Thank You, Mayor Bing, for confirming some suspicions...

[Gannon]

I'm not sure some stand-in minority supplier would earn a presidential award, either.

By 1984, Bing was awarded by President Ronald Reagan the National Minority Small Business Person Of The Year.

[[from the Wikipedia article on him...)

[Hypestyles]

...During the Cockrel mayoral tenure, I remember seeing Dumas on the Spotlight on Detroit talk show on WXYZ.. one comment from her that stuck out that I didn't like was her open dismissal of then-early proposals on urban agriculture, which she openly equated to a "plantation", which to me just contributed to the hyper-emotional, anti-intellectual arguments on that topic..

[Richard]

What is kinda weird is last month I was doing some research and came across a company that was called The Bing Group it was a solid active company that was doing business as a battery company for the new electric cars and other emerging technologies.

Now 3 weeks later is this.
Yahoo search.

The Bing Group has been sold and is no longer in business. Thank you

And the web site http://www.binggroup.com/ this just happened in the past couple of days .

Probably nothing related though.

[Locke09]

The Bing Group began selling subsidiaries [[Bing Metal) in 2009, about a week after Bing was elected Mayor. By March 2010, the Bing Group was being sued for millions in unpaid debt. The steel processing part of the company sold its assets last year I believe. It was around april of last year when Kirk Lewis, president of the Bing Group, was appointed by Bing as Group Executive, as the Bing Group was being dissolved. No one screamed "Friends and Family" when it happened.

BTW, it's interesting that Lewis is now CEO of Cornerstone Charter Academy. At least it's interesting to me.

[Gannon]

Is that the same smiling face I see on billboards around town, too, from some political run he made?! If so, then I may have a new quest and use for all the black spray paint in my storage unit.


Curious developments...the PR wizard is failing at her own expertise, getting rid of problematic public displays. Dumbas needs to remove herself from the equation. Now. I don't care how many people she's lined up for character support, she is well-protected by the shadow powermakers from the old guard McNamara group apparently. When I looked through her history on the Freep this morning, and learned that she STARTED her career with a Blackwell...then later went WAY out of her zone to support Kwhyme...it is very obvious she is too connected to the old mess to be of any use to Bing now.

She needs to go. Any and everyone who sided with Kilpatrick in any way needs to go. I cannot see any other solution. The Feds have the org chart, I'm sure, that can be referenced to prove the associations.


Sincerely,
John

[Locke09]

Is that the same smiling face I see on billboards around town, too, from some political run he made?! If so, then I may have a new quest and use for all the black spray paint in my storage unit.

I don't think Kirk Lewis made any political runs. He was president at the Bing Group for years before it was sold. Then he became a Group Executive for the City under Bing. Then he was fired. Now the Detroit News is reporting that he might be brought back. I guess Bing is still being "fluid". While researching I jotted down an interesting timeline:

Feb 8, 2011 - Dr. Robert Sommers, CEO of Cornerstone Charter Schools is named to a newly created Education cabinet post in Lansing [[Director of Governor's Office of 21st Century Education)

March 4, 2011 - Kirk Lewis "fired" bc Mayor feels betrayed that he was lobbying to become EM for DPS

March 6, 2011 - Mayor Bing lobbies Governor not to appoint Lewis. Governor agrees.

April 21, 2011 - Kirk Lewis [[degrees in Accounting and Finance) is the new CEO of Cornerstone Charter Schools, replacing someone with a PhD and 2 degrees in Education

June 2011 - Kirk Lewis is coming back to City of Detroit ???

This is crazy.

[R8RBOB]

It looks like another member of the Bing administration is planning to change jobs.

"Meanwhile, two sources close to city hall said late Thursday that Bing's chief of staff, Shannon Holmes, had turned in her resignation but will take another position with the city. It's unclear why she is resigning. She and Bing could not be reached for comment."

This tells me that Bing is not the captain of his ship. He is losing way too many people. The question is why?

[Locke09]

It looks like another member of the Bing administration is planning to change jobs.

"Meanwhile, two sources close to city hall said late Thursday that Bing's chief of staff, Shannon Holmes, had turned in her resignation but will take another position with the city. It's unclear why she is resigning. She and Bing could not be reached for comment."

