Original Story: woodtv.com
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (AP) — A settlement over a 2010 oil spill in southwestern Michigan is worth $6.25 million, not $6.75 million as lawyers reported earlier in December.
A new filing has been made in Grand Rapids federal court. Judge Gordon Quist still must approve the deal between a Canadian company and residents and land owners near the Kalamazoo River. A Tulsa Oil and Gas Lawyer is reviewing the details of this case.
The size of payments will depend on proximity to the water.
A pipeline leak spewed more than 800,000 gallons of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River and Talmadge Creek. The pipeline belongs to Enbridge Inc., based in Calgary, Alberta.
Enbridge has agreed to donate $150,000 to local groups committed to environmental conservation, such as the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council and the Calhoun Conservation District. A Texas Energy Lawyer is experienced in representing clients involved in energy disputes.
The company has estimated cleanup costs to be about $1.2 billion, including $227 million on environmental consultants.
29 December 2014
EATERIES MAKE PATIOS A WINTER DINING HOT SPOT
Original Story: detroitnews.com
Restaurant manager Rose Drys knows the look: the doubting, skeptical faces of customers offered a seat on the patio when it's as cold as ice cream outside.
"When we ask, 'Inside or out?' they look like, 'Yeah, right, I want to sit outside,' " says Drys, who runs Stella's Black Dog Tavern in downtown Plymouth.
"Sometimes it takes convincing to get people to believe they won't be cold. Once they sit out there and see how nice it feels, how nice everything looks outside in wintertime, they don't want to sit anywhere else." Enclosure Guy offers outdoor patio enclosures and plastic curtains for your business.
Stella's began investing in a year-round patio about two years ago by adding a heater and glass door walls that go up when temps comes down. The warming features were stepped up last year with thick warm chair cushions that are used only in cold weather. Rugs were also rolled out. And on Nov. 20, a fireplace went in. It will be removed come summer.
Stella's is among Metro Detroit eateries that have decided to keep outdoor eating areas open year-round, and they are finding that winter patios are good for the customer experience and for their business bottom line.
For customers, it's a way to enjoy the sights of winter — skies, snowflakes and snow-trimmed trees, bundled-up pedestrians, street and twinkling lights — without feeling chilled. For business owners, it preserves precious seating, which can be cut by as much as half when outdoor tables go into winter storage. Put your outdoor seating to good use with an Enclosure Guy outdoor patio enclosure.
As customers warm up to winterized dining rooms, restaurant owners, managers and chefs are seeing requests for outdoor seating are just as hot in the fall and winter as in summer and spring.
The fireplace and patio at Local Kitchen is a favorite spot for the Hughes family of Royal Oak. If they can't get a seat at the interior patio, nearest the fireplace, they go to the exterior patio.
"It very cozy and homey," says dad Brian Hughes. "The fireplace can get a little smoky sometimes, but it's like sitting around a campfire, the smell, the warmth. It's nice."
While fire pits and outdoor heaters are nothing new, the latest version brings more warming features. There are transparent, opaque and white plastic tents that can attach to the ground and keep the cold air out. There are personal heaters and dedicated room heaters as well as removable glass walls and permanent fireplaces. And building renovations can ensure that patios are protected from the elements.
At Social Kitchen & Bar in Birmingham, the patio, or The Via, is the place to be for many customers, says general manager Michael Gray. "People don't mind waiting for a table in The Via."
The Via is on the side of the building, just off the restaurant's main dining space, and looks onto the street. It's divided by glass partitions so people can see into the restaurant and covered with a tent/canopy that zips up to keep the wind out.
Above each table are electric heaters "that are extremely effective," and each is on its own individual breaker. The room has its own standard thermostat as well, Gray says.
"We actually get requests to sit out there no matter how cold it is outside," Gray says. "The perspective there is different. The people watching, the sights outside. … It's built-in entertainment."
The Via seats 48 and up to 60, if necessary. The space is popular as a rental for group gatherings, as is the case with other restaurants' outdoor patios.
"I think this is the trend. You never want to shrink dining space," Gray says.
Down the street, Café Via — a separate business — manages to maintain an outdoor patio that is warm and unusually elegant all year long. Several restaurants in Birmingham — The Bird & The Bread, Market and others — offer al fresco dining.
Red Crown in Grosse Pointe Park has enclosed its patio with a tent and uses large space heaters, as does Da Eduardo in Grosse Pointe Woods. Morning Glory in Grosse Pointe Farms adds a floor-to-ceiling glass wall each year to fully enclose its small patio. And when Bacco Ristorante in Southfield remodeled its patio, it added heaters and an insulated enclosure.
When the owners of Local Kitchen & Bar in Ferndale took over a restaurant space at 344 W. Nine Mile for renovations in 2012 "it was a prerequisite that we have a larger patio that be used any season," says developer and executive chef Rich Halberg.
The patio was changed to run the length of the building and made large enough to seat 100-120. It's divided into three sections moving in from the restaurant outward, from least exposed to most exposed. There is a fireplace between the indoor and outdoor spaces and clear plastic walls that can roll up and down.
Last year they decided to secure the walls to the ground to protect the tables from the cold, and the outdoor patio, which seats about 50, also has a warm air blowing furnace, says Halberg. It's well worth the investment, he says.
"The feeling of being indoors for winter, for our long winters, can make you feel claustrophobic," he says. "This lets people be able to sit outside and enjoy the outdoors. Plus, it gives us the space we absolutely have to have all year long."
Restaurant manager Rose Drys knows the look: the doubting, skeptical faces of customers offered a seat on the patio when it's as cold as ice cream outside.
"When we ask, 'Inside or out?' they look like, 'Yeah, right, I want to sit outside,' " says Drys, who runs Stella's Black Dog Tavern in downtown Plymouth.
"Sometimes it takes convincing to get people to believe they won't be cold. Once they sit out there and see how nice it feels, how nice everything looks outside in wintertime, they don't want to sit anywhere else." Enclosure Guy offers outdoor patio enclosures and plastic curtains for your business.
Stella's began investing in a year-round patio about two years ago by adding a heater and glass door walls that go up when temps comes down. The warming features were stepped up last year with thick warm chair cushions that are used only in cold weather. Rugs were also rolled out. And on Nov. 20, a fireplace went in. It will be removed come summer.
Stella's is among Metro Detroit eateries that have decided to keep outdoor eating areas open year-round, and they are finding that winter patios are good for the customer experience and for their business bottom line.
For customers, it's a way to enjoy the sights of winter — skies, snowflakes and snow-trimmed trees, bundled-up pedestrians, street and twinkling lights — without feeling chilled. For business owners, it preserves precious seating, which can be cut by as much as half when outdoor tables go into winter storage. Put your outdoor seating to good use with an Enclosure Guy outdoor patio enclosure.
As customers warm up to winterized dining rooms, restaurant owners, managers and chefs are seeing requests for outdoor seating are just as hot in the fall and winter as in summer and spring.
The fireplace and patio at Local Kitchen is a favorite spot for the Hughes family of Royal Oak. If they can't get a seat at the interior patio, nearest the fireplace, they go to the exterior patio.
"It very cozy and homey," says dad Brian Hughes. "The fireplace can get a little smoky sometimes, but it's like sitting around a campfire, the smell, the warmth. It's nice."
While fire pits and outdoor heaters are nothing new, the latest version brings more warming features. There are transparent, opaque and white plastic tents that can attach to the ground and keep the cold air out. There are personal heaters and dedicated room heaters as well as removable glass walls and permanent fireplaces. And building renovations can ensure that patios are protected from the elements.
At Social Kitchen & Bar in Birmingham, the patio, or The Via, is the place to be for many customers, says general manager Michael Gray. "People don't mind waiting for a table in The Via."
The Via is on the side of the building, just off the restaurant's main dining space, and looks onto the street. It's divided by glass partitions so people can see into the restaurant and covered with a tent/canopy that zips up to keep the wind out.
Above each table are electric heaters "that are extremely effective," and each is on its own individual breaker. The room has its own standard thermostat as well, Gray says.
"We actually get requests to sit out there no matter how cold it is outside," Gray says. "The perspective there is different. The people watching, the sights outside. … It's built-in entertainment."
The Via seats 48 and up to 60, if necessary. The space is popular as a rental for group gatherings, as is the case with other restaurants' outdoor patios.
"I think this is the trend. You never want to shrink dining space," Gray says.
Down the street, Café Via — a separate business — manages to maintain an outdoor patio that is warm and unusually elegant all year long. Several restaurants in Birmingham — The Bird & The Bread, Market and others — offer al fresco dining.
Red Crown in Grosse Pointe Park has enclosed its patio with a tent and uses large space heaters, as does Da Eduardo in Grosse Pointe Woods. Morning Glory in Grosse Pointe Farms adds a floor-to-ceiling glass wall each year to fully enclose its small patio. And when Bacco Ristorante in Southfield remodeled its patio, it added heaters and an insulated enclosure.
When the owners of Local Kitchen & Bar in Ferndale took over a restaurant space at 344 W. Nine Mile for renovations in 2012 "it was a prerequisite that we have a larger patio that be used any season," says developer and executive chef Rich Halberg.
The patio was changed to run the length of the building and made large enough to seat 100-120. It's divided into three sections moving in from the restaurant outward, from least exposed to most exposed. There is a fireplace between the indoor and outdoor spaces and clear plastic walls that can roll up and down.
Last year they decided to secure the walls to the ground to protect the tables from the cold, and the outdoor patio, which seats about 50, also has a warm air blowing furnace, says Halberg. It's well worth the investment, he says.
"The feeling of being indoors for winter, for our long winters, can make you feel claustrophobic," he says. "This lets people be able to sit outside and enjoy the outdoors. Plus, it gives us the space we absolutely have to have all year long."
FRAUD INVESTIGATION INTO ACCUSED FAKE LANDLORD
Original Story: woodtv.com
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A Grand Rapids woman who tenants said pretended to be their landlord and collected rent but then ‘took our money and ran’ is now the focus of a criminal fraud investigation.
Cheryl Murphy told Target 8 last week that she didn’t know what she was going to do about a place to live. She said she and her husband had paid $1,400 to Amanda Straight to live with her in a house on Griswold Street SE through February.
What Murphy didn’t know when she handed over the money is that Straight doesn’t own that home. She was a tenant renting it. Murphy said Straight took her rent money but never paid the actual property owner. A Plymouth Landlord Tenant Lawyer has experience representing clients involved in eviction disputes.
The real landlord is in the process of evicting Straight, who has since moved to another house. It is at least the third eviction notice she has faced this year, but Straight has never shown up for a court date.
Murphy, her husband and another tenant are going to be thrown out of the house on Griswold, too. Murphy said they didn’t have anywhere to go and didn’t have the money to find a new place.
After Target 8’s story aired, Tamara Holmberg — who doesn’t know Murphy — decided she had to do something to help. She started a GoFundMe.com account.
“We were able to raise, after the fees and everything, $1,400,” Holmberg said.
Tuesday, she presented Murphy with that $1,400 in cash, which was collected from mostly anonymous donors. The money will be used to help Murphy and her husband find a new place to live.
“They didn’t have to do this. They don’t know us. They have their own families and people to take care of that are close to their hearts, and for them to reach out to us and our situation that we were placed in , it has been a really overwhelming experience,” Murphy said.
The Grand Rapids Police Department said it also learned about Straight’s alleged shady dealings from Target 8. After the story aired, police started getting calls from other victims. GRPD forwarded the case to the Metropolitan Fraud and Identity Theft Task Force for investigation. No charges had been filed against Straight as of Tuesday. A Birmingham Eviction Lawyer is reviewing the details of this case.
Sara Czachorski told Target 8 she was also ripped off by Straight. She lived with Straight at a house on Kalamazoo Avenue SE that she thought Straight owned. But she realized something was fishy.
“I knew things weren’t obviously OK. There were times where several people (would come to the house). She wouldn’t answer the door,” Czachorski said.
Straight kicked her out unexpectedly, she said.
“A couple of days later, we filed for small claims,” Czachorski said.
Czachorski told the judge that Straight owned her over $1,000 for an unreturned security deposit and cable and Internet service that was supposed to be included in Czachorski’s rent. Straight told her Czachorski’s name would have to appear on the bill and she would pay Sara.
“She said, ‘Well, they won’t let me get it in my name,'” Czachorski recalled. “She said she didn’t have good credit.”
Czachorski won a judgment against Straight when Straight, once again, did not show up to court. A Rochester Landlord Tenant Lawyer assist property owners in regaining possession of their land from tenants refusing to abide by the terms of their lease.
But she is being summoned there again. Murphy has also filed a small claims case for the rent Straight took from her. The case goes before a judge Jan. 7.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A Grand Rapids woman who tenants said pretended to be their landlord and collected rent but then ‘took our money and ran’ is now the focus of a criminal fraud investigation.
Cheryl Murphy told Target 8 last week that she didn’t know what she was going to do about a place to live. She said she and her husband had paid $1,400 to Amanda Straight to live with her in a house on Griswold Street SE through February.
What Murphy didn’t know when she handed over the money is that Straight doesn’t own that home. She was a tenant renting it. Murphy said Straight took her rent money but never paid the actual property owner. A Plymouth Landlord Tenant Lawyer has experience representing clients involved in eviction disputes.
The real landlord is in the process of evicting Straight, who has since moved to another house. It is at least the third eviction notice she has faced this year, but Straight has never shown up for a court date.
Murphy, her husband and another tenant are going to be thrown out of the house on Griswold, too. Murphy said they didn’t have anywhere to go and didn’t have the money to find a new place.
After Target 8’s story aired, Tamara Holmberg — who doesn’t know Murphy — decided she had to do something to help. She started a GoFundMe.com account.
“We were able to raise, after the fees and everything, $1,400,” Holmberg said.
Tuesday, she presented Murphy with that $1,400 in cash, which was collected from mostly anonymous donors. The money will be used to help Murphy and her husband find a new place to live.
“They didn’t have to do this. They don’t know us. They have their own families and people to take care of that are close to their hearts, and for them to reach out to us and our situation that we were placed in , it has been a really overwhelming experience,” Murphy said.
The Grand Rapids Police Department said it also learned about Straight’s alleged shady dealings from Target 8. After the story aired, police started getting calls from other victims. GRPD forwarded the case to the Metropolitan Fraud and Identity Theft Task Force for investigation. No charges had been filed against Straight as of Tuesday. A Birmingham Eviction Lawyer is reviewing the details of this case.
Sara Czachorski told Target 8 she was also ripped off by Straight. She lived with Straight at a house on Kalamazoo Avenue SE that she thought Straight owned. But she realized something was fishy.
“I knew things weren’t obviously OK. There were times where several people (would come to the house). She wouldn’t answer the door,” Czachorski said.
Straight kicked her out unexpectedly, she said.
“A couple of days later, we filed for small claims,” Czachorski said.
Czachorski told the judge that Straight owned her over $1,000 for an unreturned security deposit and cable and Internet service that was supposed to be included in Czachorski’s rent. Straight told her Czachorski’s name would have to appear on the bill and she would pay Sara.
“She said, ‘Well, they won’t let me get it in my name,'” Czachorski recalled. “She said she didn’t have good credit.”
Czachorski won a judgment against Straight when Straight, once again, did not show up to court. A Rochester Landlord Tenant Lawyer assist property owners in regaining possession of their land from tenants refusing to abide by the terms of their lease.
But she is being summoned there again. Murphy has also filed a small claims case for the rent Straight took from her. The case goes before a judge Jan. 7.
23 December 2014
CHEAPER OIL, FATTER WALLETS AND A NATIONAL OPPORTUNITY
Original Story: nytimes.com
Oil prices have plunged so rapidly that financial markets are treating them less as an opportunity than a danger, like a falling knife.
Currency rates are gyrating, oil-producing countries like Russia, Venezuela and Iran are hurting, and sectors of the bond market are threatened.
But unless you’re directly involved in the commodity markets, you may not be following the futures price of a barrel of oil. What hits home, especially if you drive a car with an internal combustion engine, is the price of gasoline: It has become spectacularly cheap.
Even in New York City, where gas prices are among the highest in the continental United States, drivers are beginning to smile. On average, a gallon of regular costs less than $3 within the city limits, according to the AAA.
And for the nation as a whole, average prices are staggeringly low, at least when compared with recent levels. On Friday, the average for a gallon of regular was $2.45, down sharply from the 2014 peak of $3.70, reached on April 8. While gas prices have been falling for months, most forecasters, including the federal government, say the end is not yet in sight. Windshield glass repair kits are affordable and easy to use.
Painful as this may be for wildcatters in North Dakota and Texas — as well as oil companies in Siberia, Latin America and the Persian Gulf — it’s an immediate boon for hard-pressed American consumers: We’ve got more money to spend, and, based on history, we’ll spend it.
The only big question is whether — during this particular energy cycle — we will devote some of the windfall to items with long-term benefits, like repair and redevelopment of our battered infrastructure and measures to conserve the environment.
But there is little doubt that low gas prices lead to extra spending across the economy. In fact, there are signs that some of that spending has already started.
“The magnitude of the gasoline price drop is profound,” said James D. Hamilton, professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego. “It is a significant boost to the spending power of most Americans. And the data shows that when Americans get this spending power, they go out and spend it.”
An intriguing AAA poll suggests that prices are already low enough to make a psychological difference. The poll, taken in March, found that $3.30 was the point at which half the driving population found that prices were fair.
At current levels, the average price of gasoline across the nation is 85 cents below that $3.30 fair-value level, and it has stayed under that threshold since the first week of October. What’s more, the AAA expects prices to drop as much as an additional 20 cents a gallon by New Year’s Day.
When gas prices break below a three-year trading range and then fall significantly lower, as they already have, people start to feel better about spending, Professor Hamilton said.
“When prices drop, that should stimulate demand, and I think that’s happening,” he said. The latest reports on retail sales, vehicle sales and consumer confidence have all been strong, he said, and “the fall in gas prices is a big part of it.” Auto glass chip repair kits allow you to perform professional repairs.
In 2015, the government predicts, these trends are likely to continue: Gas prices are expected to remain very low, helping to reduce gasoline costs for the average household by $550 for the year, bringing them down to $1,962.
