporter for Encode Media Group, Inc
Facebook
313 673-6313

Demo to free Ahlam Mosen; VOD contributor Max Kantar now targeted as well

From the  CAMPAIGN TO FREE AHLAM MOHSEN AND MAX KANTAR

http://freeahlamandmax.blogspot.com 

Mohsen and Kantar now face up to EIGHT YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON for speaking out against U.S. atrocities and mass murder against the peoples of Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and elsewhere.

Mohsen and Kantar’s legal defense team is in IMMEDIATE NEED OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE. Please make checks payable to the Campaign to Free Ahlam and Max C/O MECAWI and mail to MECAWI at 5920 Second Ave., Detroit, MI 48202. For questions, please contact the Campaign to Free Ahlam Mohsen and Max Kantar via email at campaignforfreedom@gmail.com.

Max Kantar /WW Photo: Kris Hamel

The CAMPAIGN also calls on all freedom- and justice-loving people to respectfully demand that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan drop all charges against Ahlam Mohsen and Max Kantar. Assistant U.S. Attorney HAGEN FRANK is prosecuting the case.

ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, HAGEN FRANK

330 Ionia Avenue, N.W.

Suite 501

Grand Rapids, MI 49503

Fax: 616-456-2408

U.S. Senator Carl Levin

For more information, or to find out how you can help, visit the website of the CAMPAIGN TO FREE AHLAM MOHSEN AND MAX KANTAR at http://freeahlamandmax.blogspot.com/ or contact us via campaignforfreedom@gmail.com.

DROP ALL CHARGES AGAINST AHLAM MOHSEN AND MAX KANTAR! FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS! 

Call 'em Out's Mary Shoemake, who recently passed on, leads protest last year outside the Water Board Building

By Diane Bukowski

DETROIT – The people of Detroit are beset from all sides in the latest, and most serious, attempts by government at all levels, corporations and banks to seize control of their very lifeblood— their water.

They are openly rallying to maintain ownership and establish people’s control of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. At the same time, opposing forces are meeting in secret to seize control.

“We marched, we fought, we just celebrated Dr. King’s dream and next month is Black History month,” Rev. David Bullock, head of the Michigan chapter of Rainbow: PUSH, said during a rally Jan. 27 against what protesters termed an illegal seizure, called by City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson.

Rev. David Bullock of Rainbow: PUSH addresses Jan. 27 press conference against water takeover; l to r Dave Sole of chemists' union, DWSD worker Raphael Robinson, MWRO president Maureen Taylor, City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson, Bullock

“This is nothing new, this is the struggle we’ve been in – we have an African-American president, we can shop, move and live wherever we want—but we still have to fight against the powers and principalities trying to disenfranchise us.  This is about control, but don’t be fooled, this is about OWNERSHIP–who gets what, who passes out contracts, where the money goes, who controls who gets paid, who gets hired. . . .

We are coming to Lansing to take our city back.”

Watson wants Detroiters to march on Lansing Feb. 23 to keep control of DWSD. She held a planning meeting Feb. 4 in her office to strategize.

“We must stand up with our churches and block clubs, take over the airwaves, the talk shows: let THIS be the issue,” Watson said. “This is our most precious resource. When we fight and organize we win. We are standing on the shoulders of Erma Henderson, of Mayor Coleman Young–WE WILL WIN.”

U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox

John McCulloch, Oakland Co. WRC

But as Watson and other leaders met openly Jan. 27 and Feb. 4, U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox met secretly on Feb. 4 with Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner John McCulloch, Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Anthony Marrocco, and representatives of the City of Detroit, Wayne County and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to discuss a motion filed by McCulloch Jan. 26.

F. Thomas Lewand

Cox has taken over retired U.S. District Court Judge John Feikens’ role as federal overseer of the Wastewater Treatment Plant under a 1977 consent decree. On Feb. 3, he discharged Feikens’  key advisers, Special Master Thomas Lewand, and the Business Leadership Group (BLG), which met from 2002-2009 to study alternate governance structures for DWSD. The BLG included Dave Bing (prior to becoming mayor), and executives from DTE, Ford, GM and other major corporations.