This tells me that Bing is not the captain of his ship. He is losing way too many people. The question is why?

They report that she will "take" another position. She was a civil servant [[city employee) before the appointment. By civil service rules, she goes back to her former position when her appointment is ended, for whatever reasons. It's automatic, unless the person chooses not to remain with the City at all.

[Gannon]

I think she is a casualty, since it was so clear that she isn't the chief of Bing's staff.

Dumbas is.

[R8RBOB]

I think she is a casualty, since it was so clear that she isn't the chief of Bing's staff.

Dumbas is.

She is a casualty. Thanks to the lawsuit filed, she looks like she was sleeping on the job. As chief of staff, she is Dumas' boss and if Dumas was buck wild at city hall she was suppose to reign her in yet Collins said that Dumas' had free reign to do whatever the fuck she wanted. No question Bing was going to throw his chief of staff under the bus.

[Fnemecek]

I wouldn't mind if Bing was EFM to be honest. He hasn't shown himself to be corrupt. I think we'd see a lot more positive change without the dumbass city council in the way.

Two questions:

#1. How does wanting to make sure that our expenses line up with our revenue make one a "dumbass"?

#2. How is doing the same things with the same people for the same reason "change" let alone "positive change"?

[Locke09]

She is a casualty. Thanks to the lawsuit filed, she looks like she was sleeping on the job. As chief of staff, she is Dumas' boss and if Dumas was buck wild at city hall she was suppose to reign her in yet Collins said that Dumas' had free reign to do whatever the fuck she wanted. No question Bing was going to throw his chief of staff under the bus.

Yes, as Chief of Staff Dumas was "supposed" to be somewhat subordinate to her.

But, Mayor Bing has a flawed and messy organizational structure, IMO. At one point, he had a CFO [[Norm White) who was also a Group Executive. The Finance Director [[Tom Lijana) reported to the CFO, but the Finance Director was also a Group Executive in his own right, who had other agencies reporting to him. Very unclear lines of authority.Then the CFO was put over the light rail project and the Finance Director became the CFO.

Ms. Holmes might have resigned on her own if it looked like Bing was going to continue backing Ms. Dumas, who has basically usurped Ms. Holmes' job with the Mayor's blessing. Employees who know they have a job to go back to will sometimes get tired of the B.S. and just go back to their old job.

[momomomma]

She is a casualty. Thanks to the lawsuit filed, she looks like she was sleeping on the job. As chief of staff, she is Dumas' boss and if Dumas was buck wild at city hall she was suppose to reign her in yet Collins said that Dumas' had free reign to do whatever the fuck she wanted. No question Bing was going to throw his chief of staff under the bus.

Is the reason Shannon Holmes is resigning is to make room for Karen Dumas to become Chief of Staff? Looking at the Freep's morning headline, Dumas says she'd resign from her post IF Mayor Bing asks her to do so. And from the looks of things, Bing doesn't have the backbone to do that.

[Gannon]

Thanks for that, Locke.

I take back every encouraging thing I recently postulated about his leadership abiity and understanding of multi-layered corporate functioning.

Holy Fucking Shit. This town is d-o-o-o-o-m-e-d.

I think we should call him Mayor Bong from now on.

If he gets any worse, he can be Bung.

[Gannon]

During this transition period, perhaps we can agree on Bing-Bong?!


[[edit:Props to LuckyCar for posting this before me on another thread, I just caught it...the Sex, Lies one...Cheers!)

[R8RBOB]

Yes, as Chief of Staff Dumas was "supposed" to be somewhat subordinate to her.

But, Mayor Bing has a flawed and messy organizational structure, IMO. At one point, he had a CFO [[Norm White) who was also a Group Executive. The Finance Director [[Tom Lijana) reported to the CFO, but the Finance Director was also a Group Executive in his own right, who had other agencies reporting to him. Very unclear lines of authority.Then the CFO was put over the light rail project and the Finance Director became the CFO.

Ms. Holmes might have resigned on her own if it looked like Bing was going to continue backing Ms. Dumas, who has basically usurped Ms. Holmes' job with the Mayor's blessing. Employees who know they have a job to go back to will sometimes get tired of the B.S. and just go back to their old job.

