[Gautham Nagesh]
Greetings folks, it's an honor to be part of the team for the week. I spend my days covering federal technology for Nextgov and have also written for National Journal. My main interests are sports, government waste, fried foods and anything involving my home state of Michigan.
One note on Neil's post: I actually interviewed for a job with Vibe when I was in college, where I was asked to name my three favorite rap albums of all time. At the time I replied Ready to Die, Aquemini and Midnight Marauders. Apparently that was not the right answer, because the interviewer did a double take and I didn't get the job.
My topic for today is the ongoing train wreck that is soon-to-be-former Detroit City Council member Monica Conyers. Conyers announced her resignation from office this week after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery in a scandal over a city sludge-hauling contract. If that makes her sounds like a character from The Wire, then you've got a pretty good idea of what kind of politician Conyers has proven to be. From the Detroit News:
Conyers faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine after pleading guilty Friday in federal court to allegations she sold her vote on a $1.2 billion sludge hauling contract to Synagro Technologies Inc. for a pair of $3,000 bribes. Federal officials say no other council members will face charges in the 2007deal.
The News was also kind enough to put together a brief highlight reel of some of Conyers' most memorable public mishaps:
Yes, that's the same Congressman Conyers who chairs the House Judiciary Committee. John Conyers is now facing scrutiny himself after his wife's former aide and political consultant Sam Riddle told the Detroit Free Press on Monday about a letter Rep. Conyers sent in 2007 to the EPA in support of an effort by Detroit businessman Jim Papas to build a hazardous waste injection well in his district. Conyers had previously opposed the well publicly in 2003 and 2004 citing environmental concerns, but that was before Papas indirectly contributed $10,000 to Monica Conyers.Conyers, the wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, made headlines even before taking office when she allegedly got into a fight during a birthday party and slugged a woman. No one was charged in the incident.
During her tenure, Monica Conyers put an aunt and her son on city payroll, used city police to escort her to Atlanta and Florida, had police officers chauffeur her children to private school in Oakland County and had spats with colleagues, including an infamous one with Kenneth Cockrel that ended with her calling him "Shrek."
It seems unlikely that John Conyers will meet the same fate as his wife, mostly because it's hard to believe even if he did play some role in her dealings that he would be similarly cavalier about the possibility of getting caught. The Synagro case has been going on for over a year and yet during that period of time Monica Conyers has done nothing but draw attention to herself by causing controversies on the City Council and fiercely attacking her many opponents.
She even launched her own show on local television, "Ask the Councilwoman", where she takes calls from her supporters and admonishes her critics. I've been watching the show on YouTube whenever possible and I have to say my favorite episode was June 9, when she interviewed Princeton University professor Cornel West and dissed Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor as too conservative and unaccomplished. Conyers graduated from the University of the District of Columbia's law school but has reportedly failed the bar exam four times and does not practice law.
Now that she's facing three to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, here's hoping voters have seen the last of Conyers, who hinted at a mayoral run even as the prosecutors circled closer. Her name will remain on the ballot in the August 4th primary for the Detroit City Council, where it will hopefully serve as a warning to others seeking to enrich themselves on the city's dime.
After spending the last couple years embroiled in the saga of disgraced former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (whose mother Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick is also a Congresswoman and under investigation by the House Ethics Committee), the city deserves leaders interested in something besides lining their own pockets. Another Council member, Motown singer Martha Reeves referred to the Council as her "second job" in an interview with the BBC this week. Hopefully this fall's elections will produce some candidates more interested in fixing the city than dancing in the streets.
Update: Commenter Erik Love provides a link to this classic Monica Conyers moment, where she loses a debate to an elementary school student. It starts with bonus footage of the infamous meeting where she dubbed Council President Ken Cockrel "Shrek":
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
This reminds me of Boston's own Diane Wilkerson! She sounds a lot like Conyers, but she is bribed at a much lower rate. She was the first African American member of the Massachusetts State Senate but lost her license to practice law and was under house arrest after failing to pay over $50,000 in federal income taxes, she failed to report being paid as a consultant for a bank she lobbied for, she lied under oath during her nephew's request for a new trial after a manslaughter conviction and in other cases as well, and the FBI caught her on tape stuffing hundred dollar bills into her bra, v. sexy, she got $23,500 in bribes total. Diane also loves not paying her condo fees and hiring family members. Here's a plus, she was for gay marriage.
