Bing wants to privatize City Lighting

[rondinjp]

Quote "Anyone with more than half a brain will applaud the new mayor's efforts That leaves about four posters on here"

That's because you and the three others geniuses don't know anything about business. I know about business and I know the BS that goes on when contracts are awarded. If you think it's all "Mayberry", you have much to learn.

You'd think after the Kwame era and all the embezzlement and outright theft that went on and is still coming to light, that more than a few of you would be questioning "privatizing" anything regarding the city. This isn't a poke at Mayor Bing. It's being realistic of the skulduggery that takes place when large sums of money are in question and interjected into an equation. And men are left to decide. City services should be a function of the government.

Sorry, I don't understand the reasoning behind hiring a private entity to do a job, you're already paying a city division to do. Failed system you can't spend your way out of.

Your right Sstashmoo, I have no idea how business works and must be a complete moron who has a lot to learn. I guess my BS and MS in Electrical Engineering doesn't qualify me to speak on the subject of how antiquated the Detroit Electrical grid is. Also, my 10+ years working in the engineering field must also not qualify me to speak about how business are run. You must indeed possess far superior knowledge about the subject of how business are operated.

Before you reply, yes I am aware that Detroit corruption runs rampant and could [[note: could) happen if the public lighting was turned over to DTE. However, something must be tried since the current people employed to handle the system are inept and incapable of providing AT LEAST something better than a third world service. And no, the government does not need to [[nor in the case of Detroit should not) be involved in running many services including power and lighting.

Again, before you reply I DO NOT [[and have never) worked for DTE. I work for a small non-automotive engineering firm.

[detmich]

Your right Sstashmoo, I have no idea how business works and must be a complete moron who has a lot to learn. I guess my BS and MS in Electrical Engineering doesn't qualify me to speak on the subject of how antiquated the Detroit Electrical grid is. Also, my 10+ years working in the engineering field must also not qualify me to speak about how business are run. You must indeed possess far superior knowledge about the subject of how business are operated.

Before you reply, yes I am aware that Detroit corruption runs rampant and could [[note: could) happen if the public lighting was turned over to DTE. However, something must be tried since the current people employed to handle the system are inept and incapable of providing AT LEAST something better than a third world service. And no, the government does not need to [[nor in the case of Detroit should not) be involved in running many services including power and lighting.

Again, before you reply I DO NOT [[and have never) worked for DTE. I work for a small non-automotive engineering firm.

You have some nerve Rondin. Ssashtmoo is the smartest man in Detroit. He is spearheading the fantastic projects that we see making progress all over the city.
You probably want the dirty Nips running our electric system, so that it can all blow up like that rice eater that injured that traitor doctor did. Right Sstashmoo? SSTashmoo runs a very successful business taking people on lovely boat excursions up and down the Detroit river, so he knows of what he speaks.

[Sstashmoo]

Quote: "You probably want the dirty Nips running our electric system,"

LOL..

[Danny]

Bing wants privatization of city lighting. That's a good ideal. That way all the broken streetslights should be fixed.

WORD FROM THE STREET PROPHET

Mayor Bing doing business.

[daddeeo]

I detect some backsliding in recent remarks from Bing. Maybe he's worried about backlash screwing up his fall campaign.
If he caves in on this project, there is no hope for the city.

[kraig]

I detect some backsliding in recent remarks from Bing. Maybe he's worried about backlash screwing up his fall campaign.
If he caves in on this project, there is no hope for the city.

He may have come to the realization that some things are a lot easier said than done. As far as the election, he's probably going to have the biggest margin of victory since Archer beat Vaughn in 1997. But, any deal or contract he proposes will have to get approved by a group of councilmembers who doesn't have as easy a road to travel as he does. How many Councilmembers can afford to go against the Unions on this?

Ayes- Sheila Cockrel
Ken Cockrel

Nays-Brenda Jones
Martha Reeves
Alberta Tinsley-Talabi
Barabara Rose Collins
JoAnn Watson
Monica Conyers

N/A Kwame Kenyatta


Even the odds on the Cockrels are 50/50 or less. Ken Cockrel is going to struggle to maintain his Presidency. He exposed himself too much while running for mayor. His campaign may also have financial issues, all of his financial support may have maxed out during his mayoral run.

Sheila is lame duck and word around town is that she and Bing don't see eye to eye.

For all his talk, Kenyatta is not going to support privatization in principle if he is the only one.

[Novine]

Perhaps campaign contributions from DTE can change some minds.

