Chief James Craig Answers Questions Regarding 2015/2016 Budget from Pro-Tem Cushingberry

by Richard Clement

DPD 2015/2016 Proposed Budget recommendations. 

Councilmember Cushingberry cares about the Detroit Police Department so much that he is closely watching operations. He wants to make sure that citizen concerns and needs are addressed, 

On June 3,2015, Mr. Cushingberry asked the following questions of Police Chief James Craig.

List of Questions

1. In light of neighborhood/community policing, what are the efforts to encourage police offices to live in the City of Detroit?

2. How much have collected in the last three years from the various forfeiture programs?

3. Please provide details relative to new efforts in Information Technology ?

4. What steps should be taken to request Federal and State funds for a Blight Task Force and Quality of life blight deterrence?

Summary of Answers by Chief James Craig

1. Officers are being encouraged to live in the City by coordinating with the Detroit Public and Charter schools to provide education to Officer’s families.

2. We have collected a total of $6,045,732.02 dollars with $1,210,172.71 from Federal and $43,648.07 from the State  of Michigan collections divisions.

3. We are collecting more information from new fingerprint machines and other data requiring that we upgrade to 450TB of storage. We are upgrading hardware with 100 new units that have the Microsoft System Center Configuration and Operation Manager.

4. The Office of Grant Management can assist with providing information on seeking grants for this cause

We hope that the answers provided by Chief Craig will further enhance the transparency that the Department and the Council wants and the public demands of their public servants.

Thursday Night Funk at Paradise Valley Every Thursday in July of 2015.

Kick off Thursday Night Funk at Paradise Valley Every Thursday in July, 2015.

Paradise Valley 1426 Randolph Detroit MI 48226

by Richard Clement

Starting July 2nd with Bass Master Edward T-Money Green, Paradise Valley will be rocking with funk masters from the Parliament Mother-ship.

(Click Here to listen to T-Money Green Bring the Funk in Detroit's Paradise Valley)

Stars like Lonnie Motley, Mikey Adkins, BB Queen will be some of the entertainers that will provide a funk filled Thursday Evening from 6 to 8 pm.

Location for the Funk Event 1426 Randolph Detroit MI, 48226

So program your GPS units in your smartphone with this address to get right to the funk of it. Bring your own lawn chairs, and liquids to enjoy the evening and listen to some music before you go see the Tigers play baseball at Comerica Park.

Marijuana Policy at Mackinaw? A 2016 Ballot Question To The People

by The Friends of George Cushingberry Jr.

Lansing Mayor Virg Benero

During the Mackinaw Policy Conference, a new effort to allow Michiganders the legal right to use Marijuana without arrest, prosecution, and discrimination was introduced.  The group MI Legalize (www.milegalize.com) is spearheading an effort to place this issue on the ballot in November 2016. This Marijuana legalization effort if adopted by the people will allow municipalities to regulate this industry with 20% of the profits going to the city or township the provisioning center is located in. The current Michigan Medical Marijuana Act will remain intact.

"Free The Weed for the Jobs We Need" -   Richard C. Clement

Michigan residents will have another chance to determine the direction of the management and regulation of the exploding Marijuana Industry. Michigan voters have the opportunity to force the reform of the current system by electing responsible leaders who will do the following:

1. Getting a Picture of the Cardholder on the Medical Marijuana Card
2. Removing all Marijuana Convictions from citizens who are incarcerated in the legal system
3. Use the growing revenue to revitalize blighted properties in Detroit
4. Eliminate the requirement of placing Medical Marijuana in the Trunk of your car
5. Remove Marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act
6. Pot profits for Potholes, School Funding, Retiree Pensions and lowering Co-Pays on Health Insurance with the Affordable Care Act.

Richard Clement and
Mrs. Jodie Emery
Wife of Marc Scott Emery
 A Canadian Citizen abused by
America's war on Weed.

Since the Ronald Regan revolution of the 1980, the prison population has quadrupled to 2.4 million people. Cost per prisoner ranges from $21,000 to $33,000 per year for each person within the US Prison population. 20% of State Prisoners and 51% of Federal prisoners are in jail for Drug Charges like possession of Marijuana. Compared to 4% of the prison population is composed of robbery and 1% for murder, this is a huge financial commitment to keep people locked up. Currently, the State of Michigan spends up to $2 billion dollars a year maintaining their Department of Corrections facilities. On a Federal level, prison costs are expected to rise to 30 percent of the Department of Justice's budget by the year 2020.

Davidson Freeway at Oakland Exit

The ballot proposal by the group MI Legalize will put a major dent and spur a massive redirection of funds used to prosecute people for Marijuana crimes. The breakdown of the revenue that will be generated by this effort will direct 40% of all profits for transportation, 40% to the school aid fund, and 20% to cities and townships where the business is located. By voting in 2016 citizens can elect State of Reps that will introduce legislation to repeal the law that required people to carry Marijuana in the trunk of their car like a weapon.  This one law is responsible for many arrests, and convictions of Michigan Citizens was endorsed by prosecutors and a few mis-guided Michigan State Senators who were “influenced” by Attorney General Bill Schuette and, the Michigan Sherriff’s Association.

