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Monday, June 8, 2015

The Economic Case for High Speed Passenger Rail In Metro Detroit



[1]In a 2013 report conducted by the American Society of Civil Engineers, Michigan’s transportation infrastructure was given a D. This grade reflects our crumbling roads, structurally unsound bridges, and inadequate public transportation. Southeast Michigan’s transportation infrastructure was once world renowned, however our innovation remains relatively stagnant, as the decades pass us by. Detroit in particular has one of the worst public transportation networks in the country. There were multiple proposals for Detroit to construct a subway network across city dating back to 1903.However, these proposals failed in lieu of fiscal concerns.
For the last few years now there has been talk between state, federal, and private entities in the development and renovation of the Old State Fairgrounds into a multi-modal transportation hub. This multi-modal hub is anticipated to include: rapid inter-city buses, high speed passenger trains, and a taxi stand. Developing, and more so implementing a regional transportation plan using the technological innovations refined over the past few decades is necessary, to significantly increase metro Detroit’s competiveness across the state of Michigan, and states in the Midwest region.   [2]Renovating our passenger rail infrastructure is central to developing a market that develops and sustains a healthy economy.
The Federal Railroad Administration has designated the corridor that Detroit is situated in as the Pontiac-Detroit-Chicago corridor. This corridor contains millions of people in a relatively close vicinity that would drastically boost the mobility of persons traveling between the two metropolises. In effect, the development of a regional high speed rail network for our particular corridor is estimated to [3]net over 6.1 billion in sales annually and generate 2.5 billion in annual wages. Additionally, over 42,000 jobs are expected to be created in our regional rail corridor. It is projected that for every one billion dollars invested into high speed rail infrastructure there are [4]24,000 jobs created.


With the population continuing to grow, it will put an increased strain on the aviation industry. Without a feasible alternative mode of transportation the aviation industry will inevitably become undesirable as congestion and related costs continue to cut into profits. [6]Detroit Metro Airport and O’Hare Airport in Chicago are amongst some of the most congested airports in the country. It is projected by the Department of Transportation that depending on a number of variables HSR could save roughly 20 billion annually in airline congestion across the country.

Detroit, throughout the years and the turmoil, continues to find itself in the position to be a leading force in the global economy through the technological innovations of the 21st century. Across the board, peer reviewed studies suggest that high speed passenger rail is one of the most economically feasible platforms for cities to implement and benefit, long term from. An inter-modal transportation hub, that links southeastern Michigan together with high performance public transportation, is a critical step in developing and innovating our current transportation infrastructure nationwide






1.     American Society of Civil Engineers. (2013). Michigan infrastructure grades for 2012. Report Card for Americas Infrastructure, Retrieved from http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/michigan/michigan-overview/

2.      Peterson, C. (2012). Opportunity cost of inaction: High-speed and high performance passenger rail in the United States. American Public Transportation Association, Retrieved from http://www.apta.com/resources/reportsandpublications/Documents/HPPR-Cost-of-Inaction.pdf


3.      Peterson, C. (2011). The case for business investment in high speed and intercity passenger rail.American Public Transportation Association, Retrieved from chrome-extension://ecnphlgnajanjnkcmbpancdjoidceilk/http://www.apta.com/resources/reportsandpublications/Documents/HSRPub_final.pdf

4.      (“NextGen:  Aligning Costs, Benefits and Political Leadership,” ENO Transportation Foundation, April 2012)

5.      (“Total Delay Impact Study:  A Comprehensive Assessment of the Costs and Impacts of Flight Delay in the United States Final Report,” Michael Ball, Cynthia Barnhart, Martin Dresner, Mark Hansen, Kevin Neels, Amedeo Odoni, Everett Peterson, Lance Sherry, Antonio Trani, and Bo Zou, October, 2010)