That should have an effect on the entire domestic economy. Despite the surge in American production that has contributed to the glut in supply and the fall in prices, the United States remains a net oil-consuming nation. That’s why the overall effect of falling oil prices should be positive for the United States — and harmful for net-producing nations like Russia — although it is hard to calculate the actual numbers.
Julian Jessop, chief global economist at Capital Economics in London, made a stab at it with some back-of-the-envelope estimates. Based on full-year 2013 data from Capital Economics, a price decline of the dimensions we’ve already seen would cut six percentage points from the gross domestic product of Russia, a very severe blow.
For the United States, which is both a big producer and consumer of oil, some of the positives and negatives would balance out, resulting in a net addition of roughly one percentage point to annual G.D.P. The true number is debatable, but it’s clear that there will be a boost. And in a period like this, in which the economy has already picked up steam, it opens up some policy options.
Several factors have contributed to the price declines. An increase in oil production, especially in the United States, is part of the story, but so is a reduction in global demand.
“Outside the United States, much of the world’s economy has slowed down, and that’s had a big impact on global demand for oil,” said Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist at Northern Trust.
In addition, conservation efforts worldwide, including fuel-efficiency standards in the United States, have contributed to slackening demand and falling prices. We simply don’t burn as much energy as we did a few years ago to achieve the same amount of mileage, heat or manufacturing production.
But when prices drop, we run into a basic economic problem that could reverse some of these improvements in energy efficiency and conservation. With lower prices, demand rises and people consume more. Bargain gas prices induce people to hit the road. The AAA projects that during the year-end holiday period, people will drive 4 percent more than they did during the period last year. They also may be tempted to buy bigger, gas-guzzling vehicles. That’s happened before.
Certainly, if these trends continue as expected, fuel consumption will increase while the more expensive forms of oil production, now rendered less economical, will decline. With less supply and more demand, energy prices can be expected to rise again. We could be back, more or less, where we started.
That would be good for energy producers but not necessarily for anyone else. It’s why Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the International Energy Agency, has called on policy makers around the world to impose taxes on carbon emissions and cut incentives for fossil-fuel energy production. “In fact, this is a golden opportunity,” Ms. van der Hoeven said earlier this month. “Policy makers can take actions unthinkable a year ago.”
Professor Hamilton pointed out that a carbon tax of $25 a ton — which the Obama administration has advocated, but Congress has opposed — converts to less than the amount that oil and gas prices have already fallen. A carbon tax wouldn’t be painful right now, but it would provide an incentive for energy efficiency.
There’s another economically interesting option. The nation’s bridges, highways and mass transit systems are in dire need of a big infusion of capital — and a major source of such money, the national Highway Trust Fund, which relies on gasoline taxes for revenue, is nearly depleted.
The national gas tax, 18.4 cents a gallon, hasn’t increased since 1993. With falling gas prices, a tax increase would barely be noticeable at the pump. Such measures would make a great deal of economic sense, if politics didn’t get in the way.
Oil prices have plunged so rapidly that financial markets are treating them less as an opportunity than a danger, like a falling knife.
Currency rates are gyrating, oil-producing countries like Russia, Venezuela and Iran are hurting, and sectors of the bond market are threatened.
But unless you’re directly involved in the commodity markets, you may not be following the futures price of a barrel of oil. What hits home, especially if you drive a car with an internal combustion engine, is the price of gasoline: It has become spectacularly cheap.
Even in New York City, where gas prices are among the highest in the continental United States, drivers are beginning to smile. On average, a gallon of regular costs less than $3 within the city limits, according to the AAA.
And for the nation as a whole, average prices are staggeringly low, at least when compared with recent levels. On Friday, the average for a gallon of regular was $2.45, down sharply from the 2014 peak of $3.70, reached on April 8. While gas prices have been falling for months, most forecasters, including the federal government, say the end is not yet in sight. Windshield glass repair kits are affordable and easy to use.
Painful as this may be for wildcatters in North Dakota and Texas — as well as oil companies in Siberia, Latin America and the Persian Gulf — it’s an immediate boon for hard-pressed American consumers: We’ve got more money to spend, and, based on history, we’ll spend it.
The only big question is whether — during this particular energy cycle — we will devote some of the windfall to items with long-term benefits, like repair and redevelopment of our battered infrastructure and measures to conserve the environment.
But there is little doubt that low gas prices lead to extra spending across the economy. In fact, there are signs that some of that spending has already started.
“The magnitude of the gasoline price drop is profound,” said James D. Hamilton, professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego. “It is a significant boost to the spending power of most Americans. And the data shows that when Americans get this spending power, they go out and spend it.”
An intriguing AAA poll suggests that prices are already low enough to make a psychological difference. The poll, taken in March, found that $3.30 was the point at which half the driving population found that prices were fair.
At current levels, the average price of gasoline across the nation is 85 cents below that $3.30 fair-value level, and it has stayed under that threshold since the first week of October. What’s more, the AAA expects prices to drop as much as an additional 20 cents a gallon by New Year’s Day.
When gas prices break below a three-year trading range and then fall significantly lower, as they already have, people start to feel better about spending, Professor Hamilton said.
“When prices drop, that should stimulate demand, and I think that’s happening,” he said. The latest reports on retail sales, vehicle sales and consumer confidence have all been strong, he said, and “the fall in gas prices is a big part of it.” Auto glass chip repair kits allow you to perform professional repairs.
In 2015, the government predicts, these trends are likely to continue: Gas prices are expected to remain very low, helping to reduce gasoline costs for the average household by $550 for the year, bringing them down to $1,962.
That should have an effect on the entire domestic economy. Despite the surge in American production that has contributed to the glut in supply and the fall in prices, the United States remains a net oil-consuming nation. That’s why the overall effect of falling oil prices should be positive for the United States — and harmful for net-producing nations like Russia — although it is hard to calculate the actual numbers.
Julian Jessop, chief global economist at Capital Economics in London, made a stab at it with some back-of-the-envelope estimates. Based on full-year 2013 data from Capital Economics, a price decline of the dimensions we’ve already seen would cut six percentage points from the gross domestic product of Russia, a very severe blow.
For the United States, which is both a big producer and consumer of oil, some of the positives and negatives would balance out, resulting in a net addition of roughly one percentage point to annual G.D.P. The true number is debatable, but it’s clear that there will be a boost. And in a period like this, in which the economy has already picked up steam, it opens up some policy options.
Several factors have contributed to the price declines. An increase in oil production, especially in the United States, is part of the story, but so is a reduction in global demand.
“Outside the United States, much of the world’s economy has slowed down, and that’s had a big impact on global demand for oil,” said Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist at Northern Trust.
In addition, conservation efforts worldwide, including fuel-efficiency standards in the United States, have contributed to slackening demand and falling prices. We simply don’t burn as much energy as we did a few years ago to achieve the same amount of mileage, heat or manufacturing production.
But when prices drop, we run into a basic economic problem that could reverse some of these improvements in energy efficiency and conservation. With lower prices, demand rises and people consume more. Bargain gas prices induce people to hit the road. The AAA projects that during the year-end holiday period, people will drive 4 percent more than they did during the period last year. They also may be tempted to buy bigger, gas-guzzling vehicles. That’s happened before.
Certainly, if these trends continue as expected, fuel consumption will increase while the more expensive forms of oil production, now rendered less economical, will decline. With less supply and more demand, energy prices can be expected to rise again. We could be back, more or less, where we started.
That would be good for energy producers but not necessarily for anyone else. It’s why Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the International Energy Agency, has called on policy makers around the world to impose taxes on carbon emissions and cut incentives for fossil-fuel energy production. “In fact, this is a golden opportunity,” Ms. van der Hoeven said earlier this month. “Policy makers can take actions unthinkable a year ago.”
Professor Hamilton pointed out that a carbon tax of $25 a ton — which the Obama administration has advocated, but Congress has opposed — converts to less than the amount that oil and gas prices have already fallen. A carbon tax wouldn’t be painful right now, but it would provide an incentive for energy efficiency.
There’s another economically interesting option. The nation’s bridges, highways and mass transit systems are in dire need of a big infusion of capital — and a major source of such money, the national Highway Trust Fund, which relies on gasoline taxes for revenue, is nearly depleted.
The national gas tax, 18.4 cents a gallon, hasn’t increased since 1993. With falling gas prices, a tax increase would barely be noticeable at the pump. Such measures would make a great deal of economic sense, if politics didn’t get in the way.
15 December 2014
POLICE CONTAIN UNRULY AIR JORDAN SHOPPERS AT HOUSTON-AREA MALLS
Original Story: chron.com
Police were called to quell unruly crowds after hundreds converged outside several Houston-area malls early Sunday morning in hopes of getting a ticket to buy pricey Nike Air Jordan sneakers being released next weekend. Chaos reached a crescendo when a rock shattered a glass entrance door at the Willowbrook Mall and a teenage girl was zapped with a Taser outside The Woodlands Mall.
Montgomery County Sheriff's spokesman Phil Fitzgerald confirmed a deputy had fired an electric jolt from his Taser during crowd control operations, but said he could not provide any further details because any use of force by an officer must be investigated.
Foot Locker, which had been promoting the release of the Air Jordan 11 Retro 'Legend Blue,' did not open Sunday after the incident, and nobody from the store could be reached for comment.
"Our deputies went there in response to a 911 call about a large disturbance. Several hundred had gathered. They were becoming unruly, acting defiant and not following directions," he said. The name of the teenager was not released and nobody was arrested.
However, a local TV station reported that the teen, who provided cell phone photos of the Taser barb attached to her backside, was taken to an area hospital to be checked as a precaution and then released.
"It seems kind of crazy to wait hours in line for a chance at a pair of sneakers," said Fitzgerald, adding these mob scenes are becoming a common occurrence when Nike does the very limited releases in years past.
This year fans and collectors were willing to wait over night in lines for the new release of the classic "Legend Blue" shoe, which Nike says it originally sold in 1996. If they made it to the front of the line, they would be given a ticket that would allow them to return next weekend to buy the actual shoe.
It's a simple white patent and smooth leather shoe with a translucent icy blue sole, listed for $200 on Nike's web site. Much of the hype surrounding the popular Air Jordans has been attributed to its namesake, Michael Jordan, on basketball's greatest players, shoe aficionados say.
However, law enforcement organizations are growing concerned that these staged promotions take officers needed to fight crime off the streets and use them for crowd control.
Houston Police officer Tim Norris said over 1,000 people mobbed Willowbrook mall for one of those tickets which resulted in an emergency "citywide assist' call that sent some 50 officers rushing there in the thick fog early Sunday morning. Glass in west entrance door to this mall was shattered.
The crowd had grown restless after waiting in line for hours. Some began pushing and suddenly things escalated--as the barricade collapsed and some in the crowd rushed forward, throwing rocks at the door, until finally brought under control, the Montgomery County Police Reporter said.
Rowdy crowds were also reported at Deerbrook Mall in Humble and Memorial City Mall in Houston, this news account said.
Similar incidents have happened in previous years as shoppers battled over buying these collectable shoes. The ticket system was designed to minimize crowd control problems within a mall and guarantee people could buy the right sizes.
In 2011, Houston police dispatched extra patrols to the Galleria and other area malls where "sneakerheads" lined up days in advance for another limited edition remake of shoes worn by basketball super star Michael Jordan.
Police were called to quell unruly crowds after hundreds converged outside several Houston-area malls early Sunday morning in hopes of getting a ticket to buy pricey Nike Air Jordan sneakers being released next weekend. Chaos reached a crescendo when a rock shattered a glass entrance door at the Willowbrook Mall and a teenage girl was zapped with a Taser outside The Woodlands Mall.
Montgomery County Sheriff's spokesman Phil Fitzgerald confirmed a deputy had fired an electric jolt from his Taser during crowd control operations, but said he could not provide any further details because any use of force by an officer must be investigated.
Foot Locker, which had been promoting the release of the Air Jordan 11 Retro 'Legend Blue,' did not open Sunday after the incident, and nobody from the store could be reached for comment.
"Our deputies went there in response to a 911 call about a large disturbance. Several hundred had gathered. They were becoming unruly, acting defiant and not following directions," he said. The name of the teenager was not released and nobody was arrested.
However, a local TV station reported that the teen, who provided cell phone photos of the Taser barb attached to her backside, was taken to an area hospital to be checked as a precaution and then released.
"It seems kind of crazy to wait hours in line for a chance at a pair of sneakers," said Fitzgerald, adding these mob scenes are becoming a common occurrence when Nike does the very limited releases in years past.
This year fans and collectors were willing to wait over night in lines for the new release of the classic "Legend Blue" shoe, which Nike says it originally sold in 1996. If they made it to the front of the line, they would be given a ticket that would allow them to return next weekend to buy the actual shoe.
It's a simple white patent and smooth leather shoe with a translucent icy blue sole, listed for $200 on Nike's web site. Much of the hype surrounding the popular Air Jordans has been attributed to its namesake, Michael Jordan, on basketball's greatest players, shoe aficionados say.
However, law enforcement organizations are growing concerned that these staged promotions take officers needed to fight crime off the streets and use them for crowd control.
Houston Police officer Tim Norris said over 1,000 people mobbed Willowbrook mall for one of those tickets which resulted in an emergency "citywide assist' call that sent some 50 officers rushing there in the thick fog early Sunday morning. Glass in west entrance door to this mall was shattered.
The crowd had grown restless after waiting in line for hours. Some began pushing and suddenly things escalated--as the barricade collapsed and some in the crowd rushed forward, throwing rocks at the door, until finally brought under control, the Montgomery County Police Reporter said.
Rowdy crowds were also reported at Deerbrook Mall in Humble and Memorial City Mall in Houston, this news account said.
Similar incidents have happened in previous years as shoppers battled over buying these collectable shoes. The ticket system was designed to minimize crowd control problems within a mall and guarantee people could buy the right sizes.
In 2011, Houston police dispatched extra patrols to the Galleria and other area malls where "sneakerheads" lined up days in advance for another limited edition remake of shoes worn by basketball super star Michael Jordan.
WHERE ARE THE BLACK PEOPLE?
Original Story: detroitnews.com
Near the top of the list of the challenges Detroit faces as it starts its post-bankruptcy era is avoiding becoming two cities — one for the upwardly mobile young and white denizens of an increasingly happening downtown, and the other for the struggling and frustrated black residents trapped in neighborhoods that are crumbling around them. A Detroit Business Lawyer assists clients in structuring, restructuring and liquidating corporate and non-corporate entities.
Nobody wants to inject race into the marvelous story of downtown's rebound, driven largely by young creatives who grew up in the suburbs and are now fiercely Detroiters. I don't either. It's a downer, and the last thing I want to be involved in is another conversation about race. Druther have a stick for my eye.
But with racial tension simmering across the country, Detroit must heed obvious warning signs.
It's a clear red flag when you can sit in a hot new downtown restaurant and nine out of 10 tables are filled with white diners, a proportion almost exactly opposite of the city's racial make-up.
It's a warning signal when you go to holiday events for major Detroit cultural institutions and charities, and you can count the number of African-American revelers on both hands.
It should stop us in our tracks — as it did me the other day — when a group of 50 young professionals being groomed for future leadership shows up to hear advice from a senior executive, and there's only one black member among them.
Pay attention to the stories about the cool kids who are leading the Detroit revival by starting businesses, social groups and nonprofits. Overwhelmingly, the subjects are white. A Detroit Real Estate Lawyer has experience representing clients in major urban development projects, downtown office facilities, and industrial centers.
I'm not disparaging the newcomers. Detroit was an opportunity sitting there for the taking, and they seized it. And what they're doing is miraculous. We can talk all day about why more African-Americans didn't do the same thing. It doesn't matter. We have to understand that we're buying trouble if we don't encourage more black participation.
This isn't about handouts or set-asides or affirmative action. Nor is it about gentrification, an absolutely ridiculous concern in a city that needs so much rebuilding. I don't even believe it's about racism.
Rather, it's about downtown employers making sure they're truly cognizant of the diversity of their workforces, and stretching a bit more to recruit and train native Detroiters, who will then help fill the lofts and nightspots.
It's about encouraging black entrepreneurs to come to or stay in the city, and recognizing there are cultural and opportunity gaps that have to be closed to create a vibrant base of small business started by people drawn from the city's neighborhoods.
And it's about the African-Americans who've already made it showing up in Detroit, putting their money and time into the city's civic, cultural and charitable organizations. Drawing affluent blacks back from the suburbs is also a key step.
Detroit is now the city of opportunity. Fairness demands that those who were here when no one else wanted to be share in the fruits of the comeback.
It's like playing with dynamite to have black Detroiters looking out of devastated neighborhoods at a downtown bustling with hope and hopeful young people, and not seeing their own children among that hip crowd.
Near the top of the list of the challenges Detroit faces as it starts its post-bankruptcy era is avoiding becoming two cities — one for the upwardly mobile young and white denizens of an increasingly happening downtown, and the other for the struggling and frustrated black residents trapped in neighborhoods that are crumbling around them. A Detroit Business Lawyer assists clients in structuring, restructuring and liquidating corporate and non-corporate entities.
Nobody wants to inject race into the marvelous story of downtown's rebound, driven largely by young creatives who grew up in the suburbs and are now fiercely Detroiters. I don't either. It's a downer, and the last thing I want to be involved in is another conversation about race. Druther have a stick for my eye.
But with racial tension simmering across the country, Detroit must heed obvious warning signs.
It's a clear red flag when you can sit in a hot new downtown restaurant and nine out of 10 tables are filled with white diners, a proportion almost exactly opposite of the city's racial make-up.
It's a warning signal when you go to holiday events for major Detroit cultural institutions and charities, and you can count the number of African-American revelers on both hands.
It should stop us in our tracks — as it did me the other day — when a group of 50 young professionals being groomed for future leadership shows up to hear advice from a senior executive, and there's only one black member among them.
Pay attention to the stories about the cool kids who are leading the Detroit revival by starting businesses, social groups and nonprofits. Overwhelmingly, the subjects are white. A Detroit Real Estate Lawyer has experience representing clients in major urban development projects, downtown office facilities, and industrial centers.
I'm not disparaging the newcomers. Detroit was an opportunity sitting there for the taking, and they seized it. And what they're doing is miraculous. We can talk all day about why more African-Americans didn't do the same thing. It doesn't matter. We have to understand that we're buying trouble if we don't encourage more black participation.
