Tag: Obituary

The union representing Detroit's bus drivers has asked the City Council to put pressure on the transit agency to help stop the spread of bedbugs on buses.

About 50 Detroit Department of Transportation drivers have reported seeing the bugs on buses, and some have been bitten within the past year, said Henry Gaffney, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 26.

After receiving a letter from Gaffney in May, DDOT chief executive Ron Freeland said Thursday he asked a maintenance crew to investigate and sent a letter to the union later in the month saying any infested bus would be cleaned.
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Their bites affect people similarly to that of a mosquito, said Erik Foster, medical entomologist for the state Department of Community Health.

"Bedbugs have been found in public transit, school buses, public buses, airplanes," Foster said.

Rest here.  Photo here.

Can't say that I blame any form of civilization for trying to leave Detoilet.

Detroit - The Westin Book Cadillac avoided defaulting on a $15 million loan this month after a city pension fund intervened, raising questions about the health of a landmark hotel and symbol of the city's economic redevelopment.

The Detroit Police and Fire pension fund made a partial interest payment March 1 after hotel owner John Ferchill outlined the Book Cadillac's financial condition.

The Cleveland-based developer told pension trustees the project has lost $23 million after deals to sell condominiums atop the hotel fell through.  ~Rest here

Yup.  Just like Ferchill Group boasts on its own website.

"The high cost of renovating The Book-Cadillac Hotel required creative financing involving the city, county and state, along with tax credits and other sources that previous developers couldn't handle. The Ferchill Group brought to the table financing tools that Detroit had never used. With the Ferchill team on board, we are confident that we will finally see this project become a reality."

Walt Watkins
Former Chief Development Officer, City of Detroit

Detroit - Part of an $11 million grant intended to provide business attire to 400 low-income job-seekers instead helped only two people, an audit of the city's Department of Human Services has found.

The audit, conducted by the city's auditor general for the period from July 2009 to September 2011, found the department failed to control the operations and finances of a boutique that was to provide the clothes.

The department did not safeguard grant funds or create an inventory for the clothing, the audit found.

Among the most telling findings, which will be discussed today during a City Council committee meeting, is that a third-party contractor advanced $148,000 to a downtown Detroit clothing store and opened an account, but did not include the city on the account.

Rest here

Detroit, Michigan, The "motor city",  jewel of the mid-west, manufacturing magnet, and dominator of automotive excellence for multiple decades passed of cancer during the night.  She was 310 years old.

Born in 1701 as a fur trading post, Detroit's history had been vibrant and always interesting.  In the Mid 1700s, Detroit's affair with the British might have been long term but for General Washington bringing her back home in 1796.  In 1805, she became scarred horribly by a fire, yet still had the tenacity to flourish, and the allure to bring more settlers and become incorporated as a city in 1815.

As Michigan adopted its first constitution in 1835, Detroit was honored with the designation as the capitol. A couple of years later, the state was admitted to the union. In 1847, Detroit lost her capitol seat to her daughter Lansing, but remained and served with honor against aggressions emanating from the Brits in Windsor.