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 Marva 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 Marva 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 Marva 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 Marva 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 Marva 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.

The Devil You Know

In a November 3rd Detroit News Article,  Detroit Mayor Dave Bing warned citizens again that emergency financial management is inevitable. Incredibly, Mr. Bing believes he is, himself, fit to assume this role. 

I think whether it’s me or somebody else, it’s going to probably happen.  Now, would you rather deal with the devil that you know or the devil that you don’t know?”

Detroiters must answer this rhetorical question by saying, “Neither, thank you, and good bye.”  The mayor’s cliche pokes at the wounds of mistrust which have always run deep in this city. It assumes that any emergency manager other than Dave Bing would do worse or put interests other than those of Detroit residents at the top of the political agenda. This kind of cynicism is uncharacteristic of a man who labored diligently to inspire volunteerism and optimism in the midst of mayhem, corruption, and ruin. In his address to the audience at a Twitter conference in Detroit last year, the Mayor spoke of his preference to view Detroit’s “glass as half-full rather than half-empty.” His outlook has fallen far since then.

One Year Later

In his own words, "The Devil You Know"

Administration scandals and turnover (Dumas et al), departmental mismanagement (Planning & Development, Health, Human Services, etc), multiple whistleblower lawsuits, failed policies & programs (Detroit Works, etc), the highest murder rate in two decades, transportation and utility failures…. perhaps the Mayor’s description of himself as “the Devil we know” is more appropriate than we could have imagined?  Ok, the Mayor is being a little hard on himself- no one believes he’s actually Satan T. Devil, but we should all be able to agree that Detroit has been going through Hell and Dave Bing’s policies and programs have not given her a single drop of relief.

Mr. Bing’s strategy to fix Detroit has been slash and burn.  Shrink the city to match available services, get rid of blight to encourage people to move into the city, and offer incentives to police officers to relocate.  The problem is that this approach does not jibe with the way Detroiters see ourselves.  We don’t fold up our tents when the skies get cloudy; we don’t roll over and play dead when the going gets rough.  We don’t strive for smaller, less, and good enough.  Detroiters push, pull, struggle, fight, scratch, claw, crawl, and climb to be bigger, better – to be winners and leaders.  Our parents and grandparents gave lifetimes of blood, sweat, and tears to build one of the greatest and most creative cities of the industrial world, and now we have a mayor from Washington, D.C. who tells us we’ve got to accept something less?  Wasn’t he elected to make things better? To build Detroit UP – not tear it down?  Slowly, surely, and relentlessly, however, Dave Bing is dismantling Detroit.  He wasn’t born and raised here – he remembers the 70′s, but he didn’t grow up with the Detroit attitude that makes us different. 

Case Study 1: Bing wants everyone to make concessions, right?  The CDC and State of Michigan were funding the prevention of childhood lead poisoning to the tune of $1.4M per year.  That paid for about 14 people, supplies, and equipment.  Because Bing fired the people who were turning the beleagured program around before they could finish, the CDC pulled the program funding, the State followed suit and Bing can’t fire the remaining workers because they are protected by union contracts. Now the city is paying salaries which were not previously budgeted because they were paid with grant money.  When the grant money went away, those obligations moved over to the city’s balance sheet.  We can’t pay first responders or maintain emergency vehicles because we just added more people to the payroll through our own incompetence and inaction - Way to go Kirk Lewis! 

Case Study 2: Mismanagement of HUD funds by Planning & Development Department has led to a federal investigations of both P&DD and Human Services.  Millions of federal dollars which used to flow into the city for weatherization, lead hazard abatement, and other services is drying to a trickle because Mayor Bing insulates himself from the experts who repeatedly warned him and recommended corrective action.  Thanks to the personal and professional insecurity of Jannie Warren and Rochelle Collins as well as the utter incompetence of Kirk Lewis, important projects to improve the quality of life making Detroit a more attractive option for all citizens are on hold or have been cancelled – they sure aren’t going to be paid for by an emergency manager.

