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

Dr. Boyce Watkins

By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Dec 27th 2010 8:22AM

It turns out that the gap between the rich and the middle class is larger than it’s been in recorded American history. Much of the growth in the gap is due to the recent housing crisis taking place over the past three years.

According to the Economic Policy Institute, the wealthiest 1% had an average net worth that was 225 greater than the average American. That’s higher than the previous record, which was 190 times in 2004.

Upper middle class and wealthy live in homes like this

An intriguing aspect of the divide is that it occurred while the wealth of all Americans declined on average. The richest households lost 27% of their wealth between 2007 and 2009, while middle class Americans lost 47% of their wealth during the same time period. So, the growth in the gap was mainly due to the fact that the middle class and poor suffered more during the recent recession than the wealthy.

The decline in wealth was primarily driven by declines in real estate values. Most middle class Americans have the bulk of their wealth tied up in their homes. Wealthy Americans, on the other hand, are likely to have other forms of wealth, including stocks bonds and investment real estate.

Instead of renovating standing homes and building affordable housing for the poor in Detroit, Mayor Dave Bing plans to "down-size" them out of the city

The poorest Americans struggle the most. In every study on net worth since 1962, the poor have had a negative net worth. The number declined recently to (minus) $27,000, nearly double what it was just two years before.

The results of the study are interesting in light of the recent debate on Capitol Hill regarding the extension of the Bush Tax Cuts. The Republicans, who’ve successfully branded themselves as the party of the rich, fought hard to preserve tax cuts for the wealthy in spite of the fact that these tax cuts would substantially increase the nation’s budget deficit and lead to dramatic costs for the poor and unemployed. The bottom line is that neither the Republican Party, nor most of our other political leaders, care much about what happens to the poor in America. In fact, while you consistently hear political leaders in Washington make reference to the middle class, you hear almost no reference whatsoever to the poor. These numbers are a reflection of that fact.

On another note, there is a strong racial dimension to these numbers as well. The average African American family has a net worth that is roughly one-tenth that of the average white family. Therefore, when we talk about the nation’s poor, African Americans are disproportionately represented within that particular demographic. So, when our nation’s political leaders fail to mention the poor in their rhetoric, they are continuing to leave black folks behind. This is unfortunate, and I am not sure we should support any political leader who doesn’t have our best interests at heart.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the author of the book Black American Money To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

Prisoners held in yard

Release from: Concerned Coalition to Respect Prisoners’ Rights

 Dec. 17, 2010

‘The Concerned Coalition to Respect Prisoners’ Rights, newly-formed to support the interests and agenda of thousands of Georgia prisoners who staged an eight-day peaceful protest and work strike, will hold a press conference at 4 p.m. today at the James  H. “Sloppy” Floyd Building following a 3 p.m. meeting with Department of Corrections officials. The delegation will share with the media a letter from the Coalition to Gov. Sonny Purdue and Dept. of Corrections Commissioner Brian Owens and share updates on the strike and conditions faced by prisoners.  

Reidsville Prison in GA, where many strike leaders are now housed in strip cells in an abandoned building

While prisoners were able to bring the strike to a peaceful conclusion, Department of Corrections wardens and administrators and Tactical Squads have begun a brutal campaign of retaliation against striking prisoners, particularly those deemed leaders, said Coalition organizers.  Many prisoners have been transferred to unknown facilities in overnight transports, most reportedly to an abandoned building at Georgia State Prison in Reidsville to be isolated in strip cells, organizers added. Other prisoners are still suffering from beatings, tear-gassing and other documented violent tactics employed to break the strike and force the men back to work without pay. Still, the prisoners’ demands remain on the table and the Coalition delegation will raise these issues and others with Corrections Department officials.  

“The prisoners’ peaceful protest was historic in scope and in the unity of thousands of black, brown, white, Muslim,

Hays State Prison maximum security cell

Christian, Rastafarian prisoners, including those at Augusta, Baldwin, Calhoun, Hancock, Hays, Macon, Rogers, Smith, Telfair, Valdosta and Ware State Prisons.  It ignited protests and support actions all over the country and, even, rumblings of similar protests in other prisons in other states,” said former Black Panther leader Elaine Brown, who has been spearheading much of the support activity and public relations on behalf of the prisoners.  

The prisoners are petitioning the DOC for their human rights, including being paid for their labor, provided educational opportunities, decent health care and nutritional meals, a halt to cruel and unusual punishments, and end to unjust parole decisions. “For eight powerful days, these men stood up for their humanity and sent a message of hope and courage to all of us to do the same, to unite and fight to end the social ills that plague our houses on both sides of the wall,” said Brown.

concernedcoalitionga@gmail.com   

(ed. note: Publication of this release was delayed because the VOD missed it amid numerous emails until today. Efforts will be made to publish an update soon.)

Also read Dec. 15 Atlanta Journal-Constitution article including quotes from prisoners who called AJC reporters, at http://www.ajc.com/news/prisoners-protest-over-for-778293.html.

What you can do: sign the online petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/wagesnow/petition.html

High Max Unit at GA Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, GA

PRISON REFORM AND APPEALS FOR CHANGE

FinalCall.com. News 

Dec 15, 2010

(FinalCall.com) – The tone of the late Sunday night conference call was urgent as activists, pastors, media people and loved ones of inmates in several prisons in Georgia listened to Elaine Brown, a former Black Panther Party leader, share the plight of inmates who had gone on strike.

Former Black Panther Party leader Elaine Brown is coordinating support for prisoners

The strike amounted to a peaceful refusal to leave their cells as the men involved, estimated to be several thousand by Ms. Brown, appealed for payment for work, better food, better health care access and more programs or opportunities for education.

Their petition is a common appeal from those who are locked down and likely reflects the desire of hundreds of thousands locked away in prisons and jails inside America. Ms. Brown pointed out that the inmates also found some solidarity with one another in this common cause. They are working together across some racial, so-called gang, religious and other lines of distinctions to take a stand, she said.

