Cuts in fire protection leading to deaths in Detroit. By Lawrence Porter 12 February 2013 Detroit firefighters battle a house fire A series of brutal budget cuts to the Detroit Fire Department and other social services by Mayor David Bing, the Detroit City Council and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is producing the foreseeable outcome: the death of Detroit residents. One tragedy follows another. Most recently, six-year-old Miguel Chavez died, in part due to a delay in the arrival of emergency services, when his family’s Southwest Detroit home caught fire. A week earlier, firefighters from southwest Detroit were called to fight a fire in the northwest, a distance of 18 miles, because of fire station closures. Not long before that, a 71-year-old man died in a house fire only four minutes away from a fire station recently closed. “They are killing people,” said one firefighter, after he and a coworker pulled an elderly couple out of their home in a fire in November.
Aftermath of a residential fire in Detroit A new fight-back is required. MSUE Detroit FY 2013 Budget FAQ 6 11 12. Everything You Need To Know About Detroit’s Bankruptcy Settlement. How Much Has the Detroit Police Force Really Been Cut? [Michigan Capitol Confidential] Soon after the city of Detroit filed for bankruptcy, many blogs and news sites began running "facts" about the city. One common "fact" repeated often was that "the size of the police force in Detroit has been cut by about 40 percent over the past decade. " Although it makes for interesting reading, just how much the police department has been cut is not that simple to determine and is another example of the city's dysfunction. For example, the city's 2003 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report states there were 4,810 uniform police officers that year.
However, the city's 2012 CAFR lists the city as having 3,981 uniform police officers in 2003 and then two pages later has the city with 3,965 uniform police officers in 2003. And the confusion is more than just an accounting hiccup. The city's Emergency Manager Review Team report stated that regarding police operations, "operational dysfunction contributes to the city's serious financial problem. " See also: Detroit Exhausts Its Options. A city in flames: inside Detroit's war on arson | The Verge. For eight long years, the firefighters of Highland Park, Michigan, worked out of a warehouse.
There was no red-bricked facade, no lanky Dalmatian. No freshly washed engines gleaming in the sun. No second-floor fire pole to descend in the dead of night to wailing sirens. Whatever idealized vision you have of firefighting, Highland Park is not it. Instead, picture a hulking, boxy building on the edge of an industrial park about six miles north of downtown Detroit. A small metal sign points the way, light blue with “Fire Dept” stenciled in all-caps white, the previous tenant’s name erased with spray paint. The Highland Park fire department opened nearly a century ago, in 1917, to serve the booming city. "We do stuff kind of old-schoolish, because that’s what we have: old-school, crap equipment," says Scott Ziegler, a first-generation fireman who’s worked in Highland Park for four years.
"We’ve pulled up to stuff we just couldn’t control. " "We’ve still got a lot of nice neighborhoods here. Detroit's bankruptcy may lead to more chaos - latimes. Downtown Detroit in 2008. Five years later, the city is seeking bankruptcy… (Carlos Osorio, Associated…) DETROIT — Jose Covarrubias has tried to keep his small house on a semi-deserted street in southwest Detroit a bastion of calm, but it has gotten more difficult every day. He installed a chain-link fence with a lock to prevent wandering vagrants from using his yard as a short cut; someone kicked it down. He threatened to call the police on a stranger who showed up with a ladder and tried to steal his antenna; the thief laughed in his face, reminding him that police rarely have time to respond to calls that don't involve dead bodies. He woke up Sunday to what's become a typical scene in Detroit these days — arsonists had set the house on the corner on fire, and it burned a bright, hot yellow.
City unions expressed dismay at the bankruptcy, accusing the city's emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, of rushing to file before negotiations over pension liabilities were completed. "See that one? The Detroit Bankruptcy Fallout | Foxy 107.1-104.3. Last Tuesday, a federal judge declared that Detroit met the specific legal criteria to receive protection from its creditors, making it the largest city in U.S. history to enter Chapter 9 bankruptcy. What does this mean for Detroit and its citizens? Well, literally it means the city of Detroit cannot meet its financial obligations to its creditors. But it also means that it has not been able to meet the obligations to its citizens, in terms of services provided and promises made. For current and former municipal employees, this almost certainly means that they will get pennies on the dollar for pensions and retirement benefits. And the city as a whole will continue to lose population, which has already dropped from 1.8 million in 1950 to just over 700,000 now, because Detroit cannot provide basic sufficient services, such as policing, fire and healthcare assistance.
