Archive for the ‘Detroit’ tag
When education isn’t about education
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy wants to improve the relationship between parents and schools in Detroit. Her answer: Jail sentences for parents who fail to attend parent-teacher conferences. Local officials correlate truancy with juvenile crime and say the proposed ordinance will hold parents accountable.
Instead, they should acknowledge that truancy and violence are crimes in their own right, and that the inability of police and schools to enforce existing laws is not an imperative to define apathy as a new crime and declare open season on non-compliant parents.
Lawmakers should also acknowledge that youth violence is not confined to the realm of truants. In their crusade to rid “the streets” of youth violence and truancy, they may only succeed in relocating that violence to school campuses.
Related posts:
Popularity: 16% [?]
Exploiting tragedy
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, in what appears to be his first public acknowledgment of Aiyana Stanley-Jones’ death, has tweeted his disgust for Al Sharpton, who will say the eulogy at the 7-year-old’s funeral.
Later, the Republican gubernatorial candidate responded to those who took cheap shots at his misspelling of the word “disgusted”:
In some way, aren’t we all? Detroit Mayor Dave Bing used the tragedy to call for increased gun control. Sharpton used the tragedy to discuss police misconduct and black-on-black violence. Cox is using the tragedy to disparage a liberal icon. I have used the tragedy to question the way that police raids are conducted.
The tragedy has left everyone asking questions, many of them political in nature. But is it exploitation to ask ourselves what went wrong and what can be improved?
Popularity: 14% [?]
Individual missteps overshadow institutional failures
As community leaders assemble the pieces of the tragedy surrounding the death of Aiyana Stanley-Jones, they will identify problem areas, but the hard part is to act on them in a lasting way.
Public safety officials are reluctant to admit that these mistakes are not only individual shortcomings, but also institutional failures. In dealing with these crises, leaders may take dramatic action against the individual officer, but merely trivial action against the system itself. It’s time for the law enforcement establishment to shoulder some of the burden and to question, in particular, the necessity of SWAT-style raids in routine police work.
(Published under the Detroit News’ letters on June 10, 2010)
Popularity: 9% [?]
Bing changes subject from police brutality to gun control
Today, Mayor Dave Bing criticized the attorney who is representing the family of Aiyana Jones, the young girl who was killed during a SWAT-style raid on Detroit’s east side.
“I doubt very seriously if [Geoffrey Fieger] knows much about facts. As an attorney, that’s in this to make money … I think he’s setting that up right now. It’s unfortunate that you would use a tragedy like this to incite the community,” Bing said.
As the saying goes, never let a serious crisis go to waste:
“Why aren’t we enraged about a 15-year-old kid getting killed, a 17-year-old kid … a 69-year woman, a grandmother getting killed,” said Bing. “We’ve got to really take a hard look at gun control.”
Bing is right that we should despise all violence, not just violence by public servants. But shame on him for changing the subject, which is that the Detroit police contributed to the death of a child and probably tried to cover it up. I welcome Bing to explain how gun control will keep police from shooting seven-year-old girls.
Popularity: 18% [?]
Ernie Harwell
For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
Ernie Harwell
1918-2010
UPDATE: Fortuitous timing allowed me to attend the viewing, which was a moving and humbling experience.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Ignored amendment to Michigan House Bill No. 4377
From the Journal of the Michigan House of Representatives:
Rep. Geiss, having reserved the right to explain his protest against the passage of the bill, made the following statement:
“Mr. Speaker and members of the House:
An amendment (1A) I offered to House Bill 4377 was not allowed a record roll call vote today. My amendment would have provided for Legal Smoking Rooms as part of HB 4377. In summary, the amendment would allow restaurants and bars to have a separate space for smoking, within their establishments. The LSR would be self contained and would have to be equipped with ventilation such that no smoke is allowed to leave the room. No individual or employee would be required to enter the room, nor would they be exposed to smoke. The room would be required to close one hour before the end of normal business hours to allow for the room to fully ventilate prior to any employee being required to enter and clean the room.
It is my basic belief that an individual has the right to choose, as long as their choice does not impact another person(s). It is my opinion that my amendment would have allowed for a win-win situation for all stakeholders: 1) Non-Smokers are not impacted by smoke, 2) Employees are not impacted by smoke, 3) Smokers can pursue their enjoyment without being subjected to cold winter outside or be forced to huddle in doorways.
In addition, Detroit Metro Airport, which is in my district, has raised concerns with House Bill 4377 as presented. Specifically, international travelers would be required to exit the building, smoke, then go back through security screening checkpoints and make it to their gate during layovers. It is the opinion of the Airport that many passengers would not go through this arduous task and would simply utilize the restrooms. My amendment would provide a solution without harming non-smokers.
While I have tried to equally weigh the rights of non-smokers and smokers within the state of Michigan, the bill as presented protects some of the people some of the time, a position I cannot support. Therefore, I respectfully vote ‘NO’ for this version of the smoking ban legislation.”
Popularity: 15% [?]
Michigan smoking ban shows favoritism to casinos
For some time, Michigan has been chomping at the bit to ban smoking statewide, but all legislation to that end has fizzled out one way or another. Not content to let the issue “smolder” (thanks Freep), the Michigan Legislature is giving it another shot this year.
State Representative Bert Johnson (D-Highland Park) pushed for an exemption for Detroit’s casinos in the House version of the bill. The Detroit casinos argue that without an exemption, they will lose customers to gaming facilities on Native American reservations, which are exempt from compliance.
It is clear that this is a rent-seeking victory, and not a victory for individual freedom and enterprise. There are few voices in Lansing crying over the revenue our state’s hundreds of restaurants and bars will lose when their smoking customers are forced outside. But Johnson is happy to have saved three casinos while the legislature throws other business owners under the bus.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Somewhere in Michigan, n miles from Detroit
In southwestern Michigan, about 30 vehicles were involved in a deadly series of pileups on a six-mile stretch of Interstate 94 north of Stevensville, about 175 miles west of Detroit.
Stevensville is a village just off the Lake Michigan shoreline, about 70 miles east of Chicago. What is the value of pointing out its distance from Detroit?
Popularity: 3% [?]