She, joined by others in a quickly assembled coalition, appealed to Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue and corrections commissioner Brian Owens to not allow the situation to get out of control and to protect the lives of the men who had undergone self-imposed lockdown by staying in their cells.

NY Gov. Nelson Rockefeller ordered the murder of numerous heroes of the Attica Rebellion in Sept. 1971, along with guards who were shot along with prisoners by officials firing into D-Block

The last thing activists, advocates and family members of the jailed men wanted was violence—especially violence like the tragedy that unfolded at Attica state prison in New York in 1971. There a standoff between prisoners and guards ended in a hail of gunfire and deaths. In the end, at least 39 people died, including guards, civilian employees and inmates.

At Final Call press time, civil rights and other leaders and activists had held a press conference in downtown Atlanta to again appeal for proper action and restraint from the authorities. Ms. Brown said some inmates had been beaten and others had been “extracted” from their cells by special units inside the correctional facilities.

But, she added, as of Dec. 13 the situation was calmer and an inmate told The Final Call via a cell phone call that some prisoners had been badly injured.

“What we’re saying is we’re not advocating that prisoners go free, or advocating making prisons a cakewalk, but a person in prison even is not to be treated inhumanely. And under some of these conditions, the prisoners are treated like animals,” said Ed DuBose, the president of the NAACP Georgia State Conference. He spoke at a Dec. 13 press conference joined by representatives of the Atlanta mosque of the Nation of Islam and other leaders and organizations. The strike by prisoners started Dec. 9.

Guard beating prisoner

Our hope is that the authorities will examine the case made by the men who are under the control of the corrections department and consider and honor those requests that are reasonable. We also hope that there would be no retaliation against the protestors. We also pray that no one—not an inmate, a guard or a corrections employee—be further injured or seriously hurt.

It may seem strange to have inmates speak of petitions or demands or requests but under the American system of jurisprudence, incarceration does not mean the surrender of all rights and any semblance of humanity. One of the most precious rights, freedom, was already taken by society at sentencing.

The U.S. presents her system of justice before the world as a model and criticizes others she accuses of rights denials and brutality. We feel the same standard of basic decency and regard for humanity should exist in Georgia and in institutions across the country that the U.S. would like to impose on nations abroad.

We also feel that this country must learn it cannot lock up its problems or merchandise its way out of social and economic crises by building and sending people to for-profit prisons. States around the country are in severe financial distress and expenses for incarceration are major budget items.

In some states, the official policy is simply to warehouse people until their release date. In many states “correction” or “rehabilitation” are not even part of the official mission, let alone the actual practices, in many penal institutions.

Black America, in particular, should be concerned and pushing for changes and abolition of the prison industrial complex and changes to prison policy.

Prisoner Rodriques Dukes in a GA solitary confinement cell

Blacks are disproportionately jailed and once released, they come right back to our communities

. If no effort was made to enlighten, reform, change or develop these human beings, is it any wonder that recidivism rates are so high and so many Black men go back to jail?

Our plea is that America reconsider her policy of throwing away those who end up in penal institutions and instead embark upon a campaign to renew and restore those she calls her citizens—or allow the Nation of Islam and those who have a love for the incarcerated to work with them. Allow committed organizations and individuals to teach those cast off by society a true knowledge of themselves and their divine connection to the Creator, to teach them how to respect themselves and one another, to teach them proper respect for authority and to teach them the way to peace.

Tear down the walls!

Society can use the hidden gifts and talents these men possess and the millions spent to lock down their bodies can be better spent with those who will help these prisoners free their minds and spirits

. The financial costs and, more importantly, the human costs of locking Blacks, Latinos and poor Whites up and throwing away the key are not sustainable. America needs a new and better way and those who advocate for the least in society can help chart a new and better course.

For background information on Georgia’s prison system, the fifth largest in the country, go to: http://www.georgiatrend.com/features-business-industry/05_10_prisons.shtml

Bing faces angry residents at first meeting last fall

For Mayor Bing’s next community meetings

 By David Rambeau 

 We have heard repeatedly in recent months about the Mayor’s call for Ideas from the citizens of Detroit.  To implement his proclamation he held last fall a series of five community-based meetings that generated a huge, surprising response from the people.  About 5,000 interested residents attended these meetings and participated enthusiastically in them.  Spirits were high, energy was elevated.   

I went to the one at the Whittier Manor located near E. Jefferson on a sunny, brisk, fall Saturday morning and was welcomed by greeters who distributed literature for the event.  I was impressed at that point.  That was the end of my favorable impression. 

Compuware CEO Peter Karmanos, Skillman Foundation CEO Carol Goss, Bing at their own meeting

The pamphlet handed out, though well designed, was vague, poorly written and contained multiple inconsistencies. When I followed up with a telephone call the following Monday to the number listed in the pamphlet and asked a couple of questions, I was quickly informed that the city didn’t underwrite the seminars, they were paid for by outside sources and resources, foundations and businesses I guess.   

Maybe that explains why the power point presentation didn’t work and was finally, in technical frustration, turned off completely.  Why the speakers played ring-around-the-rosey in response to questions from the audience.  Why every response sounded like a pre-recorded script.   No problem.  That’s the politics and semantics of obfuscation. 

Now, about six months later, I’m patiently waiting on the write-up or the executive summary of the sessions, still hoping the written report arrives before spring.  Even if it does arrive before Easter, I’ll probably have forgotten most of what was discussed.  If you attended, you probably will have forgotten too.  That’s ok, we can all start over from the beginning.  We do this when every new mayor gets elected. 

IDEAS should mean POSITIVE CHANGE

Let’s look at the beginning again.  When I was wandering recently through the Main Library I came across a book, Ideas That Changed the World.  It struck me that if the citizenry of the city was going to respond once again to a call from the Mayor, they/we might as well aim to achieve the highest result; we might as well change the world with our ideas, not just Detroit.   

 With that in mind I read the book and found it worthy of its title, and so when I attend the next series of community meetings promised for the spring or the summer, or whenever, I’ll be ready with some ideas of the highest caliber.        