And as a result of people leaving, the city will lose tax revenues and businesses, and real estate values will drop. Detroit Parks Closing: Mayor Dave Bing To Abandon 50 Recreation Areas After Belle Isle Deal Collapses | The Huffington Post. Mayor Dave Bing announced on Friday that the city of Detroit will close 50 parks across the city — just days after Detroit City Council vetoed a plan he supported to lease Belle Isle to the state. Bing said during a press conference Friday morning that 50 parks will no longer receive any maintenance or recreation support from the city.
Another 38 parks across Detroit will shift to limited maintenance. (See a map of the parks scheduled to close here.) However, 19 parks have been chosen in accordance with the Detroit Future City plan prepared by the Detroit Works Project, a keynote part of Mayor Bing’s administration. Those parks will receive “top-notch,” and in some cases, improved services, Bing said. Plans to extend hours at six recreation centers will also be scrapped, Bing said in a release, as well as plans to hire 10 fulltime and 40 part-time employees to work on new programs at the recreation department.
“We looked a gift horse in the mouth,” said Bing. Detroit to close 51 parks. By Shannon Jones 4 February 2013 Detroit’s Democratic Party Mayor David Bing announced Friday that his administration will close 51 city parks and sharply cut back operations at recreation centers by the spring. The cuts mean that only 57 of the city’s more than 300 parks will be in operation this year. Those that remain open will see reduced staffing and maintenance.
Romanowski Park in southwest Detroit is slated to be closed The park closures are in line with the plans of the Bing administration to deny services to so-called unviable neighborhoods, forcing residents to move out. One life-long Detroit resident told the WSWS, “Recreation is an important part of a child’s development. “I believe the closing of these parks is part of a plan to turn the land over to private developers at a cut-rate cost.” Brushing aside the anger of city residents over the park closures, the Bing administration proposed that community groups adopt parks and carry out maintenance such as lawn mowing. Commuters Suffer As Detroit Cuts Bus Service. Gladys Ferguson, of Detroit, looks on as SuVon Treece of the Detroit Department of Transportation explains the new service schedule. A public hearing discussed future Detroit Department of Transportation bus service at the Northwest Activity Center on Feb. 24.
Andre J. Jackson/Detroit Free Press hide caption toggle caption Andre J. Gladys Ferguson, of Detroit, looks on as SuVon Treece of the Detroit Department of Transportation explains the new service schedule. The city of Detroit is running out of cash. In his State of the City address on Wednesday, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing said financial catastrophe can be avoided by making sharp cuts, particularly in public transit. "There will be a short-term pain for a long-term gain, and there's no way around it," Bing said.
But bus riders and drivers in Detroit say they don't know if the beleaguered system can stand any more pain. "Now I'm having to get off work almost an hour earlier because I can't get on a bus at 5 o'clock," Coleman says. Detroit bus drivers speak out on bankruptcy, crisis in city bus system. “What you have now is not a true government, it is a dictatorship” By our reporters 21 December 2013 For four years, Detroit residents have seen the already grossly inadequate public bus system gutted by cuts in public funding. Bus service in the city is now in daily acute crisis. Many workers have lost their jobs or faced disciplinary measures because buses on major routes are chronically late or so full they cannot pick up passengers.
At least one third of Detroit residents do not have cars and must rely on buses to go to work or school, shop for groceries and get to medical appointments. The city is currently under the control of Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, who has been appointed and given full governing powers in order to slash jobs and rip up services to pay off bondholders. Detroit Mayor Dave Bing slashed the budget of the DDOT by $12.6 million and shut down numerous routes last year. In late October drivers called in sick or took vacation days, closing the bus system for a day.
