Politics Blog

Category: Detroit, Michigan

Live blogging the Kilpatrick Trial

Not much news on the national front this week, unless you care about what Sarah Palin is doing and I definitely don't care. However, I was mildly interested to hear hundreds of people lined up in the freezing cold in Grand Rapids to get bracelets that let them line up again to get her to sign her book tonight, which I understand had to have been purchased at full retail from Barnes & Noble. Considering I've seen the book discounted as low as around five bucks and even offered for free as a bonus for subscribing to one of the right wing websites, I'm pretty impressed by their, well let's just say, dedication. Otherwise, my posting has been light because I'm moving for the third time this year. Hoping third time is the charm and I'll finally be able to settle down for a while.

Meanwhile, on the local front, the big news is the trial of former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. I see our own Mike Wilkinson is liveblogging here at DetNews. Some juicy revelations there and he's updating regularly.

Category: Detroit, Michigan

Detroit's Student City Council Class of 2009.

This current crop of individuals vying for a paycheck ($81,000 a year) on the Detroit City Council should all make one bold statement together.

"Our election won't change anything."

From Mayor Bing to the Council, from remembering whether to call the Clerk Janice or Joyce, 25% of the city cares enough to vote, and let's be honest, likely many of them with different reasons than Detroit.

If you won tonight with true belief, congratulations. For those who obviously worked the system to make more money, shame.

You have not only a severe deficit to deal with, but at least a decade of consistent and indiscriminate corruption that will bring out the real reasons you ran for Council. You have to face hard decisions, like firing people who've worked decades for the city, because of the few who corrupted it. You have to decide that other people's lives are worth less than the greater interests of Detroit.

For the optimist, at least the turnout is 25%, despite the poverty line being 21% in Detroit. Maybe this election will end up reflecting the will of the people this time around.

...

And maybe cows will fly in tonight with bags of money from Washington, D.C.

And not that its too far from the truth.

From sewage deals to Medicare fraud, Detroit is also in receivership of billions in federal aid. Their plight is is 15+% unemployment, a third of their families in poverty, and a litany of corruption. All the bad of Detroit still, and people somehow care about the city.

If the Council is filled with agents of change, inspired by Mayor Bing, then perhaps we'll see the courage of people who want to fix their city. By the look of the ballot, indeed, we are on the cusp of change.

I mean, Look at Jai-Lee Dearing. The guy exudes nice. Not only a creator, and entrepeneur, Mr. Dearing puts forward a platform that makes actual and logical sense (hence the DetNews nod).

Is it possible the folks in Detroit can pick 9 fellow-minded representatives? Of course, dissenters may reply, as Jai-Lee's opponents have scored some points. But holding his feet to his fire, if he does so win, why not then embrace it? After all, every single speech you'll hear tonight will be based upon Bing's exemplary change, and for the first time, perhaps, Detroit can actually feel comfortable in critique of the actions of Council (rather than railroaded to believe COBO was better off in the hands of Conyers).

Bottom line, it is what it is. The question is what we do with it. And while our good Reverend on the blogs asks what kind of change we may receive, I say we are on a track for something. From 2009 to 2010, a complete replacement of the entire City Council. That's a big shift. Perhaps Kenyatta and Jones survive, and offer sage advice from decisions past (Apologies to Tinsley-Talabi, but you can't make up your mind, ma'am). Perhaps the Bing Movement energizes a city. To the Student City Council Class of 2009, I salute you, and hope that your decisions make an impact. Mako out.

Category: Detroit, Michigan

Hot News

Hot off the DetNews twitter feed, I see Detroit is preparing for the expected arsonists by promoting Angels' Night to prevent the devilry of Hell Night. It appears the firestarters have started early in one neighborhood. But the residents of Morningside are fighting back with citizen patrols. I admit I soaped a few windows and threw a few rolls of toilet paper into the trees as Halloween pranks when I was a kid but I never understood why anyone would think real destructive vandalism is "fun." Here's hoping cooler heads prevail this year. The city doesn't need any more trouble.

In other news via tweets, new evidence the stimulus spending is working. USA Today reviews "reports from 33 states and Puerto Rico, that includes teachers, construction workers, and others whose jobs were funded by stimulus money awarded to states" and finds 388,000 jobs were created or saved. The administration plans to release reports from all 50 states on Friday.

Meanwhile, Glamour magazine shines the spotlight on our First Lady, naming Michelle Obama as Woman of the Year. Nice cover shot to go with the article.

Category: Detroit, Michigan

Finding the silver lining in a downturn

The latest unemployment figures paint a dismal picture for Michigan but some residents see opportunity in the downturn and are growing their businesses. The Just Baked cupcake shop, opened their first store in Livonia in January. They just opened another at Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi this September and plan to open two more next year. Another success story is Biggby Coffee who started with one store in East Lansing in 1995, and now oversee 106, mostly franchised, shops in six states with the majority of them in Michigan.

These entrepeneurs see the downturn as the best time to expand their businesses because they can negotiate good rental deals on empty commercial properties and can hire the best employees from a large pool of potential workers. As the owner of Biggby Coffee notes, "Down cycles can be a good time for entrepreneurs to get experience running a business and build up their clientele for better times."