This isn't about handouts or set-asides or affirmative action. Nor is it about gentrification, an absolutely ridiculous concern in a city that needs so much rebuilding. I don't even believe it's about racism.
Rather, it's about downtown employers making sure they're truly cognizant of the diversity of their workforces, and stretching a bit more to recruit and train native Detroiters, who will then help fill the lofts and nightspots.
It's about encouraging black entrepreneurs to come to or stay in the city, and recognizing there are cultural and opportunity gaps that have to be closed to create a vibrant base of small business started by people drawn from the city's neighborhoods.
And it's about the African-Americans who've already made it showing up in Detroit, putting their money and time into the city's civic, cultural and charitable organizations. Drawing affluent blacks back from the suburbs is also a key step.
Detroit is now the city of opportunity. Fairness demands that those who were here when no one else wanted to be share in the fruits of the comeback.
It's like playing with dynamite to have black Detroiters looking out of devastated neighborhoods at a downtown bustling with hope and hopeful young people, and not seeing their own children among that hip crowd.
MSU PRESIDENT GETS RAISE, $100K BONUS
Original Story: freep.com
EAST LANSING – Michigan State University President Lou Anna K. Simon was given a $230,000 raise and $100,000 bonus today at the MSU Board of Trustees meeting.
Simon has declined to accept raises yearly since 2007, often putting the board in an awkward position, and donating the money back to the university. She has been president for 10 years and is the second longest serving chief executive among the 14 Big Ten presidents. An Atlanta University Lawyer specializes in higher education finance and university charters.
"This has been an ongoing battle," said Joel Ferguson, chair of the university board of trustees with a smile. "But this time we are not going to apologize for compensating you for what you deserve. This is the one time we are going to ignore you."
The board increased Simon's salary from $520,000 to $750,000, and, gave her a $100,000 retention bonus.
That puts Simon in the top quartile of her Big Ten peers, according to Mitch Lyons, chair of the board's compensation committee.
"While we respect the wishes of our president we felt it was important to keep the compensation of the position competitive with our peers," Lyons said. "If and when Simon decides to retire, we want to make sure any new candidates would see that the position is compensated properly." A Georgia Education Lawyer is experienced in assisting clients with board governance, bylaws, and business-related issues.
Simon said she respects the wishes of the board and understands the need to compensate the position.
"Even though I can't deny it formally today I still have plans to give it back," she said.
The compensation committee estimated that Simon and husband Roy have donated at least $1 million to MSU over the years.
Last year, for example, the board gave Simon a $125,000 bonus, which she donated back to MSU.
But Duncan Tarr, a junior that is an organizer of the student group MSU Students United, said the fact that Simon was given such a raise is shocking.
"At that same meeting there were some students from the MSU Sexual Assault Program that said they don't have enough counselors and funding to be able to operate effectively and yet the board gives our president a $230,000 raise," he said. An Atlanta College Lawyer is following this story closely.
Faylene Owen, chair of the board's finance committee, said she is proud of Simon and what she has accomplished for the university.
"I am astonished and awestruck by this woman," Owen said. "She is amazing and I feel she was also very instrumental in getting the FRIB (Facility for Rare Isotope Beams) here at MSU."
Simon was also complimented for her service on various public entities. She is the chairperson of the executive committee of the NCAA, vice-chair of the Association of American Universities and chair of the National Security Higher Education Advisory Board among others.Board approves infrastructure, construction projects• MSU trustees approved a $9.5 million project that will provide infrastructure improvements to West Circle Drive. It is the fourth and final phase of a north campus project to replace the 100-year-old arch style steam tunnels.• Trustees authorized the planned construction of permanent restrooms for MSU's 4-H Children's Garden, a popular destination for area K-12 students.• Trustees approved plans to reconstruct the parking lot of the MSU Community Music School at 4930 South Hagadorn Road, which includes demolition of a house on the property. The demolition will provide more space for parking.
EAST LANSING – Michigan State University President Lou Anna K. Simon was given a $230,000 raise and $100,000 bonus today at the MSU Board of Trustees meeting.
Simon has declined to accept raises yearly since 2007, often putting the board in an awkward position, and donating the money back to the university. She has been president for 10 years and is the second longest serving chief executive among the 14 Big Ten presidents. An Atlanta University Lawyer specializes in higher education finance and university charters.
"This has been an ongoing battle," said Joel Ferguson, chair of the university board of trustees with a smile. "But this time we are not going to apologize for compensating you for what you deserve. This is the one time we are going to ignore you."
The board increased Simon's salary from $520,000 to $750,000, and, gave her a $100,000 retention bonus.
That puts Simon in the top quartile of her Big Ten peers, according to Mitch Lyons, chair of the board's compensation committee.
"While we respect the wishes of our president we felt it was important to keep the compensation of the position competitive with our peers," Lyons said. "If and when Simon decides to retire, we want to make sure any new candidates would see that the position is compensated properly." A Georgia Education Lawyer is experienced in assisting clients with board governance, bylaws, and business-related issues.
Simon said she respects the wishes of the board and understands the need to compensate the position.
"Even though I can't deny it formally today I still have plans to give it back," she said.
The compensation committee estimated that Simon and husband Roy have donated at least $1 million to MSU over the years.
Last year, for example, the board gave Simon a $125,000 bonus, which she donated back to MSU.
But Duncan Tarr, a junior that is an organizer of the student group MSU Students United, said the fact that Simon was given such a raise is shocking.
"At that same meeting there were some students from the MSU Sexual Assault Program that said they don't have enough counselors and funding to be able to operate effectively and yet the board gives our president a $230,000 raise," he said. An Atlanta College Lawyer is following this story closely.
Faylene Owen, chair of the board's finance committee, said she is proud of Simon and what she has accomplished for the university.
"I am astonished and awestruck by this woman," Owen said. "She is amazing and I feel she was also very instrumental in getting the FRIB (Facility for Rare Isotope Beams) here at MSU."
Simon was also complimented for her service on various public entities. She is the chairperson of the executive committee of the NCAA, vice-chair of the Association of American Universities and chair of the National Security Higher Education Advisory Board among others.Board approves infrastructure, construction projects• MSU trustees approved a $9.5 million project that will provide infrastructure improvements to West Circle Drive. It is the fourth and final phase of a north campus project to replace the 100-year-old arch style steam tunnels.• Trustees authorized the planned construction of permanent restrooms for MSU's 4-H Children's Garden, a popular destination for area K-12 students.• Trustees approved plans to reconstruct the parking lot of the MSU Community Music School at 4930 South Hagadorn Road, which includes demolition of a house on the property. The demolition will provide more space for parking.
12 December 2014
MI SENATE OKS TIGHTENING OF WEB SALES TAX COLLECTION
Original Story: detroitnews.com
Lansing — Amazon.com and some other online retailers would have to collect Michigan’s 6 percent sales tax on purchases under legislation approved Thursday by the state Senate.
Backers say the bills would level the playing field because brick-and-mortar businesses already must assess the tax on customers.
The legislation approved Thursday heads to the Republican-led House for its consideration in the waning days of the legislative session. It won approval on a 21-16 vote in the GOP-controlled chamber, picking up support from Republicans and Democrats.
Wal-Mart and other stores in Michigan must collect the sales tax when selling goods over the Internet.
The state Treasury Department estimates that $482 million in revenue from remote sales went uncollected in the last fiscal year. The bills could raise in the ballpark of $50 million a year.
It may be no coincidence the bills are advancing now. Lawmakers could throw taxes on Internet sales into the mix during talks over committing at least $1.2 billion a year more to roads and other transportation infrastructure.
Lansing — Amazon.com and some other online retailers would have to collect Michigan’s 6 percent sales tax on purchases under legislation approved Thursday by the state Senate.
Backers say the bills would level the playing field because brick-and-mortar businesses already must assess the tax on customers.
The legislation approved Thursday heads to the Republican-led House for its consideration in the waning days of the legislative session. It won approval on a 21-16 vote in the GOP-controlled chamber, picking up support from Republicans and Democrats.
Wal-Mart and other stores in Michigan must collect the sales tax when selling goods over the Internet.
The state Treasury Department estimates that $482 million in revenue from remote sales went uncollected in the last fiscal year. The bills could raise in the ballpark of $50 million a year.
It may be no coincidence the bills are advancing now. Lawmakers could throw taxes on Internet sales into the mix during talks over committing at least $1.2 billion a year more to roads and other transportation infrastructure.
SEMCOG PUSHES FOR MORE REVENUE TO FIX MICHIGAN’S ROADS
Original Story: detroitnews.com
Detroit — Members of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments urged the Legislature on Thursday to move ahead and approve a gas tax increase to generate more revenue for the state’s crumbling roads.
SEMCOG presented a resolution that supported a Senate-passed plan and opposed a House effort because it fails “to generate rough revenue to reverse the deterioration of our roads.” A Grand Rapids Transportation Lawyer represents clients in Michigan Transportation Law matters.
At a meeting Thursday morning, SEMCOG officials — along with representatives from local governments and road commissions — criticized the House bills because they would “divert a significant existing revenue stream from public schools and divert significant revenues from local governments.”
House Bill 6082 calls for the additional sales tax revenue to be split three ways for road repairs: 39 percent to the Michigan Department of Transportation, 39 percent to county road commissions and 22 percent to cities and villages.
“Michigan is standing on the precipice of a historic opportunity,” SEMCOG executive director Kathleen Lomako said. “We see three potential outcomes: Our Legislature could fail to act, which means more crumbling roads and bridges, inadequate transit and unsafe winter roads. A Detroit Transportation Lawyer has experience in Michigan Transportation Law and represents clients in transportation claim recoveries.
“We could follow the direction of the House: Fund roads by jeopardizing the future or our schools, transit and local government services. This is not an acceptable solution. Or, our leaders can follow the direction set by the governor and the Senate: Fix the roads, support transit, protect our schools and local government services.”
That statement comes as legislative leaders attempt to hash out a deal to generate $1.2 billion in additional money for road repairs in a conference committee — and extending the sales tax to some services is a possible option.
The conference committee is composed of three senators and three representatives, with majority Republicans controlling four of the seats. If the panel can get two votes from members of the Senate and House, their reported legislation would be advanced to the floors of both chambers for a vote, potentially next week during the final three days of the lame-duck session.
According to SEMCOG, the Senate bill:
Provides $1.5 billion after four years phase in and residents will see an improved transportation system in two to three years. An Indianapolis Transportation Lawyer is following this story closely.
Eliminates fuel tax and creates tax on wholesale price of fuel, which is phased in and fully funded after four years.
Funds public transit through an existing formula.
Provides first state increase in funding of public transit since 1987.
According to SEMCOG, the House bill:
Raises $1.4 billion after eight years.
Directs funding to maintenance rather than reconstruction. No new funding for public transit.
Eliminates the fuel tax and creates a tax on the wholesale price of fuel. Legislation also eliminates the 6 percent sales tax on fuel, resulting in revenue losses to public schools and local governments.
SEMCOG recently released the results of its 2014 road evaluations, which concluded the metro area saw a staggering jump in the total miles of roads that should be repaired by completely rebuilding them from the soil on up. The study found that 1,900 miles of major roadways needed to be reconstructed, a jump of 500 miles compared to two years ago.
Another 1,900 miles are in need of preventive maintenance to keep them from slipping into poor condition. Only 650 miles of roadway in the metro area are considered to be in good condition, according to the SEMCOG evaluation.
On Thursday, the conference broke into laughter when Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan began his remarks with references to the city no longer being in a state of bankruptcy. A Denver Transportation Lawyer assists clients in the resolution of cases involving transportation law.
“I greatly appreciate not having to ask Kevyn Orr for permission to be here,” Duggan said. “We put Kevyn on a plane, and it was just like sending your kid off to college.”
Duggan said he supported Gov. Rick Snyder as well as the Senate bill on how to raise revenues for Michigan roads.
“All of us here are behind the governor,” Duggan said. “We lost power to a number of buildings here in Detroit last week due to failing infrastructure. Well, the same thing is happening to our roads.”
Duggan was followed by Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel who said the state “has a tremendous need for road funding.”
“There is a very limited amount of funding to do what needs to be done,” Hackel said.
“The Senate has a great plan. It raises funds but it doesn’t take away from local governments or the schools. We put the world on wheels but now people are embarrassed to put their wheels on our roads.”
Outgoing Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano said the state can no longer afford to “kick the can down the road.”
“With good roads, you’re much more attractive for economic development,” Ficano said. “The time to act is now.”
Washington Township Supervisor Dan O’Leary came straight to the point when he spoke in support of the Senate bills.
“I’m a little angry because I just had to pay $1,700 for repairs to my truck’s suspension,” O’Leary said. “That’s one thing people don’t talk about: the hidden tax that comes with poor roads.”
The last time the gasoline tax was raised was in 1997 when the Legislature raised it from 15 to 19 cents per gallon. Over the past decade gas revenues have gone into a steep decline due to motorists driving less with more fuel efficient vehicles.
At the same time the cost of concrete, asphalt, road salt, fuel, insurance and repairs have continued to rise.
Detroit — Members of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments urged the Legislature on Thursday to move ahead and approve a gas tax increase to generate more revenue for the state’s crumbling roads.
SEMCOG presented a resolution that supported a Senate-passed plan and opposed a House effort because it fails “to generate rough revenue to reverse the deterioration of our roads.” A Grand Rapids Transportation Lawyer represents clients in Michigan Transportation Law matters.
At a meeting Thursday morning, SEMCOG officials — along with representatives from local governments and road commissions — criticized the House bills because they would “divert a significant existing revenue stream from public schools and divert significant revenues from local governments.”
House Bill 6082 calls for the additional sales tax revenue to be split three ways for road repairs: 39 percent to the Michigan Department of Transportation, 39 percent to county road commissions and 22 percent to cities and villages.
“Michigan is standing on the precipice of a historic opportunity,” SEMCOG executive director Kathleen Lomako said. “We see three potential outcomes: Our Legislature could fail to act, which means more crumbling roads and bridges, inadequate transit and unsafe winter roads. A Detroit Transportation Lawyer has experience in Michigan Transportation Law and represents clients in transportation claim recoveries.
“We could follow the direction of the House: Fund roads by jeopardizing the future or our schools, transit and local government services. This is not an acceptable solution. Or, our leaders can follow the direction set by the governor and the Senate: Fix the roads, support transit, protect our schools and local government services.”
That statement comes as legislative leaders attempt to hash out a deal to generate $1.2 billion in additional money for road repairs in a conference committee — and extending the sales tax to some services is a possible option.
The conference committee is composed of three senators and three representatives, with majority Republicans controlling four of the seats. If the panel can get two votes from members of the Senate and House, their reported legislation would be advanced to the floors of both chambers for a vote, potentially next week during the final three days of the lame-duck session.
According to SEMCOG, the Senate bill:
Provides $1.5 billion after four years phase in and residents will see an improved transportation system in two to three years. An Indianapolis Transportation Lawyer is following this story closely.
Eliminates fuel tax and creates tax on wholesale price of fuel, which is phased in and fully funded after four years.
Funds public transit through an existing formula.
Provides first state increase in funding of public transit since 1987.
According to SEMCOG, the House bill:
Raises $1.4 billion after eight years.
Directs funding to maintenance rather than reconstruction. No new funding for public transit.
Eliminates the fuel tax and creates a tax on the wholesale price of fuel. Legislation also eliminates the 6 percent sales tax on fuel, resulting in revenue losses to public schools and local governments.
SEMCOG recently released the results of its 2014 road evaluations, which concluded the metro area saw a staggering jump in the total miles of roads that should be repaired by completely rebuilding them from the soil on up. The study found that 1,900 miles of major roadways needed to be reconstructed, a jump of 500 miles compared to two years ago.
Another 1,900 miles are in need of preventive maintenance to keep them from slipping into poor condition. Only 650 miles of roadway in the metro area are considered to be in good condition, according to the SEMCOG evaluation.
On Thursday, the conference broke into laughter when Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan began his remarks with references to the city no longer being in a state of bankruptcy. A Denver Transportation Lawyer assists clients in the resolution of cases involving transportation law.
“I greatly appreciate not having to ask Kevyn Orr for permission to be here,” Duggan said. “We put Kevyn on a plane, and it was just like sending your kid off to college.”
Duggan said he supported Gov. Rick Snyder as well as the Senate bill on how to raise revenues for Michigan roads.
“All of us here are behind the governor,” Duggan said. “We lost power to a number of buildings here in Detroit last week due to failing infrastructure. Well, the same thing is happening to our roads.”
Duggan was followed by Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel who said the state “has a tremendous need for road funding.”
“There is a very limited amount of funding to do what needs to be done,” Hackel said.
“The Senate has a great plan. It raises funds but it doesn’t take away from local governments or the schools. We put the world on wheels but now people are embarrassed to put their wheels on our roads.”
Outgoing Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano said the state can no longer afford to “kick the can down the road.”
“With good roads, you’re much more attractive for economic development,” Ficano said. “The time to act is now.”
Washington Township Supervisor Dan O’Leary came straight to the point when he spoke in support of the Senate bills.
“I’m a little angry because I just had to pay $1,700 for repairs to my truck’s suspension,” O’Leary said. “That’s one thing people don’t talk about: the hidden tax that comes with poor roads.”
The last time the gasoline tax was raised was in 1997 when the Legislature raised it from 15 to 19 cents per gallon. Over the past decade gas revenues have gone into a steep decline due to motorists driving less with more fuel efficient vehicles.
At the same time the cost of concrete, asphalt, road salt, fuel, insurance and repairs have continued to rise.
SOURCE: FIRMS WILL CUT BANKRUPTCY FEES UNDER DEAL
Original Story: detroitnews.com
The city could have millions more to spend on services, now that firms that helped Detroit through its historic bankruptcy agreed Thursday to reduce their legal and consulting fees.
After more than a week of negotiations with federal mediators, the law firm Jones Day and the investment firm Miller Buckfire agreed to make “significant concessions” on fees, a source briefed on the talks told The Detroit News. Other firms that have billed the city for bankruptcy-related services also agreed to reduce their bills. It’s not yet clear how much each firm cut back. Detroit Lawyers have experience assisting clients in bankruptcy and restructuring cases.