DWSD worker Andrew Daniels-El with City Charter

The BLG studied various ways to change the governance of DWSD. It eventually negotiated a deal to transfer ownership of the 21-mile Oakland-Macomb Interceptor to a regional body run by those counties, in violation of Detroit’s City Charter which mandates a vote of the people before sale or transfer of any part of Detroit’s public utilities including DWSD and the Public Lighting Department.

Not satisfied with the Oakland-Macomb Interceptor, McCulloch wants Cox to appoint a five-member “Interim Regional Management Commission” (IRMC) comprised of Mayor Dave Bing, McCulloch, Marrocco, the Wayne County Director of the Department of Environment, and a person appointed by Cox. Wayne County currently has only a Deputy Director of Environment, Butler Benton.

People's Water Board instead of IRMC

The motion says the IRMC “should have full power to control, manage and operate the WWTP and the DWSD, including all functions and power of the Detroit City Council, the Detroit Board of Water Commissioners, DWSD . . . .to manage, control, and deal with all items, contracts and properties . . . . ”

The IRMC would  also determine and collect rates, charges and assessments, pay DWSD debts, hire and fire employees, hire consultants, contractors, engineering firms and legal counsel, borrow and loan money, issue bonds, and collect gifts and grants. . . . . (Go to DWSD Oakland County main suit to read entire brief in support of motion.)

McCulloch says recent state citations of DWSD for violating the Clean Water Act, as well as the federal indictments of former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, former DWSD Director Victor Mercado and three others on racketeering and corruption charges mandate the establishment of the IRMC.

As he left the meeting at 1 p.m. for an appointment, Marrocco said Cox had ordered the parties not to disclose the content of their discussions.

“He’s a very good judge, and things are going well,” Marrocco said. “I think McCulloch’s motion is the way to go, if that gets things off dead center.”

Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel and Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano earlier told a Detroit Economic Club meeting that Mayor Dave Bing should be allowed to work out DWSD non-compliance issues, since the parties to the “Kilpatrick Enterprise” are no longer in power.

Anthony Marrocco discusses water main construction project with engineer from Shelby Twp.-based company; it's about the money

Marrocco said, however, that he is calling the shots with relation to his department’s issues. Asked about Hackel’s statement, he said, “Well, Bing wasn’t in the meeting, was he?”

He said Cox met individually with the parties involved, as well as in joint session. McCulloch spent at least a half-hour in Cox’s chambers prior to Cox’s meeting with all the other parties.
John Riehl, president of Local 207 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), said Cox took a tour earlier in the week of the Wastewater Treatment Plant with its Superintendent Jared Richard, and met with medium-level administrators as well. Local 207 represents   DWSD workers.

AFSCME Local 207 Pres. John Riehl speaks at rally against water takeover Jan. 27, 2011

“Judge Cox is walking into something that is very complex and needs to take plenty of time to examine the issues,” Riehl said. “The question is, will he overreach and try to do something he has no authority to do?”

McCulloch’s motion cited Feikens’ language from the original consent decree regarding federal court jurisdiction in the matter.

“When exercising the federal government’s power under the U.S. Constitution to override a State’s or City’s choice regarding its governance . . . great care must be taken to reach a balance that does not summarily deny to such local government the full exercise of its authority over its affair.”

AFSCME contends that the 1977 consent decree gave Feikens oversight only over the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) related to pollution control issues, not over the entire department. During his tenure, Feikens authorized the city’s Mayors to function as Special Administrators of the WWTP. But he later authorized Mayors Dennis Archer and Kilpatrick to red-tag huge contracts on both the water and sewer sides, negating the Council’s approval role.

McCulloch’s motion addresses governance of DWSD as a whole, not only the WWTP.

Infrastructure Management Group: it's about the money

Feikens eventually dismissed Kilpatrick as Special Administrator, saying the city was in compliance with the Clean Water Act and no longer needed the role. He lauded Kilpatrick, Mercado and the Infrastructure Management Group, which privatized large chunks of the department, for their work.