Citizens can finally force the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (www.michigan.gov/mmp) to place a picture on the Medical Marijuana card after 6 years of operating the program, calling an end to the legislative buffoonery when it comes to Information Technology. While other states like Arizona allow you to upload a passport like picture, Michigan officials are woefully lacking and intentionally slacking off to sabotage the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, one of Michigan’s only profit making programs in State Government.

If Marijuana is to become legal then, we want our citizens of all races, religions, spiritual beliefs, political or sexual preference, etc. to have an equal opportunity to participate in this industry.   Based on population as of 2014, Michigan has 80% more citizens at 9 million residents than Colorado has at 5 million residents. Therefore, Michigan will make more money than Colorado from the legalization of Marijuana. Schools, Roads, and Retirees will benefit because a City or County Government can fund pension programs and defray the cost of their healthcare by diverting the 20% of profits into the pension system.

This effort needs 302,400 signatures to be collected by circulators who are gathering signatures from REGISTERED voters.  If you are not registered to vote please do so ASAP.  If you are a felon or know a felon who is NOT inside of a correctional facility, please inform them that they are eligible to vote. This is the non-violent social change that Dr. Martin Luther King was advocating when he was alive and when people got beat up on a bridge to get the right to participate in their government.

For more information  about this legalization effort, please visit the www.milegalize.com website.

For a list of 2016 Presidential Candidates please visit this link: 

https://www.mpp.org/2016-presidential-candidates/

Source:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/13/wonkbook-11-facts-about-americas-prison-population/

Michigan Attorney Discipline Board Dismisses Charges against Attorney George Cushingberry Jr.

by The Friends of George Cushingberry Jr.

    In a unanimous ruling on June 15, the Michigan Attorney Discipline board has administratively dismissed the charges against Attorney George Cushingberry Jr. for practicing law without a license. The hearing date was arbitrarily cancelled by the board. The panel ruled that the charges brought by M.L. Elrick lacked merit, was frivolous and not worthy of further discipline or discussion. This ruling dismisses the allegations made by Fox 2 Detroit reporter M.L. Elrick and Michigan Chronicle Editor Bankole Thompson.

Quoting University of Detroit Law Professor Larry Durbin and the Michigan Chronicle's Bankole Thompson:

LARRY DUBIN: You can't put yourself in a position where you can meet potential clients, which means have a telephone that lists you as a lawyer where people can call you; be on a website where people can fill out a form and indicate that they want your services as a lawyer; all of that is prohibited completely. Anything on a computer that would hold that suspended lawyer as a lawyer, or as a practicing lawyer or invite potential clients to contact that suspended lawyer would be improper. 'Michigan Chronicle' Editor Bankole Thompson says Cushingberry's apparent disregard for the rules sends the wrong message.

( Watch The full Fox 2 Detroit News Story)

Larry Dubin’s statement of fact was ruled irrelevant and did not fit the case by the Attorney Grievance Commission because Mr. Cushingberry had evidence that he never practiced law during the suspension.  The panel also found that Attorney Cushingberry did not own the domain name and was not responsible for its content. It is a given fact that 98% of legal professionals are not tech savvy and, rely on assistance from Technology experts who are highly skilled in the tools of the trade. C-systems Technology Group www.csystemstechgroup.com is solely responsible for the maintenance, development and content of the site.

The owner of the domain www.cushingberrylaw.com was able to demonstrate that Attorney Cushingberry is not taking any clients during the suspension and, his databases cannot produce any evidence of ANY client or potential client interaction requesting his legal services. As far as the Michigan Chronicle goes, the last thing we need is an African American newspaper supporting and reporting news events that are later proven to be intentionally false and misleading bits of information.

It is also a fact that this is a troubling pattern by media outlets to usurp the will of the voters by attempting to remove elected African American officials from office by promoting false and misleading news stories. The Councilman is demanding that ML Elrick and Bankole Thompson issue an immediate retraction of this “story”. The councilman suggest that these two would be better off investigating the contractors who poured the concrete on the Highways and Roads in Michigan for the past 10 years with shoddy concrete and construction materials.  

Until this happens, the No Elrick-Thompson zone will remain in full effect until further notice.

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.

[5]“the total cost of all US air transportation delays in 2007 was $32.9 billion including an $8.3 billion airline component consisting of increased expenses for crew, fuel, and maintenance; $16.7 billion for the time passengers lost due to schedule buffer, delayed flights, flight cancellations, and missed connections; $3.9 billion for the cost demand incurred because of passengers who avoid air travel as the result of delays; and, $4 billion for negative impact on the gross domestic product (GDP).”

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 21^st 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)

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.

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.