Thank you for reminding all of us why you don't elect people who want to run government like business. This group executive nonsense is for the birds. I forgot how Bing had the police chief and fire commissioner reporting to the deputy mayor who really have no executive authority to lead.

[ragnarok1981]

One of the major faults in how Bing chose to set up his administration is that he promoted conflict and opposing viewpoints. In some environments that can work, but here it has just caused a major amount of gridlock and resulted in people jumping ship because they cannot stand the environment anymore.
In a corporate environment having a setup like this might work because essentially it is survival of the fittest, but I think Bing is starting to realize you cannot run a city like a company.
I was at a social function a few weeks ago and Charles Pugh was there. He had a conversation with my father and they were talking about why Saul Green had left. He said that Green was the guy who visited with the council and talked to people and that Bing had not once been in his office. That account tells me that Bing is acting like a CEO and having his VP do all the micromanaging work while he is the public face of the company, and that just cannot work in a city, and especially not in Detroit.
I admit that at first I was one of those who saw Bing as a carpet bagger who probably was not even living in the city even when he won the election. But I was impressed with some of his actions while in office. Since he won the election I have met Ken Cockrel on several occasions and all I can say is thank god he did not win the mayoral election. He is totally lacking in substance, and his social skills are awful. Politicians have to remember that they are always on duty, and even at a social function people are going to want to talk with you about issues pertaining to what you do. When questioned about the school situation he got visibly upset and refused to even speak about it. My mother who was trying to speak with him was outraged and really offended by his attitude and the way he spoke to her. He continues to be one of those city politicians who has his ideas of what the city should be, but they dont match reality and he is unwilling to change to meet that reality. So in the end I think given the choices we had for who to vote for I would vote for Bing again.

[Locke09]

Every mayor in Detroit that I have known has had a "cabinet". They just call them by various names. They will have a CFO, CIO, COO, Chief of Staff, Chief of Communications, Chief of Public Safety, at minimum, although they might have called them by different names. Then they will group the remaining agencies under the cabinet members for reporting purposes. This keeps the mayor from having 40+ persons reporting directly to him/her.

But previous mayors also met regularly with their whole management team to ensure consistent dissemination of information and ability of each department head to bring issues to the mayor undiluted or untainted by the "Group Executive". Bing did not appear to be accessible even to all his department heads. And the groupings previously made more sense. The Cabinet member at the top of the group had some understanding/expertise that allowed them to be an effective representative for their group.

The papers acted like Bing's Group Executive idea was something straight out of the business world that had never been done in the City before, but that is not true. Bing has not executed it successfully.

His style and org structure might be okay for a small to medium sized company, but not for a large complex organization like the City. There is so much that Mayor Bing could learn about what is wrong with his org structure, and how to fix it, if he wasn't still deluded into thinking that he is the CEO of a private company and he can bend everything according to his will.

[Gannon]

Ragnarok,

Thanks for that anecdote and analysis.


What you just described is the standard interaction and misunderstandings between extroverts and introverts.

Funny how we all expect people to be just like us always...and how quick we are to be offended when folks don't meet our expectations.


I still think that Cockrel is one of the better guys, but perhaps not a public personality. I am like that, too...quite eloquent in print, but during conversation have a great deal of trouble.

Most times when someone gives me new information, my expression is misread as anger. I've had difficulty with verbal interpersonal communication all my life. It takes work for me to shift from talking to thinking...and then back. Way worse when there is public pressure, clamor, and other distractions. Occasionally, it is amusing...but that is rare.



So, your expectations of his behavior, and reading of his response MAY have been in error. Seriously.


Cheers!

[Gannon]

The ironic thing is, that despite his former corruption conviction, Beckham served the past three Mayor's extremely well. Bing's first year ran relatively smooth with Beckham at the helm and has ran like a rudderless speedboat since Beckham's departure.

Great information, Kraig.

But the IRONIC thing is the assumtion that since he had some conviction over personal use that he's damaged goods. You've been programmed to feel this way...but some of the greatest achievers I've ever met have been substance users and abusers in many different domains. Alcohol and cigarettes being the most common, but cannabis is a close third...and at the upper echalons of society and power, that fine white powder always seems to show up. There have even been a few who admitted controlled use of opiates, even unto heroin.