The source said only that the overall money saved — about $25 million — would pay for a lot of police, firefighters and equipment for Detroit.
Details of the deals are expected to be made public Monday during a status conference before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes. The judge must approve the agreements.
The person briefed on the discussions told The News the amount of savings to the city may depend on how savings are defined. As one of Detroit's best law firms, Butzel Long attorneys have helped debtors, creditors, official and unofficial creditor and equity holder committees and acquirers.
Some of the companies, the source explained, cut fees, some gave back as “in kind” contributions and others agreed to not seek payment for future services from firms that Detroit will continue to use after the bankruptcy.
Mayor Mike Duggan has expressed concern escalating legal fees — which he said could climb to $177 million — would eat up money needed to revitalize the city.
Detroit Corporation Counsel Melvin “Butch” Hollowell said Thursday that the city is “pleased” with the mediation process, and thanked Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen and the federal mediation team.
“We will make no further comments until the status conference on Monday, or the court releases us from the mediation confidentiality,” Hollowell said.
Before the deals were reached, federal mediators held at least four formal sessions over the reasonableness of more than $140 million in fees billed to Detroit by its bankruptcy lawyers and restructuring consultants. The team held talks with about a dozen firms, while the city held earlier talks with about a dozen smaller firms to reach settlements.
The city’s lawyers and consultants pointed out during mediation they had already made significant concessions on fees.
By late October, Jones Day had charged Detroit $52.3 million.
Miller Buckfire renegotiated its contract with the city twice, most recently in June. In the newest contract, the firm was to receive a flat fee of $28 million for all of its services. Prior to revising its contract, the firm had already given the city a discounted rate, according to former Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr’s office.
The resolution comes one day after Detroit’s official exit from bankruptcy. Orr told The News on Wednesday that some administrative matters still need to be wrapped up, and that the legal fee mediation would not affect the exit date.
The mediation team, in a statement released Thursday, noted that representatives for the firms, Orr and Snyder — along with Duggan, City Council members and the city’s top attorney — “fully and vigorously” participated in the discussions.
“Their agreements reflect what the mediators hope will be their final work in the Detroit bankruptcy,” the statement reads. “As we have been from the inception of our work, the mediators are privileged and proud to have played a role not only in these agreements, but in all of the agreements that have led to the expeditious and successful resolution of the Detroit bankruptcy in which the city has been able to resolve its disputes with virtually all of its creditors and professional service providers on a consensual basis.” As one of Detroit's biggest law firms, Butzel Long has represented clients in every aspect of in-court and out-of-court restructurings.
On Wednesday, the mayor noted that the role of consultants in the city will be “dramatically reduced” as full-time employees are brought in to take over.
“All of the consultants are being phased out pretty quickly,” he said.
Orr, a former Jones Day attorney, told The News on Wednesday that the fees may seem high, but he said he didn’t believe they were out of line for a case of Detroit’s magnitude.
The bankruptcy allowed the city to shed $7 billion in debt and to restructure another $3 billion, he said.
“I’m sensitive to the fact that the fees are high. But everyone says this is a historical, outstanding result. Some mediators even called it miraculous,” Orr said. “You have to recognize there’s a cost to getting that kind of result in this time frame to deal with 50 years of issues.”
The city could have millions more to spend on services, now that firms that helped Detroit through its historic bankruptcy agreed Thursday to reduce their legal and consulting fees.
After more than a week of negotiations with federal mediators, the law firm Jones Day and the investment firm Miller Buckfire agreed to make “significant concessions” on fees, a source briefed on the talks told The Detroit News. Other firms that have billed the city for bankruptcy-related services also agreed to reduce their bills. It’s not yet clear how much each firm cut back. Detroit Lawyers have experience assisting clients in bankruptcy and restructuring cases.
The source said only that the overall money saved — about $25 million — would pay for a lot of police, firefighters and equipment for Detroit.
Details of the deals are expected to be made public Monday during a status conference before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes. The judge must approve the agreements.
The person briefed on the discussions told The News the amount of savings to the city may depend on how savings are defined. As one of Detroit's best law firms, Butzel Long attorneys have helped debtors, creditors, official and unofficial creditor and equity holder committees and acquirers.
Some of the companies, the source explained, cut fees, some gave back as “in kind” contributions and others agreed to not seek payment for future services from firms that Detroit will continue to use after the bankruptcy.
Mayor Mike Duggan has expressed concern escalating legal fees — which he said could climb to $177 million — would eat up money needed to revitalize the city.
Detroit Corporation Counsel Melvin “Butch” Hollowell said Thursday that the city is “pleased” with the mediation process, and thanked Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen and the federal mediation team.
“We will make no further comments until the status conference on Monday, or the court releases us from the mediation confidentiality,” Hollowell said.
Before the deals were reached, federal mediators held at least four formal sessions over the reasonableness of more than $140 million in fees billed to Detroit by its bankruptcy lawyers and restructuring consultants. The team held talks with about a dozen firms, while the city held earlier talks with about a dozen smaller firms to reach settlements.
The city’s lawyers and consultants pointed out during mediation they had already made significant concessions on fees.
By late October, Jones Day had charged Detroit $52.3 million.
Miller Buckfire renegotiated its contract with the city twice, most recently in June. In the newest contract, the firm was to receive a flat fee of $28 million for all of its services. Prior to revising its contract, the firm had already given the city a discounted rate, according to former Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr’s office.
The resolution comes one day after Detroit’s official exit from bankruptcy. Orr told The News on Wednesday that some administrative matters still need to be wrapped up, and that the legal fee mediation would not affect the exit date.
The mediation team, in a statement released Thursday, noted that representatives for the firms, Orr and Snyder — along with Duggan, City Council members and the city’s top attorney — “fully and vigorously” participated in the discussions.
“Their agreements reflect what the mediators hope will be their final work in the Detroit bankruptcy,” the statement reads. “As we have been from the inception of our work, the mediators are privileged and proud to have played a role not only in these agreements, but in all of the agreements that have led to the expeditious and successful resolution of the Detroit bankruptcy in which the city has been able to resolve its disputes with virtually all of its creditors and professional service providers on a consensual basis.” As one of Detroit's biggest law firms, Butzel Long has represented clients in every aspect of in-court and out-of-court restructurings.
On Wednesday, the mayor noted that the role of consultants in the city will be “dramatically reduced” as full-time employees are brought in to take over.
“All of the consultants are being phased out pretty quickly,” he said.
Orr, a former Jones Day attorney, told The News on Wednesday that the fees may seem high, but he said he didn’t believe they were out of line for a case of Detroit’s magnitude.
The bankruptcy allowed the city to shed $7 billion in debt and to restructure another $3 billion, he said.
“I’m sensitive to the fact that the fees are high. But everyone says this is a historical, outstanding result. Some mediators even called it miraculous,” Orr said. “You have to recognize there’s a cost to getting that kind of result in this time frame to deal with 50 years of issues.”
08 December 2014
COLLEGE STUDENTS OPT TO COMMUTE AS COSTS CREEP HIGHER
Original Story: freep.com
For many students, living in an on-campus residence hall is synonymous with the college experience. But as the price tag for a college education continues to climb, more are opting to live at home and commute to campus.
Eastern Michigan University junior Joe Barroso, 20, said his decision to continue living at home with his parents and commute to the Ypsilanti school was purely financial.
"If I had more financial aid and scholarships, I would have chosen to live on campus or closer to campus," he said. "But it's just more affordable. I'm willing to trade off some of my independence to save money."
EMU has a large commuter student population, with only 3,700 of its 23,000 students living on campus. Minus a food plan, it costs the average student anywhere from $3,798 to live on campus to $7,062 per academic year. An Atlanta College Lawyer specializes in higher education finance and university charters.
Barroso, a sports management major, lives about five minutes from EMU and usually gets a ride to campus from his parents. He admits that as a commuter student, his engagement in campus activities isn't as robust as he would like, but he manages to interact with other students through his job as a student manager in the EMU baseball team office.
"Academically, my program is great and I really don't think there's a better place to study sports management — I love Eastern," Barroso said.
Many schools, including Eastern, have started to ramp up their offerings for commuter students. At EMU, new commuter students and their parents are encouraged to participate in an orientation geared specifically toward them, Fast Track, at the start of each school year. A Criminal Justice degree provides many options for a future career in law enforcement.
Similar programs are available at the University of Michigan-Dearborn campus, which also has a significant commuter student population, according to Stanley Henderson, U-M Dearborn's vice chancellor for enrollment management and student life. Nearly all of U-M Dearborn's 9,000 students commute to campus. The university only has about 500 beds available for on-campus living.
Henderson said the university has worked the past several years to help its commuter students become more engaged outside of the classroom.
"We want the commuter students to engage because research suggests if they're not connected in some way, if not through the classroom or through those clubs and organizations, that they're not as likely to be successful," Henderson said.
U-M Dearborn senior Latifa Bazzi has a full plate this semester balancing her job, classes and extracurricular activities as a member of Student Government, the Public Health Student Society and the sorority Delta Phi Epsilon. As a commuter student, Bazzi thinks it's important to be involved on campus. A Health Care degree offers great opportunities for jobs with an anticipated growth throughout the years, as compared to other occupations.
"I didn't want to just go to class and go home," Bazzi, 21, said. "I wanted to get a little more out of my college experience."
U-M Dearborn senior Haleigh Sluschewski, 23, said she initially thought she would attend the school for a few years before transferring to a larger university, but she decided to stay because of the connections she made through commuter student programs. Sluschewski is a member of multiple honor societies.
"I kind of stepped outside of my comfort zone," she said. "I know in the past years they have taken great steps to make sure students know what opportunities are available to them."
Zach Kerstein, a 22-year-old U-M Dearborn senior and Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity member, said several of his friends decided to commute to school because it was less expensive. But he said they haven't let that deter them from joining organizations.
"I feel college is the best place to grow and get out of your comfort zone," he said. "I believe joining a fraternity, it really gave me the opportunity to have a full college experience."
For many students, living in an on-campus residence hall is synonymous with the college experience. But as the price tag for a college education continues to climb, more are opting to live at home and commute to campus.
Eastern Michigan University junior Joe Barroso, 20, said his decision to continue living at home with his parents and commute to the Ypsilanti school was purely financial.
"If I had more financial aid and scholarships, I would have chosen to live on campus or closer to campus," he said. "But it's just more affordable. I'm willing to trade off some of my independence to save money."
EMU has a large commuter student population, with only 3,700 of its 23,000 students living on campus. Minus a food plan, it costs the average student anywhere from $3,798 to live on campus to $7,062 per academic year. An Atlanta College Lawyer specializes in higher education finance and university charters.
Barroso, a sports management major, lives about five minutes from EMU and usually gets a ride to campus from his parents. He admits that as a commuter student, his engagement in campus activities isn't as robust as he would like, but he manages to interact with other students through his job as a student manager in the EMU baseball team office.
"Academically, my program is great and I really don't think there's a better place to study sports management — I love Eastern," Barroso said.
Many schools, including Eastern, have started to ramp up their offerings for commuter students. At EMU, new commuter students and their parents are encouraged to participate in an orientation geared specifically toward them, Fast Track, at the start of each school year. A Criminal Justice degree provides many options for a future career in law enforcement.
Similar programs are available at the University of Michigan-Dearborn campus, which also has a significant commuter student population, according to Stanley Henderson, U-M Dearborn's vice chancellor for enrollment management and student life. Nearly all of U-M Dearborn's 9,000 students commute to campus. The university only has about 500 beds available for on-campus living.
Henderson said the university has worked the past several years to help its commuter students become more engaged outside of the classroom.
"We want the commuter students to engage because research suggests if they're not connected in some way, if not through the classroom or through those clubs and organizations, that they're not as likely to be successful," Henderson said.
U-M Dearborn senior Latifa Bazzi has a full plate this semester balancing her job, classes and extracurricular activities as a member of Student Government, the Public Health Student Society and the sorority Delta Phi Epsilon. As a commuter student, Bazzi thinks it's important to be involved on campus. A Health Care degree offers great opportunities for jobs with an anticipated growth throughout the years, as compared to other occupations.
"I didn't want to just go to class and go home," Bazzi, 21, said. "I wanted to get a little more out of my college experience."
U-M Dearborn senior Haleigh Sluschewski, 23, said she initially thought she would attend the school for a few years before transferring to a larger university, but she decided to stay because of the connections she made through commuter student programs. Sluschewski is a member of multiple honor societies.
"I kind of stepped outside of my comfort zone," she said. "I know in the past years they have taken great steps to make sure students know what opportunities are available to them."
Zach Kerstein, a 22-year-old U-M Dearborn senior and Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity member, said several of his friends decided to commute to school because it was less expensive. But he said they haven't let that deter them from joining organizations.
"I feel college is the best place to grow and get out of your comfort zone," he said. "I believe joining a fraternity, it really gave me the opportunity to have a full college experience."
26 November 2014
MICHIGAN UNVEILS NEW STANDARDIZED TEST TO REPLACE MEAP
Original Story: detroitnews.com
Lansing — The state Department of Education unveiled an online exam Thursday that will replace the Michigan Educational Assessment Program starting next spring.
The new Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress was developed to meet mandates set last summer by state lawmakers, who nixed plans to use a computer-adaptive test, Smarter Balanced.
State education officials said M-STEP meets all of the Legislature's requirements. It is an online assessment but has a paper-and-pencil option. The new exam is aligned to the state standards and expands writing assessments to additional grades. An Atlanta Education Lawyer has extensive experience in education law.
The new test includes a higher number of "constructed response" questions that will allow students to demonstrate skills such as problem-solving.
Thursday's action means districts can plan to administer the new exam next spring.
"This is great news for our local school districts," said state school Superintendent Mike Flanagan. "They've been very anxious to hear what the new assessment will be, as we developed a new test to comply with legislatively mandated changes." A Binghamton Education Lawyer is reviewing the details of this change.
M-STEP was developed after lawmakers derailed Smarter Balanced. That test was going to be online only. Smarter Balanced was controversial because conservatives associated it with Michigan's Common Core, which they believe threaten local control of education.
In scrapping Smarter Balanced, lawmakers ordered education officials to create a revised MEAP for 2014-15 and an entirely new exam for 2015-16.Education officials will still develop a new exam for 2015-16.
"The changes in law diverted what the department and local school districts had been developing and preparing for over the past three years," Flanagan said. "It put schools in some unwelcomed limbo while our experts scrambled to find testing content that met the legislative requirements."
The Department of Education said M-STEP will include questions developed by state officials and educators as well as some developed by the Smarter Balanced consortium of states.
The new exam will test grades 3-8 in math and English language, grades 4 and 7 in science, and grades 5 and 8 in social studies. It will include an assessment for grades 3-8 and the Michigan Merit Exam for 11th-graders.
The Education Trust-Midwest, a nonpartisan think tank in Royal Oak, called the new assessment a promising replacement for the "antiquated" MEAP, which has been given to students for four decades.
"We know from leading education states that the path to a brighter educational future for all of our students begins with raising educational standards and implementing an aligned assessment," said Amber Arellano, executive director.
Lansing — The state Department of Education unveiled an online exam Thursday that will replace the Michigan Educational Assessment Program starting next spring.
The new Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress was developed to meet mandates set last summer by state lawmakers, who nixed plans to use a computer-adaptive test, Smarter Balanced.
State education officials said M-STEP meets all of the Legislature's requirements. It is an online assessment but has a paper-and-pencil option. The new exam is aligned to the state standards and expands writing assessments to additional grades. An Atlanta Education Lawyer has extensive experience in education law.
The new test includes a higher number of "constructed response" questions that will allow students to demonstrate skills such as problem-solving.
Thursday's action means districts can plan to administer the new exam next spring.
"This is great news for our local school districts," said state school Superintendent Mike Flanagan. "They've been very anxious to hear what the new assessment will be, as we developed a new test to comply with legislatively mandated changes." A Binghamton Education Lawyer is reviewing the details of this change.
M-STEP was developed after lawmakers derailed Smarter Balanced. That test was going to be online only. Smarter Balanced was controversial because conservatives associated it with Michigan's Common Core, which they believe threaten local control of education.
In scrapping Smarter Balanced, lawmakers ordered education officials to create a revised MEAP for 2014-15 and an entirely new exam for 2015-16.Education officials will still develop a new exam for 2015-16.
"The changes in law diverted what the department and local school districts had been developing and preparing for over the past three years," Flanagan said. "It put schools in some unwelcomed limbo while our experts scrambled to find testing content that met the legislative requirements."
The Department of Education said M-STEP will include questions developed by state officials and educators as well as some developed by the Smarter Balanced consortium of states.
The new exam will test grades 3-8 in math and English language, grades 4 and 7 in science, and grades 5 and 8 in social studies. It will include an assessment for grades 3-8 and the Michigan Merit Exam for 11th-graders.
The Education Trust-Midwest, a nonpartisan think tank in Royal Oak, called the new assessment a promising replacement for the "antiquated" MEAP, which has been given to students for four decades.
"We know from leading education states that the path to a brighter educational future for all of our students begins with raising educational standards and implementing an aligned assessment," said Amber Arellano, executive director.
18 November 2014
MOM-TO-BE KILLED IN CRASH DROVE RECALLED JEEP
Original Story: detroitnews.com
Southfield — The SUV driven by Kayla White when she was killed Tuesday in a fiery crash on the Lodge Freeway had been recalled because of risk of catching fire during a rear-end collision.
White was killed when her 2003 Jeep Liberty was struck from behind near Telegraph, causing it to overturn and catch fire. She died of injuries caused by flames that engulfed her car, according to the Oakland County Medical Examiner's Office. An autopsy determined the cause of death was burns and smoke inhalation. A Milwaukee Wrongful Death Attorney is experienced in representing clients involved in wrongful death cases.
White, 23, of Ferndale was pregnant and in her third trimester at the time of the crash, according to police.
The SUV was part of a Chrysler Group LLC recall campaign last year of 1.56 million 2002-07 Jeep Libertys and 1993-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees at risk of catching fire when struck from behind. The automaker issued the callback following a request from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration after an investigation found the defect was connected to 37 fatal rear-end collisions resulting in 51 deaths — including at least five fatal crashes involving Libertys that resulted in seven deaths.A Milwaukee Product Liability Lawyer is reviewing the details of this case.
