Detroit Lead Poisoning Prevention Program “Decimated’

Victims of Morrow’s Malfeasance
/ Ryan Garza/Detroit Free Press

Kudos to the Freep’s Keith Matheny for bringing Detroit’s struggle with Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention back to the front page. Matheny does an excellent job of reminding readers of the important role played by public health and building and safety agencies. He mentions other agencies that are involved such as Planning & Development, HUD, Wayne County Prosecutor, State of Michigan, and local non-profits, however, the article fails to zero in on the true causes and potential remedies.

Every year or two, someone provides an update on the City’s progress (or lack thereof), but we rarely witness the investigative tenacity needed to improve circumstances for families affected daily by lead poisoning. Necessarily, the media must explain the importance of the issue – why it’s worth writing about, and Matheny does this well.  Regrettably, though, he accepts the opinions of his sources without question:

Budget cuts, expired grants and shifted priorities have decimated the city’s response to child lead poisoning….With the cuts, testing for lead poisoning in children has become more limited. Home investigations after a child tests positive have stopped. And a Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office program to go after landlords with lead-contaminated rental properties has come to a standstill….It is happening as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has lowered the blood-lead levels at which action should be taken to help children. And Congress has slashed the CDC’s lead budget by 93%.

It’s important to know that budgets have been cut, priorities have shifted, home inspections have ceased, the County Prosecutor is at a standstill and landlords have returned to the wild west of lead-slinging, however, the article implies that tough times and a bad economy are chiefly to blame. Such an implication, without further investigative diligence, leads the reader to conclude that restored funding would solve the problem.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Matheny hits the symptoms head on, but what are the real causes of such catastrophic consequences?  Why are hundreds more children being poisoned every year in Detroit? Why have the budgets been cut? Why have priorities shifted, and why has Wayne County paid Mary Morrow hundreds of thousands of dollars to prosecuted only one case in more than 4 years? With lead poisoning linked directly to lower IQs, ADHD, and violent crime, why have elected and appointed officials failed to make it a top priority?   Anyone who has read this blog or is familiar with the history of Lead Poisoning Prevention in the City of Detroit knows that HUD, the Centers for Disease Control and the State of Michigan funded Detroit’s program. Specifically, all of the agencies conditionally agreed to fully fund the program if control were removed from the Health Department and placed directly under the auspices of the Mayor’s office. No sooner were the positions filled and corrective actions implemented, when the Bing Administration (under Kirk Lewis) caved to the ranting of Prosecutor Mary Morrow.

Asking Prosecutor Morrow, Planning & Development, and others still in positions of leadership in a program that is, by consensus, dysfunctional and “at a standstill” is akin to asking Ronald McDonald for an opinion on childhood obesity. HUD and the Kresge Foundation stopped funding Detroit’s program because the Mayor lied to them (via Kirk Lewis) – not because the economy went south. The Mayor promised to move control of the program out of the Health Department, all stakeholders signed on, and Kirk Lewis moved it back.

Since Morrow’s bullying and incessant childish ranting in July of 2010, the Health Department’s head was fired due to misuse of funds (for paying her daughter in absentia), deputies were released for failing to provide proper management and oversight (Ridella and Smith), and funding from all sources has ceased. If Mr. Matheny is serious about making a difference in this city and with this issue, he should ask HUD Director Matt Ammon, City Medical Director James Blessman, CDC Section Chief Mary Jean Brown, CDC Program Manager Connie Brooks-Thomas, Kresge Foundation Sponsor David Fukizawa, Kresge Foundation Program Manager Pamela Shaheen, and independent Process Consultant D. Kerry Laycock. In other words, ask people that were or are in a position to give authoritative and unbiased assessments in the best interest of public health. Asking those who still hold positions of power in jobs they have clearly failed to perform is not only unreliable, it is dangerous to public wellbeing. Mrs. Peterson should read the articles and history on this blog and be given a few moments alone with Mary Morrow and Dave Bing.