Thanks for this post. Conyers is trifling, and I'm glad we're rid of her. Tired of Black politicians selling out the Black Community for PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR.
you mean like obama is doing on a national level?
Ok I'll bite: What on earth are you talking about?
just my personal opinion, of course, but i see obama essentially selling out, not only the black community, but all those folks who provided him with base support.
he's getting more than pennies on the dollar, but the dynamic is the same: benefiting himself while tossing the concerns of his base supporters under the bus.
would be glad to provide specifics, but i really don't want to hijack the thread and get off into a discussion of obama and his policies.
i just thought that the comment about conyers - while appropriate, imho - was also deliciously ironic, considering our prez.
btw, i don't mean that obama is taking illegal bribes. but, unfortunately, our current political system essentially allows for legalized bribery, and any politician is going to have to swim in those waters. some emerge less soiled than some, but they all get wet and dirty.
Ah okay, frankie d. i get you now. i thought you were saying that obama was selling out black people on a national level---whatever that even means.
I'd like examples, frankied. Just wondering if we're on the same thought pattern.
well, one example is pretty clear.
recently, obama's justice department argued in favor of the policy which was ultimately upheld by the supreme court where states are allowed to deny defendants the ability to demand dna tests.
this is shameful.
obama, as an illinois resident, should be particularly sensitive to this issue, as the issue has been an extremely hot topic there for years. in fact, the former governor suspended implementation of the death penalty because of the outrageous numbers of cases where innocent men - who were on death row - were found to be innocent of crimes, largely because of dna testing.
this pattern, where defendants are convicted based on eyewitness testimony, without physical evidence, where dna evidence may exonerate the defendant, hits african-americans particularly hard. it is no coincidence that the large majority of those released when dna proves their innocence have been african-americans.
clearly, obama is trying to shore up his tough guy, crime-fighter image by supporting a hardline criminal justice stance. unfortunately, hundreds, maybe thousands of defendants are going to be denied their ability to present evidence that might prove their innocence.
this is shameful.
but typical of what obama is doing on any number of fronts, in order to secure his re-election.
there is also hie stance on "dont ask, dont tell" where he is specifically turning his back on a campaign promise.
there is his "evolved" position on individual mandates in health care reform, where he now indicates that he will support mandates. when he specifically campaigned against them. i'm sure the health care industry will be very happy to have a law on the books that guarantees them an entire new group of customers: those now mandated by law to buy their products.
a public option for health care? obama has said specifically that he is open to other options, after promising that he would support a public option. i don't see how any rational observer can take his recent comments to mean anything other than the fact that he is willing to give this crucial component up.
again, i'm sure the health insurance lobby understands and appreciates the fact that he is being so flexible.
the stimulus package has been a gift to the exact financial industry players who got us into this mess in the first place, and taxpayers will bear the tab. but i'm sure the guys on wall street appreciate that he's dumping tons of cash on their doorsteps without really asking for fundamental reforms that would solve the problems but endanger their support.
i could go on and on, but i think the examples i've presented are pretty clear instances where obama has been selling out the folks who supported him, in order to bolster his political fortunes.
btw, when i said the "stimulus package" had been a boon to the financial industry, i actually meant the "tarp" program and the new financial and credit industry regulations.
i was simply lazy, lumping everything under that stimulus package umbrella.
FrankieD,
Either I or my fellow bloggers have written something on your list over at JJP.
So, I understand.
jjp?
FrankieD,
Jack and Jill Politics.
Looks like she's emulating Robert DeNiro's character in Casino with that local access TV show of hers. What a joke.
> for a pair of $3,000 bribes
I've got no insight on Conyers' case, but it's always astonished me how small the amounts are that some pols (of all colors, rikyrah) are willing to risk it all for. Three grand here, a remodeled kitchen there -- it's just astonishing. It's not that I expect them to be above temptation, but surely they'd at least sell themselves out for some serious money.
