Ending The Standoff at the Gateway Project: House Concurrent Resolution #11 - "Ending the Civil War on the Riverfront"

Ending the Standoff at the Gateway Project:
Rep. Cushingberry introduces legislation to bring a truce on the river
By The Friends of Cushingberry
July 20, 2009


House Concurrent Resolution #11 was introduced by Representative Cushingberry this year to resolve the differences and encourage investment into the City of Detroit, State of Michigan and the United States of America. The completion of this bridge project would allow pedestrians, bike riders, and automotive traffic to cross the river fostering trade and revenue between the two cities of Windsor Canada and Detroit Michigan. It has been determined by independent studies from both countries that the project will create nearly 4,000 jobs during construction and support 20,000 jobs over the next 2 decades.

The friends support our friend George’s request that the Michigan Strategic Fund approve the Phase II inducement resolution of $787 million dollars to assist with the completion of the project. We also encourage MDOT and Detroit International Bridge Company to resolve their differences by allowing for the $145 million oversight to be made up in 3 to 6 years with bonds, public stock offerings, and payment from tolls from the increased traffic. And if it gets too tight, we would support the DIBC holding a fish fry on both sides of the bridge every third Friday of the month until the debt is paid off.


Marty Maroun is a brilliant person who likes to build bridges and spend his own money to do it with. With a short term loan from the Michigan Strategic Fund any additional work would be paid for and reimbursed back to the Fund within 5 years through duties and tariffs on products grown in America and Canada. Hemp from Canada instead of trash, exporting Detroit fertilizer from reprocessed solid waste as meloganite. The revenue generated from these and other sources would be invested into the DIBC project and others as needed. The entire region would prosper with investments from banks that are Michigan friendly and have a concern for the survival of the state.

Tearing out work that has already been done is a job killer and with Michigan’s unemployment rate at %15.0, this is an unwise request in these economic times. In summary the United States Coast Guard should come up with a better plan instead of excuses and work with DIBC. There is no excuse for stopping a job creating bridge project that will benefit everyone in the long run.

The needless standoff regarding funding is not creating any jobs but causing confusion and bad feelings among my constituents. In the interest of jobs and economic growth the differences must be resolved by all parties.




The entire text of the resolution can be read by clicking here:
House Concurrent Resolution #11 – Full Text.

Ending the Standoff at the Gateway Project in Detroit MI (Pot & MDOT)

Ending the Standoff at the Gateway Project
How Pot can fund MDOT
by The Friends of George Cushingberry




It was just a few weeks ago that MDOT Director Kirk Steudle went to the House appropriations committee to beg for additional funds. You could not tell the difference between him and Keith Sweat in the way he was asking for an increase in fuel taxes. He said that a half of pack of Gum increase in the fuel tax will allow MDOT to build and maintain new and existing bridges and roads. At the same time MDOT has $145 million dollars tied up in a legal squabble along the US / Canada border regarding the Ambassador Bridge and Federal Stimulus Funding.

Rep. Cushingberry asked his master blogger Richard Clement to take some time to investigate the situation on the river and report back to him. And on one bright and beautiful Saturday afternoon Richard went for a ride on the river. There was a duty free shop and a lot of dirt and, there was construction that stopped at the street. On the Canadian side, all of the homes in the path of the bridge are vacant and waiting to be removed. The Ambassador Bridge is a privately owned bridge and the owner wants a new span built. They have duty free shops that sell a pack of gum with no sales tax on them so that visitors can have something to take home.

So what does this have to do with a half a pack of gum? How much is a half a pack of gum? How big is the pack in question? ($0.25 up to $1.00 for a pack of some real good Wrigley’s Spearmint. The math would be half of those amounts or $0.37 and $1.50 respectively. ) I ran into my old school neighbor from around the corner by the name of Richard Bennett. Mr. Bennett a prominent citizen of Detroit designed the African Mask Logo on the Charles H. Wright museum and he heard about the half a pack of gum increase in fuel.

I mentioned to him that did you know that for the cost of a $2.00 marijuana cigarette MDOT could have enough money to fix roads, bridges, potholes, and still have money left over for employee out of state travel. The Duty Free shops on both ends of the bridge will be allowed to sell hemp products without fear from prosecution at the hands of US Customs Agents and the Drug Enforcement Agency. If you have a valid Michigan Medical Marijuana card with your passport, you can legally have 2.5 ounces of Marijuana in your possession at the border crossing.

