What’s good about Detroit? Children’s hospital, Buick Lucern, Bonding at a Detroit Lions football game.

Here I go again talking about my favorite city. As I was talking with some of my staff members, I asked them this question. What is good about Detroit? Why did I do that? They could not stop talking at all until I told them I had to go to bed. They brought up the fact that Detroit still makes some of the finest automobiles in the world. Despite what you hear about outsourcing, we still make the Buick Lucern, Cadillac DHS and DTS, Dodge Charger, Jeeps and the new Chevrolet Volt. They are all great automobiles and especially if you get a sun room installed. Recently these cars were cited for having a reliability rate of over 90 percent, which is much better than the Mercedes Benz. Although the news media rarely covers this, we know deep down in our hardcore Detroit hearts that we still produce world popular and reliable automobiles. The Detroit Auto Show is the premiere annual auto gala event.

Eastern Market features food and vegetables that are grown in Detroit! Hometown farming is a priority and our residents take pride in their work. There are no synthetic chemicals, pesticides, fertilizers, or other genetically modified food products allowed in our city. Every Saturday from 6:30am to 3:00pm in shed #2, the finest food grown in the City is for sale. The Eastern Market is an international market offering fare for cuisine from cultures globally.

The Children’s hospital expansion at the Detroit Medical Center is another example of what is good about the city. Medical services are free for children regardless of income level and indigent status. This hospital is a world-renowned institution. Detroit is also a beacon for aspiring lawyers with three great law schools like The University of Detroit, Wayne State University, and the Detroit College of Law at Michigan State University. These three instructions are producing graduates that can practice law with the best, and give back to their communities. So the two great professions medicine and law are both good in Detroit.


Given the high cost of fuel, ridership is growing on Detroit Department of Transportation busses. Detroit has always been committed to mass transportation despite being the motor capital of the world. We all know that the city is experiencing an economic downturn like the rest of the country. It is not a one state recession as being advertised, but a 50 state depression. It seems that we were the first ones to feel the crunch and we are not alone. The entire country is going through a depression with Michigan leading the way at the moment. We still have some excellent homes that are currently abandoned by people and neglected by the banks. But like a rubber band, the first city that is down will be the first city to lead the way to nationwide prosperity. When Detroit comes back, it will be roaring, soaring, and scoring with the nation and the world.


Most of us are political disciples and admirers of the late Mayor Coleman S. Young. We also share his dream of having commercial air service return to City Airport. Mayor Young was an excellent pilot and an honorary member of the Tuskegee Airmen. Detroiters owe it to him to make the dream happen by any means necessary. We are a much better city than people want to believe; a melting pot of all ethnic groups who bring distinct gifts to sustain and maintain the survival of the city.

The Lions, Tigers, Pistons and Red Wings are good things about Detroit. Ford Field Joe Louis Arena and Tiger Stadium are teeming with the melting pot of Detroit love. The Detroit Zoo is what’s good about Detroit visitors from around the globe visit here yearly for this attraction alone.


Old and new Detroit residents have a commitment to the city by participating in community cleanup efforts and voicing their concerns for the children at Detroit Public Schools board meetings. While the rest of the world sees our children as dropouts, hoodlums, and thugs, we see them as future citizens working as police officers, fire fighters, nurses, teachers, doctors, lawyers, dentists, accountants, mechanics, carpenters, farmers, plumbers, etc. The graffiti writer of today may be the webmaster and computer engineer of the future developing cross-platform applications for use all over the world. The saggy pants wearing youth that the adults criticize and berate now, will grow to be a contributing citizen. We must make sure Detroit is a metropolis/village that bears responsibility to our youth to help them learn and earn. This is good about Detroit.

For all those who participate in Detroit’s public and private schools, we as parents will see to it that they take every opportunity that is provided to them in the system. One day, the Detroit Public School system will feature an online syllabus for high school students and parents to help keep track of their progress. We Detroiters have a pride in our city that is unmatched and undisputed. Detroiters handle their business politically and professionally. I look forward to the day when Detroit employees live within the city boundaries, and then the concept of true public service will come to fruition.

Stopping the Systematic Stealing – A prescription for the City of Detroit.

Do you know that the thieves who strip Detroit homes and property are better organized than the police? Think about it. Just like a junk yard for car parts, a companion market has grown in parts for homes too. The end result of this criminal work is the systematic destruction of property, and the rapid descent in neighborhood home values. For NEW property owners, survival in this hostile, blatantly criminal environment is a struggle also. Here are three frustrating but real situations that thwart growth in Detroit.