[1] http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/michigan/michigan-overview/
[2] http://www.apta.com/resources/reportsandpublications/Documents/HPPR-Cost-of-Inaction.pdf
[3] Ibid
[4] Ibid
[5] (“NextGen:  Aligning Costs, Benefits and Political Leadership,” ENO Transportation Foundation, April 2012)

[6] (“Total Delay Impact Study:  A Comprehensive Assessment of the Costs and Impacts of Flight Delay in the United States Final Report,” Michael Ball, Cynthia Barnhart, Martin Dresner, Mark Hansen, Kevin Neels, Amedeo Odoni, Everett Peterson, Lance Sherry, Antonio Trani, and Bo Zou, October, 2010)

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Money Management with Melody! 2015 Mackinaw Policy Conference

By Richard C. Clement





US Rep Harold Ford and Melody Hobson
One of the Benefits of attending the conference is listening to speakers who have the best interests of the citizens regarding finance. Melody Hobson gave a 30 minute presentation regarding how to instill the benefit of money management to future generations of youth. Through her company Ariel Investments LLC she outlined the progress of .her Company targeting under served communities in Chicago.  Training young students on the value of money and how to manage it is a "No Brain-er" and when given the opportunity to succeed they will. A brief snippet from their website www.arielinvestments.com describes and defines the mission and purpose of Ariel:

Through former Mayor Daley’s New School Initiative Program, Ariel was awarded a corporate sponsorship of a Chicago public school in 1996. Hence, the birth of Ariel Community Academy – a public school located on the south side of Chicago. Currently, Ariel Community Academy (ACA) offers classes from kindergarten through eighth grade serving 518 students and their families. Ninety-eight percent of the student body is African-American and over 85 percent of the students receive subsidized lunches. ACA chose to target the North Kenwood neighborhood precisely because it was one of the most under served communities in Chicago. Today, the neighborhood is more vibrant, and ACA is a center for community and family life. ACA's impact extends well beyond the building itself, creating higher academic standards and achievements through a unique corporate-family-school partnership. In short, the vision remains to create a model community school — where the doors are always open; where teachers, parents and members of the community work in partnership to provide world-class educational opportunities and where financial literacy is not just taught but practiced.

Programs like this can easily be set up in any School with an investment of time, money, and resources. Students as young as 8 years old can be trained to manage small portfolios and investments with the proper support and supervision. With the computing power of these smart phones and tablets, students can manipulate their transactions do well. Councilmember Pro-Tem Cushingberry is actively supporting programs like this in Public and Charter schools. 

Financial literacy is the second most important thing besides learning how to read. When these two are worked properly together, you will have given a child a foundation to keep a roof over their head. When that child grows to be an adult, they will have enough of a base of knowledge that one day, they will be able to manage a pension fund for health care that will be fair to the membership.


Friday, May 22, 2015

Community Resource Job Fair May 2015 declared a huge success

By Richard Clement


"There is nothing better to fix poverty and Detroit than a full time well paying job..."
- Mayor Coleman S. Young _




The Community Resource fair held on May 14th, 2015 was a smashing success. Over 750 people attended the fair meeting employers and leaving resumes with them. By 8:30am a large line had formed from the entrance door to outside the building wanting to work. Olympia Entertainment Company and The District Detroit were two of many companies who were there to look for employees.

 There were numerous Trade Unions showing opportunities to get into apprentice programs for sheet metal, bricklayers, and electricians. 
Financial Institutions like, Best Bank and CTBU Credit Unions were there to help people open up savings accounts for people who did not have one. A big congratulations goes out to Cleo Wiley for organizing and coordinating the event.  Councilmember Pro-Tem Cushingberry is committed to the employment of Detroit residents who want a job, need a job, and are willing to work.

Friday, May 8, 2015

Taking Steps to Make Detroit a Better City: The Riverfront Park 2015 Status Report

Riverside Park is being redeveloped with a plan to reopen

One of Councilman Cushingberry’s goals when he got hired by the people was to reopen Riverside Park for sustainable public use.  The announcement of the plans by Mayor Duggan is a culmination of effort with Alicia Bradford Director of the Department of Recreation and the Mayor’s office.

