background preloader

EconEnglish Research Paper

Facebook Twitter

Mayors of Detroit, 1950-2013. Nine men have been mayor of Detroit since 1950, a year before the city’s 250th anniversary.

Mayors of Detroit, 1950-2013

Detroiters elect their mayors on non-partisan ballots, although most men since 1950 have been Democrats. Here’s a look at the mayors and the political and news events that impacted their tenures. With the U.S. economy booming and the automakers dominating, Cobo ran Detroit at the city’s peak: more than 1.8 million people in 1950. An adept businessman, Cobo engineered 20 miles of expressways crisscrossing Detroit, for nearly $200 million in just seven years. But those highways siphoned away population eager for larger yards and quieter streets in the suburbs. Cobo poured money and effort into downtown and laid the groundwork for the civic center, helped the city avoid bankruptcy and developed a program allowing homeowners several years to pay property taxes. Cookies are Not Accepted - New York Times. An Essay on the Privatization of Public Education - Democratic Underground. This began as a response post in a thread on the take-over of 70 schools in the Detroit Public School ("DPS") system.

An Essay on the Privatization of Public Education - Democratic Underground

(And edited to fix links; I hope they all work now!) When several DUers suggested it needed its own thread, I thought it over, did some revising, and here it is. The essay addresses two issues: First, the attempt to treat what looks like a symptom without even looking for the disease let alone its cause, and second, the failure to even identify the symptoms. How Detroit went from boom town to bust. School funding fight splits two sides with different visions for Michigan. By Chastity Pratt-Dawsey Michigan political leaders and education groups have all proposed school funding plans that meet their own definition of what is more equitable for students.

School funding fight splits two sides with different visions for Michigan

That’s welcome news in a state where payments to school districts can sometimes seem confounding. Why is it that schools in DeWitt, for instance, get $7,026 per pupil from the state, while Northport gets $8,848? The Bay City Academy charter gets $7,026 while many other charters get $7,168. And Birmingham Public Schools receives $11,804 per pupil because it is among more than 50 wealthier districts that are allowed to collect millions in extra money from their local residents for schools through a quirk of the current funding law.

The problem is, each group pushing budget reforms has their own notion of what is equitable. “Why is it some kids are worth less?” Others argue equity means some districts should receive more funding to provide their students an equal opportunity at a comparable education. Detroit Schools: Inside an Experiment to Save the District. When Detroit students return to school on Sept. 6, the rodents and mold found in classrooms last year will be all but gone.

Detroit Schools: Inside an Experiment to Save the District

Cracked windows will be repaired. Collapsed ceilings patched up. Chipped paint removed. Last year, not a single Detroit public school complied with the city's public health and safety codes, one reason teachers protested with widespread sick-outs that temporarily crippled the system. This year, 92% of schools are in full compliance. Caption Settings Dialog Beginning of dialog window. Detroit Teachers Close 94 Schools By Staging 'Sickout' Nearly every Detroit public school is closed on Monday during a mass “sickout” among teachers protesting pay. A School District in Crisis: LOVELAND. Comparing Detroit’s School Closings to Chicago Detroit is not the only major city school district facing closures and consolidations: Pittsburgh closed 22 schools in 2006; Washington DC closed 23 schools in 2008.118 Like the City of Detroit, Chicago, IL has struggled with large-scale school closures.

A School District in Crisis: LOVELAND

White Flight - How Detroit Lost Its Way. The rise and fall of Detroit: A timeline. Sign Up for Our free email newsletters On Thursday, Detroit made history — and not in a good way.

The rise and fall of Detroit: A timeline

The heart of the U.S. auto industry and home to the Detroit Tigers, Eminem and the White Stripes, Motown, and (maybe) Jimmy Hoffa's body became the largest city ever to file for bankruptcy. In many ways, this financial crisis is 60 years in the making. As the Motor City faces an uncertain future, here's a look back at some key dates in the long, storied past of one of America's great cities: July 24, 1701Antoine de La Mothe Cadillac establishes a French settlement, Fort Ponchartrain du Détroit (the strait), along with 100 French soldiers and an equal number of Algonquins. 1760Britain wins the city from the French.

Timeline of Detroit's financial crisis. DETROIT (AP) - A timeline of Detroit’s financial troubles: - Detroit issues $1.44 billion of new debt in the form of pension obligation certificates to fund the city’s two retirement systems.

Timeline of Detroit's financial crisis

A 30-year repayment schedule is negotiated. Then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick agrees to swap a fixed interest rate for a variable one. A market rate increase would be to the city’s benefit. Falling rates mean Detroit would pay more. Anatomy of Detroit’s Decline - Interactive Feature. Mayor Coleman A. Young of Detroit at an event in 1980. Richard Sheinwald/Associated Press The financial crisis facing Detroit was decades in the making, caused in part by a trail of missteps, suspected corruption and inaction. Here is a sampling of some city leaders who trimmed too little, too late and, rather than tackling problems head on, hoped that deep-rooted structural problems would turn out to be cyclical downturns.

Uk.businessinsider. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook Images of fungus growing on classroom walls, rat droppings littering hallways, and bullet holes set off a mass teacher "sickout" that closed nearly all of Detroit's schools on Wednesday.

uk.businessinsider

Eighty-eight of the roughly 100 Detroit schools closed for the day amid claims they were hazardous to students and teachers — providing another reminder the Motor City is still far from its glory days despite hopes that it's making a comeback. The images have given a platform to frustrated teachers and community members who say they demonstrate the wanton neglect of Detroit's schools and, in effect, its youth at the hands of its appointed officials. Sharp drop for public school enrollment in Detroit. Los Angeles — Standing before the Los Angeles Unified School Board, Susan Zoller delivered a startling assessment: More than 100,000 students in the nation’s second-largest district were now enrolled in charters, draining more than $500 million from the budget in a single academic year.

Sharp drop for public school enrollment in Detroit

“The financial future of Los Angeles is difficult,” said Zoller, a consultant hired by the district’s union. Board member Richard Vladovic leaned anxiously toward his mic. “We are bleeding,” he said. If current trends continue, the district could be significantly diminished in another 10 years — at least a third smaller than at the start of the century. In financially struggling urban districts from LA to Philadelphia — and most notoriously, Detroit — the increasing popularity of charter schools, combined with family flight to the suburbs and declining birth rates, have caused enrollment to plummet.