Lewis Resignation not Soon Enough

Crain’s Detroit Business reported yesterday that Kirk Lewis is resigning from the Bing administration.  Neither Crain’s nor Deadline Detroit provides the effective date of Lewis’s separation, however, DD quotes him as saying

I believe strongly in the direction he (Bing) is moving this City…

What direction is that, Kirk?  Backward?  While this blog has predicted and looked forward to the resignations of Bing and Lewis for nearly three years, the timing of the announcement obscures the dignity and integrity of such a gesture.  Had Lewis or Bing resigned when it became obvious that they could not succeed (arguably two years ago), they could be hailed as righteous activists for the people – men of integrity who were honest with their consituents and courageous enough to do the right thing at the right time.  Instead, they’ve lingered and drawn out the excruciating inevitablility far too long.  Instead, Lewis resigns “while the getting is good.”  He advised Dave Bing poorly throughout their tenure, he lacked the foresight to expand the Mayor’s trusted circle, and he alienated many talented professionals who could have helped.  Resigning the day after the perfunctory Financial Review Board’s report to the Governor and likely only a day or two before the Governor announces his intention to appoint an Emergency Manager (the utlimate proof of the Lewis/Bing failure), Lewis eschews any appearance of selfless public service or respectable leadership.  His resignation is too little, too late, too trivial, and too selfish – a standard which, however low, the Mayor himself has not yet attained.

Will Mayor Bing wait until the EM is installed and work to transition administrative functions?  Or will he back up his “indignation” over the whole EM/Consent Agreement debacle and resign sooner?  Sadly it probably depends on his cash reserves and other opportunities available to him.  Anyone looking for an ex pro athlete-turned mayor who failed as a businessman and as an elected official? 

There isn’t much good that anyone can say about this administration other than it’s over.  Finally.

Have You No Shame, Detroit?

It’s been a while since I’ve posted because, frankly, I thought I’d said all that needed to be said regarding the current and future state of Detroit.  If you’ve read previous articles, you know I’ve said that the problem with Detroit is not cash flow – it is fundamentally obsolete union contracts which falsely protect undeserving workers and processes which usurp the city’s ability to manage operations effectively and efficiently.  I’m a native Detroiter (born and raised), lifelong Democrat, and I voted for President Obama (twice), so I am well aware how “republican” my stance on Detroit is, but having been on the inside of City Hall I have the first-hand experience to tell you that waste, ineptitude, selfishness, and a complete lack of personnel and financial management controls are holes in Detroit’s boat which no amount of bailing can keep afloat.

Many talk shows seem stuck on the premise that more money will solve Detroit’s problem.   The focus is on revenue sharing and money “owed” by the State to the City of Detroit.  They fail to recognize the importance of plugging holes in management and financial systems before pouring more money into the sieve.  Look at the recent (and rapid) moves by the State following Detroit’s regrettable and ineffective vote to stop Emergency Management.  They voted to repeal Public Act 4, but Republicans are moving at breakneck speed under the cover of Public Act 72 to prevent a municipal bankruptcy.  For the first time in my life, I am with the Republicans on this one.  What Detroiters don’t realize is that Mayor Bing is also more than happy to facilitate the end run around the voters’ choice.  Anyone who thinks Bing does not want an Emergency Manager installed post haste is part of the reason this city is such dire straits.

Right to Work

In the 20th century, unions were needed to ensure worker safety and fair, living wages.  Solidarity was required in order for unions to bring about changes and to protect workers’ rights, and mandatory membership was the way to accomplish this.  Even as I write these words, the thought of imposing any levy on wages (taxes, fines, dues) without employee consent seems onerous and un-American, but I understand how it evolved given the times of the early industrial age.