The agreement between the City of Detroit and the Ambassador Bridge Company is summarized as follows:

The Ambassador Bridge Company will give the City of Detroit 4.8 acers of prime water front property and $3 million dollars. Pending MDEQ and Detroit City Council approval, the $3 million will be immediately invested back into the park in our Phase 1 development plan starting fall 2015.

Starting fall 2015 the City will perform the following:
  1. Convert an adjacent 3.4 acre parcel into park land.
  2. Build a New Baseball Diamond, Soccer field and multi-use play areas.
  3. Build a New Riverfront Playscape
  4. Install new benches, picnic tables and shelter
  5. Improve Waterfront Promenade and Landscaping

Future Plans for Riverside Park

Subject to approval of State and Federal regulators, the City of Detroit will give the bridge company title to 3 acres of undeveloped park land. Upon receiving title to the property the Bridge Company will give the City an additional $2 million dollars for the expansion of the park that includes a 100ft river-walk on the waterfront.  In addition to that, The Bridge Company will demolish the warehouse that is on 5 acre property adjacent to the park and grant development rights to the City of Detroit before the end of 2018.

Starting in 2018, the Phase II step includes the construction of waterfront property into Fisherman’s Overlook that will contain additional sea wall improvements, sidewalks, benches and extended promenade.

Once the Ambassador Bridge Company get additional approvals, the company intends to use the 3 acres to help them build a second span of the Ambassador Bridge next to the old bridge creating jobs, and spurring additional commerce and development in Detroit. Plans include restoring foot and bike traffic on the old bridge and, adding light rail transportation on the new one. The old bridge will be available for special events like parties and gatherings. Special rules will apply so that people will not dance in rhythm while they are standing on the span.

In addition to funding the expansion of Riverside Park, The Bridge Company has agreed to install 1000 windows in the vacant Michigan Central Train Station with an investment of more than $2 million dollars. While there will always be a few who are against the project because of a personal dislike for Mr. Maroun, the new publicly owned bridge should take care of the "Hate Maroun" crowd and, improve the Riverfront Park area at the same time. Given the resounding rejection of Proposal 1 to raise the State Sales Tax to fix the roads in May of 2015, alternative funding methods and business practices have to be considered in the Plan B, C, and D options for paying for a publicly owned bridge.

Contact your elected leaders that includes, President Obama, Senator Stabenow, Senator Peters, Gov. Snyder, Detroit City Council Members and the Mayor’s Offices to voice your support to beautify our City of Detroit.


Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Art on the Walls of the Lodge Freeway? Detroit based artist Sintex has a plan to bring life onto the drab white wall.


by Friends of Cushingberry



Between Wyoming to 8 mile and the City Limits, the M10 Lodge Freeway wall is stark and boring to look at while you are driving north or southbound. The Office of Council Pro Tem Cushingberry’s people driven task force is researching on using portions of the freeway wall to be covered with artwork from local area artists and advertising from local businesses like JP Morgan Chase, etc. With the cooperation of the State of Michigan, selling advertising space at a fixed rate can generate revenue and improve the view while you drive home.



This proposal would bring additional revenue to the city of Detroit and the State of Michigan in road maintenance and advertising sales.  Local and extremely talented artist like Sintex would enhance the beauty of the City with their elite talent.  Mr. Sintex is the PERFECT candidate to be awarded the job to Paint the Lodge Beautiful and this is an example of his work. www.sintexart.com.

The talent in the City of Detroit needs to be put on display proudly instead of being forced to hide in the closet. To make this happen we need the people to come and express their thoughts about the project to City, County, and State leadership. Many artists and businesses in the Detroit Metropolitan Area would benefit from the sale of space to display their wares.

If you support this proposal, please call or email our office with your concerns and suggestions.



Monday, April 27, 2015

Carnival Barking and Paperwork Issues while in Office #DetroitLivesMatter

By Friends of George Cushingberry Jr.