Before I could finish another neighbor Leodis “Tony” Elam who is a magician with carpentry work in the City walked by. He said to me “man, what are you talking about”? Richard Bennett said let him finish and we will dog him out later! Tony said go ahead and finish because I have some work to do. I carried on to say that MDOT could raise substantial amounts of revenue by allowing the utilization of land in the right of way areas of the Interstate Highway system to produce income generating crops. Crops like from corn to Industrial Hemp will fuel Michigan and create jobs for residents and sustain the economy.

What is wrong with TWO bridges? Michigan and Ontario have approved land for a brand new span about a mile away that will be built with public funds. Is there a plan for a pedestrian walkway with a bike path to Canada on the bridge? If the old span is kept then will it be converted to a pedestrian walkway? These questions must be answered for the good of all the Citizens of Detroit and Michigan in order to allow the owner to build this new bridge. The owner of the Ambassador Bridge is a very sharp person with a definite plan to get the job done. Everything else is an accounting matter that can be handled by an admission of guilt by all and a plan to pay for the overage over a period of time. Basically add up the extras, finish the job and go home.

After listening to that speech, Tony and Richard pulled out their cell phones and called their elected officials saying to them that they need to get it together in Lansing. Then they said they would cut me a break this time and said say hello to your dad.

We the Friends of Cushingberry are urging that every candidate running for office in the City of Detroit write a letter of concern to MDOT and Canadian officials seeking a settlement of this issue. We call on current Mayor Bing and the Detroit City Council to file a letter of protest with the Michigan House and Senate to have this project come to a completion. This is not the way President Obama wanted the stimulus funds to be spent as a reserve fund for attorney fees. While we know that the legal community needs employment but deep down inside, both sites must come to a conclusion to resolve these differences.

Representative Cushingberry is not happy about this situation and would like to see it resolved at once before further action is taken by the appropriations committee

Rep. Cushingberry fights for Consumer Credit Dignity with House Bill 4330 of the 2009 Session.

Representative Cushingberry is co-sponsoring House Bill 4330, legislation to allow consumers to take legal action against Credit Reporting Agencies who continually report negative credit information in an unjust manner. Instead of playing mail and phone tag with arrogant and un-cooperative credit representatives, a consumer can bring action in a Michigan District Court to adjudicate the matter.

House Bill 4330 is designed to be a friend to the consumer who of no fault of their own lost their job, death in the family, divorce and other reasons that credit information becomes negative. The text of the bill is as follows:

SEC. 8309. (1) A CONSUMER MAY BRING AN ACTION IN THE DISTRICT COURT AGAINST A CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCY FOR AN INCOMPLETE OR INACCURATE ITEM OF INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE CONSUMER'S FILE AT THE CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCY. AN ACTION MAY NOT BE COMMENCED UNDER THIS SUBSECTION UNLESS THE PROCEDURE FOR RESOLVING DISPUTES CONCERNING THE COMPLETENESS OR ACCURACY OF SUCH ITEMS OF INFORMATION UNDER SECTION 611 OF THE FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT, 15 USC 1681I, HAS BEEN COMPLETED.

In order for a consumer to take an action, the consumer must exhaust all remedies and procedures under the United States Fair Credit Reporting Act. When the consumer goes to District Court and receives a favorable judgment, the consumer reporting agency has 10 days to remove the information or face fines and contempt of court charges. The sponsors of this bill have the consumer’s financial best interest at heart.

Representative Cushingberry and Primary Sponsor Fred Durhal are active when it is an issue of consumer protection of our constituents. If you are in support of this legislation, The Friends would like you to take the time to e-mail and call your State Representative in Lansing and the sponsors of the bill expressing your support to make it the law of the land.

A Full reading of the bill can be seen here when you (click here).


Primary Sponsor
Rep. Fred Durhal. FredDurhal@house.mi.gov

Co-Sponsors:
Bob Constan bobconstan@house.mi.gov
George Cushingberry georgecushingberry@house.mi.gov
Robert Dean robertdean@house.mi.gov
Bert Johnson bertjohnson@house.mi.gov
Fred Miller fredmiller@house.mi.gov
Joel Sheltrown joelsheltrown@house.mi.gov
Rashida Tlaib RashidaTlaib@house.mi.gov
Coleman Young colemanayoungii@house.mi.gov

The Obama Administration and Census 2010: A commitment to reverse the act of "Digital Injustice" by undercounting citizens.

Now that the Obama Administration has decided to move this department to a Cabinet Level position, extra attention will be paid to processes that determine the “final” number count.

Since the 1960's the census has undercounted cities and counties by %3 to %14 percent. A traditional method used against a city is the definition of a home or a structure. You may know that there are some boarders who are occupying a home in the neighborhood. The census has a map of your neighborhood and knows that something is there. Your neighbors all agree that someone is living there and have proof by looking at them everyday going in and out of the home.