Example one.
1. A young man used his savings to purchase a two family home and invest in its development.
2. He upgraded the appliances and brought the property up to code paid for the cost of a rental license from the city, and had a contract drawn up by a lawyer for the tenants.
3. Things were fine until the renter abruptly moved out.
4. Within 2 hours of their leaving the property, the place was stripped of its metal, materials and mechanical apparatuses (furnace, garbage disposal, etc).
5. The young man still has to make the house note despite the damage to the property.

Example two;
1. Elderly parents die;
2. The grief-stricken children and family members neglect the property;
3. An estate is open to pay for Mom’s funeral, to cover her past due bills, and to continue to operate her bank accounts;
4. The home is stripped before the first appearance in Probate Court; thieves take the copper pipes the aluminum siding, the appliances, the doors, the windows, the furnace, the iron, and strip the brick from the foundation and structure. The police reluctantly take a report but do not visit the home to investigate the damage.


Example Three:
1. A woman inherits a home.
2. The husband abandons her and two children.
3. She works 2 jobs to take care of the children and pay the bills.
4. The neighborhood crack addict breaks in and steals their personal items.
5. The crack addict develops a schedule breaking in based on the schedule of the working woman not being home.
6. Eventually he decides that he can break in while the woman and her family are home and attempts entry through the window.
7. The woman calls 911 while the children.
8. A passer by and a few helpful neighbors show up and intervene helping the woman fight the crack addict.
9. One hour later the police show up.
10. The woman frustrated, has had enough and moves out of the home for the safety of her children.
11. The property is abandoned and stripped of its assets.


In the third example, if the neighbors and the passerby were not fortuitously there, we would have had another major tragedy in the City of Detroit.



But Cush, how can you say that the thieves are better organized than the police? This question to the editor comes from the blog contributor Richard Clement by way of Royal Oak Township Michigan and a hard core Detroiter with our roots in the cement of 8 mile road and points south.

A succession of authority have policed the city and metropolitan area since the founding of Detroit in 1701: a militia, local army, metropolitan police department, city police department and Wayne County Sherriff have exercised the power of the people to keep order and protect people and property. The police are successful when they have the support and co-operation, information, and confidence in those who deliver the police service. Fear feeds on itself and when the people fear police as mush as criminals we have dysfunction. Human nature tells us that people lookout for themselves first.

When I began my political career, the addition of strong Detroit ties to police department officer affiliations strengthens our police efforts. We began and expanded police community relations through precinct organizations, CB patrols, and expanded the Police Reserves. The key to curtailing crime is comprehensive information coordination combined with communicational and caring law enforcement that reacts to and is interactive with city-wide citizen networks.

The criminals know their neighbor’s movements and the police don’t because so few of us have police officers living in our neighborhoods. When Officer Clement lives next door, he has to recognize what is going on and has to do something about it 24/7 not as an employee of the city, but a resident and a public servant. Police who live in the neighborhood and know people can better investigate break-ins, property crimes, and the senior citizens and the single mothers in the neighborhood.



Police Officers are fearless and are not afraid of criminals. They know the neighborhoods they live in and know them well. They know where there are potentially problematic vacant homes and the goings and comings of senior citizens, youths and families: the officers are involved in their community. They make neighborhood observations, they protect senior citizens who give them valuable information, non-withstanding of major community folk and the street cop that make life bearable in the city. This is the key to making the city work again: the relationship between the street cops and citizens.

The systematic criminals who strip our property are watching the comings and goings in the neighborhood. They are stealing and selling mechanical devices, toilets, sinks, wire, pipe, furnaces, etc., to home contractors who use these stolen devices on someone else’s property. Contractors mostly do not, but should, question from where these devices are coming. Second hand dealers should be legally required to keep a log documenting all hardware they purchase and sell. Furthermore, I would support an ordinance to require building equipment, materials to be imprinted as we have done with auto parts to help track stolen merchandise.

Police Citizens Band (CB) units should help coordinate vulnerable people’s comings and goings. City Council needs to review ordinances and budgets so that CB patrols can provide police investigative information and to provide fuel for CB Volunteer automobiles and motorcycles. The CB patrols should be expanded to include cell phones and more reports though the 411 system. Police community relations should have access to virtual mps and other GPS devices.


A google-type picture of every home and business in the City of Detroit on file with the assessor’s office should be kept in a public database. We would have a new way of policing when a 911 call comes in and a picture of the home or business comes on the screen of the police car, the dispatcher, and the CB patrol, along with text message notification to the home occupier’s cell phone.

Scrap dealers should be legally required to question and keep logs of their bills of sale for the purchase and sell of home-related assets. As for punishment in lieu of jail time, first time offenders could be a part of the revitalization by paying their debt to society by assisting with restoring at least one complete home. Jobs on a property include tasks such as painting, installation, cleaning, construction, and other needs as determined by people selected from the home vandalism victim database which each municipality would be required to maintain. This is truly a statewide issue to find alternatives to imprisonment for stealing and illegal drug use. These actions would bring back the true meaning of community service and giving back to our community in a positive way.