Where are the plans: the plan to eliminate waste in government, the plan remove barriers to competition, the plans to streamline commercial and residential services, the plans to eliminate red tape and encourage development…. why are there no plans to expand Detroit?  Why are there only plans to implode it?  What can Dave Bing tell Detroiters tonight that will restore their faith in his abililty to lead?  Sadly it seems he can tell them anything, and they will swallow it as usual.  I hope not.  Detroit should not be swayed by arguments that emergency management amounts to a takeover by suburban interests.  Detroit should not yield to the fear-mongering and race-baiting that is far beneath a man of Bing’s supposed stature.  The only things I want to hear from Dave Bing tonight are:

• I thought I could do the job, but I was wrong. I apologize to those who warned me and offerred plans that might have worked if I had listened to them.
• Detroit needs a financial manager now, and that person is not me
• I tender my resignation now pending the installment of an emergency manager named by the Governor

Any statements other than these are worthless to the people of Detroit, and we should let the Mayor, Governor, and State Representatives  know how we feel.

DHWP GM Audrey Smith Fired – Finally

Kirk Lewis and Audrey Smith

The Detroit News reports that Detroit Department of Health & Wellness Promotion General Manager Audrey Smith was fired today amid a continuing investigation into irregularities in the beleaguered organization’s operations.

Smith brings the department’s casualty count to three including disgraced former Director Yvonne Anthony and Bill Ridella who were all named as defendants in the ongoing whistleblower law suit filed by the former childhood lead poisoning prevention program director in October of last year.  Whether or not the allegations of the whistleblower suit prompted investigations into the top ranks of the Health Department may never be proven, however, the sheer ineptitude of their performance as public servants is laid bare by the News in recent reports of misspending and negligence.

As this blog predicted thirteen months ago,  Yvonne Anthony’s indecision and weak leadership would eventually be revealed by the ambivalence and self-serving manipulations of Bill Ridella and Audrey Smith. Trusting the wrong people doomed Anthony from the start.  For years Ridella and Smith hid deficiencies of the operation and successfully blamed any number of subordinates and those outside the walls of Herman Kieffer for their own failed programs and policies.  Like blades of grass, they bent to the winds of sabre-rattling publicity hounds like Wayne County Prosecutor Mary Morrow and others at the peril of Detroit’s most vulnerable citizens, and they have finally been mowed down for it.

When the allegations of nepotism were laid at Anthony’s feet, this blog reminded Detroiters of Ridella and Smith’s roles as executives in the department.  If Anthony’s daughter were improperly hired and continued to receive a pay check in absentia, the responsibility to authorize time sheets and approve overtime pay rested with them.  As if queued by this observation, “Smith was suspended for five days last month after she admitted to authorizing overtime for her subordinates without any verification of whether the hours were worked, according to city disciplinary records obtained by The News.”  Along with Rochelle Collins, these are the same people who Kirk Lewis trusted in his reversal of Mayoral commitments to the CDC and Michigan Department of Community Health related to the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program.  And Kirk Lewis is the same person Mayor Bing trusted enough to re-hire and insulate him further from the rest of his staff following the Karen Dumas debacle.  Mr. Mayor, you’re headed in the right direction, but you’ve got to listen to talented, conscientious people outside your ever-constricting inner circle if you are going to make the progress you seem to genuinely desire.

While it is disappointing that the trio of cronies has not yet been held accountable for the irrevocable destruction their negligence has caused hundreds of children poisoned by lead, Detroit can take some level of solace in knowing that something is working right in Detroit.  Whether financial irregularities, improper behavior, or pure incompetence is the reason, someone is finally getting to the bottom of things and the removal of these perennial political parasites has saved countless children and families from further harm.

We must look on the bright side.  Even though Jannie Warren is still ensconced in the Planning & Development Department which is being investigated by the feds for misuse of HUD grants, at least Audrey Smith failed in her 2010 bid to win a seat in the state legislature.  Michiganders dodged a huge bullet then, and today’s announcement proves it.