Riehl explained the union’s position on the takeover question.

AFSCME and supporters protest Bing cutbacks May 2010

“We want local control, an end of the federal receivership, and are firmly opposed to Oakland County’s latest maneuver,” Riehl said. “Nothing good can come from this outside agency, a Regional Management Authority. It will mean more harm for the work force, and more cutbacks in service to the community. Every year, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson includes a section in his State of the County address on privatization, detailing new areas of government that he’s privatized.”

Riehl  was asked what he thought the administration of Mayor Dave Bing would do in the event that Cox rules in favor of McCullough’s motion.

In 2010, Bing  initiated the transfer of the Oakland-Macomb Interceptor and a majority of City Council members approved it, without a vote of the people.

“We are totally mistrustful of the Bing administration,” Riehl said. “His record with DWSD has been absolutely horrible, from sitting on the BLG, to chronic understaffing, to continual rate increases and decreased service, we haven’t seen anything but trouble.”

Water already not affordable for many Detroiters

Exacerbating the situation on all sides of the battle, Detroit’s Board of Water Commissioners (BOWC) on Feb. 1 announced yet more proposed rate increases, averaging 9.3 percent for individual Detroiters, and 8.9 percent for suburban municipalities. Normal practice during previous years has been to later attach further increased sewage rates for Detroiters only, based on their rate of delinquent bills.

The BOWC claimed the increases were due to a decrease in demand for service. 

“Well, they’ve cutback services, Detroit’s population is decreasing, people are conserving on their use of water [ed.—as recommended by DWSD and DTE], and thousands of people have had their water service shut-off,” Riehl said. “They are now even shutting people off who don’t comply with the city’s program to install automatic-read meters in their homes.”

Many people have also lost their homes because the city attaches delinquent water bills to their property tax bills.

Customers have reported that the installations force them to spend up to $300 to make plumbing alterations.

Detroit Meter Partners, which includes major city contractors Walbridge Aldinger and Weiss Construction, has a four-year     million contract to install the meters.

“We do believe it’s an absolute right for the people to have water,” Riehl said. “Water service must be maintained for everyone, especially children and the elderly. Furthermore, when water is shut off, people’s pipes freeze, they abandon their houses, and the city shrinks again.”

State Rep. Kurt Heise (R-Plymouth)

During the Jan. 27 rallies, protesters also cited State House Bill 4112, (go to Heise water bill 2011-HIB-4112 ) , sponsored by State Rep. Kurt Heise, (R-Plymouth). The bill specifies that if DWSD expects a regional authority to assume its debt, it would have to give up actual ownership of DWSD. Heise also wants the authority to re-finance the department’s $5.2 billion debt over a period of 50 years, which would bring a windfall for Wall Street banks. Judge Feikens first proposed the re-financing.

Chanting, “Get your hands off our water,” the protesters said first that Detroit must maintain ownership and control of a system built and paid for by its residents. Secondly, representatives of the city’s poor demanded that the system must be in the hands of the people. Even Detroit’s city government officials have subjected their own residents to hundreds of thousands of water shut-offs since 2002, in addition to unaffordable bills and constantly increasing rates.

With Tina Person at her right, City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson calls for Feb. 23 march on Lansing

Long-time Detroit political activist Arthur Featherstone joined Councilwoman Watson and Rev. Bullock outside the CAYMC Jan. 27.

“Detroit built this system, the suburbs begged us to build it and then we built it and now they don’t want to pay on it,” Featherstone said. “Detroit built it, Detroit owns it—we put in all the investment and technology. Without Detroit’s permission, nothing can happen. They need to go back and read the constitution, read the law. Ownership means control—they’re not taking control of nothing.”

Dave Sole, formerly president of UAW Local 2334, which represents Water Department chemists, said, “The water department is a money-making machine. They say there’s corruption here—if they get their hands on it, wait ‘til you see the corruption, their friends will get the contracts, the billion-dollar contracts.”

