I've looked all over but cannot find a book written about Jerome Cavanagh. Why is that?
Is the Irish mafia still alive and kicking?
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I've looked all over but cannot find a book written about Jerome Cavanagh. Why is that?
Is the Irish mafia still alive and kicking?
So far as I know, there is no biography of Jerome Cavanagh. I wonder if it is
because of the way his career peaked and then fell apart. For a brief period in
the early 1960s, he was widely seen as an effective mayor who could deal with
the problems of an aging and declining city and with the extreme racial conflict
in Detroit. The riot of 1967 certainly tarnished his reputation. And, after he
completed his term, he moved to Ann Arbor where his personal life apparently declined quite quickly. I would very much like to read an informative biography. Many forget the very favorably light in which he was seen the
the Kennedy presidency and the early years of the second Johnson administration.
I see him as the last Great Mayor of Detroit. I'd love to see more information on him made public.
There's a fairly good biography of him on Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_Cavanagh
He was even considered "presidential timber" at his peak. Unfortunately the city income tax is also part of his legacy that did and does encourage movement to the burbs. He never recovered from the riot and I always wondered if that was a factor in his untimely demise.
His personal life was a bit of a mess. Up until his administration the Detroit Golf Club offered a honorary membership to the mayor of Detroit. During Cavanagh's time in office he went through a divorce. His soon to be ex wife ran up a substantial tab at the DGC and he refused to pay. After that the DGC ended the practice. Years later CAY was offended he was not offered the honorary membership and had to go through the membership process like every other member.
Nice entry and photos on Findagrave.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...&GRid=14849524&
A previous thread asked this question:Quote:
Originally Posted by daddeeo
http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...erry)-Cavanagh
As I said in an earlier post, Jerry Cavanaugh was initially full of promise, but despite his efforts for good he was accused of corruption [[Lou Gordon was especially vituperative) and mishandling of the '67 riot ... he and Mariani established the sad trend of riding Detroit down.
I don't know If I would call him great. He had his share of warts. As well as his predecessor, Louis Miriani, he was a piece of work.Quote:
Originally Posted by Drexciya68
His legacy has the riots to deal with. But the bigger long term deal for the mayor was, as Lowell said, the city income tax. Mixed in with the riots this was a death blow to this city that is still felt today.
Income tax is a bad idea overall. [[VAT at federal level much more progressive. Tell me why rich people get a tax break on food, will ya?)
But implementing income tax seems to have been a wide practice. Don't know any details here, but I'd guess that Detroit is hardly alone among big cities -- some of which have done well.
I've always thought that the story of Jerry Cavanagh would make a great subject for a bio or even a movie. Years ago when I was working in video documentation for the U-M Bentley Library I submitted a proposal to tape background interviews, etc. for a prospective Cavanagh documentary and I was pretty much laughed out of the room.
As for the income tax, local income taxes were very popular tools for big cities to raise revenue back in the mid-20th century. Detroit was actually quite late to that particular party, and at the time many voters were pushing for a local income tax as a method to help revitalize the city. Remember that most states did not share funds with municipalities back then, and state income tax rates were generally low. As city governments expanded their missions, the money had to come from somewhere Since cities in those days generated much higher incomes [[and needs) than rural areas, a city income tax seemed like a natural step. It was inconceivable back then that there would be so little business in the city and such a large number of people with no income. Since then, many cities have gotten rid of the income taxes they once levied, or very often rolled them into state taxes. But since Detroit has not been treated by its state like most other big cities, and has been pretty consistently screwed by hostile state administrations, it really has had little choice but to continue its income tax.
Cities from New York to Grayling have income tax. It seems as silly as the freeway excuse.
If my memory is correct, one of the rationals presented when a Detroit income tax was first proposed was it gave the city the ability to tax people who use city services and don't pay for them. I believe the initial tax rate was 2% for residents of Detroit, and 1% for those who only worked in the city.
I remember not minding paying the tax because a benifit of paying the non resident tax was a Detroit library card. Memory also says the tax was authorized by the revised [[1961?) state constitution.
Detroit passed their income tax in 1962, followed by Flint and Saginaw in '65, Grand Rapids in '67, and Lansing and Pontiac in '68.
This was no big deal when the city had the good jobs.