But the 21st century is much different.  The global economy does not reward isolationism, tariffs, and false protections.  The standard of living established thanks to the hard work and sacrifice of unions – to which my family and many others owe a sincere debt of appreciation – has become an unsustainable illusion.  The fact is that a lot of the work done by union members is no longer worth the price they are paid to perform it.  The same work (or close enough) is performed for a fraction of the cost in other countries.  Businesses go where their costs are lowest, and that ain’t union towns, Detroit.   Let’s applaud the pioneers and hard working union families for getting us this far.  We couldn’t have done it without them, but let’s accept that a new day has dawned and times call for new measures.

Begging Obama

Bing Begs Snyder for Money

How many council persons think before they speak?  Did councilwoman Watson consider that begging the President for a handout makes Detroit look weak, her look stupid, and puts the President in an awkward position?  Does she care?  It’s not bad enough that we have Dave Bing begging Governor Snyder for pennies,  now we’ve got a City Council member panhandling on the beltway, too.  Have you no shame, Detroit?  Asking for money proves that 1) you don’t understand the real problem; 2) you have now idea how to fix it; 3) you have given up on solving the problem yourself.   Given these three facts, why are you still warming a seat on Woodward Avenue?

Public Act 72: Part II

What’s that, Detroit? You want to repeal Public Act 4?  Ok, we’re still going to appoint an EM because we believe you are fools who are easily swayed by the media and grand-standing politicians (yes, you Jesse Jackson) into thinking the issue is about voters rights and constitutional law.  The problem is union obsolescence, outdated contracts, political parasites, and broken processes which cannot be fixed by any mayor or governor without the powers imbued in an Emergency Financial Manager.  It’s this or bankruptcy, so screw your vote on PA 4.  We’re going to use the Right to Work law and a new EFM act to fix this city and get businesses coming back to the city.  We’re going forward no matter how stuck in the past or backward the voters may be.   You can thank us later.

Love,

The Michigan Republican House, Senate and Governor  you were too lazy to unseat in the last election

Bing’s Shift of Public Funds to Private Account Troubling

Giving Up

Matt Helms of the FREEP reported earlier this month that State Representative John Olumba contacted Attorney General Bill Schuette asking him to investigate whether the Bing administration moved $50,000 in city funds meant for the health department into private accounts for a nonprofit Institute for Population Health without approval of the City Council, as is legally required.

IPOPHealth is not the issue- indeed, it may be a very good idea.  Surely, it cannot do worse than the Anthony/Ridella/Smith DHWP.  The problem is the continual foundering of Detroit’s financial managment beneath a sea of hidden, broken and trecherous managment processess and controls.

The faltering Detroit Mayor is seeking and in some cases finding the limits of his expanded powers as set forth in the Consent Agreement with the State of Michigan.  Call it what you like, but co-mingling public and private funds is never a good idea – even under a consent agreement, especially without full transparency.  It is widely (and rightly) called corruption under any other circumstance, and Detroit’s historic inability to self-audit and properly account for financial resources (grants, etc) is a big red flag even under a consent agreement.

Such private agencies have been “playgrounds for graft and corruption” in other places, Olumba said. Bing “is running the same play, setting it up with department heads and appointees, and they’re getting money that was destined for city accounts and putting them in private accounts.”

Olumba and Schuette are likely unaware that Bing’s shell game with public and grant funds is a pattern which began long before the consumation of the Consent Agreement.  A $1M grant from the Centers for Disease Control for childhood lead poisoning prevention funded salaries in the Health Department in 2010 with the condition that the Program Director report directly to the Mayor – not the Health Department.  Less than six months after the grant was signed and approved, Bing and Kirk Lewis moved the position back into the Health Department.  What happened to the money paid by the CDC and MDCH to the City (proof, please)?  In additon to investigating the funding of the “Institute for Public Health,” Mr. Shuette should also look into the payroll of the Health Department for the entire Bing term.  If the City is able to accurately account for the DHWP operations, he will likely find funds improperly allocated or intentionally moved without authorization.  The implications reach far beyond incompetence and corruption- the misuse and co-mingling of public and private funds have direct impact on health outcomes for children and their families throughout Detroit.  Has the City been pocketing grant funds without providing services?  Have those grant funds been siphoned for other projects (or private accounts) prior to the consumation of the Consent Agreemment?