I can't find it anywhere, but I remember seeing a survey of the items held as evidence in the Ted Stevens trial. One of the items was a bit of cheesy dolphin sculpture that he kept on the deck, if I recall. I wonder if he looks at that and thinks to himself "I gave it all up for this piece o crap?"
It was a fish statue.
I imagine once you go down that road, you just seeing it as part of your income. If you asked someone if they'd sell out for $3,000, most people would say no, but if you've already sold out I bet the price drops.
Just a thought, The Madness of Monica Conyers? Does that seem like a bit much on the hyperbole? When she starts giving horses jobs instead of family members or chasing ghosts around her castle maybe I`ll be convinced.
HAHA - Nagesh was right. Monica is looney toons!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiogXT9xZBQ
Part of me will miss her though. Such a character.
Fair point LCrawfty. Perhaps "The Audacity of Monica Conyers" would have been a better title.
Yes! I like that. I`d love everyone to make their fav. New York Post headlines for this woman.
"Party POWel! Conyers delivers birthday beatdown"
Nah, 'audacity' has positive connotations with 44, it'd be gracious to let him hold sway on that word for a little longer.
May I suggest 'Shitbaggery'?
Both titles fit perfectly. Anyone watching Monica's shenanigans through the years has no doubt that she has total disregard for everyone and everything around her, not to mention serious mental issues.
Hopefully she is the last person voted into office in Detroit based solely upon name recognition. It's time folks in the D started having requirements, standards and accountability for their politicians instead of just pulling the lever next to the name they recognize. I hope that folks finally see that a familiar last name like Kilpatrick or Conyers is not a skill and won't help pull the city out of the quagmire it's in.
while conyers is obvious and deserves condemnation, i'd like to see someone report on members of the congressional black caucus who are getting substantial campaign donations from large multinationals and then voting in ways that are obviously contrary to the interests of their african-american constituents.
a guy like albert wynn, who was recently defeated by donna edwards, was not unique. there are plenty of other albert wynns out there who fly under the radar while providing crucial support for horrible legislation.
imho, they figured out that it could be a lot cheaper to buy off a huge chunk of the congressional black caucus, and depend on their ability to trade on their name to get continued support from their voters.
guys like wynn do as much, or more, damage to the community as admitted criminals like conyers.
I'd like this too. One of the reasons I donated to Donna Edwards twice. I'd like to see a primary challenge to all members of the CBC.
the mayor of Memphis has just retired to run for congress and if he gets there before the FBI can finally get a case to stick to him he will be something to watch:
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/herenton/
This story reminded me of Sheila Dixon. I don't know which one is worse.
There are a few references to members of the CBC and black politicians here. Clearly, Conyers fits a sort of black politician stereotype typified by the Clay Davis character on the Wire. But it raises some questions, because clearly black politicians don't have a monopoly on this type of corrupt politics.
So...what makes this type of corruption--which folks on this thread, including myself, associate with black pols--distinct? IMO, it has to do something with selling oneself for cash. And there are plenty of wealthy pols, most of whom are white, who would scoff at a bribe of 3 grand.
The other thing is that it has to do with the communities they represent, which are perhaps more vulnerable to this particular type of corruption. I'm thinking there is a lot of similarity between the Clay Davis character and the stereotypical predatory storefront preacher, so what makes the latter possible may make the former possible as well.
i don't watch the wire - or any tv series for that matter - so i don't get that reference.
but one dynamic makes it easier for black politicians to do dirt and get away with it.
black voters have good reason to suspect law enforcement officials who target black politicians. there is a long tradition of persecution of famous black folks, and that tradition has extended to political figures.
there is also the feeling that black officials might be entrapped or simply targeted and prosecuted for things that white politicians do routinely.
or at least, that is the belief in black communities.
so black folks are typically suspicious when someone who has been a public figure is suddenly made out to be a crook who's been on the take. lots of folks believe that their pols might simply be a good guy who did something a bit wayward, but who is simply being targeted because of his race. and also because he might be particularly effective.
while that attitude certainly indicates a certain kind of paranoia, there is still a basis in fact for the belief.