 If you read the book, you’ll be ready too.  It’s well written, features explanatory graphics and is comprehensive in terms of the world-changing ideas presented.  Come prepared when you attend next time.

But ideas are just part of the scenario.  We must consider what really happens at community meetings, that is, the presentation of a wide range of ideas and complaints and opinions.  Opinions are virtually worthless.  In one ear and out the other, more suited to barber shop or beauty shop oratory.  Filler for radio talk shows in between commercials, or emotional rants espousing one suspicious ideology or another. 

Laid off DPS worker says rebuild school district

That’s why we never have live call-ins for our television show, For My People.  We’re primarily interested in your action, what you want to do, not what you want to say.  But if you want to call in and leave a message on our answering machine, that’s fine with us, at least that is an action based on your own initiative, not ours.                  

Another part of the production will be complaints.  Complaints have a lot of value.  They reflect actual experience and a request to city officials to change that experience in the future and the environment that produced it. 

 Complaints, then, should affect administrative behavior, improve service, provide security.  People in this city have a lot of complaints to talk about.  I have a bunch too, focusing on DDOT, which I ride every day.  Don’t get me started on DDOT’s service.  I’d need to write a book, an encyclopedia.  

Finally, there’s action.  That’s an idea with work attached to it.  Work in the form of research, study, patience, time, training, investment, communication consistency and a team.  Then add evaluation, correction and some more work. 

Pastor Eugene Watkins demands action NOW at community forum

When the work begins most of the ideas, opinions and complaints should end.  Don’t throw ideas, opinions and complaints at work, throw work at work.  Do you feel me?  See you at the next meeting.  And remember the Project BAIT motto: It takes teamwork to make the dream work.      

David Rambeau is the producer/host of Project BAIT’s television production, For My People, which airs on Ch. 50 WKBD-TV on Saturday mornings, and on http://youtube.com/projectbaitdet.  He is also the publisher of the Urban Theater Magazine and is editor of the website: http://www.projectbait.blakgold.net. 

(ed. note: go to October and September archives of Voice of Detroit to read “Trail of Tears: a Critical Analysis of Bing’s Detroit Works Plan, in five parts.”)

Jim Casha (center) with mother Anna Casha at left and brother Jerry Casha at right Grand Rapids Press photo/Jon Brouwer

“It’s not just about the Kilpatrick administration”–Jim Casha

Tunnel Inspector battled Feikens, FBI, contractors, mayors, prosecutors, state, to stop nearly half-billion dollars in fraud, pollution linked to Rouge projects

By Diane Bukowski 

DETROIT – Tunnel Inspector Jim Casha lives in Canada now, but after more than a decade he is still waging a war to compensate Detroiters for what he says totals close to $1/2 billion in mismanagement, malfeasance, possible fraud and bid-rigging and environmental hazards perpetrated by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) and it’s contractors since 1999.

He says that amount was wasted on two projects alone. Their simple purpose was to build a one-mile long rock tunnel near the City of Detroit Wastewater Treatment Plant on W. Jefferson, ironically under the land that scandal-ridden Synagro Technologies meant to acquire. The tunnel, mandated by federal regulations, was to take treated sewage to the Detroit River and eliminate the discharge of raw untreated sewage into the Rouge River.

(Both projects are described at http://dwsdupdate.blogspot.com/search/label/DRO2,  published by the construction law firm of Cavanaugh and Quesada, PLC.)

THE MONEY PIT: Shaft over flooded tunnel, located at W. Jefferson and Brennan, to the right, just before the Rouge Bridge. Wastewater Treatment Plant incinerator stacks are in the background. Casha said, “It is about 300 ft. deep. It was about 10-12 ft. lower before the flood but was raised to try and stop the water. They didn't raise it high enough so the water still flows over the shaft a little. The black staining on the concrete is due to the hydrogen sulfide. A cover could have then been placed over the water surface to stop the emission of the hydrogen sulfide gas and eliminate the 'rotten egg' odor.”

Despite huge expenditures, the tunnel, which the federal government required to be built to comply with its environmental regulations, was never completed. It flooded in 2003, which Casha said resulted from contractor malfeasance. The city terminated a second contract in 2009. Casha says its remnants are leaking poisonous hydrogen sulfide into the DelRay community.

To add insult to injury, a DWSD contact has reported that the second contractor recruited for the project asked the city for $150 million for terminating its contract, which Casha says was bid at three times what it should cost to complete the project. Although the contractor was contacted regarding the payment, its representative had not responded before press time and it is currently unknown if that amount was paid.

“I am sick that people have had their water shut off and have lost their homes because their water bills were attached to their tax bills,” Casha said.  “Meanwhile greedy contractors, politicians and managers have been wasting billions of dollars. Over the last 33 years of federal oversight, the revenue ‘wasted’ was enough to pay off the Water Department’s entire debt of over $5.4 billion. Detroit can and should provide water free to its residents who cannot afford to pay.”

Mary Shoemake and other protesters against water shut-offs at Michigan Welfare Right Organization action

Casha grew up on Detroit’s southwest side and went to Holy Redeemer grade and high schools and graduated from the University of Detroit with a degree in Civil Engineering .

His family took their religious heritage to heart, he said, bringing him up to be honest. Their dedication caused them to adopt two beloved brothers who were Detroit foster children and victims of fetal alcohol exposure (FAE), in addition to their six biological children. Casha said both adopted brothers ended up in prison because their brain disabilities precluded them from being properly educated. and the State does not adequately deal with this issue. They went to school in St. Clair Shores. 

Casha has never ceased a separate battle to free his brother Terry, who he says did not commit the crime he was convicted of. He has fought to make the nation aware of the effects of FAE and the need for increased revenue to address this problem, even walking from the Lansing, Michigan’s Capitol Building to Washington, D.C. to carry out that campaign.