[kraig]

Perhaps campaign contributions from DTE can change some minds.

Money, as we all know, definitely talks. But, votes get you elected. The ground that Council is walking on is too shaky for them to take chances, besides most of them enjoy a good relationship with the unions.

I don't know if it's a case of Bing trying to be transparent or a case of political inexperience. But, he should have waited until after the election to broach this subject. There's no way that this deal is getting done before 2010. Since it's not a development deal, the City is required to issue a Request for Proposals [[RFP) and go through the City's procurment process which will take quite some time. It would have been better to either wait and see who the new City council will be or propose it at a time where City Council would have four years to deal with the backlash, not four months.

[daddeeo]

Meanwhile get a lantern if you want to see anything at night outside.

[jiminnm]

Does the CofD still produce the electricity used to operate the lighting system? As I recall, studies done 5-10 years ago showed that the city's cost to produce the electricity was 2-3 times as much as it cost DTE to produce the same KwH.

[MIRepublic]

Does the CofD still produce the electricity used to operate the lighting system?

Right in the article posted at the beginning of this thread:

The Public Lighting Department provides electricity, generated by the aging Mistersky power station in southwest Detroit, to more than 890 public buildings, such as city departments, Detroit Public Schools and Wayne State University.

It also is responsible for the city's 88,000 streetlights, utility poles and traffic signals.

[daddeeo]

Those people without lights might be voters too.
There is always an excuse for not doing the "right" thing.
This is one of the few things Bing could accomplish before the next election. He might also scare the beejesus out of some others while he's at it.
I recall that he said he would only be a one term mayor anyways. Go for it Dave.

[Rocko]

Yes Mistersky is still cranking out the juice for whatever part of the system is still hooked up and functioning.

In DTE's defense, things may be taking a bit longer, because they themselves seem to be in a sort of financial setback. Turns out their biggest customer isn't contributing the several millions per month it used to. Anyone ever heard of the Great Lakes Works on Zug Island? Anyone know it's closed right now? Apparently they were the largest single user of electricity on DTE's system and now they are not, and consequentially they aren't paying the amount they used too. Any nevermind much of DTE's system is as old as the Dept. of Public Lighting's!

All I know is that a good chunk of E. Jefferson's lights were on today around 4:30PM, and then off when around 9:30PM when it was dark. I know they have a tendancy to leave whole circuits on for days straight when they're doing maintenance or bulb replacement, but at least please leave them on during the night when they're actually needed!

[dalangdon]

I work for Seattle City Light, which is a municipal utility that has sole franchise for all electrical power generation and distribution for Seattle and several suburbs. We are not subsidized - in fact, we tend to be a profit center for the city - and our rates are significantly lower than the investor owned utility across the water. We are about as unionized as you can get, but we still manage to keep the lights on and the rates low. We have some of the lowest rates of any utility in the country, and have one of the highest reliability ratings. We also score high on the JD Powers survey for customer satisfaction.

Detroit's situation is significantly different, of course, but don't expect outsourcing to make it cheaper: If it goes to Detroit Edison, the work currently done by AFSCME workers will surely get assigned to IBEW workers, who command a much higher rate, and are a much more influential union. Plus, the investors will want their pound of flesh.

[MIRepublic]

dalangdon,

Out of curiosity, is Seattle City Light just a city operation, or do they have sole franchise outside of the city, as well, at least for the immediate suburbs?

[Novine]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_City_Light

[dalangdon]

The Wikipedia page pretty much describes us. It's sort of unique in that we are city of Seattle employees, but we have service areas outside of Seattle proper [[suburban rates are slightly higher than city rates, but still lower than the private utility).

In our setup, streetlights are installed and maintained by us, but paid for out of the city general fund. Suburban cities streetlights are either paid for by the municipality involved, or sometimes by the water & sewer district.

[Rocko]

What is the full protocol for calling 311 to report streetlights that don't work? I find it amusing that every time I call in to report a light or two that don't work, I get a different set of questions. Of course, everytime I need to give an address. But sometimes they need cross streets... other times they want to know what side of the building... sometimes they want my name... and sometimes a phone number... but not always... lately I've been getting a service number.... but I never used to.

I don't know how much good my phone calls do, since often I'm calling about lights that are entirely missing... which clearly means a larger effort than sending a team out with a new lightbulb, but I heard the only way DPL knows how many lights they have not working is by the number of calls and addresses they get... so maybe it's helping just a little bit.