Southfield attorney Gerald Thurswell, who is representing White's family, said Friday the family is aware of the recall. He declined to answer questions about the police crash investigation and vehicle fire, but said the family is pursuing a lawsuit against the automaker.
"We're investigating a products liability case against Chrysler," he said.
Chrysler declined to comment on the White family's decision to seek counsel.
According to a search of the vehicle's VIN number through NHTSA, White's Jeep had not been fitted with a trailer hitch as a result of the recall to better protect the gas tank during collisions. It is unclear if the vehicle already had a factory-installed hitch before the recall. A Westchester County Auto Accident Lawyer represents clients involved in car accident cases in which victims have been seriously injured or killed.
The Jeep had two previous owners, according to a CarFax vehicle history report. The recall was issued while White owned the vehicle. The SUV, according to the report, was involved in a rear impact with another vehicle causing "minor to moderate damage" in 2005.
White's family members reached Friday declined to comment about Tuesday's crash, referring The Detroit News to Thurswell.
Chrysler spokesman Eric Mayne, in a statement about the accident, said the company is "working with law-enforcement officials to gather the relevant facts."
The crash investigation may take four to six weeks before results are submitted to the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office to determine whether charges will be filed against the 69-year-old driver who rear-ended White's vehicle, said Michigan State Police Lt. Mike Shaw. State police declined to provide further information Friday afternoon.
It was not clear if the fire began with the fuel tank or how fast the other vehicle was traveling when it struck White's car.
Police called to the crash scene around 4:45 p.m. determined the driver of a 2002 Cadillac, a Beverly Hills man, traveling north on the Lodge was unable to stop as traffic slowed in the right lane. Police said the driver was not paying attention.
NHTSA Deputy Administrator David Friedman, in a statement late Friday to The News, said the organization continues "to urge Chrysler to accelerate efforts to bring owners in to get their vehicles repaired and to ensure that parts are in stock when they do."
"It is also heartbreaking to see another victim of a distracted driver," he said. "We urge all drivers to keep their eyes on the road and their hands on the wheel."
Chrysler said Friday it had fixed or inspected nearly 130,000 vehicles since August. The company said it had more than 427,000 hitches in stock as of this week. It expects to have more than 550,000 by Dec. 1.
In July, under government pressure, Chrysler said it would be able to produce enough hitches to complete the June 2013 recall by mid-March 2015 — far faster than the original timetable of up to 4.7 years.
Clarence Ditlow, executive director of Washington, D.C., advocacy group the Center for Auto Safety, said that the design of the vehicles leaves the gas tanks vulnerable in the event of a rear-end collision.
"If you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, the vehicles are going to explode and you're very likely to burn to death," he said Friday.
Ditlow also said Chrysler's fix of adding a hitch may not adequately protect the fuel tank.
"Looking at the one photo I saw of (White's) Liberty, it appears that the striking vehicle went under the bumper and hit the fuel tank," he said. "All bets are off if you go under the bumper and the trailer hitch."
NHTSA opened an investigation into the Jeeps in August 2010 at the request of the Center for Auto Safety. The organization said the vehicles' gas tanks were positioned below the rear bumper and behind the rear axle, making them susceptible to rupturing and spilling gasoline in a rear-end crash.
Chrysler, at first, opposed the recall. The company last year issued a statement and three-page white paper report supporting its decision not to voluntarily recall the vehicles, saying the company did "not agree with NHTSA's conclusions and does not intend to recall the vehicles cited in the investigation."
The company's analysis showed the incidents "occur less than one time for every million years of vehicle operation. Additionally, these vehicles met or exceeded all applicable federal motor vehicle safety standards in place at the time they were built."
Chrysler on Friday maintained the SUVs are safe: "These vehicles are not defective and are among the safest in the peer group," it said in a statement. "Of the 26 most severe accidents cited in the NHTSA investigation and for which there is sufficient data to calculate kinetic energy, all exceeded the threshold for compliance with today's more-stringent crashworthiness regulations."
The cited regulations cover the level of integrity fuel tanks must maintain in a crash.
The automaker did move gas tanks on the Grand Cherokee in front of the rear axle in 2005, and did the same thing with the Liberty in 2007. Both moves were in connection to the vehicles being redesigned with new platforms, which automakers plan years in advance.
In Tuesday's crash, the Cadillac struck White's Jeep, forcing it into a 2014 Nissan Cube, which then struck a 2015 Lincoln MKZ as it slowed for traffic.
Police said alcohol does not appear to be a factor. No other injuries were reported.
White graduated from Ferndale High School in 2009 and was a hostess at Andiamo in Bloomfield Hills.
Her Facebook page was flooded after the crash with messages expressing shock and asking for prayers for White and her unborn baby, who White called Braedin in posts.
Visitation for Kayla White will be 2-7 p.m. Sunday, followed by a 7 p.m. service at Hopcroft Funeral Home at 31145 John R in Madison Heights.
Southfield — The SUV driven by Kayla White when she was killed Tuesday in a fiery crash on the Lodge Freeway had been recalled because of risk of catching fire during a rear-end collision.
White was killed when her 2003 Jeep Liberty was struck from behind near Telegraph, causing it to overturn and catch fire. She died of injuries caused by flames that engulfed her car, according to the Oakland County Medical Examiner's Office. An autopsy determined the cause of death was burns and smoke inhalation. A Milwaukee Wrongful Death Attorney is experienced in representing clients involved in wrongful death cases.
White, 23, of Ferndale was pregnant and in her third trimester at the time of the crash, according to police.
The SUV was part of a Chrysler Group LLC recall campaign last year of 1.56 million 2002-07 Jeep Libertys and 1993-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees at risk of catching fire when struck from behind. The automaker issued the callback following a request from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration after an investigation found the defect was connected to 37 fatal rear-end collisions resulting in 51 deaths — including at least five fatal crashes involving Libertys that resulted in seven deaths.A Milwaukee Product Liability Lawyer is reviewing the details of this case.
Southfield attorney Gerald Thurswell, who is representing White's family, said Friday the family is aware of the recall. He declined to answer questions about the police crash investigation and vehicle fire, but said the family is pursuing a lawsuit against the automaker.
"We're investigating a products liability case against Chrysler," he said.
Chrysler declined to comment on the White family's decision to seek counsel.
According to a search of the vehicle's VIN number through NHTSA, White's Jeep had not been fitted with a trailer hitch as a result of the recall to better protect the gas tank during collisions. It is unclear if the vehicle already had a factory-installed hitch before the recall. A Westchester County Auto Accident Lawyer represents clients involved in car accident cases in which victims have been seriously injured or killed.
The Jeep had two previous owners, according to a CarFax vehicle history report. The recall was issued while White owned the vehicle. The SUV, according to the report, was involved in a rear impact with another vehicle causing "minor to moderate damage" in 2005.
White's family members reached Friday declined to comment about Tuesday's crash, referring The Detroit News to Thurswell.
Chrysler spokesman Eric Mayne, in a statement about the accident, said the company is "working with law-enforcement officials to gather the relevant facts."
The crash investigation may take four to six weeks before results are submitted to the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office to determine whether charges will be filed against the 69-year-old driver who rear-ended White's vehicle, said Michigan State Police Lt. Mike Shaw. State police declined to provide further information Friday afternoon.
It was not clear if the fire began with the fuel tank or how fast the other vehicle was traveling when it struck White's car.
Police called to the crash scene around 4:45 p.m. determined the driver of a 2002 Cadillac, a Beverly Hills man, traveling north on the Lodge was unable to stop as traffic slowed in the right lane. Police said the driver was not paying attention.
NHTSA Deputy Administrator David Friedman, in a statement late Friday to The News, said the organization continues "to urge Chrysler to accelerate efforts to bring owners in to get their vehicles repaired and to ensure that parts are in stock when they do."
"It is also heartbreaking to see another victim of a distracted driver," he said. "We urge all drivers to keep their eyes on the road and their hands on the wheel."
Chrysler said Friday it had fixed or inspected nearly 130,000 vehicles since August. The company said it had more than 427,000 hitches in stock as of this week. It expects to have more than 550,000 by Dec. 1.
In July, under government pressure, Chrysler said it would be able to produce enough hitches to complete the June 2013 recall by mid-March 2015 — far faster than the original timetable of up to 4.7 years.
Clarence Ditlow, executive director of Washington, D.C., advocacy group the Center for Auto Safety, said that the design of the vehicles leaves the gas tanks vulnerable in the event of a rear-end collision.
"If you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, the vehicles are going to explode and you're very likely to burn to death," he said Friday.
Ditlow also said Chrysler's fix of adding a hitch may not adequately protect the fuel tank.
"Looking at the one photo I saw of (White's) Liberty, it appears that the striking vehicle went under the bumper and hit the fuel tank," he said. "All bets are off if you go under the bumper and the trailer hitch."
NHTSA opened an investigation into the Jeeps in August 2010 at the request of the Center for Auto Safety. The organization said the vehicles' gas tanks were positioned below the rear bumper and behind the rear axle, making them susceptible to rupturing and spilling gasoline in a rear-end crash.
Chrysler, at first, opposed the recall. The company last year issued a statement and three-page white paper report supporting its decision not to voluntarily recall the vehicles, saying the company did "not agree with NHTSA's conclusions and does not intend to recall the vehicles cited in the investigation."
The company's analysis showed the incidents "occur less than one time for every million years of vehicle operation. Additionally, these vehicles met or exceeded all applicable federal motor vehicle safety standards in place at the time they were built."
Chrysler on Friday maintained the SUVs are safe: "These vehicles are not defective and are among the safest in the peer group," it said in a statement. "Of the 26 most severe accidents cited in the NHTSA investigation and for which there is sufficient data to calculate kinetic energy, all exceeded the threshold for compliance with today's more-stringent crashworthiness regulations."
The cited regulations cover the level of integrity fuel tanks must maintain in a crash.
The automaker did move gas tanks on the Grand Cherokee in front of the rear axle in 2005, and did the same thing with the Liberty in 2007. Both moves were in connection to the vehicles being redesigned with new platforms, which automakers plan years in advance.
In Tuesday's crash, the Cadillac struck White's Jeep, forcing it into a 2014 Nissan Cube, which then struck a 2015 Lincoln MKZ as it slowed for traffic.
Police said alcohol does not appear to be a factor. No other injuries were reported.
White graduated from Ferndale High School in 2009 and was a hostess at Andiamo in Bloomfield Hills.
Her Facebook page was flooded after the crash with messages expressing shock and asking for prayers for White and her unborn baby, who White called Braedin in posts.
Visitation for Kayla White will be 2-7 p.m. Sunday, followed by a 7 p.m. service at Hopcroft Funeral Home at 31145 John R in Madison Heights.
13 November 2014
GR RANKED ON LGBT INCLUSIVENESS
Original Story: woodtv.com
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Grand Rapids received an average score from an LGBT civil rights group that rates cities on how inclusive they are for the LGBT community.
The Human Rights Campaign released its third annual Municipal Equality Index Wednesday. The group looks at laws, policies, and services in cities across the nation to score them.
Grand Rapids scored a 59 out of 100, which is the same as the national average.
The city got a plus for its nondiscrimination policy in city employment. The author of the report told 24 Hour News 8 that’s significant for a city that doesn’t have the benefit of state law.
“Grand Rapids is an example of a city that’s doing better than the state, frankly, and it’s amazing to see so many cities are really excelling where the state are perhaps not there yet,” Cathryn Oakley, the HRC’s legislative counsel, said in a phone interview. The MetroHealth Pride Clinic is devoted to serving the health needs of the LGBT community.
The report also points out where Grand Rapids needs to improve.
One area is law enforcement. The Grand Rapids Police Department doesn’t have an LGBT police liaison, which the group says is the best practice nationwide. The liaison would ensure that hate crime evidence is processed appropriately and that members of the LGBT community are treated respectfully if they’re arrested.
According to the Municipal Equality Index, Detroit, East Lansing and Lansing have LGBT police liaisons or task forces.
In Michigan, the index rated East Lansing the best, giving it a perfect score. Ann Arbor came in next with a score of 83. Detroit scored a 74.
No other West Michigan cities were included in the index.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Grand Rapids received an average score from an LGBT civil rights group that rates cities on how inclusive they are for the LGBT community.
The Human Rights Campaign released its third annual Municipal Equality Index Wednesday. The group looks at laws, policies, and services in cities across the nation to score them.
Grand Rapids scored a 59 out of 100, which is the same as the national average.
The city got a plus for its nondiscrimination policy in city employment. The author of the report told 24 Hour News 8 that’s significant for a city that doesn’t have the benefit of state law.
“Grand Rapids is an example of a city that’s doing better than the state, frankly, and it’s amazing to see so many cities are really excelling where the state are perhaps not there yet,” Cathryn Oakley, the HRC’s legislative counsel, said in a phone interview. The MetroHealth Pride Clinic is devoted to serving the health needs of the LGBT community.
The report also points out where Grand Rapids needs to improve.
One area is law enforcement. The Grand Rapids Police Department doesn’t have an LGBT police liaison, which the group says is the best practice nationwide. The liaison would ensure that hate crime evidence is processed appropriately and that members of the LGBT community are treated respectfully if they’re arrested.
According to the Municipal Equality Index, Detroit, East Lansing and Lansing have LGBT police liaisons or task forces.
In Michigan, the index rated East Lansing the best, giving it a perfect score. Ann Arbor came in next with a score of 83. Detroit scored a 74.
No other West Michigan cities were included in the index.
06 November 2014
GENIAL BERNSTEIN — JUSTICE DELIVERED WITH HUGS
Original Story: detroitnews.com
Richard Bernstein will likely earn attention as the nation's first blind state Supreme Court justice. But in the raw, gray drizzle of his Election Day campaign, the 40-year-old Bernstein easily distinguished himself as the most huggable.
"You've already got my vote," said Brenda Mitchell, a Southfield voter and retired AT&T employee, flinging her arms around Bernstein and posing for a keepsake photo. It was a scene repeated again and again during his final day tour of polling places.
As dusk fell, and voters gradually recognized the candidate standing in the rain and his white cane, the exchange of warm greetings would become predictable.
"Give me a hug," he would eventually say, with a zest and warmth nobody seemed able to refuse. "You just made my day."
By virtue of his ebullient personality and television commercial-induced familiarity, the disability rights lawyer projects something quite different from the austere, black-robed image that justices — the campaigning or already elected — typically adopt. For Bernstein, the matter of human connection isn't just an idea: It's the essence of a life that might otherwise be led alone and in the dark.
In his campaign commercials, he allied himself with "the people," rather than with corporations, to the ire of political conservatives and legal traditionalists. Yet his message resonated. When voters describe his appeal, they tend to say things like, "He's for the middle-class person." Or, "He's done so much for people," or even, "his whole family cares about people."
Campaigning for a job whose requirements are intellectual and academic, he didn't hesitate to lead by force of personality — and more than $2 million in campaign funds to reinforce himself as a symbol of "blind justice," one of his campaign slogans.
Who dreamed up that bold catch-phrase? "That's all mine," says Bernstein. "Because you have to deal with it and it really expresses what justice is. I am blind, and justice — real justice — is blind. Programs and services are great, but people also have to understand on a personal level ... a blind person can't prejudge others. I want to confront who I am directly, because people want to understand how I do what I do. It's a way to have a discussion."
The slogan, he says, is a pun, meant to be "funny and serious."
He is blind, he is different, and he is irrepressible: A failed bid for a Democratic Party nomination for attorney general didn't slow him down ("That's politics," he shrugs). A shattering accident in New York's Central Park two years ago — he was mowed down by a bicyclist — crushed his hip and pelvis and left him with chronic pain and new physical challenges. But he has always known how to convert pain and hurt into other modes, from lawsuits on behalf of the disabled to marathon-running to inspirational speaking.
Overcoming hardship is a necessity for Bernstein, but it is also his thing, it's what he does. And he has no plans to check his life experience in the Supreme Court lobby once he dons official robes.
The state's highest court isn't typically thought of as a populist platform: High courts cultivate an aura of intellect and impartiality, not impassioned advocacy. But the Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Michigan and Northwestern University Law School has multiple gifts: Most lawyers use written notes. Bernstein memorizes.
Whether or not you buy the argument that a lawyer with no judicial experience should be elevated to the state's highest court (plenty of non-judges have served on the U.S. Supreme Court), Bernstein is insistent that lacking a few resume lines has little bearing on his fitness for the job — an opinion shared by the 1.3 million people who voted for him.
"You can't have all of the same people doing the same thing. You don't need seven people on the court, each amplifying the same message," he insists. "I really, truly believe I can make life better for people."
Late Tuesday night, he stayed calm as the results trickled in. All day, he seemed resigned to potentially fatal "ballot drop-off," as straight party ticket voters failed to darken the ovals for non-partisan races: He'd been warned he could lose 30 percent of his constituency that way.
He hadn't won yet, and as friends and family gathered in a 12th floor suite at the MGM Grand Hotel Tuesday night, he never assumed victory. Anything could happen, he knew. In the corner, Sam Bernstein, patriarch and 1-800-Call SAM founder, awaited results. His mother, Susan Bernstein, said she wouldn't presume victory until every vote was counted.
"It's remarkable," she said, as early results flashed on a TV screen, showing Bernstein among the top two finishers. "When Richard was born, I didn't know if he would ever write his own name. Everything he does is 10 times harder for him than it is for us."
He will tell you that standing in the rain isn't so bad and even helpful because he can hear voters approaching when their feet are wet. He will tell you that being Richard Bernstein — fighting for a place without being able to visually see it, pushing through every day — is quite difficult but absolutely worth the effort.
As he explained outside a Southfield recreation center in the last moments of his last 12-hour day at polling places, shaking hands, "I will stay out here until 8 o'clock, until the polls close. That's what I do. I keep going to the very end."
Richard Bernstein will likely earn attention as the nation's first blind state Supreme Court justice. But in the raw, gray drizzle of his Election Day campaign, the 40-year-old Bernstein easily distinguished himself as the most huggable.