Terry Casha as a youth

Terry Casha in prison MDOC photo

Casha said that Governor Jennifer Granholm and the state’s current legislators, as well as state officials over the last 30 years, have failed to deal properly with foster care, another battle he has taken up related to his brothers and thousands of others.

“Governor-elect Rick Snyder will have to act quickly to avert a federal takeover of the foster care system,” he recommended. See http://detnews.com/article/20101208/METRO/12080372

“We need dollars to deal with the effects of fetal alcohol exposure and to see so much money wasted or stolen on construction projects and mismanagement is a shame,” said Casha. “Fighting these two battles side by side has been an eye opener in the way the government works, or I should say – doesn’t work.”

Jay-Dee Contractors worker in tunnel (Photo from Jay-Dee website)

Ironically, his classmates at U of D included members of the DiPonio family. Tom DiPonio is President of Livonia-based Jay-Dee Contractors. Former State Police Director, and now U.S. Marshall, Pete Munoz was a close childhood friend and classmate at Holy Redeemer. Andrew Arena, current head of the Detroit office of the FBI also has ties to Southwest Detroit and Holy Redeemer. DiPonio, Munoz and Arena all played roles in the cast of characters Casha describes.

Jay- Dee was part of the joint venture of Traylor/Jay-Dee, the contractor on the failed DRO-2 project. Traylor Brothers from Evansville, Indiana, managed the project. 

Casha said the first tunnel project, Detroit River Outfall–2, contract PC-709, a $100 million venture, began in 1999 under the Archer administration. The contractor designed the grouting program, used to stop inflows of water into the tunnel, which failed. The tunnel flooded in 2003.

He said he observed the general contractor Traylor/Jay-Dee deliberately pumping “hundreds of thousands” of gallons of a very “thin slurry” of water and cement (commonly referred to as grout) into cracks in the rock walls instead of the proper thick concentrate which would have sealed the cracks. He added that the JV charged DWSD $250 a cubic foot (cf) for the useless slurry, when it actually cost only $2.50 per cf to mix. Even when you add in labor and equipment, he said, the unit cost is excessive. 

Atty. George Washington and Local 207 Pres. John Riehl announcing lawsuit against city over Synagro contract

“At the time, we tried and tried to get the engineers in the WaterDepartment to tell us what had happened, but we couldn’t get anyone to say anything,” said John Riehl, President of Local 207 0f the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). That local represents hundreds of DWSD workers.

“What really happened on this project is Detroit’s ‘best kept secret’,” Casha said. “No one wants to talk about it. But if the new city and state administrations want to fix the problem, both with this project and DWSD in general, we need to talk about it. Contractor abuse and government malfeasance are widespread and there are ways to stop it.” 

Casha acted as an inspector for a subcontractor on the DRO-2 project.

Thomas Traylor, CEO Traylor Brothers

“It’s a common trick,” he said. “Bid low, get the job, then the general contractor has control of the grouting costs. They knew how to rape the City of Detroit and they did. They just wanted to increase the size of their bank account. I wrote about it every day on my reports for one and a half years. I complained so much I was just about to get fired, but the next day the tunnel failed; just before it got to Zug Island, it flooded, and it’s currently under 300 feet of water. All that money was wasted.

“This would have been the time to hold the contractor accountable.  It was their grouting program – they should have been required to fix it, or compensate the city. Instead, they turned the tables on an inept and/or corrupt city/DWSD management.”

After that, Casha said, the department was going to award an $85 million change order to the same contractors to redesign the project and raise the tunnel up, but the order was not awarded.

Instead, after five years, according to the Cavanaugh law firm, “On November 17, 2008, DWSD issued Notice to Proceed to Vinci/Frontier-Kemper JV for construction of the Modified Detroit River Outfall No. 2 (MOD DRO2) project (DWSD Contract PC-771). DRO-2 is a $299 million project and is intended to meet a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit requirement to construct and place into operation a second Detroit River outfall for discharge of treated municipal wastewater from the Detroit Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP).

Vinci/Frontier-Kemper employees gather around tunnel shaft in Brightwater Project near Seattle, 2007

. . . construction of [the] initial project was halted following a flood event during tunneling activities in April 2003. To date, the tunnel excavation remains flooded and the construction contract (PC-709) has since been terminated.”

Casha said Traylor/Jay-Dee had the “audacity” to try and bid again, but subsequently withdrew; leaving only two groups left bidding for the project.

“The tunneling business is a very small world,” he said. “Eventually one of those bidders ‘dropped out,’ and the sole bidder Vinci bid $299 million, which was 45 percent over the city engineer’s estimate. The bid should have been thrown in the garbage and an investigation conducted to see if the two contractors colluded.”

At this point, Casha said he was fed up.

“The design for the Modified DRO-2 was extreme, in part, based on the misinformation and alleged difficulties perpetrated by the first contractor. I was there and I know this tunnel could have been completed the same way two other water intake tunnels had been completed in similar conditions in the 30’s and 50’s, one just down the road in Wyandotte. This was blown way out of proportion.”

U. S. District Court Judge John Feikens

In 2003, shortly after the ‘flood’, he said he tried to contact U.S. District Court Judge John Feikens. Under a federal consent decree, Feikens oversaw Wastewater Treatment Plant compliance with federal environmental regulations for 33 years, from 1977 until his recent retirement at the age of 93 this November. (See coming story on “Uncharged Criminals Destroying DWSD.” for further info on Feikens.)

“He wouldn’t return my calls,” Casha said. “I couldn’t get through to his Special Master Tom Lewand, the day before Feikens resigned, either. What is the point of having someone overseeing the water department for 33 years if they’re going to let contractors get away with robbing the city blind?”

He said he also contacted the Detroit FBI office, headed by Andrew Arena, to no avail. He emailed and wrote then City Council President and soon to be Interim Mayor Kenneth Cockrel, Jr., and Councilman Kwame Kenyatta to tell them not to approve the contract, that it could be done a lot cheaper, but neither responded.

