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    Who are the NERD fund donors Mr Snyder?

    Raise the curtain.

    Racism in Detroit: Cutting off your whole freaking head to spite your face


    By Nick, Section News
    Posted on Wed Feb 25, 2009 at 07:34:58 AM EST
    Tags: Detroit, Cockrel, Bing, Collins, Conyers, Cobo (all tags)

    I had everything right but the percentages.  Folks following @RightMichigan on Twitter would have seen, yesterday afternoon, my prediction that Dave Bing and Ken Cockrel would emerge from Detroit's Mayoral Primary, Tuesday.  I know... that was a brave guess.  Alas, only fifteen percent of Detroiters showed up to make me a prophet.  

    Then again, maybe in a city like Detroit that's all that's left of the people who genuinely care.  The Detroit News:

    "It's sad," said City Clerk Janice Winfrey, who had predicted turnout of 10 percent to 15 percent. "Anytime an individual chooses not to express themselves ... chooses not to participate in the Democratic process, it's sad.

    "I can't fathom not voting and I don't really understand folks who don't."

    The mood among voters vacillated from hope about the future to worry about the present. Some said they hoped to move from the city as soon as possible.

    I'm not going to seriously knock anyone in the D for staying home on Election day.  Look at their choices...  You've got Democrat A, Democrat B, Democrats C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N and O and that was just on the Mayoral ballot.  Not a single Republican anywhere to be found.  No choices.  No alternatives.

    And the rumor, though I haven't been able to substantiate it, is that the other 85 percent of voters actually stayed home because they'd been assaulted by Democratic Detroit City Council President Monica Conyers in the past four months and didn't want to risk another political "adventure."  

    Threats of physical violence may or may not be what got to four of her fellow Council members who yesterday joined her in voting down a nearly $300 million expansion of Cobo Hall, citing worries that too many people from outside the City (crystal clear and unambiguous code for "white," by the way) would have too much of a say in the event-center's future.  Never mind that the bulk of the cash would be coming from those regional folks... can't let equity, equality and common sense get in the way of racial politics.

    The Ivory Tower reports:

    The legislation, passed by the state Legislature in December and signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm  in January, would have transferred ownership of Cobo Center to a five-member regional authority with representatives from Detroit, the state and Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. Each board member has veto power, requiring decisions about Cobo to be reached by unanimous vote.

    The stakes, by the way... nothing less than the North American International Auto Show.  Dealers have been pulling out of the show for years, citing space and maintenance concerns around crumbling Cobo Hall, and if you've been there you know it's a pit.  The cash and expansion would have gone a heck of a long way towards solving those problems.

    Alas, racism is alive and well in Detroit.  Said Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins:

    Detroit should get the stimulus money directly (from the Obama administration), "bypassing the racist extortions of the state of Michigan."

    Yep.  I totally see where she's coming from.  The State of Michigan, cash-strapped as it is, managed in a bipartisan fashion to dig up nearly $300 million to give to the City of Detroit to repair a building the City of Detroit has let crumble into utter disrepair for the last twenty years, saving, preserving and enhancing the ability of the City to host large-scale, money making events now and well into the future.  

    Racist bastards.

    < Poor, Silly, Xenophobic Michigan | Wednesday in the Sphere: February 25 >


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    Display: Sort:
    No Obama = Lackluster Voter Turnout (none / 0) (#1)
    by KevinJacksonMI on Wed Feb 25, 2009 at 08:39:52 AM EST
    I am of the opinion that since the Messiah was not on the ballot, voter turnout is returning to normal. That is why I am optimistic that the Republicans are not in as bad of shape as thought.  I think we can knock off Schauer and Peters if the candidates are of high quality and conservative principles. I also think that we can keep the Senate and regain lost seats in the House.

    I don't think for one minute that Cherry or whomever the Dems pick as the Gov candidate will have the coattails to save Schauer or Peters.


    OK... (none / 0) (#2)
    by rdww on Wed Feb 25, 2009 at 08:46:34 AM EST
    ... maybe I missed something in this writeup, but it seems to me that Mss's Conyers and Collins told the state to keeps its $300 million in racist money.  IMHO, that's all to the good if it cuts state indebtedness.  If it's only an effort to get the $ on their own terms, though, yes, doubleplusungood.


    Council did the right thing for the wrong reasons (none / 0) (#4)
    by tgagne on Wed Feb 25, 2009 at 08:50:53 AM EST
    I remain convinced Cobo is the wrong location for a convention center.  I would much rather see a new convention center at the state fair grounds or in Novi or anywhere else that isn't locked-in by water on one complete side.

    Detroit doesn't want the suburbs' help nor the state's.  Or at least they don't want any help that comes with oversight.  Wanting to take the money with few or no strings attached is the product of a welfare mentality.  When you're used to getting money without strings oversight is a sign of disrespect--as though people don't expect you to be a good steward of others' assets.

    In that respect, city council is right.  The governor and leaders from Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb should find an alternate location and build a convention center there.  Then Detroit can provide the hotel space for an Oakland attraction, which is what Oakland has been doing for Detroit for years.

    Everyone takes their turn

    Thank you Monica (none / 0) (#5)
    by Victor Laszlo on Wed Feb 25, 2009 at 06:00:59 PM EST
    Thank you Monica Conyers for letting the taxpayers of the State of Michigan keep our hard earned tax dollars.  Maybe we should just use the money to convert the Silverdome into the new exhibition home for the Auto Show.

    Detroit City Council needs more diversity (none / 0) (#6)
    by Eric T on Thu Feb 26, 2009 at 07:35:02 AM EST
    Detroit taxpayer's are just not getting their money's worth, out of these politician's. It seems like on just about every issue, they are real quick to whip out the race card, and try to paint the picture that everyone in the state is wearing sheets and burning crosses. And that they are the victim's of racism.

    I don't think even people with half a brain, would believe any of their nonsense.

    The GOP should try and put some higher quality politicians, in there. No one even ran against Conyers this time around.
     The city of Detroit ain't gonna amount to a hill of beans, with the leadership they got on their City Council.

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