The best Monica Conyers moment, ever, was when she debated some school children about her behavior as a councilwoman... and lost.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TvgtGlcdTE
Bonus: this Detroit News-produced clip starts by replaying the infamous "Shrek" incident.
as a native detroiter who also worked within the city's government for a while, i can identify one of the problems that was obvious from that "shrek" clip.
detroit is truly a small town in a sense. the city's political community is small and incestuous. everyone knows everyone else and everyone's business becomes public and common knowledge. eventually.
that kind of intimate knowledge contributes to the scene between cockrel and conyers.
(one thing that lots of non-detroiters don't know is that cockrel is the son of a legendary detroit civil rights attorney and a long-time council member, and i am certain that conyers' husband - and therefor monica, by virtue of that tie - has lots of info about cockrel and his family. good and bad.
it also helps contribute to the attitude that the city - and its resources - is simply a piggy bank or something that can be used for one's benefit. if you and your relatives and friends are all part of the power structure, what's a little bit of graft between friends?
Monica Conyers IS Detroit. The deep corruption and criminal mismanagement of the city did not begin, nor will it end with her arrest. Detroit (the city, not the surrounding metro area) has a functional literacy level hovering in the 30% range and an unemployment level that has been in the mid 20% range for years. It is beyond repair without drastic action. I think Detroit should be declared a disaster area and a new federal bureau should seize control over every aspect of the city government. Seriously. It's too far gone to be dealt with on a local level.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6WKMNmFsxM
This video is taken from all over the city, not just a concentrated "bad" neighborhood or section like in other metros. Compton, Newark, please......Detroit is far worse. Notice all of the open land. This used to be dense housing, but the Devils Night and Halloween fires detroyed the buildings long ago.
Monica Conyers is not representative of Detroit. Not everyone in Detroit is "ghetto." The reason for the city's decline is NOT the incompetence of its residents. Detroit is the poster child of de-industrialization. In other words, all the jobs were shipped oversees and we were forced to make do.
And the video . . . OK fair enough. Much of the city is a vast slum. But it isn't fair just to show the bad parts. There ARE pockets of civilization in Detroit. This city is actually very vibrant and cosmopolitan, with lots of amazing cultural opportunities. There are many educated intelligent people who live here: artists, doctors, dancers, and lawyers.
Sorry to get defensive, but Detroiters get touchy about our reputation. We get sick of being the butt of jokes - "the armpit of America" - and so on.
So if you watched that awful video, please please read this article to get another perspective of Detroit.
http://tinyurl.com/mvvk5d
So true about Detroit. The scene downtown is fantastic. Such nice and friendly people, great local places, bars with history and character, vibrant clubs and music scene, and some of the best art deco to be found anywhere. Everyone I know who has actually spent time downtown with someone who knows the scene comes away changed, with a completely different view on things.
Of course, what most people think of Detroit has truth, too. The nice areas are islands amid 140 sq. miles of desolation and urban sprawl. And that is the toughest thing to deal with - the large areas where there are a couple inhabited houses amid a hundred burned out shells, a problem that will never get solved without competent leadership.
I have never understood why the majority of Detroiters consistently elect such terrible leaders. It's not like good people get into office and then are corrupted; Kwame and Conyers were well known as dirty before election, and continued to get re-elected even after their misdeeds were made public. And Carolyn Kilpatrick is generally recognized as one of the two or three most incompetent members of congress, but still gets elected over and over again.
I'm glad you've got pride in Detroit, I too want it to come back into the fold of great cities. However as it stands, Detroit is too far gone to take half measures. We both know that Detroit's problems do not stem wholly from jobs being shipped overseas. The majority of the Big Three's more advanced factories reside in the suburbs, not in Mexico or China. These easily could have been built in place of the old Packard Plant or any number of Brownfield areas that blight Detroit, but they weren't due to years of suburban/Detroit fighting (which still has not abated ex. Cobo, the Zoo, regionalism as a whole). Detroit died because of city mismanagement, corruption, and politicians playing on racial tension (both real and imaginary) in order to stay in power. Remember Mayor Archer and the "not black enough" junk he had to deal with from McPhail and her ilk?