That is one reason why I've always laughed at the 'war' on drugs...it is idiocy geared towards controlling people. We see how it was used to 'control' Beckham in this instance. Brought down a very useful and productive man, from what you say...and gave room for this wonderwoman to come in and wreak her particular havoc.

Yeah, I'm being sexist, heh. I'm merely bringing the conversation along with my very odd sense of humor.


Cheers!

[stromberg2]

Yep...Gannon's back!!

Stromberg2

[kraig]

Great information, Kraig.

But the IRONIC thing is the assumtion that since he had some conviction over personal use that he's damaged goods. You've been programmed to feel this way...but some of the greatest achievers I've ever met have been substance users and abusers in many different domains. Alcohol and cigarettes being the most common, but cannabis is a close third...and at the upper echalons of society and power, that fine white powder always seems to show up. There have even been a few who admitted controlled use of opiates, even unto heroin.


That is one reason why I've always laughed at the 'war' on drugs...it is idiocy geared towards controlling people. We see how it was used to 'control' Beckham in this instance. Brought down a very useful and productive man, from what you say...and gave room for this wonderwoman to come in and wreak her particular havoc.

Yeah, I'm being sexist, heh. I'm merely bringing the conversation along with my very odd sense of humor.


Cheers!

Just for clarification, it was Bob Warfield, Mayor Bing's first Communication's Director, that I indicated had the drug conviction and was subsequently let go, not Beckham. Charles Beckham's corruption conviction was back in the mid 80's for taking money from a DWSD contractor.

[Gannon]

Got it, thanks.

Beckham hopefully learned from his mistake...but he's got history back to the YOUNG administration, huh? Many of the roots of our current dilemma began then...they were merely WAY MORE crafty about it. Corruption was easier to hide before the information age really dawned upon us!

Detroit Water and Sewage Department. Charles Beckham skimming a little baksheesh. <sigh>


[[That reminds me, I'd STILL love to know about the sweetheart deals that got good ol' pistol-whippin' Gladiator-lovin' Bobby Ferguson all those old DWSD vehicles.)


Maybe the move to take any questioning of previous felony convictions for future hirees and appointees off their vetting was borne of desperation. There may not BE anyone clean left who can fill these positions, heh. We're talking over a thirty year history here...


Cheers, anyways.

[Meddle]

Is the reason Shannon Holmes is resigning is to make room for Karen Dumas to become Chief of Staff? Looking at the Freep's morning headline, Dumas says she'd resign from her post IF Mayor Bing asks her to do so. And from the looks of things, Bing doesn't have the backbone to do that.

I'm a little confused by some of the posts here and the timeline, but Dum[[b)as[[s) is out, right?

Just hours after Mayor Dave Bing asked for her resignation today in the midst of a public relations nightmare, Karen Dumas, the mayor’s now-former communications chief, said today she continues to support the administration, was happy to step down but may sue the former employee whose lawsuit triggered the media storm.

The resignation “was a mutual decision that we thought was in the best interest of both me personally and professionally, as well and more importantly, for the mayor and the citizens of the city of Detroit,” Dumas said in the living room of her English Tudor home in Indian Village.

http://www.freep.com/article/2011061...text|FRONTPAGE

[Gannon]

I wasn't quite sure, either, Meddle...until that Freep article.

She shows signs of being psychotic, though. No acknowledgement of culpability, always her first.

Either that, OR she's actually innocent.

All of Kwhyme's friends seem to be.

Yanno, one or the other.

What's that line? Denial ain't no river in Egypt?!


I love this quote:

“There was an unprecedented amount of attention on this,” Dumas said of the lawsuit. “I’m livid. I have worked hard all through school and all through my professional career. I don’t smoke or drink. I understand the importance of a good reputation.”

So, she apparently only does the harder drugs. Those PR people really know how to party. Heh. And write exact disclaimers which allow them to say they don't lie.

Or maybe her vice is that shopping addiction...looks like some Jamaican shops will be seeing her charge through soon.


Cheers!