Don’t bother asking the Wayne County Prosector for assistance, Mr. Olumba.  The howling tantrums of Mary Morrow were responsible, at least in part, for some of the Mayor’s reactionary missteps with the CDC and Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH).  Ultimately, however, it is the Bing/Lewis lack of vision and strategy that continually puts them and our city in vulnerable and dangerous circumstances. We won’t get a recall, and if we’re lucky, Bing and Lewis will not run again.  We do, however, deserve to know how the checks and balances which have continually failed in the past are being addressed with or in spite of a consent agreement.

Face it, there are two solutions to this problem: 1) fix the systemic issues (management, process, controls, etc); and 2) give up and farm it out to a private entity.  Without the consent agreement or Public Act 4, neither option was possible.  Now that both options are feasible, why won’t the Mayor try option 1 first? He’s never going to learn how to run a city if he keeps giving the responsibility to others.    Using the powers of the Consent Decree or Emergency Management, a visionary could solve our problems long term – a fearful leader paralyzed by an inability to innovate, however, will take the faster and easier way out.

Bring on the Emergency Manager

The last post to this blog, in April, warned that the Consent Agreement between Detroit and Lansing was a ruse and prelude to the appoinment of an Emergency Manager by the Governor.  According to accounts of this morning’s Council meeting in which the Mayor demanded withdrawl of the law suit challenging the authority of the Agreement, the meeting ended without settlement of the issue (surprise).

Truly, Detroit is playing into the hands of the Governor as Dave Bing continues to feign objections to bankruptcy and emergency management.  As this blog has posited repeatedly, the problem isn’t money (cash flow), the problem is inadequate leadership and lack the most basic financial controls.  The state doesn’t want to release revenue sharing dollars because doing so is a feeble stop-gap measure that cannot avoid the inevitable (bankruptcy).

Money does not fix Detroit’s problems - voiding outdated contracts and firing incompetent political parasites is the only first step that makes sense.   The problem is that neither the Mayor nor City Council have that authority, and they cannot do so without inviting millions of dollars in union-filed law suits.  These law suits are highly probable, and would undoubtedly succeed unless…… unless Public Act 4 results in the appointment of an EM who has authority to void them.  This issue is rarely discussed, however, it can be found reading between the lines or even in the last paragraph’s of today’s announcement:

The city can’t “get rid of a worker” unless it’s allowed under their collective bargaining agreement or if workers go on strike, Block added.

“Municipal workers in Michigan can’t strike, so they can’t be replaced,” he said. “If they strike, you have a different scenario. The city might take the position that they abandoned their jobs.”

Pot to Kettle…

What is implied, though hidden, is that some workers need to go, the contracts need to be disolved and that only an Emergency Manager can accomplish this.  Continued discussion of Revenue Sharing is a red herring, a fool’s errand, a magician’s slight of hand.  Bing and Snyder knew long ago – long before Karen Dumas warned the Mayor that supporting EM was untenable politically, long before Bing stood arm and arm with unions and City Council in defiance of Public Act 4, long before the deafening irony of Bing’s characterization of Snyder as disingenuous, and long before revenue sharing dominated headlines – Mayor Dave Bing and Governor Rick Snyder both knew that a Consent Agreement would not work and that Emergency Management would be the only alternative to municipal bankruptcy.

They were right, and we are witnessing the final act in this charade.  Whether or not the Consent Agreement is upheld, whether or not revenue sharing is resolved, union contracts that permit incompetent, parasitic “workers” to remain on the job will have to be addressed.  This isn’t about payrolls or pensions – it’s about performance.  Sadly, the unions brought this upon themselves through decades of strong-arm negotiations which inserted unjustifiable protections for the worst of their members.  Sadly, thousands of hard working, intelligent, expertly capable union workers who have been the backbone of a once great city for decades must now pay the price for a significant number of underqualified, undeserving, shirkers who have collected paychecks in absentia and squandered public trust and finances for many years.  Instead of letting the Mayor gut their contracts, they should have said, “keep our pay the same, and we’ll work with you on getting rid of people who can’t provide an honest day’s work.”  They should have sacrificed a few for the good of all- instead, they’re all going to take it on the chin.  The only question is when.

