The Friends of George Cushingberry Jr. is extending a congratulations to:
- City Clerk Janice Winfrey
- The six new councilmembers elected to serve the 2021 through 2025 term.
We want to thank outgoing members Brenda Jones, Janee' Ayres, Raquel Castenada-Lopez and Roy McCallister for their service to the city.
The people spoke with their vote on November 3, 2021 for a new direction in our city. The council gained six new members with massive legislative experience. At large members Coleman Young III, Mary Waters, district members, Fred Durhal III District 7, Gabriela Santiago-Romero District 6, Latisha Johnson District 4 and, the sharp legal mind of Angela Whitfield Calloway District 2 will take the City in a better direction.
Citizens are guaranteed that this new city council will create an enhanced social equity marijuana ordinance that will benefit the City with reinvestment into neighborhoods. They will have the opportunity to re-develop and reinvest into Detroit City Airport for a general aviation, education and, commercial air service location.
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| Coleman Young III Councilmember at Large 2022-2025 |
For something as simple as returning money to citizens for property tax overcharges this new City Council can take the time to right the wrong. Organizations like DTE, Detroit Water and Sewer and, others print refund checks or credits if you were overcharged for goods and services so why not the City of Detroit?
Another pressing issue for the council is the return of processing tax returns by the City of Detroit Finance Department. The contract with the State of Michigan has proven to be a disaster because, you cannot pay the city through the state website for taxes due. There have been instances where citizens were receiving letters for taxes due when they were paid off. Citizens deserve better record keeping by their government and, with a little more investment, this can be done to serve the people much better.
We hope that the new council starts to re-invest into Police and Firefighter recruitment and training. Civil service are often overlooked and deserve much respect and attention paid to their needs. This council can rectify the water situation by reclaiming the water the department from the Great Lakes Water Authority and, state appointed review boards with increased oversight to address any discrepancies in the department.
Finally, when you fix the damn water, you will fix the damn roads. In order to fix the water you have to tear up the streets to lay new pipe. When that is done, you have to repair the road and, it ends up being a two for one public service project. Otherwise Former Councilmember Pro-Tempore George Cushingberry Jr. is doing well and living in Florida. He sends his best to the new Detroit City Council and wishes them well.