When the Census Takers come through the neighborhood, they count that home and the people in there. As the numbers are passed up through the chain of processing, someone decides that the home is not a structure and those numbers are removed from the final count. The City loses out on the count because some Washington appointed bureaucrat decided that it should happen like that.


With the Obama Administration elevating the Census to a Cabinet level position, more attention will be paid to the processing of information. Even more intriguing, the administration will have final say over the analysis of the information. This effort will require that citizens that have technology skills are essential to the achievement of fair counting of Cities in our Country.

Just imagine people like Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi as the Chief Information Officer for the Census with a staff full of database administrators and computer programmer/analysts who think like him. This man believes that segregation in the 1960’s would have been better for America. Dr. Martin Luther King would have been in a Guantanamo Style prison and Nelson Mandela would still be in Jail. The applications that the staff would design would count citizens as darkies with other ethnic categories to dilute the true count of people. They would add other ethnic categories and, add so many variables that by the time the data was official, you would have an undercount/over count situation.

The following table shows what Detroit’s 2000 Census Population would have looked like based on the adjustment correction of 3 to 14 percent. (Note at a %6 adjustment, Detroit’s reported population of 951,270 would have been 1,008,346)

Table 1 Detroit 2000 Census Figures Adjusted %3 to %14.

                  Pct. Population
                   0%     951,270 
                   3%     979,808 
                   4%     989,321 
                   5%     998,834 
                   6%   1,008,346 
                   7%   1,017,859 
                   8%   1,027,372 
                   9%   1,036,884 
                   10%  1,046,397 
                   11%  1,055,910 
                   12%  1,065,422 
                   13%  1,074,935 
                   14%  1,084,448

(Source 2000 Census – click here to go to US Census Bureau data for Detroit)

Resources would be re-directed to populations that would be inflated for the purpose of weakening the voting voice and the financial resources of a group of people. Gerrymandering is the establishment of state and federal congressional boundaries to give one party a voting advantage over another. For example the Michigan’s US 8th congressional district includes the area of Lansing, Clinton County, Livingston County and, parts of Shiawassee and northern Oakland County. (Click here to view map of Michigan's 8th congressional district). You end up with congress people who consistently vote against President Obama and do not have to worry about losing an election. The resulting damage appears in the area of race, finance and economics. The continuation of this process will contribute to a 21st century style depression that will cause massive damage to the national security of America.

We at the Friends of Cushingberry are calling for total transparency of the Census process. This will include the fair processing of data using accountable and certified methods and procedures. The advance of technology and the improved processes from the 1900s makes the actual process of counting citizens obsolete. However, the process has a purpose because it can be used as a benchmark to determine the accuracy of collected data from 3rd party sources like moving companies, utility companies, and private businesses.

Herman Hollerith was a former Census Bureau employee who quit government work and founded IBM. Every punch card and mainframe was the result of a birth of an idea to improve a process. With President Obama elevating the Census to a Cabinet level Agency, technology and accountability will take on an increased importance to citizens of Michigan. Our final word for today is that the Census is hiring! (Click here to apply) The President and Rep. Cushingberry are urging all city and county residents to apply for jobs with the US Census Bureau today. Your community’s future depends on it.

 

Reprocessed Waste Saves Money and Clears the Air Space.

Meloganite is a by-product of processed solid human waste. The largest producers of material are municipal water sewage systems. The City of Detroit has been collecting solid waste from citizens and burning it in a large incinerator for years. By converting this process to a Meloganite re-processing operation, a municipality can generate revenue for development and maintenance of their community.


The final product can be packaged and sold as fertilizer for people to use on their lawns and gardens. For example the city of Milwaukee Wisconsin currently sells their Meloganite at retail outlets like Home Depot and Menards. With all of the available and abundant land in the State of Michigan due to foreclosures and abuse of financial bearing products by hedge fund managers, Meloganite will help restore the land for producing food, medicine, and better looking lawns for property owners.


House Appropriations Chairman Rep. George Cushingberry Jr(D-08) and Agriculture Chairman Rep. Mike Simpson(D-65) urge Mayor Bing to stop burning solid waste and spare the citizens health from polluting the air with cancer causing carcinogens. Therefore we are urging Mayor Bing to complete the contract to send solid waste to Michigan agricultural applications instead of burning it in the Detroit incenary. Air quality is a priority and the completion of this action would help end the pollution of our environment.

Meloganite equals a new word($) for an old turd.

What it takes to Have a Good City: A new commitment to Transportation and a New Cobo Hall

Since the days of Dave Bing, Bob Lanier, and Dave DeBusschere, the Cobo Hall arena is now a non functional use of space. We the friends feel that in the design of the new Cobo Hall Convention Center, the area that is now the arena should be removed and replaced. The new facility would encompass Joe Louis Arena, be 3 times larger and, %50 taller than the current facility. The area will be large enough to have Joe Louis Arena accessible from inside of the new facility without patrons having to go outside.