Detroit Consent Decree Preludes EM

The whole concept of a Financial Stability Agreement (formerly Consent Agreement, aka Consent Decree) is to the pave the way for Emergency Management.  Before appointing an EM, the Gov wants to have demonstrated as much restraint and due diligence as possible.  Even though he knows Public Act 4 is the only way to right this listing ship, he also knows that doing so must be defensible as a last resort to stave off bankruptcy.  By 1) appointing a financial review panel to make a recommendation; 2) approving an agreement jointly crafted and sent to him by the Mayor/City Council; and 3) euphemizing the concept, he positions himself as the savior rather than the dictator.  He is desensitizing objections to the EM so that when it finally becomes obvious to the rest of the world what he and the Mayor have known all along, people will shrug their shoulders and say, “He did all he could do.”

Like Water Through a Sieve

Bing and Lewis were falling over themselves to be named EM until they realized neither of them would be given that responsibility.  Incredulous that his lack of leadership and utter failure as Mayor would disqualify him and Lewis from attaining the power they sought, Bing called Snyder’s first draft of the Consent Decree, “disingenuous.”  As if to say,  “After all I’ve done to turn this thing around, you’re going to shut me out completely?  I thought we had a deal!”  I imagine Tricky Ricky smiled and said, “You have GOT to be kidding me.  Your administration has been a laughing stock and made a mockery of the public trust.  Just about every decent person you’ve had at your disposal has either quit or been fired.  You’re bleeding money from every orifice, grants are disappearing for lack of trust, bond ratings have turned to junk because waste, incompetence, and fraud continue unchecked, and you want me to give you MORE money?!?  You are out of your freakin’ mind if you think I’m going to empower you and Lewis further or pour more money into the sieve of Detroit financial management.  No, Dave, we’re going to plug the holes first.  When we do start an IV drip of cash, it will not be wasted, stolen or rerouted for unintended purposes.”  The Bing Administration has utterly failed, and he should be recalled by voters immediately.  What further proof do Detroiters need of an elected official’s failure?

What assurance do Detroit voters or the State have that Bing/Lewis will honor any agreement?  As with agreements they’ve struck with unions, with federal agencies and private foundations  (HUD, CDC, Kresge, etc), Lewis and Bing have turned their backs when it suited them.  They’ve negotiated union workers into the ground, only to leave them hanging by a thread which will surely be cut sooner than later.  The CDC gave millions to the city to prevent and eliminate childhood lead poisoning on the condition that it remove management from the Health Department, place it in the Mayor’s office, and fund the position through a Kresge grant.  When it suited Lewis and Bing, they fired the manager, moved the postion back into the health department, paid for it out of city funds, mismaged grants and finally lost funding altogether.  This is failure with a capital F, and this is the mindset of the people with whom the Governor is trying to negotiate in good faith.  They are tragically flawed, set in their desparate, self-serving ways, and unworthy of public trust.

Was he elected to lose control of City government?  Was he elected to ride us into the ground?   His strategy has been to shrink the city, dismantle and sell its assets, and gut its workforce and blame everyone else – he has never proposed anything better.  Where was the plan to fix the systemic leaks, eliminate isolationist barriers to competition, and eliminate administrative red tape for citizens and businesses to make Detroit a place that draws new talent and taxpayers in droves?  Tear down a few houses and reduce public services – that’s supposed to attract new residents and businesses?  NOT.   He was elected to fix things, to improve our city, and he has not.  Fire him, Detroit.  There’s no need to wait for the inevitiable EM.  Let’s swallow the pill now and end the nightmare of incompetence and myopic vision of so-called leadership, and get ourselves on sound financial footing.  Plug the holes, eliminate waste, mismanagement and obsolete work practices, and then let’s find a leader with vision to grow and expand – not shrink and disband.