Again, I too want the city to rise again, but a cosmopolitan place, it is not. Cosmopolitan cities do not have drop out rates of 75%, crippling crime rates and massive slums surrounding a few blocks of nice homes. Sure, Boston Edison, Indian Village, and the lofts downtown are nice, but for every one of those neighborhoods, you have 10 others that are in complete and utter turmoil. Most educated professionals live in the burbs, like Grosse Pointe, St Clair Shores or Royal Oak, not Detroit.
Any honest dialogue about the city would have to lay part of the blame on the residents. Mowing your lawn, shoveling your walks, and basic home upkeep should not be a poor/rich divide. I know, the argument can be made that years of living in squalor depresses people and their home is a window into their sorrow but this is exactly why Detroit is too far gone for baby steps. Also, voting for the same corruption year after year after year is not the fault of GM or Ford.
Microsoft, Boeing, Intel and Pfizer could relocate to Detroit, and they would have to do the majority of their hiring from the suburbs. If you think about that honestly, you know it to be true.
Detroit is like an alcoholic, it needs to really hit bottom and say "We can't do it alone, please help." Generations of people have essentially been born into a failed city. For a large portion of the residents, hope for a future is crushed their first day of Detroit Public School. This is a civil rights issue that needs to be rectified on a large scale public level.
By the way, Buddy's is great.
Rog-
I agree with pretty much everything you said. This city is a bewildering place, and I can only love it like the bastard stepchild it is. I have invested a lot into this community, so its hard to watch it go. Like the woman in the NY Post article, I have stopped worrying about where this city is going and I have just decided to make the best of it.
Although I am glad I can escape to the suburbs every once and awhile, I'm afraid the blight is creeping further and further north. Have you been to 16 mile in Troy lately? So many buildings are empty and starting to fall apart . . . and this is in Troy!
I don't know what the next step is. Bing is promising but the Detroit is probably beyond repair. State takeovers have been discussed before, but that's like the blind leading the blind. You
should read this article (also by Charlie Leduff, who is awesome).
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Off Woodward, life hits a dead end
Charlie LeDuff / The Detroit News
http://detnews.com/article/20090514/METRO08/905140408/-1/ARCHIVE
Detroit -- If you are feeling confused or overwhelmed by the circumstances of our times, if you need a place to consider where we've been and where we are, make a drive to West Robinwood Street.
It is a haunted, damnable portrait of what we've become. The neighborhood is a burned-down ghost town of 56 raped and looted houses east of Woodward and north of McNichols. It is empty save for five elderly families and a middle-age couple who live near Woodward and refuse to open their doors.
Ironically, the neighborhood is just a chip shot from the elegant Palmer Park Golf Course and a one-stop bus ride to the grave of Rosa Parks. Robinwood is located along the stretch of Woodward that in 1909 became the first mile of concrete roadway in America. That was exactly 100 years ago.
The people of the Detroit Metropolitan region got a glimpse of the ruined block a few months ago when the police convened a press conference from the blood-stained porch of 654 Robinwood claiming they had rounded up 61 outlaws including the killer who assassinated the dope man at that address in broad daylight.
And then like quicksilver, the police and the press slipped away.
The six families remain. Trapped.
"Do I live in Hell? Yes I do and no I don't," said Jerry Williams, who lives at 666 Robinwood and spoke through a steel gate dressed in a bathrobe and dirty socks. "It would be Hell if I was dead, but I ain't. So that just makes the place ugly. The most ugly thing that human beings can create."
As you might guess, Williams used to work in an auto factory. And Williams got laid off. The rest of the neighborhood had little luck either. The neighbors to Williams' left were evicted and, three days later, somebody firebombed the house. The flames ruined Williams' car -- a Chrysler.
The dead dope man used to live to the right of Williams. To the right of the dope man's house lives Fatimah Muhammad, the only other house occupied on the north side of that block of Robinwood Street.
She bought the place for $60,000 eight years ago and can't get out unless she walked away from the mortgage. She figures she couldn't get $5,000 for the place. That doesn't stop the criminals from getting in. Last week, in broad daylight, three men forced their way into her house. One held her at gunpoint in her bathtub, while the other two managed to steal some sneakers. The police never took fingerprints, she said.