Governor Granholm Should Grant Due Process To Mayor Kilpatrick

I believe in law and the first thing that I learned in criminal law is that a person is innocent until proven guilty and convicted by a jury of his or her peers. I have a fundamental belief that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick should not be removed as Mayor of the City of Detroit by the Governor not withstanding the constitutional authority vested in the governor. I want to carefully explain my position so that everyone understands that I see the removal statute as a disenfranchisement tool as applied to the Mayor and the electorate of Detroit.

Let us first address the criminal issues. The mayor has to face a county wide jury pool that will include many citizens outside of Detroit. While this should give us all pause for concern about whether or not he will receive a fair trial it is also the reality of the system we live with and have vested our faith. I trust that the judge will give special latitude to the trial counsel given the special publicity and political circumstances so that a truly representative jury can be impaneled.

This necessarily leads to the removal argument itself. The most important argument against removal is this: the People of Detroit elected Mayor Kilpatrick and the People alone should determine his future. Governor Granholm should not be permitted to exercise her authority to disenfranchise the citizens of Detroit by stepping in and removing the Mayor before his trial. Let the trial proceed and then if necessary the Governor can act on behalf of the City Council to make a decision. But presently the decision to move forward is one that is too complicated and too political to be attempted without accusations of racial animus to be tossed whether fairly or not.

The City Council and all of those who oppose the Mayor can argue as cogently and vehemently as they like that there is no jeopardy or United States Constitutional 5th Amendment issues impeding Governor Granholm’s inquest but that is absolutely wrong. There is no way that Mayor Kilpatrick can present an organized and vigorous defense before the Governor without sacrificing criminal privileges that are sacrosanct. As a lawyer, the Governor has a duty to respect those Constitutional Rights as would any other presiding officer for any other tribunal, administrative or judicial or any hybrid combination thereof. Moreover, to claim that the Mayor’s 8th Amendment right to a fair and impartial jury is not going to be affected by the Governor’s Open Adversarial Hearing is an absolute deception. Intended or not this deception goes to the heart of two very fundamental constitutional rights every American Citizen enjoys. Governor Granholm is proceeding to jeopardize those rights on behalf of the news media for no real expediency and the people of Detroit are disenfranchised in the process.

A prescription for the City of Detroit, a diagnosis to help cure the pain from “Dr. Cush”

Quit Lying! Elected officials at all levels should be serving with care and compassion for the people. Because of them speaking up for you, they made it possible for you to represent their needs and issues. Even though we disagree sometimes, we share a common bond to help the other man live in a peaceful land.

Reward long time (25 years or more) homeowners in the City of Detroit with tax rebates on their property ending the injustice on first time homeowners in the payment of their property taxes. And my proposal to end this will be to allow the “Headlee Amendment” rule (limiting property tax to %5 or the rate of inflation) to be applied to assessments notwithstanding to the Proposal A on all home dwellings in the City of Detroit. By doing this, it would end the pop-up syndrome that socks the new home buyer with a large property tax bill because of the quirks in the State Equalized Value rule in assessing homeowner property.


An example is a homeowner who purchased a home in 1978 as a HUD home for $18,000 is assessed at %50 of its value. The home is sold in 2005 for $200,000 and assessed at %50 of its value. The bill for the 2nd sale of the home comes due in the 2nd year to the NEW homeowner. This is referred to as the POP-UP effect on property taxes. The new home owner is also stuck with an adjustable rate mortgage and is left with few choices but to leave the property abandoned and give it back to the bank.

Education in the City of Detroit is a mission required because we can no longer afford to be ignorant. The lack of knowledge and compassion is a threat to national security of our citizens. Until the parents and the children realize the value of continued education is the key to the uplifting of an entire community. And the collateral effects on a community will carryover to the entire world. We must take those iPods and integrate them into the educational curriculum. Over %90 of children in grades K-9 have a MySpace or some other web based account.

The city needs its citizens who work for the city to live in the city. Teachers, Police, Fire, Information Technology workers, and others should have a stake in its survival. In order to accomplish this, property tax incentives and other discounts on utilities would be proposed by me when I am in the right position to do so. We can no longer afford to be ignorant. Students need to know that education is the ticket and that their teachers do care about them. They may be stressed out, burnt out, paid low, disrespected and dogged by parents and students. But they return every year because they have love for the community and deep concern for the future of our world.