"You've already got my vote," said Brenda Mitchell, a Southfield voter and retired AT&T employee, flinging her arms around Bernstein and posing for a keepsake photo. It was a scene repeated again and again during his final day tour of polling places.
As dusk fell, and voters gradually recognized the candidate standing in the rain and his white cane, the exchange of warm greetings would become predictable.
"Give me a hug," he would eventually say, with a zest and warmth nobody seemed able to refuse. "You just made my day."
By virtue of his ebullient personality and television commercial-induced familiarity, the disability rights lawyer projects something quite different from the austere, black-robed image that justices — the campaigning or already elected — typically adopt. For Bernstein, the matter of human connection isn't just an idea: It's the essence of a life that might otherwise be led alone and in the dark.
In his campaign commercials, he allied himself with "the people," rather than with corporations, to the ire of political conservatives and legal traditionalists. Yet his message resonated. When voters describe his appeal, they tend to say things like, "He's for the middle-class person." Or, "He's done so much for people," or even, "his whole family cares about people."
Campaigning for a job whose requirements are intellectual and academic, he didn't hesitate to lead by force of personality — and more than $2 million in campaign funds to reinforce himself as a symbol of "blind justice," one of his campaign slogans.
Who dreamed up that bold catch-phrase? "That's all mine," says Bernstein. "Because you have to deal with it and it really expresses what justice is. I am blind, and justice — real justice — is blind. Programs and services are great, but people also have to understand on a personal level ... a blind person can't prejudge others. I want to confront who I am directly, because people want to understand how I do what I do. It's a way to have a discussion."
The slogan, he says, is a pun, meant to be "funny and serious."
He is blind, he is different, and he is irrepressible: A failed bid for a Democratic Party nomination for attorney general didn't slow him down ("That's politics," he shrugs). A shattering accident in New York's Central Park two years ago — he was mowed down by a bicyclist — crushed his hip and pelvis and left him with chronic pain and new physical challenges. But he has always known how to convert pain and hurt into other modes, from lawsuits on behalf of the disabled to marathon-running to inspirational speaking.
Overcoming hardship is a necessity for Bernstein, but it is also his thing, it's what he does. And he has no plans to check his life experience in the Supreme Court lobby once he dons official robes.
The state's highest court isn't typically thought of as a populist platform: High courts cultivate an aura of intellect and impartiality, not impassioned advocacy. But the Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Michigan and Northwestern University Law School has multiple gifts: Most lawyers use written notes. Bernstein memorizes.
Whether or not you buy the argument that a lawyer with no judicial experience should be elevated to the state's highest court (plenty of non-judges have served on the U.S. Supreme Court), Bernstein is insistent that lacking a few resume lines has little bearing on his fitness for the job — an opinion shared by the 1.3 million people who voted for him.
"You can't have all of the same people doing the same thing. You don't need seven people on the court, each amplifying the same message," he insists. "I really, truly believe I can make life better for people."
Late Tuesday night, he stayed calm as the results trickled in. All day, he seemed resigned to potentially fatal "ballot drop-off," as straight party ticket voters failed to darken the ovals for non-partisan races: He'd been warned he could lose 30 percent of his constituency that way.
He hadn't won yet, and as friends and family gathered in a 12th floor suite at the MGM Grand Hotel Tuesday night, he never assumed victory. Anything could happen, he knew. In the corner, Sam Bernstein, patriarch and 1-800-Call SAM founder, awaited results. His mother, Susan Bernstein, said she wouldn't presume victory until every vote was counted.
"It's remarkable," she said, as early results flashed on a TV screen, showing Bernstein among the top two finishers. "When Richard was born, I didn't know if he would ever write his own name. Everything he does is 10 times harder for him than it is for us."
He will tell you that standing in the rain isn't so bad and even helpful because he can hear voters approaching when their feet are wet. He will tell you that being Richard Bernstein — fighting for a place without being able to visually see it, pushing through every day — is quite difficult but absolutely worth the effort.
As he explained outside a Southfield recreation center in the last moments of his last 12-hour day at polling places, shaking hands, "I will stay out here until 8 o'clock, until the polls close. That's what I do. I keep going to the very end."
ON WATER ISSUES, IT’S DETROIT VERSUS THE U.N.
Original Story: detroitnews.com
For the second time in recent months, the United Nations has looked at the fact that thousands of Detroit families are without water and determined that there are better, more humane solutions to the problem than those used by Detroit’s mayor.
A panel, which included two U.N. special rapporteurs, heard testimony on Oct. 19 at a hearing with hundreds in attendance at Wayne County Community College’s Fort Street campus. Having implemented his 10-point plan to deal with water shutoffs, Mayor Mike Duggan rebuffed the U.N. panelists who took testimony from Detroiters.
While the 10-point plan could be a starting point for negotiations (if the mayor were up for negotiating with anyone on this issue) both the plan and his response fail to recognize the reality the people of Detroit are facing.
Detroit is America’s poorest big city, with 38 percent of residents living at or below the poverty line and an unemployment rate of 14.6 percent. The United Way recently released a report that shows two-thirds of Detroiters can’t afford basic needs like transportation, housing and health care, even when people in their households are working full time. When you combine these dire numbers with the leaky pipes and bureaucratic foul-ups of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, you have a recipe for injustice and disaster.
The U.N.’s second condemnation of the massive water shutoffs is part of a chorus of public health advocates and officials that are demanding an alternative to depriving families of water. Those voices include National Nurses United, professor John Powell, co-chairman of the Population Health Council, and Dr. Mouhanad Hammami, county health officer for the Wayne County Department of Public Health. Hammami and Powell wrote an open letter calling the shutoffs a public health hazard and citing a double bind: People in poverty are already more likely to be in poor health. Being deprived of water only increases health risks.
In plain terms, the only humane solution is to create a plan where people at a certain income threshold pay for water based on their income. This would keep the water flowing to families that need it and the revenue flowing to a system that requires it. We would stop squeezing families struggling to make ends meet and instead make sure corporations who clearly have the ability to pay are no longer allowed to let their bills pile up without retribution.
We actually have a plan that was passed by the City Council in 2006. The Water Affordability Plan guarantees water and revenue based on people’s ability to pay. But one thing needed to implement the plan has yet to occur in City Hall — a paradigm shift. Recognizing how utterly crucial access to water is to families and embracing a practical plan to make sure families are never without it takes vision and courage.
It takes courage to acknowledge that you’ve been an accessory to devastating entire neighborhoods, as one North End Detroit resident said at the U.N. hearing. There is no one there to help when blocks of people are without water. Seniors that are housebound, renters who have to wait for landlords to turn the water back on, and children who have no control of family finances are among the hardest hit. But everyone needs water.
It may be hard for Mayor Duggan to hear and see the devastation continue to get international attention, but that’s not nearly as hard as life for thousands of residents who can’t afford the basics. The mayor’s plan needs to take that truth into account and adjust to fit the needs of the people, not the other way around.
Monica Lewis-Patrick is director of outreach for We the People of Detroit. Lila Cabbil is president emeritus of the Rosa Parks Institute. Both are members of the Detroit People’s Water Board.
For the second time in recent months, the United Nations has looked at the fact that thousands of Detroit families are without water and determined that there are better, more humane solutions to the problem than those used by Detroit’s mayor.
A panel, which included two U.N. special rapporteurs, heard testimony on Oct. 19 at a hearing with hundreds in attendance at Wayne County Community College’s Fort Street campus. Having implemented his 10-point plan to deal with water shutoffs, Mayor Mike Duggan rebuffed the U.N. panelists who took testimony from Detroiters.
While the 10-point plan could be a starting point for negotiations (if the mayor were up for negotiating with anyone on this issue) both the plan and his response fail to recognize the reality the people of Detroit are facing.
Detroit is America’s poorest big city, with 38 percent of residents living at or below the poverty line and an unemployment rate of 14.6 percent. The United Way recently released a report that shows two-thirds of Detroiters can’t afford basic needs like transportation, housing and health care, even when people in their households are working full time. When you combine these dire numbers with the leaky pipes and bureaucratic foul-ups of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, you have a recipe for injustice and disaster.
The U.N.’s second condemnation of the massive water shutoffs is part of a chorus of public health advocates and officials that are demanding an alternative to depriving families of water. Those voices include National Nurses United, professor John Powell, co-chairman of the Population Health Council, and Dr. Mouhanad Hammami, county health officer for the Wayne County Department of Public Health. Hammami and Powell wrote an open letter calling the shutoffs a public health hazard and citing a double bind: People in poverty are already more likely to be in poor health. Being deprived of water only increases health risks.
In plain terms, the only humane solution is to create a plan where people at a certain income threshold pay for water based on their income. This would keep the water flowing to families that need it and the revenue flowing to a system that requires it. We would stop squeezing families struggling to make ends meet and instead make sure corporations who clearly have the ability to pay are no longer allowed to let their bills pile up without retribution.
We actually have a plan that was passed by the City Council in 2006. The Water Affordability Plan guarantees water and revenue based on people’s ability to pay. But one thing needed to implement the plan has yet to occur in City Hall — a paradigm shift. Recognizing how utterly crucial access to water is to families and embracing a practical plan to make sure families are never without it takes vision and courage.
It takes courage to acknowledge that you’ve been an accessory to devastating entire neighborhoods, as one North End Detroit resident said at the U.N. hearing. There is no one there to help when blocks of people are without water. Seniors that are housebound, renters who have to wait for landlords to turn the water back on, and children who have no control of family finances are among the hardest hit. But everyone needs water.
It may be hard for Mayor Duggan to hear and see the devastation continue to get international attention, but that’s not nearly as hard as life for thousands of residents who can’t afford the basics. The mayor’s plan needs to take that truth into account and adjust to fit the needs of the people, not the other way around.
Monica Lewis-Patrick is director of outreach for We the People of Detroit. Lila Cabbil is president emeritus of the Rosa Parks Institute. Both are members of the Detroit People’s Water Board.
LENNOX: RESPECT GOV. SNYDER’S MANDATE
Original Story: detroitnews.com
Move over, tea party. This is now Gov. Rick Snyder’s Michigan Republican Party.
That’s the takeaway from Tuesday’s general election, in which Snyder won re-election to the governor’s mansion over Democratic challenger Mark Schauer.
In the wake of notable wins by Republicans across the country — the most defeats of incumbent Democratic U.S. senators since 1980, the largest caucus in U.S. House since World War II and an even larger super-majority in the state Senate — it was Snyder’s victory that stood out the most.
From a complete restructuring of the business tax, the long-stalled Windsor-Detroit international bridge, state-based health care reform (notwithstanding the groans of many in his own party), monumental right-to-work legislation — once unthinkable in the birthplace of the UAW and other trade unions — to saving Detroit, Snyder defied conventional wisdom in his first term.
His bold leadership stood in sharp contrast to the overly cautious career politicians, who would have avoided most of what he achieved over fear of endangering their re-election prospects. On top of all this, Snyder slayed his critics on the hard-right when Lt. Gov. Brian Calley was re-nominated at the summer Republican State Convention.
So while challenger Mark Schauer hammered away with falsehoods, the Republican former businessman known to many as the nerd-in-chief remained positive and engaged in substantive discussions instead of Punch and Judy politics.
To be sure, many Michiganians certainly didn’t always agree with Snyder. But in the end, they rewarded him when it mattered most by giving him another four years.
For the GOP, this is the road map to a national governing majority. The 2016 presidential campaign will soon begin.
Snyder’s victory, as well as the wins of Republican gubernatorial candidates Bruce Rauner in Illinois, Charlie Baker in Massachusetts and Larry Hogan in Maryland, proves that focusing on competence and good governance is a reliable recipe for electoral success in even the most bluest of Democratic states.
More importantly, it elevates the national profile of Snyder at a critical time for the party desperate to occupy the White House after losing the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections.
Snyder’s lesson for the GOP is simple: Ignore political gamesmanship and govern successfully.
President Barack Obama isn’t just a lame duck. His administration is paralyzed, if not politically dead.
If Democrats ignored Obama this go-round, they will abandon him outright in two years. This will do more for Republicans than any GOP criticism of Obama going forward.
Just as Snyder achieved real results here in Michigan, so must Republicans prove to the American people that they are once the again the party of solutions, not the party that just says no.
Failing to realize this will result in a repeat of 1996 and 2012, when the false reality created in the aftermath of resounding mid-term election victories resulted in Republicans squandering winnable presidential races.
Move over, tea party. This is now Gov. Rick Snyder’s Michigan Republican Party.
That’s the takeaway from Tuesday’s general election, in which Snyder won re-election to the governor’s mansion over Democratic challenger Mark Schauer.
In the wake of notable wins by Republicans across the country — the most defeats of incumbent Democratic U.S. senators since 1980, the largest caucus in U.S. House since World War II and an even larger super-majority in the state Senate — it was Snyder’s victory that stood out the most.
From a complete restructuring of the business tax, the long-stalled Windsor-Detroit international bridge, state-based health care reform (notwithstanding the groans of many in his own party), monumental right-to-work legislation — once unthinkable in the birthplace of the UAW and other trade unions — to saving Detroit, Snyder defied conventional wisdom in his first term.
His bold leadership stood in sharp contrast to the overly cautious career politicians, who would have avoided most of what he achieved over fear of endangering their re-election prospects. On top of all this, Snyder slayed his critics on the hard-right when Lt. Gov. Brian Calley was re-nominated at the summer Republican State Convention.
So while challenger Mark Schauer hammered away with falsehoods, the Republican former businessman known to many as the nerd-in-chief remained positive and engaged in substantive discussions instead of Punch and Judy politics.
To be sure, many Michiganians certainly didn’t always agree with Snyder. But in the end, they rewarded him when it mattered most by giving him another four years.
For the GOP, this is the road map to a national governing majority. The 2016 presidential campaign will soon begin.
Snyder’s victory, as well as the wins of Republican gubernatorial candidates Bruce Rauner in Illinois, Charlie Baker in Massachusetts and Larry Hogan in Maryland, proves that focusing on competence and good governance is a reliable recipe for electoral success in even the most bluest of Democratic states.
More importantly, it elevates the national profile of Snyder at a critical time for the party desperate to occupy the White House after losing the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections.
Snyder’s lesson for the GOP is simple: Ignore political gamesmanship and govern successfully.
President Barack Obama isn’t just a lame duck. His administration is paralyzed, if not politically dead.
If Democrats ignored Obama this go-round, they will abandon him outright in two years. This will do more for Republicans than any GOP criticism of Obama going forward.
Just as Snyder achieved real results here in Michigan, so must Republicans prove to the American people that they are once the again the party of solutions, not the party that just says no.
Failing to realize this will result in a repeat of 1996 and 2012, when the false reality created in the aftermath of resounding mid-term election victories resulted in Republicans squandering winnable presidential races.
LET'S GIVE HOPE TO KIDS IN FOSTER CARE
Original Story: detroitnews.com
Each year, more than 23,000 children in foster care in America age out of the system without ever having the chance to know a secure home and loving family.
Historically, placing children in foster care from one state into an adoption with a family in another state has been extremely difficult, as regulations differ from state to state. This hurdle often prevents more than 102,000 adoption-ready children currently in foster care from being adopted.
In Michigan, there are 15,347 children in foster care, with more than 3,500 eagerly awaiting a forever family. For couples facing fertility issues or those simply looking to expand their family, the interstate red tape can be exhausting and often times, heartbreaking.
On the opposing side of those willing and wanting to adopt, are the vulnerable children waiting for a family. These children are dangerously close to becoming products of the system. Many have been in and out of a number of homes over the years, shuttled back and forth between agencies, and have had their hopes dashed because no one has welcomed them into a permanent family. Those left to fend for themselves at 18 years old are often alone, have no one to call in a time of need, and are at risk of adding to the homelessness, unplanned pregnancy, or crime statistics.
Thankfully, numbers seem to indicate an increase in the number of couples seeking to adopt older children. Initiatives such as Bethany Christian Services' No One Without (N.O.W.), a program, which uses a comprehensive database to match prospective adoptive families and eligible foster care children while navigating interstate regulations, are making a difference by alleviating hassle and opening new frontiers to help adoptees and families.
As these issues continue to gain traction, it is increasingly important that awareness is heightened and opportunities like National Adoption Month in November are utilized to give a voice to the children who do not have one. Let's work together in continuing to tear down the walls of bureaucracy and make adopting foster care children across state lines easier so that these children have greater hope of experiencing the love of a forever family.
Each year, more than 23,000 children in foster care in America age out of the system without ever having the chance to know a secure home and loving family.
Historically, placing children in foster care from one state into an adoption with a family in another state has been extremely difficult, as regulations differ from state to state. This hurdle often prevents more than 102,000 adoption-ready children currently in foster care from being adopted.
In Michigan, there are 15,347 children in foster care, with more than 3,500 eagerly awaiting a forever family. For couples facing fertility issues or those simply looking to expand their family, the interstate red tape can be exhausting and often times, heartbreaking.
On the opposing side of those willing and wanting to adopt, are the vulnerable children waiting for a family. These children are dangerously close to becoming products of the system. Many have been in and out of a number of homes over the years, shuttled back and forth between agencies, and have had their hopes dashed because no one has welcomed them into a permanent family. Those left to fend for themselves at 18 years old are often alone, have no one to call in a time of need, and are at risk of adding to the homelessness, unplanned pregnancy, or crime statistics.
Thankfully, numbers seem to indicate an increase in the number of couples seeking to adopt older children. Initiatives such as Bethany Christian Services' No One Without (N.O.W.), a program, which uses a comprehensive database to match prospective adoptive families and eligible foster care children while navigating interstate regulations, are making a difference by alleviating hassle and opening new frontiers to help adoptees and families.
As these issues continue to gain traction, it is increasingly important that awareness is heightened and opportunities like National Adoption Month in November are utilized to give a voice to the children who do not have one. Let's work together in continuing to tear down the walls of bureaucracy and make adopting foster care children across state lines easier so that these children have greater hope of experiencing the love of a forever family.
05 November 2014
WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY ENGINEERING GETS $25M GIFT
Original Story: freep.com
Wayne State University’s College of Engineering is receiving $25 million from an alumnus to promote entrepreneurship in Detroit, officials announced Thursday.
