Prop 1 is for roads???...Hardly...

Detroit’s ‘Core’ a ‘Common’ problem…

Being a ‘newbie’ senior citizen, I’ll have to rely on the ‘old school’ math, but…let’s at least try to sum this up, shall we???

We don’t have to go back too far, let’s just start with the Guv’s 2012 budget, and it’s expansion since then… http://ballotpedia.org/Michigan_state_budget_%282011-2012%29#Deal_negotiated

$47 billion for 2012, and now asking $53 billion…and an estimated $2 billion more each year in tax increases proposed in Prop 1…Just where is all this money going???…Let’s follow some (most) of it…I have…

Starting with the Detroit bankruptcy bailout, $195 million, our State tax money…We’ll try (try, that is) to keep a running total…Stay with me here, the ‘River” gets murky in some spots…http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/detroit-bankruptcy/2014/11/08/detroit-bankruptcy-timeline/18680129/…Speaking of rivers, let’s cross this one… http://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/snyder-canadian-leaders-urge-washington-to-fund-dric-customs-plaza. The $550 million Canada has promised for the bridge construction is a loan, to be repaid from tolls, but that’s another story entirely…So Detroit has $195 million in State money to get itself out of Court…

What does hockey have to do with education???…Let’s ask Bill Schutte… http://m.metrotimes.com/Blogs/archives/2014/12/16/news-hits-schuette-oks-school-taxes-for-new-red-wings-arena or http://dianeravitch.net/2014/12/21/michigan-outrage-school-funds-to-be-spent-on-arena/   Let’s see, 5+1 is 6, 9+6 is…carry the one…$365 million in the “River of Opportunity” so far…but can it be frozen???..Can’t skate on water…

Let’s ‘move’ on, shall we???…State taxpayers (non-Detroiters) pay for bus rides in the Motor” city to the tune of nearly $90 million annually.. http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2015/01/ken_braun_read_the_mass_transi.html    Adding just one year’s worth to our “River” brings us to $455 million, not counting the DRIC, which is in Federal funding limbo…

Wondering what “other transportation purposes” means on the official Prop 1 ballot???…There’s more…Up North, we’ll need a train to get to the bridge, Not to worry, we ALMOST have one… http://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2015/04/22/costly-mdot-railcars-sit-idle/26216439/…It’s only $1.2 million a year, a pittance, and not necessarily a Detroit cash grab…just “other transportation”…Then there’s $20 million in MDOT bond debt payoffs…

As for the motivation behind the sales tax increase, could it be to keep the “River” flowing swiftly downstate???…Evidently, Detroiters think so. http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20150330/NEWS/150339997/report-state-should-remove-dps-from-em-control-assume-districts-debt  ..and this.. http://media.mlive.com/lansing-news/other/CFDS_ChoiceIsOurs.pdf  …take your pick…and evidently they may have some pension problems they need help on.. http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2015/03/25/dps-piles-states-biggest-pension-liability/70469676/…

That’s not all…but then again, they haven’t finished their list of “Opportunities” yet…working on it though, just formed a new group think tank… http://detroitfuturecity.com/framework/ …probably after a lunchtime chat with the Guv about all that money generated by the passage of Prop 1…This could have a lot to do with the proposal to change the State Constitution, making Detroit a permanent welfare drain on the State’s taxpayers would be preferable to legislators and Governors having to hide subsidizing Michigan’s ‘money pit’ on an annual basis…With the passage of Prop 1, they could rub everyone’s face in it each year, written right into each budget…

Prop 1 is for roads???…Hardly…Prop 1 is for the resurrection and subsidization of Detroit…We have become a state run charity…

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