Innocent until proven Guilty; The People vs. Kilpatrick

I do believe that he should be allowed to attend the convention in Denver as a Super Delegate. He has nowhere to run and has no intent to hide from anyone. One of my passions is the practice of law. And one of the basic rules of law is that a person is innocent until proven guilty and CONVICTED of a violation. During that time a person is under court order to respect the law until a trial date occurs.

And so the man has to wear a tether now. So what! This means is that you can find a web site to follow his every move. And, you can contact him to with a text, email, or video message because he will be carrying a laptop computer with him. He will be working for the people of the City and you can see where he goes every day.

I hope he has a video camera with him so that he can do a podcast. And he still has to take the drug tests too. Given this fact, he should be allowed to have a drink of a alcohol shot of his choosing. Every Democrat should be allowed the opportunity to have a toast to the man who will become our next President.

He is carrying two sets of communication now. One a city issued blackberry and another one that is a private phone. A computer expert friend of mine said to me that “most legal professionals are not computer literate. They need a lot of help with the computer toys”. Most of us either consult with an expert, usually a son, grandchild, or a certified computer geek. All his lawyers need to do is; to have a group email account with the courts address, the prosecutors, and the local newspapers. Then he could push the send button and everybody would have been happy. Instead he spent a night in jail and pissed off the judge.

Now that the man and his legal staff have learned their lesson on technology, let Kwame Kilpatrick go to Denver to do his appointed job as a Super Delegate to cast a vote for Barack Obama, Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States of America.

And he can send anyone and everyone a text message from his blackberry on the convention floor….

Take back Detroit! Reclaiming our neighborhood one home at a time.

Greetings, my office is now starting to take complaints and register homes in my district that are dragging down the value of the neighborhood. As you know, some of them were excellent structures that were allowed to decay by neglect and blatant abuse by the banking and investments industry. And with all of the people who need work, a good job will be to restore the homes in the community by the members of the community.


Rep. Cushingberry’s plan is to seize control of the property in the interest of the members of the community. Theses homes can be restored and occupied with a little Detroit love and a few trips to Home Depot, Lowes, and taking carpentry classes from Detroit Public Schools, Wayne CCC, or some of the retirees in the neighborhood who have a little time on their hands and some love for the youth.

In order to make this program successful, I want you to send me the following information about the property; Address number and street name with a picture if you can send one. Send it to the following e-mail address: gcushingberry@peoplepc.com or georgecushingberry@house.mi.gov. Yes you can even call me at 517-373-2276 and leave a voicemail message. We accept cell phone pictures, video, as well as other documentation. Once this information is gathered, my office will proceed in the following manner.

If the home is occupied, my office will assert squatters rights and other legal avenues on the condition that the occupants pledge to upgrade the property to city code in 60 to 90 days from the date of filing. The cost of the home could range from $1 up to %50 of the equity in the home. If no repairs are done then the person must vacate immediately. If repairs are performed the must be up to city code to be approved. If the repairs will take longer than 60 days, you will be granted an additional 60 days to complete the job.

The condition of these properties is a criminal shame as to "shock the concious of the court" if taken before a judge and jury. These properties in our neighborhood are a nuisance and, have an adverse effect on the asset property of the remaining residential owners.

I will be working with a team of Lawyers and other City of Detroit officials to acquire this goal of reclaiming our city away from the financial carpetbaggers who want to loot the remaining assets of the City for personal and regional gain at the expense of the citizens.

Two More Years! - Thank you for your support in the August 5th, 2008 Primary Election.

I want to thank all of you for your support and vote. Your involvement in the democratic process of voting supports our existence in our City, State, and Country. You can be guaranteed that I will continue to be an activist for you in Lansing by speaking up, standing up, and pumping up our community for the rich heritage and a oasis of talent in each of you. I have been and always will be a true jobs, justice, peace, and equal opportunity Democrat.

Let me assure you that I will work to resolve the Johnson Center situation because I know that our community needs to have a City supported community center within walking distance for Senior Citizens and, a place to run and have fun for the youth. We all remember the lessons learned at that center and I hope to pass the legacy on to our children.

I hope that the supporters of the other candidates can work together and stay active in our community so that we all may prosper together for the benefit of the children and the people who will come after us. Each one of you are a piece of the legacy and history of the City of Detroit. Built on the shoulders of a rainbow coalition, from the American Indians, to the pilgrims, the immigrants from Africa, Europe, Asia, South America, Central America, the Middle East, and especially the Caribbean, helped in some way to leave, and continue to leave a legacy to the City by doing something positive.

This is a tradition that is being passed on to our children in the pride and
responsibility that we as parents put into our children. People, I am asking you to come together so that we all can march on to bigger and better things in these next 2 years that will help uplift us all.



I thank you, GOD bless all of you and lets make these last two years rock!