"I'm tired, I'm spent, I'm scared," Muhammad said. "And I'm stuck. Who would want to buy this house?"
Robinwood was an integrated and well-kept block just five years ago, the remnant people say. And then it was gone in the blink of an eye. It started at the east end of the block when a house was rented to 5 adults and 20 children. More families moved out. More renters moved in. The radios started. The brown bags. The gangs of young men. The gunshots. The dope houses. The fires. The insurance checks.
Durene L. Brown is the ombudsman for the city of Detroit. She has the endless and unenviable job of fielding complaints from city residents and the occasional question from reporters. She asked to see Robinwood Street, wondering if it was truly the worst in Detroit.
"Insanity," she said as she drove through and stopped to talk to Muhammad. The problems here are deep, Brown said. The last audit of the city's Demolition Division was conducted 15 years ago. Moreover, the city was granted $23 million in federal funds last year to tear down neighborhoods like this, but the City Council voted to give $9 million of that money to local ministers for neighborhood block programs. "Blight like this is caused by greed and ineptitude," Brown said. "If something doesn't change, this is coming to a neighborhood near you, and that includes the suburbs."
Places like Robinwood are the epitome of Dave Bing's problem. The newly elected mayor says he wants to knock down shoals of squalor and relocate the remaining people to clean and coherent neighborhoods. But where would this money come from? Detroit is a city with tens of thousands of rotting houses and factories. Nobody knows exactly how many because nobody has ever bothered to count. And Robinwood is located on the city's main thoroughfare.
Lilacs and hibiscus still grow in this ghetto. But so does the malignancy. There were gunshots in the alley two Mondays ago. Three Mondays ago, someone packed the side yard of 598 Robinwood with old tires as high as the window sills. This past Monday, two teenagers found a dead fighting dog stuffed in a box. On Tuesday, Brad Edwards of Detroit's Fox 2 News reported that an 81-year-old shut-in -- Marabel, of 461 Robinwood -- died the morning after Christmas and went undiscovered for days. Her body remains unclaimed at the county morgue.
On Monday, a police cruiser rolled through.
"I've never seen a place like this," said the white cop.
"Vietnam," said the black cop.
"Hard to believe this is America, but it is," said the white cop.
And with that, they were off.
Travels with Charlie charlie@detnews.com (313) 222-2071
Good article. I think a federal rather than state takeover of Detroit would the only way for recovery. Ideally, a new dept should be established, called something like The Federal Urban Blight Taskforce. The program would essentially focus on one or two cities at a time and gradually cycle through 5 steps.
1. Identify all blight stricken neighborhoods within the city limits. Offer all of these homeowners 50-70 thousand dollars for their houses. In addition, offer an additional 30,000 to every Detroiter 18 or over. However this money comes with strings. In order to receive this money, one would have to move from the city and show proof of employment or school within 6-8 months of leaving. Also, any debt owed to the city or state (taxes, tickets, etc) would be wiped from the record. This is a necessary step in order to a) disburse the entrenched poverty
b) allow for massive redevelopment and c) give people a once in a lifetime financial opportunity for a new start. Small businesses would be offered either a buyout, or financial help during the transition.
2. Once many neighborhoods are essentially clear, the taskforce would move forward with an aggressive plan to redevelop the space using the "Urban Village Model" proposed a few years ago. The city would become 6-8 very large neighborhoods surrounding by woods, fields, hiking/biking trails, and interconnected by corridors. Downtown would be the hub neighborhood.
3. The Taskforce would sell off home redevelpment rights to various metro Detroit companies. These companies would get an upfront fee and a percent of the eventual resale price of the homes. These houses would would be brought up to date and any issues would be addressed. These companies would also be in charge of demolition and material removal of any abandoned homes or any that cannot be renovated.
4. During the years of redevelopment, 10 year tax free zones (federal and state, not city) would be established citywide. New businesses would be assisted with money for building renovation and relocation cost, and any new foreign companies would gain access to streamlined immigration.
