DPS buys Emergency Manger $40k SUV, Same Week He Announces Cuts

[lilpup]

Go tell him that to his face and see what he says. Has anyone even bothered to get his reaction? Nope, easier to bitch and whine.

[Buy American]

Go tell him that to his face and see what he says. Has anyone even bothered to get his reaction? Nope, easier to bitch and whine.

What makes you think that many people haven't already done that? Letters and phone calls are pouring into DPS with concerns.

This blog offers a place where people can voice their opinions, good and bad, gripes, concerns, anger and frustration towards what happens in the City of Detroit. I suppose you look at everything through rose colored glasses....unlike Roberts and all the other politicians, appointees, relatives and cronies in Detroit government who look out for themselves and how much they can scam from the City while saying the hell with the residents and children who live there. Corruption is rampant in Detroit and it's people like yourself who think this type of leadership is perfectly okay.

[lilpup]

You might not like it but merely legally purchasing a vehicle for an administrator's use is NOT corruption.

[English]

Actually, Detroiters have a long history of getting right in elected and appointed officials' faces. You will find no lack of city residents who would be more than willing to tell Roberts their thoughts.

[Novine]

"You might not like it but merely legally purchasing a vehicle for an administrator's use is NOT corruption."

Corruption? No. Stupidity? Yes.

[Buy American]

You might not like it but merely legally purchasing a vehicle for an administrator's use is NOT corruption.

Maybe not in your eyes... but in the eyes of every DPS teacher who has been laid off, called back, had their pay slashed, had their health benefits cut, and have to supplement their classrooms with their own money may feel differently. I would think Roberts would set an example to those he's asking to make sacrifices, although he's not asking them, he's ordering these cuts.

The City of Detroit and the DPS has become personal ATM machines for those who have access to the money...and they spend it on everything from a washer and dryer, remodeling homes, wedding plans, dog grooming, vacations, you name it.

So, YES, it is corruption.

[lilpup]

If it's corruption prosecute it.

[Buy American]

Some people will never get it.

[lilpup]

Some people will never get it.

Tell us about all the offered perks you've turned down in the course of your career.

[Buy American]

Working for the Detroit Fire Department for 30 years didn't offer any "perks" on the job. I would say my contributions to Detroit and the residents living there were appreciated and that's all I asked for. I worked and earned everything I got from the City.

[lilpup]

Everybody claims they've earned everything they get.

funny how most of those bitching the loudest about this vehicle are/were city/school [[taxpayer paid) employees

[Thames]

Tell us about all the offered perks you've turned down in the course of your career.

You said he was there to clean up the shit and make it better. How does buying a new vehicle help achieve that goal?

If there is $40,000 to throw around, how about spending it on books, or teacher aides, or even toilet paper. Does the DPS exist to provide transportation for the administrators or does it exist to educate children?

The purchase says a lot about what the priorities are at DPS.

Any entity that is so financially bankrupt that it needs an EFM, shouldn’t be handing out any perks.

Yeah, I'm bitchin', so what? It fucking pisses me off.

Same shit, different day.

[Buy American]

Everybody claims they've earned everything they get.

funny how most of those bitching the loudest about this vehicle are/were city/school [[taxpayer paid) employees

You must have a screw loose and I'm not going to waste my time on a person like you, who, in my opinion, is very jealous of someone who worked hard for many years, and earned whatever they have today. You must enjoy people taking advantage of you at every turn. Good luck with that. [[Incidentally, is your real name Kwame or Roberts?)

[65memories]

What Thames said.

[DetroitTeacher]

I salute your dedication and admire you for what you did for the city. My dad was DFD for 30 years, as well. Can't thank you guys enough for risking your lives each day you went to work.

I saw first hand how dad EARNED every dollar he got paid. He did so with his blood, sweat, tears, and almost his life. Dad came home and cried about the kids that they found inside a building. He came home and cried because his friends and "brothers" were murdered by an arsonist. He came home exhausted because he was up all night at a fire. He came home with heat stroke. He came home with pnemonia because he was soaking wet, standing outside in the freezing weather. I saw how he went without so we kids would have...because the city screwed up his paycheck. I saw how he had to work a 2nd job because the city didn't pay him enough to feed his kids and pay the bills, too. I saw how much he loved what he did and, despite all of the bullcrap and risks, he did it with passion. It wasn't about the money. It was about his love for the city and the people in it. Did he earn his pay? He sure did. Some guys he worked with that were like fathers to me lost their lives for the pay. Do people who do this and other jobs no one else wants have a right to bitch and complain when things are unsafe and the tools to do the job aren't there yet city officials drive around in luxury vehicles? You betcha! Shit, half the firetrucks were unsafe and ill equipped...yet the city admin drove around in brand new, city owned vehicles! Something isn't right there or in the case of DPS and the Tahoe.

Working for the Detroit Fire Department for 30 years didn't offer any "perks" on the job. I would say my contributions to Detroit and the residents living there were appreciated and that's all I asked for. I worked and earned everything I got from the City.

[DetroitTeacher]

You said on another thread that I should be happy to have a job and take my cuts and just accept it. Why doesn't that work the other way for admin? Cut the little guy so the big guy can have a buggy to ride around in? I hate to disappoint you, his 40 grand truck isn't hurting me...it's hurting the kids. Tell me what Roberts, Bobb or any other CEO of DPS does to EARN a car and driver? What exactly do they do that is so worthy of perks DPS can't afford? You are all about earning things. YOUR tax dollars went to purchase the truck. YOUR tax dollars didn't go toward buying 40 grand worth of books or anything else, for that matter, that benefits the kids. YOU bought him that truck. I don't get to provide books and supplies, coats, hats, and other things my students need because I can't afford it anymore with the paycuts. Would you care to donate to my class? I'll gladly accept your money for the things that I used to buy with my pay.

