Since Detroit, Hamtramck and HP are [[or soon will be) all under financial management.

[313WX]

Why not dissolve HP and Hamtramck into Detroit?

The theories before to keep them seperate was that Detroit couldn't afford to take care of Highland Park and that Hamtramck was in a good financial standing.
Now they're all in the same position, and it doesn't make to have the redundant municipalities.

[gameguy56]

Why not dissolve HP and Hamtramck into Detroit?

The theories before to keep them seperate was that Detroit couldn't afford to take care of Highland Park and that Hamtramck was in a good financial standing.
Now they're all in the same position, and it doesn't make to have the redundant municipalities.

Well, for one, Hamtramck has a functioning police force.

[Crumbled_pavement]

Somebody is trying to start a riot. This region is way too polarized for any consideration of sorts. Besides, in the case of Hamtramck, they would be outnumbered and out represented by Detroiters. I doubt Detroiters would care too much about absorbing etiher Highland Park or Hamtramck because both are very small enclaves, but I don't see residents of Hamtramck liking that idea one bit - nor would the rest of the metro. It would be chaos to even suggest such a thing.

[townonenorth]

Somebody is trying to start a riot. This region is way too polarized for any consideration of sorts. Besides, in the case of Hamtramck, they would be outnumbered and out represented by Detroiters. I doubt Detroiters would care too much about absorbing etiher Highland Park or Hamtramck because both are very small enclaves, but I don't see residents of Hamtramck liking that idea one bit - nor would the rest of the metro. It would be chaos to even suggest such a thing.

Hipsters don't riot, do they?

And really, Highland Park would probably not object that much, I think.

[mwilbert]

I think there is a good case for Detroit absorbing Highland Park. Redeveloping the Woodward corridor would be easier with the whole thing under one jurisdiction, and Highland Park no longer has a separate identity that has any positive value.

Hamtramck does, and it is surrounded by areas which aren't strategic to the city, so I think it would be more sensible to leave it alone. If there are some economies available from sharing services, those could be arranged between the cities as separate entities.

[Crumbled_pavement]

Hipsters don't riot, do they?

And really, Highland Park would probably not object that much, I think.

I doubt Highland Park would care. Hamtramck would crap bricks. And I think most suburbanites would much prefer Detroit go away as opposed to expand.

[GUSHI]

How about enlarge hamtramck, increase it's borders, go back to the old borders,

[detroitsgwenivere]

So folks, tell us why you think HP wouldn't care about being forcefully incorporated into Detroit.

[Shollin]

So folks, tell us why you think HP wouldn't care about being forcefully incorporated into Detroit.

Probably because the only place worse than Detroit is Highland Park.

[townonenorth]

So folks, tell us why you think HP wouldn't care about being forcefully incorporated into Detroit.

I just read that the Highland Park school district will be a complete charter district soon. Not that it matters in the larger question, but it's pretty much emblematic of the difficulties in Highland Park. Nobody is helping Highland Park like they are helping Detroit, so the state is leaving HP to wither and die.

Hamtramck's police force will be cut soon as well, I bet.

[townonenorth]

Speaking of Hamtramck...

Hamtramck City Council makes final concessions offer to police unions

• By Serena Maria Daniels
• The Detroit News
• 0 Comments

Hamtramck— Tensions mounted in this cash-strapped enclave Monday as the City Council considered firing the acting city manager and laid out a final concessions offer to the police department's two unions.
Several dozen residents, police officers and firefighters filled the Council Chambers and flowed out into the hallway before Monday's meeting. They were there to support the public safety officers and to urge elected officials to back off threats of widespread layoffs in both departments to help close a $3.5 million budget deficit by 2013 that could result in state intervention by way of Public Act 4.
The outcry comes less than a week after the City Council voted unanimously to reject concessions of approximately $1.3 million offered Thursday by the police department's Fraternal Order of Police. The city wanted $1.4 million in cuts and for the department to reorganize its structure, eliminating supervisorial staff.
"With all the numbers floating around, we wonder what your agenda is," said Officer and FOP vice president Jon Bondra Monday night before the elected officials entered into a closed session.
Union representatives met with the city attorney over the weekend to try to wrinkle out the differences. If negotiations can be agreed upon between the city and the FOP, some say an agreement is likely for the police department's other union and the fire department's union.
Acting City Manager Erik Tungate was appointed earlier this year, following the termination of former City Manager William Cooper. He's been criticized for failing to keep the city away from the brink of financial ruin.
Councilwoman Cathie Gordon and Councilman Bob Zwolak insisted on considering the matter in an emergency meeting Monday.
Gordon has criticized Tungate, saying he's dragged his feet with drafting a deficit reduction plan.
If a plausible plan to eliminate the city's debt cannot be made and if negotiations with the public safety unions cannot be reached, officials said they would ask the state Treasury Department for a preliminary review, the first step in possibly appointing an emergency manager.








From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...#ixzz1yCMGLyov

[Lowell]

During my decades in Highland Park I heard this suggestion often.

Every time I replied the same. "Are you nuts? You want us to join with another impoverished bankrupt city and double our problems?? How about you unite us with Birmingham or Grosse Pointe that might have some actual assets?"

Friends, these aging city's have problems beyond which their impoverished citizens' tax base base can handle. They are strapped with legacy pension obligations, generously doled out when they had large populations and thriving middle classes that have long since departed, yet eat up what little revenue they can generate. In Highland Park that was one third of the budget and not one single retiree lived in the city. $3 million straight out the door.

Likewise they are stuck with overbuilt and decaying infrastructures. They have punishing insurance rates and endure high crime rates that come with being poor. They are stuck caring for almost all the metro and state's poor and and homeless. In short they carry all the burdens and get little more than scorn and derision from those who don't but still feel obliged tell them how they should manage their affairs. It's always 'you do' not 'we do'.