Restore Lead Poisoning Prevention Money NOW!

Reposted from HealthyHomesCoalition.org.  I can’t say it better myself, and the issue  is dire.  Make no mistake, children’s lives are depending on you to take action today:

“As State legislators work to develop next year’s budget for Michigan, advocates for children have been working furiously in Lansing to get funding restored for the Michigan Lead Safe Home Program… and it looks as if their hard work is paying off!

There is currently discussion happening in Lansing to re-instate funding for childhood lead poisoning prevention in the coming fiscal year. While the details are still being worked out, your letters and phone calls are needed NOW to help make this funding happen.

Click here for a fact sheet to help you with writing your letter or email.  Your communication does not need to be anything fancy, it simply needs to state that funding for lead poisoning prevention needs to be re-instated in the DCH budget for next year, and it’s helpful for you to give your personal reasons for why this is so important.

Please take five minutes today to pen a letter on behalf of yourself or your organization.”

This problem effects every city in Michigan, but none more so than Detroit.  Detroit has the largest inventory of pre-1978 housing in the state and the highest number of children poisoned by lead.  Federal and state money is critical in the fight to protect our children and our future.

Please address your letters to the Chairperson of the respective DCH Committees below.  Please also send a copy of your letter to your State of Michigan Representative, State of Michigan Senator and a copy to info@healthyhomescoalition.org, your US Representatives and our US Senators Levin and Stabenow.   In your letters to the US Representatives and Senators, be sure to ask them to restore funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prvention (CDC) Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program as well.

The Honorable John Moolenaar Chairman, Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Community Health State Capitol P.O. Box 30036 Lansing, MI 48909-7536 Fax: (517) 373-2678 senjmoolenaar@senate.michigan.gov.

The Honorable Matt Lori Chairman, House Appropriations Subcommittee on Community Health State Capitol P.O. Box 30014 Lansing, MI 48909-7514 Fax: (517) 373-5763 mattlori@house.mi.gov.

Vulnerable Children Lose Heroic Champions

Well, as budget cuts go, this one hurts not only the most vulnerable citizens immediately, it hurts us as a nation long-term.  The Feds have cut virtually all funding from the CDC Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program.  Years of progress made by hundreds of brilliant, dedicated professionals resulted in more testing and lower levels of lead in children throughout the U.S.  The CDC administered over $20M in grants annually to local health departments for education, prevention, and treatment.  Detroit and other industrial cities which have a large inventory of homes built before 1978 are especially sensitive to this problem.  Children poisoned by lead experience a reduction in IQ, increases in violent behavior, and in the worst cases, hospitalization or death.

By removing this funding, the Feds have essentially said that poor children are expendable.  The costs of doing nothing are far greater, sadly.  We have just capped, no – we have doomed the most vulnerable citizens of our society to lives beneath their potential.  They will not achieve the levels of prosperity, health, and civic responsibility that they are entitled to by birth.  Depending on their level of poisoning, they may live “normal” lives, however, in every case, they will be lives which are less than they deserve.

Detroit and the entire nation owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to CDC Chief of Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention, Mary Jean Brown, and Program Manager, Connie Brooks-Thomas, for their tireless work and advocacy on behalf of our most vulnerable, precious citizens. Thousands of children are able to strive toward their God-given potential because of their many years of dedication to this cause.

As for Detroit, perhaps the Feds feel that poor children aren’t worth saving. Thanks to the efforts of disgraced Detroit bureacrats, Yvonne Anthony,  Bill Ridella, Audrey Smith, Janie Warren, and Mary Morrow, perhaps the Feds believe that the money was being wasted and could be better spent elsewhere.   The mismanagement of HUD funds by Detroit’s Planning & Development Department can’t have encouraged them to think otherwise – Detroit will no longer be able to piss away $2M per year from the CDC.  The state of Detroit’s public schools also has doubtlessly emboldened some callous lawmakers to pull funding from a program which preserves the IQ of children who they feel aren’t being adequately prepared academically anyway.

