Residency!

[GoGrixdale]

DT: Hopefully adequate city services are not waiting on you as us and me as them. Would be nice to think every city employee sees it as waiting on we. Just as citizens should. Withstanding...

Giving away a 3000sf headache as an incentive may not be for everyone but was a step in the right direction. Some bought in. Cash however seems more universal. But again, $1000-$2000 a year may just sway another few ...$5000 even a few more than that. What would be so wrong? There are many things that make an employee extraordinarily valuable beyond just showing up and doing the job [[albeit well). For this arguments sake...residency is one.

I'd rather have my life than an incentive upon retirement. I'd rather have my trash picked up and not worry about break ins than an incentive. I'd rather have EMS here if I am having a heart attack [[cops and firemen are at a high risk for such things) than to have an incentive.

Amen...me too.

The idea of incentivising residency holds no misgivings as a panacea. As one of many required catalysts?....sure

And to answer your question about something going wrong when Officer Smith went to work...it's happening while he's home and he's powerless to do anything about it. It's not his own kids running amok. It's the thugs that feel some sort of loyalty to a street sign.

That question was almost rhetorical. If our hypothetical Officer Smith did in fact see that on his block and was powerless or afraid, something is wrong at the workplace. If Fire Fighter Jones has to watch people burned alive in houses on his block, again back to the workplace. It's their day jobs to see that that doesn't happen. Wouldn't have thought that our they [[now two heros) would have chosen to live in that rough of a neighborhood....but since they did. It would certainly drive the point home. The same point they'ed take to work in the morning.

seems...

[DetroitTeacher]

The city can't get "we" to move back if city services aren't in place. "We" aren't going to move back if the school district is still shit [[and believe me, it's not the teachers and schools, it's the upper management screwing things up). "We" can't do a damn thing about someone being burned alive if "we" don't have any gear to go save them [[DFD is a team effort...one man can't go it alone). "We" can't save the neighborhood from thugs if "we" want our family to be safe [[doing anything about neighborhood issues while off duty is a death sentence for a cop or his family). I'm beating a dead horse, here. I've lived both sides of he fence and have seen the pros and cons of both. I lived in the city because of residency and I lived outside when residency wasn't required [[but still work IN the city). I am telling you that there has to be more involved than a few thousand dollars to entice most people to come back and live where services and safety are an issue.

[SWMAP]

I live in SW Detroit. A cops kids couldn't go to a DPS school here - for sure.
A single Police officer lived across the street many years ago. Although he never offered, never even came into sight during any sort of problem, still I watched as people came from all around to beg him to settle up their issues. Especially the woman who would go running over nearly naked screaming in the night whose boyfriend was beating her. The DPO would say that she needs to call 911. Can you imagine how I'll-advised it would be for him to get involved? Domesticvience runs are the leading cause of cop deaths.
And the disputes over dogs or noise. What do you think he should do? Believe me, it is different here now than it was 40 years ago and the presence of a cop in a house does notmake it better in any constructive way.

[GoGrixdale]

Agreed. Abstaining from off-duty conflict is the expected and sensible action. The disagreement comes from the quote:

the presence of a cop in a house does notmake it better in any constructive way.

It makes a constructive difference in having a [[most likely but not assured) good neighbor. It makes a constructive difference in having a registered voter on the roles ,with inside perspective, to possibly drive policy and leadership changes. It seemingly would make a constructive difference to the public employee that chooses to be a resident.

DT: Your beating is not wasted on a dead horse. Wanting to talk about subject is not a personal attack on you, your choice or your group of "we". May you prosper and continue to provide a valuable service to the City of Detroit.

There is however a group of "them" public employees that have made a different choice. Sharing full disclosure: My ex-wife [[and mother to my teenage Son) is a city employee and we are residents. Two of my closest friends are DFD Lieutenants living in BE [[also raising teenagers). It is an [[ever increasingly) expensive choice.

DPS's social & behavioral woes are in part because of us. Our children [[mine and aforementioned friends) do not attend. While their character and upbringing would be an asset... their grades are not . [[renaissance and cass were off the table) Subsequently we pay extra thousands of dollars or "bus" our children for a competent and safe education. We still pay for and care about DPS. Again..our choice.


There is a critical mass of good, working people that has to be achieved to make this thing float. I hope no one believes that dispair and "badness" are the only contagious dispositions. Can't good people beget good people?

So, how is it reprehensible to craft incentives to entice employees/payees of the largest employer/payer in the city, The CoD itself.How is it insane to think that having teachers, fire fighters, bus divers, office clerks, EMS techs, choosing to living in the city won't help? It would have to help not just the stability but the overall sanity.

[hhockey]

I was a police officer in Detroit and lived in Detroit under the residency requirement. My car was vandalized my home broken into my garage broken into and another one of my vehicles was stolen. I had a drug house across the street from me, and they knew i was a cop but told me to go f... myself. I did all that i could as the good neighbor and cop all to no avail. It is easy to say residency should be a requirement but lets not forget the freedoms one should be able to enjoy. Freedom to live safely and to have your family live in a safe environment. Should i have quit my job for the sake of residency? Should i have divorced my wife to stay in Detroit? Should i have quit doing what i thoroughly enjoyed which was helping people and doing my job the best i could do? I wonder how many of you who complain about residency in Detroit actually live their or did live their? I may have left Detroit but my heart was their and always will be. I put my life on the line for Detroit with no special thanks requested or expected. The job was my choice. It is not just the city employee punished by residency but the wife, children and family members who are also required to suffer with residency. A top city official once made a statement in regards to residency. If a police officers wife does not want to live in Detroit get a divorce. Is that any way for a society to behave over where one lives? If one should live where he earns his money then i guess all factory workers who work in the city of Detroit should reside their and return their money to Detroit . We could go on and on as to where one should live, but we should never forget we live in a free society where one should be able to live peacefully and still do their job as required.