Minister Malik Shabazz of the New Black Panther Party and the New Marcus Garvey Movement reminded the crowd, “They took Cobo, they took the school system, they took Recorders Court—and they took and they took and they took. But they can’t have the water. This is an issue of home rule, local control, self-determination, a constitutional issue. We will fight on all fronts to keep our water.”

Shabazz called for 100,000 people to come out, lock arms and say, “You’re going to have to physically come and remove us.”  

Later, inside the auditorium, State Reps. Bert Johnson (D-Detroit) and Shanelle Jackson (D-Detroit), took the stage, welcoming other elected officials and representatives of the Council of Baptist Pastors. But their tone was more muted.

Johnson called it “premature” to set a date for a march on Lansing.

“When we leave here today, we will petition the Governor,” Johnson said. “I will talk to other Senators, the Senate majority leader, and the speaker of the House. Don’t believe this will happen just because we [Democrats] are a minority.”

Pastor Michael Andrew Owens, head of Detroit’s Council of Baptist Pastors, said, “I have the utmost confidence that this is a new day under the leadership of Mayor Bing. Mark Hackel and Robert Ficano have said give Mayor Bing time to correct issues of the past.”

Bing was conspicuously absent from the rally. Earlier that day, he called a five-minute press conference to say, “I think it’s ludicrous for Detroit to own the system, to have all the debt, but doesn’t have control of management of the system.”

Bing at campaign celebration

Given Bing’s administration role in the transfer of the Oakland-Macomb Interceptor, his comments could  be taken to mean a willingness to give up ownership of DWSD in return for assumption of its debt by a regional authority.

That was the same paradigm behind the transfer of the Interceptor, as well as the transfer of Cobo Hall to a regional authority, which was championed by former interim Mayor and current City Council member Kenneth Cockrel, Jr.

Other speakers at the auditorium press conference challenged the roles that Kilpatrick,  Cockrel, Bing and the City Council have played in dealing with poor Detroiters and city workers on the water question.

Maureen Taylor speaks for people's control of water Jan. 27, 2011

“It is infinitely clear that you cannot do this without us,” Maureen Taylor, president of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, told the legislators.  Her organization assists poor people every day who have lost their water, heat, lights and homes.

“We have spoken for years about the many thousands of people who are without water in Detroit,” Taylor explained. “You haven’t made space for me and my constituency. The Detroit City Council finally approved a Water Assistance Program that Welfare Rights fought for. But due to the lowdown sneaking connivery of Mayor Kilpatrick, its start-up money was cut from $5 million in half. We want our original Water Assistance Plan (WAP) put in place again. You cannot go ahead to victory unless we go with you.”

The original WAP would have lowered rates for Detroiters below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, to enable them to pay their bills and decrease the department’s rate of delinquencies. Such plans have successfully been established in major cities throughout the country.

Suburban customers used Detroiters’ delinquencies to fuel earlier takeover threats, falsely claiming they were responsible for increasing rates. At the same time, as State Rep. Shanelle Jackson and Johnson pointed out, they 0bscured the fact that most of the 126 municipalities serviced by DWSD tack on substantial water bill surcharges of their own.

Still, Watson said, Detroiters average monthly charges of over $63, while suburbanites’ monthly water bills average slightly over $23.

APTE President Dempsey Addison Jan. 27, 2011

“I challenge the Mayor to hire a responsible competent director of the Water Department, and I challenge Council to stop rubber-stamping huge private water contracts the Mayor puts on table,” Dempsey Addison, president of the city Association of Professional and Technical Employees (APTE), said. “When the city privatizes, it jeopardizes its tax base. Loss of city jobs also means loss of money going into the retirement system, affecting 11,500 retirees who live in Detroit.’

Neither Cockrel nor Bing has appointed a successor to Mercado, while DWSD’s Deputy Director Darryl Latimer has questionable qualifications, according to insiders in the department.

Both H.B. 4112 and Oakland County’s federal motion speak to having a regional authority appoint the DWSD director, leaving it open to question whether Cockrel and Bing have been waiting in the wings for an authority to do so.