The gift from James Anderson, president and CEO of Urban Science in Detroit and his wife, Patricia Anderson, is believed to be the largest gift ever to the university’s engineering program. Anderson, who graduated with bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the engineering college in 1966 and 1970, founded in 1977 his auto retail consulting firm, which now has 19 offices with 850 employees.
Anderson told the Free Press he hopes the gift for students and faculty can help encourage entrepreneurship that can help Detroit grow. The Ferris Engineering Degree Program is a leading program with excellent records of achievement in research and public service.
“Wayne State..had all of the great ingredients to create the success that I’ve enjoyed since graduation,” he said. “There is a community of aspiring entrepreneurs that want the opportunity.”
Anderson “wants to encourage students to have a similar path to success that he was able to have based on his education at Wayne State,” said Wayne State University President M. Roy Wilson. “He was able to take his knowledge and start up a company and employ a lot of people that’s contributing to the local economy.”
“Innovation and entrepreneurship has got to be a major component of Detroit’s comeback,” Wilson told the Free Press. “One time, it was the automobile, but I don’t think Detroit will be a leader moving forward with just the automobile industry. They will have to be able to innovate and find other sources. Entrepreneurship is one of those avenues.”
The $25 million will establish the James and Patricia Anderson Engineering Ventures Institute, which will be part of the College of Engineering.
“The institute will encourage faculty to envision commercial applications for new technology, secure patents and establish new companies,” said Wayne State University in a release. “The institute will also provide mentors to aspiring student entrepreneurs and teach best practices in research innovation, technology transfer and commercialization.”
Wayne State University’s College of Engineering is receiving $25 million from an alumnus to promote entrepreneurship in Detroit, officials announced Thursday.
The gift from James Anderson, president and CEO of Urban Science in Detroit and his wife, Patricia Anderson, is believed to be the largest gift ever to the university’s engineering program. Anderson, who graduated with bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the engineering college in 1966 and 1970, founded in 1977 his auto retail consulting firm, which now has 19 offices with 850 employees.
Anderson told the Free Press he hopes the gift for students and faculty can help encourage entrepreneurship that can help Detroit grow. The Ferris Engineering Degree Program is a leading program with excellent records of achievement in research and public service.
“Wayne State..had all of the great ingredients to create the success that I’ve enjoyed since graduation,” he said. “There is a community of aspiring entrepreneurs that want the opportunity.”
Anderson “wants to encourage students to have a similar path to success that he was able to have based on his education at Wayne State,” said Wayne State University President M. Roy Wilson. “He was able to take his knowledge and start up a company and employ a lot of people that’s contributing to the local economy.”
“Innovation and entrepreneurship has got to be a major component of Detroit’s comeback,” Wilson told the Free Press. “One time, it was the automobile, but I don’t think Detroit will be a leader moving forward with just the automobile industry. They will have to be able to innovate and find other sources. Entrepreneurship is one of those avenues.”
The $25 million will establish the James and Patricia Anderson Engineering Ventures Institute, which will be part of the College of Engineering.
“The institute will encourage faculty to envision commercial applications for new technology, secure patents and establish new companies,” said Wayne State University in a release. “The institute will also provide mentors to aspiring student entrepreneurs and teach best practices in research innovation, technology transfer and commercialization.”
TOM STEYER: MIDTERMS MARK THE START OF CLIMATE CAMPAIGN
Original Story: usatoday.com
DETROIT — Tom Steyer, one of the biggest political donors of the midterm elections, said his multimillion-dollar crusade to slow global warming rests on exposing the human consequences of fossil-fuel consumption. A Corpus Christi Energy Lawyer has experience assisting clients in negotiations of oil and gas exploration.
On a recent weekday, that quest took the California billionaire to a heavily industrial corner of southwest Detroit whose residents figure prominently in his campaign to disrupt American politics by making climate change a wedge issue in campaigns.
Sherry Griswold, who lives 600 feet from the neighborhood's sprawling oil refinery, has appeared in an ad produced by Steyer's super PAC to influence the Michigan Senate race — one of four competitive Senate contests the hedge-fund founder has targeted this year. He urged other residents to turn out on Election Day.
"The power that we have is the power to vote," he said to residents who gathered to meet with him at the Pine Grove Baptist Church.
Steyer and his NextGen Climate Action super PAC are engaged in an all-out fight to guarantee voters such as these will show up Nov. 4 to tip the balance in favor of Democrats struggling to maintain their majority in the U.S. Senate.
NextGen also invests in efforts to oust Republican governors in Maine, Florida and Pennsylvania and works to shape several state legislative races in California, Washington and Oregon.
In all, Steyer has plowed more than $42 million of his fortune into federal campaign accounts since early March 2013, making the San Francisco Democrat the largest super PAC donor of the 2014 election. His political organization has opened 40 offices, built a team of 800 employees and volunteers in its targeted states and made contact with more than 1.5 million voters.
Steyer has assembled an array of well-connected political strategists to advise him, including Chris Lehane, a former White House adviser to President Bill Clinton, and in Michigan, Amy Chapman, a veteran operative who oversaw President Obama's successful campaign in the state in 2008.
Steyer's goal is straightforward and ambitious: Get the United States "to transform its energy economy and to lead the world to transform its energy economy," he told USA TODAY during an interview in Detroit. An Austin Energy Lawyer is reviewing the details of this case.
In addition to Michigan, NextGen has pumped money into crucial Senate contests in Iowa, Colorado and New Hampshire. Three weeks before the election, public polls show Democrats locked in tight races in Iowa and Colorado.
Steyer said he's "super optimistic" about Democrats' prospects and believes his group's voter outreach could make the difference.
"I'm very, very convinced of the rightness of what we are doing," he said.
Steyer's fortune — pegged at $1.6 billion by Forbes — and his evangelical zeal for his cause have quickly made him the country's biggest name in environmental activism. He has emerged as the leading Democratic counterweight to the billionaires Charles and David Koch, who are at the center of a political network aiding conservatives. A single group tied to the Kochs, Americans for Prosperity, could spend $125 million in this election.
Along the way, Steyer has become a top target for Republicans who are quick to note that the hedge fund at the source of his vast wealth invested in the fossil fuel industry he denounces so fiercely.
MIDTERMS JUST THE START
During a whirlwind tour of Detroit, he met with the neighborhood activists, visited Griswold's home in the oil refinery's shadow and discussed policy with clean-energy advocates and executives.
He's eager to understand the ground game in Michigan — where his team has spent more than $3 million.
Over a breakfast of scrambled eggs at a hotel restaurant in downtown Detroit, Steyer peppered Chapman and other strategists with questions. He wanted to know how many canvassers and staffers were at work in the state. Answer: 135. How many college campuses targeted? Eight.
The Michigan team has hit on nearly 49,000 doors, according to NextGen's state director, Stephanie Chang. The goal: Turn out young people, minorities and others more likely to side with Democrats but who might not head to the polls during a midterm election.
In Michigan, Steyer has sought to cast Republican Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land as beholden to the oil industry and the Kochs. Americans for Prosperity, a non-profit group affiliated with the Kochs, has spent more than $2.5 million on television ads boosting Land this year.
In an e-mail, Land spokeswoman Heather Swift called Steyer a "California radical billionaire environmentalist" who is "trying to buy the Michigan Senate race" for Democrat Gary Peters.
During his interactions in Detroit, Steyer talked little about the Senate race itself.
Meeting with Griswold and other neighborhood residents, Steyer appeared energized, complimenting one activist on her jaunty straw fedora and promising to look for a way to help them better monitor air quality from the refinery and other heavy industry in the neighborhood.
(Jamal Kheiry, a spokesman for refinery owner Marathon Petroleum, said the plant "continuously" monitors air quality and consistently meets standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency.)
Urged on by one of the activists, Steyer joined the group in a prayer circle, closing his eyes and locking arms tightly with neighborhood resident Andre Driscoll and NextGen's national political director, Sky Gallegos.
He insists that the midterm elections are just the start of his mission.
"We are going to end up with a bunch of e-mail addresses attached to names and people who say they are committed climate voters," he said in the interview. The goal, he said, is to keep the conversation alive after Election Day.
Steyer, 57, dismisses speculation that he is laying the foundation for elective office — perhaps a run for California governor. But he doesn't rule out the possibility, either.
"If I thought there was a real reason to run that would move the ball forward, I would do it," he said. "But that's not what we are doing now. … I'm not doing this as a pretext for something else."
CHARGES OF HYPOCRISY
Before launching NextGen, Steyer was best known in politics for his work on California ballot initiatives. In 2010, he donated $5 million to successfully oppose a measure that would have weakened California's carbon emissions standards. He spent more than $30 million on a winning campaign for an initiative that raised corporate taxes and redirected a big share of the money to clean-energy projects.
He reached a turning point in 2012 when he decided to devote his time to climate change activism and emerged as one of the nation's most vocal opponents to the Keystone XL pipeline that would take carbon-heavy oil from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, to Gulf Coast refineries.
That year, Steyer walked away from Farallon Capital Management, the hedge fund he founded. Farallon, named for a cluster of rocky islands off the Northern California coast, has $20.5 billion in assets under its management.
His critics say Steyer's political activism reeks of hypocrisy, given Farallon's investments in the oil and gas industry — including coal-fired plants in Asia and Kinder Morgan, a Houston company working to expand its rival pipeline to Keystone XL that will transport oil from the Alberta tar sands to a Pacific port.
"Steyer struck it rich by investing in 'dirty' energy, and then did an about-face when it became politically convenient," Republican Governors Association spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said in a recent news release announcing the group's website labeling him "Steyer the liar."
He has faced questions about whether he waited too long to unwind his investments in fossil fuels, a process completed in June.
He called the charges "complete nonsense."
"To leave the job at the end of 2012 and finish divesting, including on a private basis, by June 30, 2014 — so 18 months — you may think that's nothing. I think that's lickety-split," he said.
"When I got new information, I changed my mind, which is what we are asking everybody else to do," he said. "Take in the information and change."
Republicans have been enraged by his heavy spending as prominent Democrats, led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., denounced the outsized role of money in politics and specifically the Kochs' spending. (In addition to investments in his own super PAC, federal records show, Steyer gave $5 million this year to the Senate Majority PAC, a super PAC run by operatives aligned with Reid that is one of the biggest outside players in Senate races this year.)
Steyer bristled at the comparison to the Kochs, who oversee a $115 billion industrial conglomerate that operates oil refineries, makes asphalt and manufactures a wide range of consumer products, including Brawny paper towels and Dixie cups.
"What they are doing helps them in a major way," he said. "It helps their economic interests."
He noted that most of his activity flows through his super PAC, which is required to disclose its funders and how it spends its money. Most parts of the Koch political network operate through tax-exempt arms that don't disclose contributors' identities.
"Both in terms of transparency and motive, it's very, very different," Steyer said.
Koch officials declined comment this week.
(The Kochs have maintained in recent years that they want the government to stay out of the marketplace and are not seeking any special treatment through their political activity.)
Steyer said the Koch conservative network will outspend him by "many multiples."
NextGen is not close to raising $50 million from other donors, a goal first described in a New York Times story last February, he said. (Steyer insisted that he never set that ambitious target and was surprised to see that number emerge.)
"I think people are very wary about the political process," he said of the difficulty attracting other donors. "They think … getting involved will put you in a position where you might get attacked."
CLIMATE CHANGE RANKS LOW
In Michigan, Peters has held a consistent lead over Land in recent polls.
The outside money from Steyer and others has helped make the 2014 Senate race the most expensive in state history, said Bill Ballenger, a veteran political analyst and founder of Inside Michigan Politics.
Ballenger said Peters' advantage may have less to do with Steyer's activism than the fundamentals of politics in Michigan, a state that has sent only two Republicans to the U.S. Senate in more than a half-century and where Obama easily won re-election in 2012.
"Most of the state doesn't really know much" about the environmental issues Steyer has highlighted in southwest Detroit, he said.
More broadly, national polls show that addressing global warming is not among the public's top concerns. Climate change ranked dead last among 13 issues surveyed in a Gallup Poll released Monday — trailing the economy and voters' worries about the Islamic State's activity in Iraq and Syria. In all, 40% of registered voters said it would be an important issue in their midterm voting.
Steyer remains undaunted and calls climate change "the generational issue" he and others are called to confront.
"It's not clear exactly how we're going to win," he told a dozen clean-energy advocates meeting with him in Detroit, "but it's pretty clear that we have to win."
DETROIT — Tom Steyer, one of the biggest political donors of the midterm elections, said his multimillion-dollar crusade to slow global warming rests on exposing the human consequences of fossil-fuel consumption. A Corpus Christi Energy Lawyer has experience assisting clients in negotiations of oil and gas exploration.
On a recent weekday, that quest took the California billionaire to a heavily industrial corner of southwest Detroit whose residents figure prominently in his campaign to disrupt American politics by making climate change a wedge issue in campaigns.
Sherry Griswold, who lives 600 feet from the neighborhood's sprawling oil refinery, has appeared in an ad produced by Steyer's super PAC to influence the Michigan Senate race — one of four competitive Senate contests the hedge-fund founder has targeted this year. He urged other residents to turn out on Election Day.
"The power that we have is the power to vote," he said to residents who gathered to meet with him at the Pine Grove Baptist Church.
Steyer and his NextGen Climate Action super PAC are engaged in an all-out fight to guarantee voters such as these will show up Nov. 4 to tip the balance in favor of Democrats struggling to maintain their majority in the U.S. Senate.
NextGen also invests in efforts to oust Republican governors in Maine, Florida and Pennsylvania and works to shape several state legislative races in California, Washington and Oregon.
In all, Steyer has plowed more than $42 million of his fortune into federal campaign accounts since early March 2013, making the San Francisco Democrat the largest super PAC donor of the 2014 election. His political organization has opened 40 offices, built a team of 800 employees and volunteers in its targeted states and made contact with more than 1.5 million voters.
Steyer has assembled an array of well-connected political strategists to advise him, including Chris Lehane, a former White House adviser to President Bill Clinton, and in Michigan, Amy Chapman, a veteran operative who oversaw President Obama's successful campaign in the state in 2008.
Steyer's goal is straightforward and ambitious: Get the United States "to transform its energy economy and to lead the world to transform its energy economy," he told USA TODAY during an interview in Detroit. An Austin Energy Lawyer is reviewing the details of this case.
In addition to Michigan, NextGen has pumped money into crucial Senate contests in Iowa, Colorado and New Hampshire. Three weeks before the election, public polls show Democrats locked in tight races in Iowa and Colorado.
Steyer said he's "super optimistic" about Democrats' prospects and believes his group's voter outreach could make the difference.
"I'm very, very convinced of the rightness of what we are doing," he said.
Steyer's fortune — pegged at $1.6 billion by Forbes — and his evangelical zeal for his cause have quickly made him the country's biggest name in environmental activism. He has emerged as the leading Democratic counterweight to the billionaires Charles and David Koch, who are at the center of a political network aiding conservatives. A single group tied to the Kochs, Americans for Prosperity, could spend $125 million in this election.
Along the way, Steyer has become a top target for Republicans who are quick to note that the hedge fund at the source of his vast wealth invested in the fossil fuel industry he denounces so fiercely.
MIDTERMS JUST THE START
During a whirlwind tour of Detroit, he met with the neighborhood activists, visited Griswold's home in the oil refinery's shadow and discussed policy with clean-energy advocates and executives.
He's eager to understand the ground game in Michigan — where his team has spent more than $3 million.
Over a breakfast of scrambled eggs at a hotel restaurant in downtown Detroit, Steyer peppered Chapman and other strategists with questions. He wanted to know how many canvassers and staffers were at work in the state. Answer: 135. How many college campuses targeted? Eight.
The Michigan team has hit on nearly 49,000 doors, according to NextGen's state director, Stephanie Chang. The goal: Turn out young people, minorities and others more likely to side with Democrats but who might not head to the polls during a midterm election.
In Michigan, Steyer has sought to cast Republican Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land as beholden to the oil industry and the Kochs. Americans for Prosperity, a non-profit group affiliated with the Kochs, has spent more than $2.5 million on television ads boosting Land this year.
In an e-mail, Land spokeswoman Heather Swift called Steyer a "California radical billionaire environmentalist" who is "trying to buy the Michigan Senate race" for Democrat Gary Peters.
During his interactions in Detroit, Steyer talked little about the Senate race itself.
Meeting with Griswold and other neighborhood residents, Steyer appeared energized, complimenting one activist on her jaunty straw fedora and promising to look for a way to help them better monitor air quality from the refinery and other heavy industry in the neighborhood.
(Jamal Kheiry, a spokesman for refinery owner Marathon Petroleum, said the plant "continuously" monitors air quality and consistently meets standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency.)
Urged on by one of the activists, Steyer joined the group in a prayer circle, closing his eyes and locking arms tightly with neighborhood resident Andre Driscoll and NextGen's national political director, Sky Gallegos.
He insists that the midterm elections are just the start of his mission.
"We are going to end up with a bunch of e-mail addresses attached to names and people who say they are committed climate voters," he said in the interview. The goal, he said, is to keep the conversation alive after Election Day.
Steyer, 57, dismisses speculation that he is laying the foundation for elective office — perhaps a run for California governor. But he doesn't rule out the possibility, either.
"If I thought there was a real reason to run that would move the ball forward, I would do it," he said. "But that's not what we are doing now. … I'm not doing this as a pretext for something else."
CHARGES OF HYPOCRISY
Before launching NextGen, Steyer was best known in politics for his work on California ballot initiatives. In 2010, he donated $5 million to successfully oppose a measure that would have weakened California's carbon emissions standards. He spent more than $30 million on a winning campaign for an initiative that raised corporate taxes and redirected a big share of the money to clean-energy projects.
He reached a turning point in 2012 when he decided to devote his time to climate change activism and emerged as one of the nation's most vocal opponents to the Keystone XL pipeline that would take carbon-heavy oil from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, to Gulf Coast refineries.
That year, Steyer walked away from Farallon Capital Management, the hedge fund he founded. Farallon, named for a cluster of rocky islands off the Northern California coast, has $20.5 billion in assets under its management.
His critics say Steyer's political activism reeks of hypocrisy, given Farallon's investments in the oil and gas industry — including coal-fired plants in Asia and Kinder Morgan, a Houston company working to expand its rival pipeline to Keystone XL that will transport oil from the Alberta tar sands to a Pacific port.
