I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
Dave Bing
In an in-depth interview published Sunday in the Detroit Free Press, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing touched on issues ranging from the city’s budget deficit to transit to the new mix of personalities on the city council.
And befitting the ex-NBA star, Bing talked about various “game plans” and “playbooks” as he weighed in on the challenges he faces as he begins his first four-year term as mayor from his 11th floor perch in downtown’s Coleman A. Young Municipal Center.
My eye was drawn to this very political Q&A regarding the mayor’s evident interest in — possibly — another term four years from now.
Question: Do you plan to be a one-term mayor?
Answer: “I never considered myself a one-term mayor. My nature is to finish what I start. Can I do that in this job? I don’t think so. It’s a 10- to 20-year process. I don’t know if I have that kind of time, but I’m not coming to this job saying I’m only going to do it for one term. At the same time, my job is to make decisions that will bring the city back, no matter how hard or unpopular. That’s more important to me than being re-elected.”
Free Press editorial writer Jeff Gerritt conducted the interview, and early on provided this requisite context:
As Bing fully understands, Detroit’s economic and social problems are staggering: a general fund deficit of $300 million, nearly 80,000 vacant buildings, an official unemployment rate of 30%, continuing population losses of more than 10,000 residents a year, a land mass that is one-third empty, public high school dropout rates of 70%, more than a third of the city living in poverty, and one of the nation’s highest homicide and crime rates.
The upside to that litany of problems is that Bing sounds every bit determined to solve them, noting “the relationships and credibility I bring to the table,” a confident Bing said in reference to a question about would-be regional cooperation on mass transit.
Conspicuously absent front the questions and answers, however, was Bing’s take on the still-unsettled union contracts that he had threatened to unilaterally terminate. Many observers point to those contracts as festering labor disputes sorely in need of resolution — including major concessions from workers — if the city’s approximately $300 million budget deficit is to be eliminated.
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