Additional routes and the expansion of the Detroit People Mover will allow more people to park farther away and have rapid transportation to the North American International Auto Show and Detroit Red Wings games and other events. Expansion of rail service from Downtown Detroit to Lansing, Grand Rapids, Flint, Chicago, Cleveland, and places beyond is an attainable goal. With a commitment from Amtrak and the Detroit People Mover, this new project will give Detroit and Michigan the Stimulus it needs by creating jobs for its residents.

We remember all of those people walking around the neighborhood who used to work in concrete for a living. Fathers like Mr. Hall and Mr. Clement Sr. would have a few friends over and put in sidewalks and driveways for customers, neighbors, and friends. Young people were always willing to learn and do something for compensation if you taught them how to do it. Some of them liked it so well that they went out on their own. With all of this empty housing that need to be repaired or re-built, opportunities for City Residents will increase.


The way to have a good City is to fix the roads in a timely and fair manner. And Rep. Cushingberry is in Lansing making sure that this is a priority. New revenues in fuel will fund the repair of the roads. Cellulosic Ethanol and Industrial Hemp all grown in Michigan, by Michigan farmers in every county will create jobs and new revenue for the exclusive maintenance of State and Local highways. Contract opportunities for disadvantaged and small businesses will increase by %50 over 2 years. In laypersons terms if you are building a road in my city, then you better be committed to hire city residents or don’t bother signing up for the job.

Empty lots in Detroit will be prime candidates for conversion into growing fields producing food, fuel, and medicine for City residents. Lots can be leased by owners by the yard with a tax stamp from the State of Michigan, similar to the labeling currently on tobacco and liquor. This would include the revenue from Duty Free approved business selling Michigan grown food and medicine. International visitors would be allowed to purchase these home grown products on their way home.


Mayor Bing and Rep. Cushingberry are very interested in the future of the City and will pledge to get local residents hired for this massive project. It is time to come into the 21 Century and have a facility that will be superior to McCormack Place in Chicago and any other comparable facility worldwide.


The opportunity to design the facility will be given to students in Detroit Public Schools and the Tri-County area using the latest technology from leading edge technology based companies. The winning design will be chosen by a team of designers and civic leaders. The result of this effort would be a true gift of the people to themselves and others to come afterwards.


Can anybody say legacy to the people?

Congratulations to Mayor Bing. You have 3 months to “Do Your Thing”.

We offer our congratulations to Dave Bing and the successful race for Mayor of Detroit. Now that the people have made their voices heard (%15 of you), Mr. Bing has 3 months to make effective change. If he is successful in becoming one of the two final candidates for the November election, Detroit will truly have a new vision and a direction for the next four years.

Will Chief Barren stay or go? Will others survive or assimilate to accept the new leadership changes from the Bing Administration? Can the Department of Recreation become a driving force in the City again? Besides Police and Fire, the Recreation department has been one of the most influential departments in the city. The way to support the youth is for the youth to have something to do. There are opportunities where young people can participate in rebuilding the city in the form of rebuilding homes, cutting grass, and summertime swimming in City pools.

The City swimming pools are a hiring ground for lifeguards and play an important part in helping Detroit residents learn how to swim. Drowning is a sin that can and should be avoided at all costs. Training youth how to swim is essential to having a great city. Mr. Bing can make a strong impact in this area if he can pull off a “two minute drill” knocking down ‘three pointers from the arc’ in organizing departments.

Mr. Bing would be guaranteed re-election in November if he could restore the functionality of Coleman Young International Airport for commercial flights again. This area of the city has suffered from total benign financial neglect. Hiring security for the parking lots and working with Delta/Northwest, a small hub in the city will employ numerous City residents and, restore the neighborhoods that surround them. Airport management needs the support of the Mayors office and council to make effective change.

Mr. Bing would also re-vitalize the City by supporting same day voter registration for Detroit Residents. The Current City clerk is very open to the use of streamlined technology. With the current technology this process would be very easy to implement.

State Representative Cushingberry will be very supportive of the people’s choice for Mayor. He will do everything he can for Detroit from the Capitol providing stimulus for the City with support from Senate Democrats and Governor Granholm. Accounting transparency is a must for the school system and Rep. Cushingberry supports allowing parents to purchase books for their children from publishers and receive a tax credit for %110 of the value of the books purchased when they are donated to the school system.

Mayor Bing will have 3 months to do his thing if he wants the job for the next 4 years.


We wish him and our city well.