9 ways Detroit is changing after bankruptcy. When Detroit filed for bankruptcy last July, observers around the world were shocked by how far some city services had deteriorated -- though it was no secret to residents. Average police response times clocked in at almost an hour. Tens of thousands of broken streetlights meant entire streets go dark at nightfall. And though Detroit has more than 200 municipal parks, the city could only afford to keep about a quarter of them open. How has the city changed since it entered bankruptcy? Detroit's public services have shown some improvement in the last year but still have a long way to go before they're at adequate levels. The Detroit Police Department says it is focused on hiring non-uniformed administrative staff so that it can move officers from desk duty to street patrols to concentrate on high-crime areas and react in real time to crime trends. DPD's response time is improving, but it still lags national standards in responding to high-priority crimes such as homicides.
A City in Remission: Can the “Grand Bargain” Revive Detroit? - Non Profit News For Nonprofit Organizations. Editors’ note: This article was the last that Rick Cohen wrote for the Nonprofit Quarterly, and it was one of his most ambitious in its weaving of political, philanthropic, and community intentions, partnerships, and realities. Rick died suddenly just as we were beginning our edit, and we were left with the sad task of doing the best we could without his input—any errors of fact should be put down to the editors, and life’s interruptions of this process. That said, this case study of an historic interplay between the sectors to try to save a city, and the intended and unintended consequences that resulted, is sure to become a classic.
It can be found in the Nonprofit Quarterly’s winter 2015 edition, “When the Show Must Go On: Nonprofits & Adversity.” There will be a memorial held for Rick Cohen on January 12, 2016. A History of Unrealized Plans and Hopes Detroit is the poorest large city in the United States. Reflections on a Grand Bargain: Challenges of Democracy “Democracy for whom?” Businessinsider.
Detroit police struggle to protect bankrupt city. Aug 26, 2013 By Gina Damron Detroit Free Press DETROIT — Wind whipped through downed windows and the speedometer reached 90 m.p.h. as the police cruiser sped down the interstate. Weaving through traffic, Detroit Police Officers Derrick Keasley and Darius Shepherd rushed to reach other officers, who were miles away chasing down a suspect in a neighborhood off Van Dyke. It was about 9 p.m. on a warm evening this month as the special operations officers tromped through high grass, then came to a yard, where they handily climbed a rusty chain link fence and landed next to a dilapidated and abandoned building. This suspect was gone, but the shift was hours from over. Night after night, Detroit police officers are tasked with patrolling one of the most dangerous cities in America. The officers are working in a city so broke it filed for bankruptcy on July 18, citing more than $18 billion in unfunded liabilities. They patrol in run-down cruisers, sometimes with broken equipment.
"Made location. Bottom line after Detroit bankruptcy: 200 more police officers, 100 new firefighters. Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen, lead Detroit bankruptcy mediator on adjustment plan Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen, the lead bankruptcy mediator, thanks a large group of people who worked on Detroit's bankruptcy deal and sacrificed for the greater good during a press conference after U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhode's confirmation of Detroit's plan of adjustment at Theodore Levin United States Courthouse in Detroit, Nov. 7, 2014 (Tanya Moutzalias | MLive Detroit) DETROIT, MI -- The city can now afford to hire more police and firefighters.
That's the bottom line after a 16-month court process that came to a triumphant climax Friday with Detroit being authorized to shed $7 billion of debt. "There are going to be more than 200 additional police officers on the street as a result of the plan," said Mayor Mike Duggan. Implementation of an elaborate, 10-year plan to restore long-broken city services is now possible after U.S. Others complied for fear of deeper cuts. Private citizens pick up the slack as Detroit cuts public services. With the city of Detroit now $2.5 billion in debt and the cancellation of city services, teams of private citizens are helping to provide basic services.
To avoid bankruptcy, the city is being run by an independent emergency manager. Payments on unsecured debt were already canceled last month in an effort to save money and spend what they have on services such as the police force and fire departments. But with the lack of funds come the dismissal of several city services, which has spurred a measure of civic pride, Fox News reports. After the city abandoned a long awaited light-rail project, 26-year-old Andy Didirosi was “pissed” and chose to fund a transportation plan himself.
A self-described “gearhead,” Didirosi had several old Greyhounds and school buses on hand and started the Detroit Bus Company, Fox reports. Not only has Didirosi provided a transportation route in the original location that the plan proposed, he has provided another route to the Detroit Metropolitan Airport.