In other news, it's Detroit Beer Week. If you enjoy the sudsy stuff, get out there this week and celebrate the growing craft beer movement in Michigan. A list of participating establishments at the link.

Meanwhile, I don't really decorate anymore but I do love when folks go all out with their Halloween decorations. Share yours at the ReaderPix gallery and if you need some inspiration, check these out. [via DetNews twitter feed]

Category: Detroit, Michigan

Three die at Detroit Marathon

This is really sad and somewhat strange. Three runners died during the Detroit Marathon yesterday. Two of them collapsed in almost in same place. Word has it emergency personnel stationed along the course were able to reach all three men seconds after they fell but unfortunately were still unable to save them.

While it's not the first time a runner has died during or shortly after a marathon, the odds are high against it and the Detroit race hasn't suffered a fatality since 1994. I would think the odds against three deaths in one race would be astronomical. Tragic counterpoint to what otherwise appears to have been a wonderful event with over 19,000 entries. My condolences to the families.

Category: Detroit, Michigan

Sometimes the system works for you

Fresh off the DetNews twitter feed, some good news to start off the week. Although the system can be difficult to navigate, some residents have found ways to improve the city with local government help.

Among the stories highlighted are those about Detroiters who "have found ways to clean abandoned properties, drive out hookers and drug dealers, receive job training and go to college for free through a little-known scholarship program available to all high school graduates with B averages." Also included is information about free home repairs for seniors.

The lesson being that government can work for you, if you learn how to work with the government.

Category: Detroit, Michigan

Red Dawn - Updated with Tigers gallery

Fresh off the DetNews Twitter feed, a great photo gallery of the explosion from the filming of Red Dawn in Detroit. I'm not much for action movies and explosions but I bet this was very cool to watch in person. Wondering if any of our readers managed to catch it live.

They also have links to live blogging of the ball game. I'm hearing from others on Twitter that the blog is better than the radio, if you're not near a TV.

Update: Whew, what a night it was. Sorry the Tigers didn't win it but that was surely some great baseball. Click here for a photo gallery from the game.

Category: Detroit, Michigan

Down in Detroit

I posted a while ago about the TIME magazine feature on Detroit, but I didn't realize at the time that this was going to be a serious long term project until I ran across this interview that was talking about the future of journalism.

MAHARIDGE: That sort of thing is easy to do. I like what Time Magazine has done: they bought a house in Detroit and they are going to have a year-long presence there. A colleague of mine, she's going to go there and find the kind of stories we're talking about: who's doing things in Detroit that are working. I think that's good, live there and go beyond the ruin porn.

I agree. It's about time we see some in depth journalism about what the people who have been hit hardest are going through in this economy. And speaking of the local economy, Barry Lynn has a fascinating theory on "How supply chain monopolization killed Detroit". It's complicated but it's typical of the corporatization of our entire supply chain of consumer goods. Lynn doesn't make the case specifically, but I read this as an indictment of unregulated captialism.

On a related note, those who depend on the 401Ks that so often come as a perk of corporate employment, workers are discovering their 401Ks are failing to provide the funds they need. Therein lies the danger of trusting to a system that creates fewer and bigger corporations to take more control over the goods and services, and the jobs, we depend on. If the supply chain is someday limited to a dozen super mega-corps, can you really call it a free market?

Category: Detroit, Michigan

TIME for Detroit

I'm loving the DetNews twitter feed. Great to get the news alerts right away and they're posting links I might have missed, like this one to TIME magazine's cover story on Detroit. Fromer Detroiter Dan Okrent pens a somewhat brutal piece on the city from as he remembered it from childhood in the 1950s to its present day challenges and he spares no one from his unflinching assessment along the way. Learned a few things I didn't know and was reminded of some things I'd forgotten, like the annual arson spree on Devil's Night. Coincidentally, I know Okrent slightly from his days in the Pioneer Valley of MA, where we had mutual friends. Really nice man and a great writer. Well worth a read in full.

Dan's article is part of a larger series about Detroit that also assembles some of their past articles about MoTown. I haven't read them all yet, but I thought that The Road to Renewal was very interesting and offered a more positive view of how to solve Detroit's current problems. I love the idea of urban gardening and tree farming and such to overcome the blight in the virtual ghost town tracts of the city. Good for the planet and for the remaining residents. I'm thinking it would be a great solution for all the fading urban industrial centers that are facing the same problems not only in Michigan but all across America.

Category: Detroit, Michigan

Can't Ask For Anything Better!

The best thing that could happen to Detroit is for it to go bankrupt and/or fall into receivership.

An emergency financial manager being appointed to take over that city's finances would be the best thing for Detroit. The results of what would be found out is the best that even Mr. "One-term" could ask for.

That'll get him off the hook for being so far out of his element and by the time 2013 rolls around, maybe a true warrior with leadership potential and skills will step up to the plate and give it a try at running Detroit.

The real victims in all of this are the folks that have tried to do the right thing as citizens of Detroit. By being surrounded by so many yes men and women that fear doing the right thing, you have a city on the peril of diaster.

Bankruptcy or receivership; you can't ask for anything better for Detroit at this point.