"Steyer struck it rich by investing in 'dirty' energy, and then did an about-face when it became politically convenient," Republican Governors Association spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said in a recent news release announcing the group's website labeling him "Steyer the liar."
He has faced questions about whether he waited too long to unwind his investments in fossil fuels, a process completed in June.
He called the charges "complete nonsense."
"To leave the job at the end of 2012 and finish divesting, including on a private basis, by June 30, 2014 — so 18 months — you may think that's nothing. I think that's lickety-split," he said.
"When I got new information, I changed my mind, which is what we are asking everybody else to do," he said. "Take in the information and change."
Republicans have been enraged by his heavy spending as prominent Democrats, led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., denounced the outsized role of money in politics and specifically the Kochs' spending. (In addition to investments in his own super PAC, federal records show, Steyer gave $5 million this year to the Senate Majority PAC, a super PAC run by operatives aligned with Reid that is one of the biggest outside players in Senate races this year.)
Steyer bristled at the comparison to the Kochs, who oversee a $115 billion industrial conglomerate that operates oil refineries, makes asphalt and manufactures a wide range of consumer products, including Brawny paper towels and Dixie cups.
"What they are doing helps them in a major way," he said. "It helps their economic interests."
He noted that most of his activity flows through his super PAC, which is required to disclose its funders and how it spends its money. Most parts of the Koch political network operate through tax-exempt arms that don't disclose contributors' identities.
"Both in terms of transparency and motive, it's very, very different," Steyer said.
Koch officials declined comment this week.
(The Kochs have maintained in recent years that they want the government to stay out of the marketplace and are not seeking any special treatment through their political activity.)
Steyer said the Koch conservative network will outspend him by "many multiples."
NextGen is not close to raising $50 million from other donors, a goal first described in a New York Times story last February, he said. (Steyer insisted that he never set that ambitious target and was surprised to see that number emerge.)
"I think people are very wary about the political process," he said of the difficulty attracting other donors. "They think … getting involved will put you in a position where you might get attacked."
CLIMATE CHANGE RANKS LOW
In Michigan, Peters has held a consistent lead over Land in recent polls.
The outside money from Steyer and others has helped make the 2014 Senate race the most expensive in state history, said Bill Ballenger, a veteran political analyst and founder of Inside Michigan Politics.
Ballenger said Peters' advantage may have less to do with Steyer's activism than the fundamentals of politics in Michigan, a state that has sent only two Republicans to the U.S. Senate in more than a half-century and where Obama easily won re-election in 2012.
"Most of the state doesn't really know much" about the environmental issues Steyer has highlighted in southwest Detroit, he said.
More broadly, national polls show that addressing global warming is not among the public's top concerns. Climate change ranked dead last among 13 issues surveyed in a Gallup Poll released Monday — trailing the economy and voters' worries about the Islamic State's activity in Iraq and Syria. In all, 40% of registered voters said it would be an important issue in their midterm voting.
Steyer remains undaunted and calls climate change "the generational issue" he and others are called to confront.
"It's not clear exactly how we're going to win," he told a dozen clean-energy advocates meeting with him in Detroit, "but it's pretty clear that we have to win."
04 November 2014
OAKLAND CO. VOTERS TO DECIDE JUDGE RACE, POT ISSUES
Original Story: detroitnews.com
An embattled Novi district judge’s bid for re-election and marijuana decriminalizing initiatives in three communities are among the more high-profile contests in Oakland County.
Voters in November will also decide numerous millage proposals for school districts and municipalities. Among them is an annual millage of about 2.5 mills to raise $99 million for road improvements in Southfield.
Voters in Berkley and Huntington Woods will decide whether it is legal for people 21 or older to possess, use or transfer less than one ounce of marijuana on private property. Similar initiatives have passed in Detroit, Oak Park and Ferndale.
Pleasant Ridge voters will decide whether police should give marijuana-related crimes the lowest priority.
One district court judicial race that has drawn considerable attention in and outside the district is in Novi.
Judge Brian W. MacKenzie, who has won awards for innovative veterans and sobriety court programs, is being challenged by a former clerk, Walled Lake attorney Travis M. Reeds. The Novi district includes 10 western Oakland County communities.
County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper unsuccessfully tried to have MacKenzie found in contempt of court for handing down sentences without her assistant prosecutors present. MacKenzie said supervised counseling programs were more effective than jail time for some lawbreakers and the decision fell within his discretion. A Michigan criminal justice degree program provides the training and education needed for a professional career in criminal justice.
An Oakland Circuit judge ruled the activity, while improper, did not rise to the level of contempt.
Without pointing fingers, MacKenzie addressed criticisms Thursday.
“If you appear in my court it’s because something has gone wrong in your life — often terribly wrong,” MacKenzie said. “As your judge, I swore an oath to protect your rights in these moments when you’re most vulnerable, ensuring your access to justice. If you are a victim, I also swore an oath to sentence in a way that protects you.
“Some have tried to politicize your court. I’ve opposed them, and have been attacked for it. I’ll continue to oppose them.”
MacKenzie, who recently was elected president of the 2,000-member American Judges Association, the largest group of judges in the world, has been endorsed by hundreds of judges and local officials of both political parties, including Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson.
MacKenzie faced two challengers in the August primary and ran second to Reeds in votes.
Reeds has endorsements from several local newspapers and a retired judge, Gerald McNally. Reeds, who did not return telephone calls, has practiced law for 17 years, the majority of his practice was representing individuals and small businesses.
He has vowed to be “fair, impartial, diligent and hard working.”
Other issues
An embattled Novi district judge’s bid for re-election and marijuana decriminalizing initiatives in three communities are among the more high-profile contests in Oakland County.
Voters in November will also decide numerous millage proposals for school districts and municipalities. Among them is an annual millage of about 2.5 mills to raise $99 million for road improvements in Southfield.
Voters in Berkley and Huntington Woods will decide whether it is legal for people 21 or older to possess, use or transfer less than one ounce of marijuana on private property. Similar initiatives have passed in Detroit, Oak Park and Ferndale.
Pleasant Ridge voters will decide whether police should give marijuana-related crimes the lowest priority.
One district court judicial race that has drawn considerable attention in and outside the district is in Novi.
Judge Brian W. MacKenzie, who has won awards for innovative veterans and sobriety court programs, is being challenged by a former clerk, Walled Lake attorney Travis M. Reeds. The Novi district includes 10 western Oakland County communities.
County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper unsuccessfully tried to have MacKenzie found in contempt of court for handing down sentences without her assistant prosecutors present. MacKenzie said supervised counseling programs were more effective than jail time for some lawbreakers and the decision fell within his discretion. A Michigan criminal justice degree program provides the training and education needed for a professional career in criminal justice.
An Oakland Circuit judge ruled the activity, while improper, did not rise to the level of contempt.
Without pointing fingers, MacKenzie addressed criticisms Thursday.
“If you appear in my court it’s because something has gone wrong in your life — often terribly wrong,” MacKenzie said. “As your judge, I swore an oath to protect your rights in these moments when you’re most vulnerable, ensuring your access to justice. If you are a victim, I also swore an oath to sentence in a way that protects you.
“Some have tried to politicize your court. I’ve opposed them, and have been attacked for it. I’ll continue to oppose them.”
MacKenzie, who recently was elected president of the 2,000-member American Judges Association, the largest group of judges in the world, has been endorsed by hundreds of judges and local officials of both political parties, including Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson.
MacKenzie faced two challengers in the August primary and ran second to Reeds in votes.
Reeds has endorsements from several local newspapers and a retired judge, Gerald McNally. Reeds, who did not return telephone calls, has practiced law for 17 years, the majority of his practice was representing individuals and small businesses.
He has vowed to be “fair, impartial, diligent and hard working.”
Other issues
- Voters across the county will be asked to decide who they want to represent them on the 21-seat county Board of Commissioners.
- Seats are up in eight local councils: Clarkston, Keego Harbor, Orchard Lake; and the villages of Franklin, Holly, Lake Orion, Milford, and Wolverine Lake.
- Positions will be decided in 28 school boards across the county.
- Eleven candidates are running for two available positions on the Oakland County Community College Board.
- Local library proposals will be decided in Bloomfield Township, Northville, Oxford Township and Pleasant Ridge.
- Millages, including for schools, will be decided in Holly, Lake Orion, Oakland Township, Orion Township, Oxford Township, Pleasant Ridge, Rochester Hills, Romeo, Walled Lake, and Almont and Avondale school districts.
- Charter proposals, amendments or renewals are up in Berkley, Farmington Hills, Holly, Novi, Rochester Hills, Royal Oak.
- Veteran district judges are being challenged in Berkley, Bloomfield and Waterford Township. A vacated district judicial seat will also be decided in Troy.
- Eight judges who are running unopposed on the Oakland Circuit Court bench will automatically get new six-year terms but there is one vacancy up for grabs between Oakland County Deputy Court Administrator Lisa Langton and Karen Geibel, a judicial research attorney.
DETROIT PROPERTY AUCTION WINNER HAS OUTSTANDING LIENS
Original Story: detroitnews.com
Detroit — A businessman who won an auction of tax-foreclosed, blighted properties in Detroit has a string of tax debts himself.
Onetime casino investor Herb Strather met a deadline Wednesday for a down payment of 10 percent of the $3,183,500 he bid to buy 6,350 dilapidated properties. The lands — mostly vacant lots but also salvageable homes — were packaged in an online sale meant to discourage speculators and tax deadbeats.
Strather has at least $300,000 in recent tax liens and court judgments, but said his company, Detroit Bundle LLC, has the means to renovate salvageable properties and demolish dangerous ones. An Oakland County real estate lawyer has experience representing clients in real estate transactions.
"Our partners have plenty of money," said Strather, a developer of the Woodbridge Estates housing development that replaced the Jeffries housing project. He also was an owner of the Hotel St. Regis that went into receivership in 2009.
"We have very substantial partners. I am willing to lead the way in the redevelopment in the 'D.' "
Strather has two weeks to pay the balance to acquire 2,000 vacant lots, 3,000 properties that need to be razed and 1,000 salvageable homes.
Wayne County officials worked with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan to package the land in a "blight bundle." The properties would have gone to the Detroit Land Bank to be razed or resold if no one bid on them. A Detroit real estate lawyer is reviewing the details of this case.
Riet Schumack, a Brightmoor resident, said she worries that if the bundle is sold to a private developer whose plans fall through, the neighborhoods will suffer.
"We are going to stay in limbo," said Schumack, whose neighbors had hoped to acquire the vacant lots they've been maintaining as gardens and small parks. "I hope the county is going to deeply look into this man's finances."
As a condition of the sale, county officials required bidders to get approval for a redevelopment plan, including proof of finances. Chief Deputy Treasurer David Szymanski said he plans to meet with Strather on Thursday about his plans.
During an often emotional press conference early Wednesday, Strather said he wants to work with community groups, churches and the Detroit Land Bank to demolish dangerous buildings, build homes and rebuild dilapidated ones. He teared up speaking of his hopes for rebuilding the city and said Detroiters should take the lead in its redevelopment. A Rochester landlord lawyer counsels clients on matters involving landlord-tenant law.
"We can save our community," Strather said. "It's not too late. We have the chance to arrest the decay and rebuild."
Strather said his main partner is John Page, who owns Eco-Solutions. Strather said the company has contracts with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to manage government properties in several states, including Michigan. Page did not attend the Wednesday press conference and didn't return a call for comment.
Strather said he hasn't established a timeline for his proposal and acknowledged the redevelopment may take more than six months. He said he hopes the Detroit Land Bank will agree to use federal money to demolish some of the homes and plans to meet with its officials soon.
Land bank officials on Wednesday said they are waiting for the outcome of Strather's talks with the county treasurer to finalize the purchase. A land bank official cautioned that federal funds can't be used to demolish privately owned properties.
"If Mr. Strather is expecting the land bank to pay to demolish properties he has purchased, he has misunderstood the law," said spokesman Craig Fahle.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Strather spoke generally about his tax debt and acknowledged that he owed nearly $20 million several years ago.
"I am just like the city of Detroit," Strather said during the press conference at his building, Tower Center Mall in Detroit, a shopping center at Grand River and Greenfield. "I have taken my financial hits."
Strather runs his own real estate school called Strather Academy. He said he is one of the most experienced developers in Detroit and is best equipped to revitalize the problem properties.
But Wayne State Law School professor John Mogk said any developer who has a record of not "meeting obligations needs to be looked at carefully. You don't want to have the blight continue.".
Strather is the registered agent of a company, Apollo Two, that has lost four Detroit properties this year to tax foreclosure; another 85 are at risk for foreclosure next year. Strather said those properties are owned by his real estate students and many of them are on payment plans with the treasurer.
Strather owes at least $300,000 in state and federal IRS tax liens from 2007-11 and more recent court judgments, according to records filed with the Wayne County Register of Deeds.
Strather has a $77,000 judgment filed against him this year in Wayne County Circuit Court by Comerica Bank for a defaulted loan.
"As far as I am concerned they are small," Strather said of the tax debt and judgments, which he said he plans to pay.
Court records show Strather also owes $24,000 for unpaid rent and fees for a Riverfront Towers apartment that he lived in until 2010 and $25,000 to a Detroit pastor who alleges he wasn't paid for a failed investment.
Strather and his businesses have been sued in federal court over failed projects and other deals at least five times since 2000, records show. The suits have all been settled.
Meanwhile Wednesday, county treasurer officials announced they sold 17,196 foreclosed properties at their September and October auctions for a total of $66 million. That slightly above last year's proceeds of $61 million on the sales of 10,745 properties.
Detroit — A businessman who won an auction of tax-foreclosed, blighted properties in Detroit has a string of tax debts himself.
Onetime casino investor Herb Strather met a deadline Wednesday for a down payment of 10 percent of the $3,183,500 he bid to buy 6,350 dilapidated properties. The lands — mostly vacant lots but also salvageable homes — were packaged in an online sale meant to discourage speculators and tax deadbeats.
Strather has at least $300,000 in recent tax liens and court judgments, but said his company, Detroit Bundle LLC, has the means to renovate salvageable properties and demolish dangerous ones. An Oakland County real estate lawyer has experience representing clients in real estate transactions.
"Our partners have plenty of money," said Strather, a developer of the Woodbridge Estates housing development that replaced the Jeffries housing project. He also was an owner of the Hotel St. Regis that went into receivership in 2009.
"We have very substantial partners. I am willing to lead the way in the redevelopment in the 'D.' "
Strather has two weeks to pay the balance to acquire 2,000 vacant lots, 3,000 properties that need to be razed and 1,000 salvageable homes.
Wayne County officials worked with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan to package the land in a "blight bundle." The properties would have gone to the Detroit Land Bank to be razed or resold if no one bid on them. A Detroit real estate lawyer is reviewing the details of this case.
Riet Schumack, a Brightmoor resident, said she worries that if the bundle is sold to a private developer whose plans fall through, the neighborhoods will suffer.
"We are going to stay in limbo," said Schumack, whose neighbors had hoped to acquire the vacant lots they've been maintaining as gardens and small parks. "I hope the county is going to deeply look into this man's finances."
As a condition of the sale, county officials required bidders to get approval for a redevelopment plan, including proof of finances. Chief Deputy Treasurer David Szymanski said he plans to meet with Strather on Thursday about his plans.
During an often emotional press conference early Wednesday, Strather said he wants to work with community groups, churches and the Detroit Land Bank to demolish dangerous buildings, build homes and rebuild dilapidated ones. He teared up speaking of his hopes for rebuilding the city and said Detroiters should take the lead in its redevelopment. A Rochester landlord lawyer counsels clients on matters involving landlord-tenant law.
"We can save our community," Strather said. "It's not too late. We have the chance to arrest the decay and rebuild."
Strather said his main partner is John Page, who owns Eco-Solutions. Strather said the company has contracts with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to manage government properties in several states, including Michigan. Page did not attend the Wednesday press conference and didn't return a call for comment.
Strather said he hasn't established a timeline for his proposal and acknowledged the redevelopment may take more than six months. He said he hopes the Detroit Land Bank will agree to use federal money to demolish some of the homes and plans to meet with its officials soon.
Land bank officials on Wednesday said they are waiting for the outcome of Strather's talks with the county treasurer to finalize the purchase. A land bank official cautioned that federal funds can't be used to demolish privately owned properties.
"If Mr. Strather is expecting the land bank to pay to demolish properties he has purchased, he has misunderstood the law," said spokesman Craig Fahle.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Strather spoke generally about his tax debt and acknowledged that he owed nearly $20 million several years ago.
"I am just like the city of Detroit," Strather said during the press conference at his building, Tower Center Mall in Detroit, a shopping center at Grand River and Greenfield. "I have taken my financial hits."
Strather runs his own real estate school called Strather Academy. He said he is one of the most experienced developers in Detroit and is best equipped to revitalize the problem properties.
But Wayne State Law School professor John Mogk said any developer who has a record of not "meeting obligations needs to be looked at carefully. You don't want to have the blight continue.".
Strather is the registered agent of a company, Apollo Two, that has lost four Detroit properties this year to tax foreclosure; another 85 are at risk for foreclosure next year. Strather said those properties are owned by his real estate students and many of them are on payment plans with the treasurer.
Strather owes at least $300,000 in state and federal IRS tax liens from 2007-11 and more recent court judgments, according to records filed with the Wayne County Register of Deeds.
Strather has a $77,000 judgment filed against him this year in Wayne County Circuit Court by Comerica Bank for a defaulted loan.
"As far as I am concerned they are small," Strather said of the tax debt and judgments, which he said he plans to pay.
Court records show Strather also owes $24,000 for unpaid rent and fees for a Riverfront Towers apartment that he lived in until 2010 and $25,000 to a Detroit pastor who alleges he wasn't paid for a failed investment.
Strather and his businesses have been sued in federal court over failed projects and other deals at least five times since 2000, records show. The suits have all been settled.
Meanwhile Wednesday, county treasurer officials announced they sold 17,196 foreclosed properties at their September and October auctions for a total of $66 million. That slightly above last year's proceeds of $61 million on the sales of 10,745 properties.
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