These lawmakers must be corrected.  Join me in expressing your outrage to our Congress and President.  We deserve to know the names of legislators who slipped this into budget cuts and which ones voted to approve this shameful assault on children and jobs.  We can’t add a few pennies tax to the wealthiest billionaires, but we’ll let kids with limited resources eat & inhale poison, and we’ll accept the increased medical costs, correctional consequences, and loss of productivity to society?  This is tragic.

Bing Begs Snyder for Money

Nice work Mayor Bing.  Way to go, Kirk Lewis.  Screwing Detroit wasn’t enough for you- you had to screw the entire country, too.  Instead of making Detroit a model of success that justified funding when you had the chance, you let Prosecutor Mary Morrow and P&DD Director Janie Warren nag and bully you into making a mockery of our city and fools of yourselves.  Your administration is a complete embarrassment and you should resign immediately. If you’re not going to accomplish anything meaningful, at the very least you should have the decency to cause no further harm. Now, the mayor is asking for a handout from the Governor- $100M+ to get the city through this election cycle.  Bing should be ashamed of himself, and the Governor should appoint an emergency manager today.

Detroit Leaders Feign Surprise Over Alleged Fraud

Two days ago Cecil Angel of the Detroit Free Press reported that a housing project worth $1 million has been delayed in lieue of payment by Detroit’s Planning & Development Department.  Deputy Director Majva Winters blamed the hold-up on the contractor’s failure to file paperwork promptly, and assured Mr. Angel that the checks were “in the pipeline.”

This morning Steve Neavling, also of the Free Press, warned that Detroit faces the loss of millions in federal grants due to years of mismangement.  Neavling writes that “city officials are more than two years behind in spending Community Development Block Grants.”  Neavling did his homework, confirming via HUD Field Director, Lana Vacha, that “this is the third year in a row they haven’t spent enough money.”

The Bing administration in Neavling’s report blames the problem on “antiquated technology and a mismanaged grant program that needed to be restructured.”  What Neavling missess, however, is that directors Marja Winters and Jannie Warren have been the managers of the Planning & Development grant administration for  many years.  If the Bing administration truly believes the problem is mismanagement, why are same department heads still in charge? As importantly, when did the Bing administration reach this enlightened conclusion?

This blog first reported mismanagement of HUD grant funds by the Planning & Development Department in July of 2010.   A whistleblower law suit was filed against the City precisely over this matter on October 12th of 2010 and is still active in the courts.  P&DD Director Warren Palmer resigned the same day the suit was filed.  His successor, Robert Anderson reminded City Council of the “mess” as early as May 18, 2011 at which time “the Mayor made it clear that continued failure is not an option.”  Apparently it was not only an option then, it continues to be the only option that Planning & Development can muster.

When the Healthy Homes Czar first brought irregularities to the attention of the Mayor’s Office and HUD in April of 2010, he and the Program Manager were summarily fired prompting a whistleblower suit which continues as an active case likely destined for a trial rather than settlement according to inside sources.

When we hear Majva Winters blame the contractors, or Bing officials blame antiquated technology and inherited mismanagement, we must consider the fraud perpetrated by Planning & Development on HUD.  Director Jannie Warren and Majva Winters lied to the Mayor, City Council and HUD.  As recently as July of 2010, they presented reports to the Mayor, City Council,  HUD, and numerous Bing Administration directors (DHWP, BSED, P&DD, DHS, etc) that their grant program was receiving exemplary evaluations from HUD and that they were doing an outstanding job.  When the Healthy Homes Czar pushed the issue, met with HUD and scheduled a presentation with City Council, Mayor Bing and Kirk Lewis fired him and the Program Manager.  That is the basis for the current Whistleblower Law Suit and the reason it will not be swept under a rug.  These people know what’s going on, however, they feign surprise and indignation when they are called to account publically.  They count on the short news cycle and shorter attention span of the public for respite from one land mine to the next.  This mismanagement story isn’t new as Mayor Bing’s people would like you to believe- it’s not new to him, it’s not new to city council, it’s not new to HUD, and it’s not even new to the public.  It’s the same story that broke here two years ago, it’s not getting any better, and the same people are still in charge.  Hopefully, the Whistleblower suit will exact the only recourse available to the public on this matter soon.