Everybody claims they've earned everything they get.

funny how most of those bitching the loudest about this vehicle are/were city/school [[taxpayer paid) employees

[lilpup]

The previous EFM had a vehicle, too. This is not a new expense category.

Have you ever considered that by actually spending your own money on things the school should be providing you're just being an enabler? And you like that because then you get to play martyr.

[Buy American]

I salute your dedication and admire you for what you did for the city. My dad was DFD for 30 years, as well. Can't thank you guys enough for risking your lives each day you went to work.

I saw first hand how dad EARNED every dollar he got paid. He did so with his blood, sweat, tears, and almost his life. Dad came home and cried about the kids that they found inside a building. He came home and cried because his friends and "brothers" were murdered by an arsonist. He came home exhausted because he was up all night at a fire. He came home with heat stroke. He came home with pnemonia because he was soaking wet, standing outside in the freezing weather. I saw how he went without so we kids would have...because the city screwed up his paycheck. I saw how he had to work a 2nd job because the city didn't pay him enough to feed his kids and pay the bills, too. I saw how much he loved what he did and, despite all of the bullcrap and risks, he did it with passion. It wasn't about the money. It was about his love for the city and the people in it. Did he earn his pay? He sure did. Some guys he worked with that were like fathers to me lost their lives for the pay. Do people who do this and other jobs no one else wants have a right to bitch and complain when things are unsafe and the tools to do the job aren't there yet city officials drive around in luxury vehicles? You betcha! Shit, half the firetrucks were unsafe and ill equipped...yet the city admin drove around in brand new, city owned vehicles! Something isn't right there or in the case of DPS and the Tahoe.

I think today it's worse than it was back then. Guys have to buy batteries for their flashlights with their own money because the friggin' City doesn't. This is a basic survival item needed in a fire. The protective clothing is old and weathered, embers can get through and necks are burned all the time. Half of the equipment is in the shop and what they have doesn't work most of the time.
Then you have people like lilpup spouting their rhetoric about what anyone has earned, not knowing the first thing about what it takes to just work for the City, let alone work for the City in a dangerous job like police or fire. The Commissioners would ride around with their chauffeurs while the truck your dad was on may not have been safe for anyone. It makes my blood boil when I see someone acting as though these cronies from the Governors office or appointees of thug KK's or heads of departments in the Bing administration get these perks and actually flaunt them in the faces of the taxpayers or the children in Detroit. Is it any wonder that the City is in the state it's in today? Take, take, take ... and then take some more... that's the thing they do best.
And thank you for your kind thoughts and telling us your memories of your father and what he went through. Believe me, it wasn't the easiest of careers but I loved it like your Dad did.

[DetroitTeacher]

I'm not enabling. I am trying to give my kids something that they need and don't have. I don't want to play martyr. I don't want thanks from anyone. I am doing what I do because of the kids, not DPS.

The previous EFM had a vehicle, too. This is not a new expense category.

Have you ever considered that by actually spending your own money on things the school should be providing you're just being an enabler? And you like that because then you get to play martyr.

[Buy American]

The previous EFM had a vehicle, too. This is not a new expense category.

Have you ever considered that by actually spending your own money on things the school should be providing you're just being an enabler? And you like that because then you get to play martyr.

I can't believe you're real lilpup.

Teachers have spent their own money on the kids in the classroom for years and years...not just in Detroit. The Board of Education in many places just don't provide enough resources to help the kids in their district...and, most teachers, being dedicated educators [[because they certainly don't do it for the pay), will spend their own money purchasing books, pencils, paper, or whatever for the kids. I know of one particular teacher in the Warren Consolidated district who bought a pair of shoes for a little hispanic child whose shoes were full of holes and the teacher knew the parents were desperate. She told the parents she "found" the shoes because she didn't want to offend them by offering them charity.

You need to lighten up and stop the bitterness and jealousy that you are showing and understand that these teachers are special and one of a kind; and when the directors and administrators just keep filling their pockets with money or purchasing SUV's, all of that could be helping just one child. In the meantime, teachers are being asked to take pay cuts that they can't afford, they are being asked to pay more for health care that they can't afford...remember, they all have families, too. The administrators should set an example and quit expecting the live in the lavish lifestyle.

[crosswordgirl]

http://www.freep.com/article/2011081...text|FRONTPAGE

[65memories]

Roberts' philosophy: "Let them eat cake." Unbelievable. I know this has been debated to death on another thread, but there really is no defense for this. This is a former auto executive [[who can purchase his own car at a discount) now making $250,000 a year and asking others to sacrifice. And as important as it is to Detroiters [[if nothing else, symbolically), he treats it lightheartedly. Unbelievable.

[brizee]

Asked why he won't use his own car, Roberts said, "I would if they paid me like they pay other superintendents."

Motherfucker.

The "leadership" in this city/state would be wise to look at recent world events[[or hell our own local history). There's only so many slaps in the face a people can be expected to take before one nut gets some diabolical thoughts lodged in their noggin.

[BRAZZMAN]

I was kind of waiting for this attitude to surface from this guy; 'To get mine while the getin's good.'
Another expected and not surprising example of Greed & Power overtaking Integrity & Common Sense.

[eno]

This is the same thinking that thought it was wise to fly in private jets to Washington, hat in hand, to beg for the bailouts from Congress.