Since taking office, these old laptops
have been removed from all
DFD Units and replaced with
hand held units
Since being a council member, Mr. Cushingberry does not have the time to put into law while serving the citizens of our great city making things happen. An example is: since taking office, the Detroit Fire Departments technology has been massively upgraded with a WORKING mapping system that helps firefighters get to emergencies much faster and accurately. This move saved the department lots of money by redirecting funds from a non-working CODE RED computer system, to a hand held working Google Mapping App for each firehouse.  This app has a future so that the app can fit on every firefighter’s cell phone if needed.


Councilman Cushingberry and colleagues have awarded over $55,000 in grants to the DFD for equipment and spurring a hiring frenzy of new Firefighters, EMTs, and Detroit Police Officers to protect the people. These young men and women help carry on the legacy of the Motor City by protecting it as a good place to work, live and party. As we speak, City of Detroit computer systems are being upgraded from Win 3.1, Win 2000, Win XP,  to the latest MS Windows software and HP hardware to bring the City's technology into the 21 Century.

Councilman Cushingberry and his colleagues are working to get City of Detroit uniformed employees (Police and Fire) the same 2.5 percent adjustment awarded to all non-uniformed employees including the Council by the Compensation Commission in July 2016.  Detroit retirees are encouraged to investigate the use of the Voluntary Employee Benefit Agreement to their advantage. When manipulated properly by the members, retirees will re-gain the losses by re-negotiating deductibles and co-pays using the Affordable Care Act.

Please be reminded that Mr. Cushingberry has more credibility as a suspended lawyer than some journalists on Fox 2 and, the Michigan Chronicle have as employees.  As a lawyer Mr. Cushingberry has processed over 1000 cases in his career.  To our count Elrick has found four of them.  We know he had to get through all of them to find these four anomalies.  Regarding the widow issue with the car, Mr. Cushingberry, Swanson Funeral Home, and another agency were successful in dismissing the lawsuit filed by the widow for $20 million dollars a piece in damages.   On Elrick’s star witness Debra Goodner, she still has not produced a receipt for a retainer fee and, we are not holding our breath waiting.

Currently there are 87 people on the same list that ML Elrick accessed from the State of Michigan website. (click here to read the list of "sinners") The list includes Peter Hokesra for Governor and the late Rev. Michael Murphy.  Since most of them did not win or died, they just quit filing.  Mr. Cushingberry has since filed his report and this list will be amended to show that he had less than $50.00 owed for the 2010 Senate campaign.


While serving as a State Representative, Mr. Cushingberry was accused of the same thing in 2008 by then Attorney General Mike Cox when he was appointed the appropriations chairman of the House of Representatives. This case went to trial and, the councilman was victorious in proving that the charges were nothing but harassment and a backhanded attempt to remove him from the appropriations chairmanship.  In that position, Mr. Cushingberry was responsible for the budget of 21 State Departments and left it balanced when his term was limited.

We also want to remind the Nolan Finleys and the Bankole Thompsons of the world that our young people are carrying cell phones that have more computing power than all of the NASA spacecraft that went to the moon and back in the 60’s. They are very talented and with training can do ANY job that is offered to them. If these companies don’t want to hire them they will get the training elsewhere, come back and do a better job than the company that did not want to hire them in the first place. All we ask is that they use those smartphones for doing their research and homework in the process of getting their education. 


Finally we want to salute the young men and women of the Detroit Public School system who recently won a prize for building solar heating and electrical panels.  We know that this is our future and ticket to prosperity in the City of Detroit and, if you are in a business that uses a lot of electricity, then you may want to consider hiring one or many of them.  That’s if they don’t become entrepreneurs and open their own business.   Some of them may study journalism and learn how to report facts instead of, creating fiction from fact to sustain a theater act.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Community Leaders meet to regulate Medical Marijuana businesses in the City of Detroit

by Richard C. Clement

"600 Million Dollars a year in taxable revenue from Marijuana" - Harry Smith CNBC


Led by Winfred Blackmon and Marcus Cummings, the Metro Detroit Community Action Coalition is attempting to develop an ordinance to reduce the number of Marijuana related business in the City of Detroit. After further review of their proposal, the group’s attempt is to shut them down and/or severely restrict their growth through the use of the Building Safety, Detroit Fire Department Fire Marshals, and other zoning restrictions that have been deemed illegal by the Michigan Supreme Court.