He said he went to the offices of Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy and State Attorney General Mike Cox without results

AG Mike Cox

Pros. Kym Worthy

“I eventually had to go to State Police Director Pete Munoz to get anyone to look at it – the same as I had to do with my brother’s case in Grand Rapids to get the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) to do their job. This is not the way it should be. If law enforcement wants the cooperation of good citizens to stop crime and corruption they need to stop treating them like ‘crap’”, Casha said.

Anthony Adams, who was acting director of DWSD because Victor Mercado had just left in the waning days of the Kilpatrick administration, attended a City Council meeting trying to get approval for the project as well as another unrelated $300 million tunnel project, Casha said.

Former Water Dept. Director Victor Mercado

“The last thing Mercado did was get the Water Board to approve the contract and Anthony Adams went to the City Council to get that $300 million contract approved. Why? I was living in Virginia then, but I drove all the way to Detroit to testify against it at a hearing only to learn that even though it was on the agenda for that day, City Council, under Monica Conyers as President, had already approved it!”

He said Steven Chester, who at the time was head of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), pushed the Council to approve the contract, even complaining to Feikens to get it passed, which Council finally did. Casha tried to get to Chester but was only able to convey his message to subordinates.

 “MDEQ was well aware of my concerns with both DRO-2 contracts,” Casha said.

Steve DiPonio

John DiPonio, CEO of Jay-Dee Construction, and the Traylor Brothers administration were contacted for comment on this article, but had not responded by press time. (DiPonio is the brother of Steven DiPonio of Corktown, currently facing charges for assaulting and dragging a neighborhood homeless man behind his truck on Oct. 6.)

Messages were also left with a Vinci/Frontier-Kemp official for comment, but he did not respond.

Feikens, who retired in November, was not available for comment, and Lewand’s office did not respond. Chester, who is now a lawyer in private practice, said he does not know anyone by the name of Jim Casha and referred the question back to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment, as it is now known. Their representative Mary Dettloff said she would investigate the matter with their staff, but had not gotten back to the Voice of Detroit by press time.

Union and community protest against Kilpatrick, Mercado

Sandra Berchtold, spokesperson for the Detroit office of the FBI, said, “Information received from the public is forwarded to the appropriate squad for assessment.  For the specific questions about an investigation, DOJ/FBI policy is we cannot confirm [n]or deny the existence of an investigation. You can file a FOIA if you wish to see if there are records of a complaint or information on an investigation.”

The Voice of Detroit is filing such a request.

Worthy’s spokesperson Maria Miller said their policy is to refer all reports related to the “Kilpatrick investigation” to the federal government, while Cox’s office did not respond at all. Ironically, out-going Attorney General Mike Cox’s brother, Judge Sean Cox, has assumed Feikens’ duties.

Casha says, “This is not just related to the ‘Kilpatrick Administration’, this represents a total failure of city, state, federal as well as the county governments trying to wrestle control of DWSD from doing their duty to protect the public.”

Casha contacted several of the mayoral candidates, including sending a letter to Bing. Word must have gotten through to Mayor Dave Bing’s administration, because former DWSD Interim Director Pamela Turner canceled that project and another one unrelated to it shortly after Bing was elected.

The cancellation letter is at “DWSD Contract No. PC-771 Notice of Termination — March 30, 2009”.

That would be a good thing, Casha said, except for the fact that the contractors are now likely to get millions of dollars in compensation for termination of contract.

Hinshon Environmental Consulting authored the “Alternative Rouge River CSO [Combined Sewer Overflow] Program Executive Summary,” currently on the DWSD website. According to that report, a total of $1.2 billion in contracts for the Upper Rouge CSO Storage Tunnel, for $880 Million, and the New WWTP Outfall (DRO-2) for $400 million, both of which began construction in 2009, were terminated.

It is unclear if the additional $100 million Hinshon added to the DRO-2 contract includes compensation to Vinci/Frontier Kemp for its termination.

Detroit Wastewater Treatment Plant

More frightening is the fact that Hinshon charted an estimated $1.8 billion worth of similar projects on the drawing board over the next twenty years.  Casha said the practices which led to the flooding of the Rouge tunnel in 2003 and the possible bid-rigging in 2008 are common. Who will see to it that the city of Detroit is not raped again, if it indeed has any control left over its Water and Sewerage Department by that time?

“I could have saved (and still can) the DWSD ratepayers, both Detroit and suburban,  hundreds of millions of dollars had the people I contacted, including suburban officials, talked to me instead of thinking they know everything,” Casha said. “I feel for the people, especially the children, who lost their homes because of this and for all those who need help, like my brothers, who can’t get it because there is no money. Snyder needs to talk to me, along with the Rakoltas, if he wants to straighten out this mess.”  

Walbridge Aldinger CEO John Rakolta, a major city contractor, contributed the maximum amount to Snyder’s campaign. His daughter Lauren Rakolta, a Walbridge executive, worked for Snyder on the campaign. (See coming story for more on the Rakoltas and Walbridge’s connection to another large Water Department contract.)

“The solution is False Claims (Qui Tam) Legislation for all municipal, state and federal contracts,” Casha said.

Such legislation already exists at the federal level, and in some states, according to Wikipedia.

U. S. Pres. Abraham Lincoln

“The False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. § 3729–3733), also called the “Lincoln Law“) is an American federal law that allows people who are not affiliated with the government to file actions against federal contractors they accuse of committing claims fraud against the government. The act of filing such actions is informally called “whistleblowing.” Persons filing under the Act stand to receive a portion (usually about 15–25 percent) of any recovered damages .  .  .  . The government has recovered nearly $22 billion under the False Claims Act between 1987 .  .  .  and 2008. (http://www.taf.org/FCA-stats-DoJ-2008.pdf ).

Several states including California have versions of the False Claims Act. Michigan’s version currently is limited solely to the Medicaid program. The act is known as the Lincoln law because it was passed by Congress during U.S. President Abraham Lincoln’s administration on March 2, 1863, to counteract rampant contractor fraud related to military spending during the Civil War.