Watson Calls for Resignations

This afternoon after a long day of chasing this story, Neavling added that Detroit City Council members are calling for the resignation of officials responsible for putting the city at risk of losing more than $20 million in federal funds.  If Jannie Warren is not already gone, put her name at the top.  Add Majva Winters next followed immediately by Kirk Lewis and Mayor Dave Bing.  All of them were warned more than two years ago by conscientious men who were dedicated to helping the most vulnerable members of our city, children poisoned by lead.  In his own words, “Continued failure is not an option.”  If he can be honest with himself, Mayor Bing must accept that continued failure is the truest hallmark of his administration.

Fakers! Money Can’t Fix Detroit

This post is short because there’s little to add to what has already been reported in this blog over the last 18 months.  It’s worth repeating, however, that Detroit’s problem is not a lack of money – it is the improper use of money by incompetent people operating within broken processes and hamstrung by obsolete contracts.  Pouring another $200M or even $1B into this problem is not going to solve it without first plugging all of the holes in personnel, programs, and policies combined.

Replacing grant-funded positions with city-paid workers is only one of many incredible fumbles by the ill-advised Mayor.  So many heartbreaks and dissappointments characterize the Bing administration, it’s hard know where to begin in listing them.  Somewhere at the top of that list must be the complete lack of respect Dave Bing has shown the people of Detroit, however.  We had such high hopes for him, but he condescends and treats us as if we are fools or, perhaps worse, deserving of no better.

"We Stand Ready"

Last night Dave Bing stood with so-called leaders of our city in supposed opposition to financial investigation by the Governor which will invevitably lead to emergency management.  I say “supposed” because for the last 18 months Bing has hinted, leaked, or otherwise intimated his desire to be named Emergency Manager himself.  Now that such an outcome is unlikely, he feigns solidarity with unions and city council members to ingratiate himself with voters too numb from years of corruption, too crippled by institutionalized racism, too weak from chronic unemployment, and too old to fight anymore.

Dave Bing is against the installment of an Emergency Manager for one reason only: the Emergency Manager will not be Dave Bing.  City Council is against it for one reason: they lose power and paychecks.  All the noise about self-determination is a smoke-screen the Mayor believes we are to lazy and blind to penetrate.  They’d love for us to believe that if the tax base weren’t so eroded – if thousands of people would simply move back into the city to bolster its bank account, if Lansing would just give us the money they promised, everything will be ok.  SMOKE SCREEN!  They all know that Emergency Management is the only solution to wipe out contracts which have crippled the city and finally brought it to its knees.  They know that the obsolete processes and programs which allowed corrupt officials to line their pockets, divert federal funds for unintended purposes, and make a mockery of sound purchasing and human resources policies are the real problem.   They all know it, but they are cowards. To admit their incompetence is to tender their resignations which no matter how honorable, takes a great deal of courage.  It takes courage that they do not have.

It takes courage to be transparent, to be honest with the public and stakeholders, to stand up to bullies like Wayne County Prosectuor, Mary Morrow, and to hold forthright discussions with opposing parties.  That courage has been absent from Detroit government for far too long.  I admired and respected Dave Bing for many years, but his contempt for the people of Detroit has changed that opinion.  All Detroiters are not fools, Mr. Mayor.  At least have the decency to admit you’ve been angling for emergency management since you took office – even if the position won’t ultimately have your name on it.  This is the saddest day I’ve ever seen for Detroit.  The installment of a competent Emergency Manager will be a step in the right direction, and it can’t come soon enough.  It’s too bad the Mayor and Council haven’t had the courage to say so as well.