5. Finally, the taskforce would sell the renovated homes/buidings. A market value (probably much higher than before the redevelopment, but lower than comparable cities) would be established and homes would be sold on the conditions that a) the owner has to be the primary resident for x number of years, and b)they follow the new city charter. With luck, the new home sales would pay back the federal taskforce for much of the redevelpment.
Nice plan... but I worked for HUD. I know how the feds work. There will be a form filed in triplicate for every structure demolished and 400 fucking lawyers running around making sure nothing goes as planned.
Anyway check out the new Eminem video... its set in the train station. Too bad they wanna knock that down too... beautiful building.
http://perezhilton.com/2009-07-02-new-feminem-4
Some interesting points you make but I need to challenge what you’re intimating surrounding the racial politics of the region. I mean, Coleman Young hasn't been mayor for over 15 years, and Dennis Archer was elected twice, by comfortable margins, and would have easily won a third term if he desired. (He thought Al Gore would win the white house in 2000 and he'd get a plum spot to help position him for something larger.)
Archer handily defeated McPhail in his second election, so this notion that Detroiters will only elect candidates that prop the black power fist is not a fully developed analysis of the black electorate in Detroit. Dave Bing, what a black power radical he is, easily won the replacement election and has employed Freeman Hendrix in his administration.
The same Freeman Hendrix that lost to Kwame Kilpatrick in a very close election in 2005. What this tells me is that the people of Detroit are not being moved as easily by the racial rhetoric that the McPhail’s and Kilpatrick’s have used in the past. Curious that you haven't touched on that, or what those electoral decisions communicate to the region. I suspect you have a blind spot in that regards.
It’s very straw mannish to keep pushing this narrative that if only the blacks in Detroit had better attitudes then Detroit and the region wouldn't have the severity of racial or economic tensions.
And right now I’m thinking of black professionals I know who have dealt with the racial bullshit when trying to move into the Pointes or the more upscale parts of Rochester, etc. but maybe they should just stay in Detroit, if Detroit were a world class city there would be no need for those black professionals to try and move out the burbs right? (Who cares that you work at St. John’s Moross and Grosse Pointe is closer for the commute than Rosedale Park).
If that’s the framework of your argument, not saying it is, but if that’s where this is going you need to acknowledge the patronizing spirit this idea is conceived in and how it contributes to the issues the region has.
And if you live in the region and are honest, you know that the racial tensions, and economic decline, predate Coleman Young and the political ascendancy of blacks in Detroit.
You’re absolutely correct that regional government is the only way to make Detroit as functional as it should be. But there are too many stakeholders in the tri county area that currently benefit from a non-regional approach to governing. LOL, Ficano is the first obstacle you’d have to get past, and while Patterson’s rhetoric appears more agreeable in regards to cooperation, pro business environment, he has a habit of bailing when it’s time for the rubber to meet the road.
I think you are making a lot of defensive assumptions based on a sentence or two. Are you on the Conyers staff by any chance?
In addition, I think the default defensive stance you seem to have taken is exactly why the "racial tension card" seems to work (on both sides of 8 mile) time and time again. You read my post and your reaction is "its against black people" until proven otherwise.
By the way, regarding Mayor Archer, you must be forgetting the nasty recall campaign.
Well, you open with Monica Conyers IS Detroit. Not Ben Carson but Monica Conyers, now you clutch pearls. Not serious.
That recall campaign went no where, was an ebarassment to the organiziers. Detroit citizens elected him twice, would have done so a third time. And the pro business Bing is hardly defensive or reactionary or a player of racial politics and he's mayor. Will be mayor as long as he wants, unsure how effective he will be. But clearly the electorate is tiring of the Conyers type figure. Frankly, I think you caricature the electorate with that Monica Conyers is Detroit stuff.
Unreal. As a teacher of six years myself, I find myself nauseated by the way she answered that question. Teachers tell kids every day not to call names. Then she explains herself by saying that it's all right to call people names because she got frustrated? Unreal.
Welcome to the D baby!!
Kierra Bell, the 8th grader in that clip who schooled Conyers, should be appointed to replace Conyers on the City Council -- bring a little class and intelligence to that seat.