Mary and Erma on DTE picket line

“Do justly, love mercy and walk humbly in our God”

 

By Diane Bukowski

DETROIT – As Agnes Hitchcock put it. “It was Mary Shoemake herself and the life she lived that made her funeral service so wonderfully inspiring.”

The life-long activist and fighter for the people of Detroit was laid to rest after stirring eulogies at Cantrell Funeral Home Dec. 19. Though Mary appeared quiet and self-effacing during her lifetime, her profound impact on the struggle in this city was clear in the turn-out for the service.

Mary's special friend Erma Thomas and Agnes Hitchcock after funeral

Those who came to celebrate her life included everyone from prominent politicians to the leaders and members of Call ‘em Out, the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, Keep the Vote No Takeover, UAW Local 6000, Hood Research, the NAACP, and the Voice of Detroit, as well as grass roots Detroiters.

Her beloved aunt Eva Woodford along with other family members and her special friend and fellow activist Erma Thomas listened to the eulogies with pride. (See entire funeral program on Memorials page.)

Helen Moore, leader of Keep the Vote No Takeover and a member of the Council of Elders, stepped out of that role to tell a little-known chapter of Mary’s life when both were state social workers and militant members of UAW Local 6000.

Mary supports striking UAW workers at American Axle

“Long years ago, we worked together,” said Elder Moore.  “I was a union steward. Mary and I with the others fought the state together over our building conditions and the racism there, and even though they were writing us up like crazy, we won. At one point, everybody at their desks began to sing spirituals, and Mary was singing louder than anyone. They had a meeting with us later to ask who had cut up the supervisors’ sweaters and coats. No one admitted it, but Mary had a sly grin on her face.”

Moore added, “It’s people like Mary that lead the whole battle just by standing there and keeping the focus, and telling us what to do.”

Mary's family members outside funeral homes

She said Mary and 31 other activists with Keep the Vote No Takeover have passed since the first state school takeover in 1999.

Agnes Hitchcock, steward of Call ‘em Out, addressed Mary’s family.

“Thank you for giving us the opportunity to see what was so wonderful about Mary,” Hitchcock said. “Mary was unselfish, she never complained, she was always thinking about other people. Even when she was in the nursing home and Jimmy Thornton was visiting her, she got worried about him and called Erma (Thomas) to have her check up on him, and it turned out he had passed away after seeing her. When I told her in the nursing home that the court had just ruled against [Detroit Public Schools czar] Robert Bobb, she just smiled and said, ‘It’s about time.”

MWRO leader Maureen Taylor leaves after servicew

Hitchcock said Mary was very proud of the Warrior Award that Call em Out presented to her.

“Our hearts are broken, because Mary fought for the end of the corporate class,” said Maureen Taylor of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization. “Wherever there is resistance, you can always expect assistance from the women of our class like Mary, they are sister soldiers. She understand what the task was, and wherever she is now, I know that Jimmy Thornton, John Brown and our other fighters that went before her are greeting her.”

Pastor Jerome Poole of Messiah Baptist Church brought to mind what everyone remembered Mary for.

Mary marching with MWRO against water shut-offs

“She was a champion for the rights of the poor and oppressed,” he said, and she exemplified the biblical advice, ‘Do justly, love mercy and walk humbly in our God.’

Pastor Poole said he first met Mary when he showed up at the Call em out picket outside the Council of Baptist Pastors meeting.

“We were asking them, ‘Are you  bought and bossed and selling out for cash?’ What I remember Mary best for, though, is that white bucket. Mary wasn’t pushy, she was just determined. The first time I came to a meeting and she passed it around, I didn’t have any money. The second time, after she got through with everybody else, she brought the bucket to me and stood there and just looked. When I told her I had only five dollars to get home with, she said, ‘Put it in the bucket.’”

City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson presented the Spirit of Detroit award, signed by all Detroit councilmembers, to Mary’s family.

Gwen Gaines and Maude Willis of Call em Out after service

“Mary was a symbol for around the world,” Watson said. “She was a person who, when you spent time with her, she added value to your life. Beyond calamity lies invincibility if you go out and seize it.”

State Representative Coleman Young, Jr. presented an award from the Michigan House of Representatives. An award was also presented from the U.S. House of Representatives through U.S. Representative John Conyers.

“Mary left her footprint everywhere she fought for human rights and dignity,” said another award from Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett. “She was a precinct delegate for many years in the 14^th Congressional District, a community warrior driven to educate the community with the need for social awareness and involvement.”

(Anyone who wants copies of 23 photos taken at Mary’s funeral service emailed to them, please contact Diane Bukowski, diane_bukowski@hotmail.com. –underscore between first and last names.)

Former mayoral candidate Tom Barrow

From Tom Barrow

 On November 3rd of last year, the city conducted its general election for mayor at which 120,951 votes were cast.  Afterwards, we asked for a recount of 500 of the 600 precincts comprising 114,718 of the votes cast.  The recount revealed that of the 114,718 ballots we attempted to recount, 59,135 (54.5%) were tainted including 49,486 ballots which could not be recounted at all because the seals on their cases had been changed and were not the seals recorded by election night workers. (ed. note: that included ALL the absentee ballots.)

We all know well that election workers are often senior citizens who take take ENORMOUS pride in their jobs.  They wrote down the seal number that they themselves put on the case.  It is painfully obvious that the cases were entered after election night.  A change of only 9,692 ballots would have altered the outcome of the contest. 

Every objective and fair minded person should be angry and demand accountability as it is clear that only the passage of time it takes to now go to fight legally gives Mr. Bing a false appearance of legitimacy.  He was not elected!  The law is CLEAR and no winner could ever be valid when 54% of the votes can’t be recounted and are tainted.   

Jimmie Thornton (r), who has since passed, listens to Tom Barrow at Call em Out summer 2010 backyard picnic

Two judges in the circuit court recused themselves and did not want to touch this case.  It was a third judge, set to retire in July, who finally refused to allow us to file our complaint for Usurpation (writ of mandamus) as clearly allowed under the law.  The Court of Appeals also refused to allow US to proceed but laid out a road map for the next person.  No…..they are wrong…the system is protecting itself and I know what we saw at the recount when I got on my hand and knees and caught the fraud.  It is being hidden because it is so huge.