Developing a Marijuana regulation ordinance based on the theory rooted in the ideology of the late Harry Jacob Anslinger (May 20, 1892 – November 14, 1975) is to re-affirm the failed ideology of prohibition with racism. Anslinger was a United States government official who served as the first commissioner of the U.S. Treasury Department's Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN). He was a staunch supporter of prohibition and responsible for declaring Marijuana a Schedule I drug like heroin with no medical value. He was an avowed racist that described Marijuana as a drug that makes Negros attack White Women. He along with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover sincerely believed this until they died. This mindset was carried on by President Nixon and John Ashcroft who authorized the shooting of two activists by the FBI and Michigan State Police at the Rainbow Farms camp in Vandalia Michigan in 2001. (click here for the story of Rainbow Farms)


In 2015, interviews with high ranking Detroit Police Department officials and neighborhood police officers reveal that DPD has not had a police call for trouble at ANY of the identified places of business by this group.  If places are getting raided, it is because they are doing something more than dealing with Medical Marijuana like gambling and vice. Otherwise these places of business in the district are operating within the law by permission.  This addresses the safety of the neighborhoods issue because if the Detroit Police are not having any incidents of trouble, then where is the danger?



The growth of these business are a reflection of a trend toward decriminalization of Marijuana by Federal, State and Local leaders who see the war on Marijuana as a total failure and agree that something has to change. The war on weed has a disparate impact upon our diverse community and, only serves to keep the economy of the for profit correction system in the black. Mayors like Virg Benero of Lansing and Jan Parisi of Hazel Park have come out of the closet to support decriminalization. This is because they are listening to the people and they are saying loudly and clearly that we want these businesses to patronize.

For this group to use the Detroit Zoning Board, Detroit Police, Detroit Fire, and Building Safety Departments to fight a losing proxy war against Marijuana is a sure loser and a waste of tax dollars. The Detroit Fire Department marshal wants safe entry, exit with no capacity overloads and, fire extinguishers in these facilities, just like any other business. Building Safety wants a code compliant building and, the Detroit Police want to keep the peace.  People who use Marijuana are not violent when they only use Marijuana. They get plenty hungry and that could help sales of food in the community.

The last thing the City of Detroit needs is a 1920 style of the Temperance movement who created alcohol prohibition and you see where this got us as a nation. If we can allow Hookah Bars, Cigar Bars, then what is the problem with a “weed bar”?  Given that Detroit retirees need to have their pensions protected and respected with decent health care coverage, the time may be coming so that retirees can have their Medical Marijuana covered to lower their health costs.

Using the rules of the Voluntary Employee Benefit Agreement (VEBA), the members can vote to make this happen with funds from the sale of legal marijuana to help the pension funds for Police, Fire, and General Employees get financially sound.

We cannot go back to the time where we had people like Marc Emery, a citizen of Canada extradited to the United States to serve 5 years of Federal time in Mississippi for the act of selling marijuana seeds. While Colorado makes $2.5 million dollars a month from legal Marijuana sales for schools, we can do better when we use the Cannabis plant for manufacturing products like cars, homes, fuel, fabric, and 20,000 other uses. Most of the corrections system is full of prisoners for small drug crimes.  We hope that before President Obama leaves office, he will issue a complete pardon to immediately remove these prisoners from incarceration.



Finally we hope that the next President continues the policy on a path of saneness to correct this injustice from the grave of Harry Anslinger in 1939.