They need outside resources and help now or they need to be dissolved back to their counties, not suggestions that they be cast down with other communities with the same or more problems.

If there is to be any union, it needs be be metropolitan union, not the poor with the poor, but all together.

[Goose]

How about you unite us with Birmingham or Grosse Pointe that might have some actual assets?"

and what outcome would be most likely??? that Highland Park would rise to the occaision and become like GP or Bham? or that GP and BHam would decline rapidly becoming another statistic of wealth redistribution????

[Lowell]

and what outcome would be most likely??? that Highland Park would rise to the occaision and become like GP or Bham? or that GP and BHam would decline rapidly becoming another statistic of wealth redistribution????

So you think uniting with Hamtramck and Detroit would improve matters???

I was being facetious as for Birmingham or Grosse Pointe. It never would or could happen.

My point is the in the final sentence. We need metropolitan and state sharing of urban problems, not walling them off in to an increasingly impoverished setting.

[nain rouge]

My point is the in the final sentence. We need metropolitan and state sharing of urban problems, not walling them off in to an increasingly impoverished setting.

I agree. I recently stayed at a hostel in Bedstuy, Brooklyn, and it was interesting to see how well NYC's government was able to support this gentrifying neighborhood.

In response to the ongoing gentrification if the neighborhood, the government drastically boosted the police presence and noticeably improved the area's infrastructure and level of service. The result was synergistic, leading to a rapid intensification of the reinvestment in the area, with new high-rise apartments going up where Biggie Smalls and Jay-Z once hid from gangs. This, in turn, will allow NYC to pour even more resources into Bedstuy as the area's tax base grows.

Meanwhile, in Metro Detroit, our system of suburban fiefdoms has crippled the City of Detroit's ability to properly support gentrification efforts. Though Detroit has done its best to support recovering neighborhoods, the resources just aren't there to do what really should be done. Imagine if the near west side of Detroit around Downtown had police constantly driving around all throughout the day, everything was cleaned up, and city services were made to be 100% reliable. The neighborhoods would truly boom in a way we have yet to see.

In an era were younger people are practically begging to live in and gentrify big cities, we're pissing away a lot of momentum by not take a broader approach to Detroit's problems that incorporates the resources of the entire region. It's a testament to the power of the pent-up demand for urban living that neighborhoods like Midtown and Corktown improved even this much, because we certainly haven't done much as a region to help. We need to work harder at capitalizing on this momentum while we have the chance, because there is no telling how long it will last at this high of a level. That means pouring more regional resources into Detroit.

Yes, there would be some initial pains experienced by the suburbs if we expanded Detroit's borders or consolidated funds and services on a large scale, we'd all be better off in the long run with a revitalized Detroit. People need to understand that. Too much of our public policy is based off of prejudices from decades ago that don't interest outsiders or new residents. Some here might think everything is great so long as they can keep their suburban enclaves intact, but they have to realize that outsiders just see a dumpy big city and suburbs that are like everywhere else. That puts us at a huge disadvantage when compared to the regions with decent to great big cities and suburbs that are like everywhere else. There's a reason Michigan was the only state to lose population in the census.

[CLAUDE G]

Probably because the only place worse than Detroit is Highland Park.

My thoughts exactly

[renf]

How about also merging the Grosse Pointes and Redford Township with Detroit? We have far too many local governments and local school districts in Michigan. Millions could be saved each year if we switched to county level local government.

[Meddle]

How did Highland Park Police come up with the money to buy new 2012 Dodge Chargers?

[rb336]

i believe they had a grant, like hamtramck did last year

[Wesley Mouch]

Merging is a great idea. As a Hamtramck property owner, I don't like the idea of adding HP and Detroit's problems to Hamtramck's.

While Hamtramck has serious financial problems, it at least has a very functional police/fire department. You'd want to be able to export what works in Hamtramck out to the HP and Detroit. Given the size of Detroit -- I think you'd just be importing Detroit's failures to Hamtramck -- saving money and eliminating successes.

Why not a Hamtramck, HP, Ferndale, Royal Oak merger? [[I know that crosses some sacred political boundaries -- but so what?)

[Danny]

YAY! 2012 marks the end of Southeastern Michigan Liberal union politics. Snyder, the Nerd got where he wants us. To be prisoners in our own flag waving stupidity.

[Danny]

How about also merging the Grosse Pointes and Redford Township with Detroit? We have far too many local governments and local school districts in Michigan. Millions could be saved each year if we switched to county level local government.

Then we must change the 1968 Michigan State Constitution and the 1948 Charter Township law to have cities[[ villages and townships) merge into cities.

[Det_ard]

The only way our region gets regionalized and the suburbs share their tax dollars is if the new entity is large enough to dilute Detroit's voting power to insignificance. No one outside Detroit will pump money into that municipal black hole unless they control the decisions and the spending.

So make a regional government consisting of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb county, population approximately 4.0 million. Detroit is 700K, or 17% of that. On election day, Detroit's votes would be closer to 12% - 15% of the total. So the city would have token representation but the suburbs would have total control. Works for me. No other way.

[Detroitnerd]

I can't imagine a merger of Hamtramck and Detroit would produce much for either.

Hamtramck pays something like more than 80 percent of its budget on police and fire. They do it because it is a priority for them. Were the cities to be merged, Hamtramckans would be very upset about not being able to set that priority.

As for Detroit, the last thing the city government would want would be 22,000 politically engaged citizens showing up at City Council meetings and demanding action on problems.

[1953]

What if Highland Park started contracting out their services, one by one, to Hamtramck. Highland Park would get better service, Hamtramck would get revenue, and eventually the two could merge to create a city with a bigger tax base; I think both city's tax bases are too small to make for much economic stability.