Accordingly, we have filed an Emergency Appeal  to the Michigan Supreme Court.  This Court has the option to hear or not hear the case so it up to them to intercede.  If what we discovered here had happened in someone else’s city,  the news media  and others would be all over this and there would be investigations galore…but it didn’t happen somewhere else,  it only happened in Detroit.

Go to the link below to read the facts given to the Supreme Court.  Share this email with your friends and tell your friends to do the same…the public has to know what happened or it will continue by the same official who has likely been doing it for a long time.  We as a city must demand answers and accountability for what is compelling evidence of electioneering .  Someone either sitting in the office or remotely is selecting our leadership and using the law to frustrate the truth.  I am only the messenger who uncovered the crime and has chosen to fight rather than lay down!

To read the facts, GO TO:

http://www.anewvisionfordetroit.com/pdf/12_20_2010_Facts_for_Application_for_%20Leave_to_Appeal.pdf

To obtain a copy of the entire appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court, email your request to glgarfield@aNewVisionForDetroit.com . 

Warmest personal regards,

Tom Barrow

VOD: The Michigan Supreme Court later denied Barrow leave to appeal. Ruling is at MSC denial of Barrow leave to appeal.

By Julia Rosenbaum, http://boldprogressives.org

BREAKING: Minutes ago, the FCC — led by Obama appointee Julius Genachowski — sold out Net Neutrality and the future of free speech online. The rules — written by Comcast and AT&T, the companies the FCC is supposed to regulate — broke Obama’s campaign promise¹ and allow corporate censorship. 

Read the 3 reasons why — then sign the petition protesting this action by going to this link:

http://act.boldprogressives.org/sign/sign_netneutrality_3things/?akid=3040.6887.R6pR04&rd=1&source=e1-nonetflix&t=3

1: Corporate censorship is allowed on your phone

The rules passed today by Obama FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski absurdly create different corporate censorship rules for wired and wireless Internet, allowing big corporations like Comcast to block websites they don’t like on your phone — a clear failure to fulfill Net Neutrality and put you, the consumer, in control of what you can and can’t do online.²

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson

2: Online tollbooths are allowed, destroying innovation

The rules passed today would allow big Internet Service Providers like Verizon and Comcast to charge for access to the “fast lane.” Big companies that could afford to pay these fees like Google or Amazon would get their websites delivered to consumers quickly, while independent newspapers, bloggers, innovators, and small businesses would see their sites languish in the slow lane, destroying a level playing field for competition online and clearly violating Net Neutrality.³

3: The rules allow corporations to create “public” and “private” Internets, destroying the one Internet as we know it

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts

For the first time, these rules would embrace a “public Internet” for regular people vs. a “private Internet” with all the new innovations for corporations who pay more — ending the Internet as we know it and creating tiers of free speech and innovation, accessible only if you have pockets deep enough to pay off the corporations.⁴

The FCC could have reclassified and regulated these greedy corporations in an enforceable way, but instead, they sold out. This isn’t Net Neutrality, this is a historic mistake.

Sign to hold President Obama accountable to his promise — and then share with your friends!

Sources:

^{1:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/13/net-neutrality-obama-see_n_681695.html}

^{2, 3, 4: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-aaron/the-fccs-guide-to-losing_b_795061.html}

Dr. Boyce Watkins

 Progress made, negotiations still underway, but national leadership should have done much more to support prisoners 

By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Dec 18th 2010 6:12PM

http://www.bvblackspin.com/2010/12/18/georgia-prison-strike-comes-to-an-end-but-its-not-over-yet/

The heroic prison strike that took place in Georgia this month has finally come to an end. Other than the inmates who are still holding out, most of the others have been released from the massive lock down and agreed to go back to work. Progress was made during the strike, and negotiations are still underway.

GA prisoners of all races pray together at Calhoun State Prison

I was scheduled to meet with Elaine Brown, one of the leaders of the movement last night. For some reason, we weren’t able to find her. But I’m sure that whatever she was doing was more important than talking to me. Tomorrow morning I’ll be speaking with Rev. Jesse Jackson on the matter, and then Monday, I speak with Rev. Al Sharpton. In fact, I’ll be speaking to everyone I know about this issue for as long as I possibly can.

One of the things that I believe, and I’m sure Elaine agrees, is that the strike was a significant step in getting the public to recognize the urgent need to reform our criminal justice system. It’s important for people to realize that supporting the human rights of prison inmates is not a matter of being soft on crime. Instead, it’s a matter of being intelligent about how systems operate so that those who are willing to rehabilitate themselves can return to their communities in a productive capacity. We cannot afford to keep throwing away every black child who makes a mistake.

Even though reports are stating that the strike is effectively over, the momentum created by the activities of these inmates cannot be understated. By coming together in such an amazing way, the individuals in the Georgia State correctional system have made a strong statement for human rights around the world. They have also taught us a few things about America, the prison system and ourselves. Here are a few lessons to ponder:

1) Prison inmates are not dumb and worthless human beings: The same brilliance that it took for the Georgia inmates to coordinate their protest, write public statements and become conscious of their human rights can be applied to nearly anything they try to do. Our society has been trained to believe that anyone who breaks the law is somehow worthless to society, but if that’s the case, then we can say the same thing about Oprah Winfrey, Martha Stewart, Martin Luther King and even Jesus. The truth is that while there are certainly inmates who deserve to be punished, the punishment should not be for life for most of the individuals who are convicted. By marginalizing prison inmates and not creating opportunities for them to add to our society, we are only throwing away potentially productive human capital and destroying families, making the problem worse and more expensive over time.

2) Prisons should be used to rehabilitate, not to make our society worse than it is: I’ve never understood the mindset of those who don’t feel that prison inmates deserve access to an education. Do you really want an uneducated, unemployed ex-convict living in your neighborhood or raising children who attend school with your child? I thought not. Giving inmates access to quality education gives them a choice of returning to a life of crime or doing something better. I can tell you with all sincerity that if I had no education, no job and no way of providing for my family, I’d be willing to consider all alternatives to get my children what they need. Instead, a little opportunity and divine intervention turned me into a college professor instead of a menace to society.

3) There should be additional oversight in the prison system: Prisons are like universities in that they are given the ability to operate without sufficient checks and balances on their behavior. As a result, many universities are among the last bastions of serious segregation in our society (my business school at Syracuse didn’t grant tenure to an African American in any department in over 100 years of existence), and prisons are also allowed to consistently violate the human rights of their inmates. As much as the United States criticizes nations like China for their human rights violations, consider this: China has only 3/4 as many of its citizens in prison relative to the United States (2.1 million to 1.6 million), and they have a population that is four times greater than our own. When it comes to violating the human rights of minorities and the poor, the United States has become a global leader.

4) The black community is being destroyed by our prisons: Nearly every black person I know has been affected by the prison system in one way or the other. If you haven’t been in the criminal justice system, you probably have a parent, brother or cousin who has. If that’s not the case, then you’ve possibly mentored or helped raise a child whose parent was incarcerated. Out of the 1.8 million African American men that live in the United States, nearly 200,000 of them are in state or federal prison, or in a local jail. According to a 2003 report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 32 percent of black males born in the year 2001 can expect to spend time in state or federal prison during their lifetime. This means that the little boy you’re raising right now has a prison bed already made out for him. Your daughter is going to try to find a husband and end up meeting several men who have interacted with this system. Therefore, it is not only in our incentive to teach our kids how to avoid these systems, we must also confront the systems themselves so that making a mistake at an early age does not lead to a death sentence on an individual’s entire future.

5) Black politicians and public figures must get involved: I wrote an article recently about how the Congressional Black Caucus was as quiet as a church mouse during the Georgia prison strike. While I get quite a few statements about the fabulous work they are doing for the Hispanic community (i.e. the DREAM Act), the war in Afghanistan, and much more, I don’t see much in terms of fighting for the human rights of prison inmates. I’d love to see black politicians stop acting as if ex-convicts are sub-human individuals who deserve to be raped and beaten, and start realizing that many of them (not all) are fractured souls who made bad choices at an early age. Also, as much as rappers love to bust rhymes about selling dope, going to prison and getting shot, leading hip hop artists should be issuing statements in support of the Georgia prison protest and offering to help.

Actor Wesley Snipes, imprisoned for political resistance to tax system

One of the reasons that the Nazis were able to execute so many Jews was because the good-hearted members of society were convinced that those being exterminated deserved their fates. By separating people into the “us” and “them” groups, the powers that be are able to slowly but surely eat away at civil liberties for us all. When Jesus was thrust upon the cross, many mistook legality for morality to believe that he must have been doing something wrong because he was being punished. But we must understand that applying the arbitrary label of “convict” onto someone does not imply that we have the right to disrespect ourselves, our society and our freedom by making that person into a slave. In fact, most of us are not as far away from this system as we’d like to believe, just ask Wesley Snipes.

Bradley Manning

Soldier in solitary confinement indefinitely, accused of aiding Wikileaks

By Dr. Publico

The American Tribune

The ideal version of justice is that, before the law, a person is innocent until proven guilty.  But for those of us who have any jail and prison experience, the reality is quite different. 

The current experience of Bradley Manning puts the lie to that idealism and, indeed, reveals the neo-liberals as little more than political stooges (or otherwise ineffectual before conservative corporate power). 

Bradley is the 22-yr-old soldier who is accused–but not charged–with supplying WikiLeaks with the secret documents being distributed around the world. 

He spent two months in a military jail in Kuwait, and has now been in the infamous Marine brig in Quantico, VA, for the past five months under extraordinary conditions. 

The fundamental concept of  innocent until proven guilty predates even the American republic and the US Constitution.  It comes to us from English jurisprudence and is considered as bedrock common law. 

The Constitution codifies the concept implicitly through several provisions, including the “right to remain silent,” and “the right to a jury.” 

 Jails in the US are used essentially for three basic reasons.  1. To hold persons deemed to be a direct predatory threat to the public, 2. to hold persons who are unable to raise their bail, and 3. to serve as prisons for those sentenced to terms under a year. 

However, again, reality intrudes.  Jails in fact are also used as the coercive means to induce “cooperation” with one’s prosecution and/or the prosecution of others.  Many of us, including myself, have had that experience. 

According to a Marine brig officer, Lt. Brian Villiard, Bradley Manning is confined in solitary for 23 hours a day, barred from exercising (and under 24-hour direct surveillance), denied a pillow or sheets, and denied any news. 

 As one who has undergone such experiences (albeit, not for that length of time), and as a doctor of psychology (PsyD), I’ll cite the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (JAAPL), “…psychological stressors such as isolation can be as clinically distressing as physical torture.” 

From a psych standpoint, the denial of exercise (being forbidden in your cell from pushups, knee-bends, etc.) is to enhance the effects of torture (i.e., the denial of sublimation).  Other than as punishment (for what? he’s been a model prisoner), it serves no other purpose. 

Given the young age of Manning, his imprisonment by Marine brig personnel, the open-ended commitment without charge, and the excessive conditions of his confinement, it should be expected that his condition is deteriorating, which Lt. Villiard admits.  Bradley is being given anti-depressants by medical personnel. 

Whatever the crimes that Manning may become charged with, clearly there is already a crime being committed:  All those who impose these conditions, along with all those in the chain-of-command, are criminals themselves and should be so charged, up to and including the Commander-in-Chief.  Let them argue the Constitutional merits… 

 Small wonder that, instead of pursuing the prosecution of the war criminals from the previous Administration, Obama & Co., are further incorporating those crimes into the current one. 

Under the conditions of Manning’s confinement, anything he may say is the fruit of torture and not worth warm spit…