Gary Brown to resign from council to become Orr's 2nd.

[Locke09]

There is nothing particularly "competent" that Gary Brown has done that supports his being considered head and shoulders above everyone else on council. Agreeing with the governor on everything doesn't count as competence. Competence implies having accomplished something, designed something, discovered something, done something successfully.

What profound ideas have come from Gary Brown? He has been advocating that DPD can still be cut while the EM is saying it needs to be built up. In fact, "cut, cut, cut" is all Gary Brown has advocated on council while the EM is really saying the city can't afford to cut anymore. No, this is his reward for carrying the state's water. Especially since he won't be re-elected to anything in Detroit right now.

His new role will however give him an opportunity to reveal just how competent he is or is not.

But maybe I'm just not comfortable yet with the sneaky way he and his attorney extracted his millions. I'm afraid I'm starting to see a trend.

[313WX]

There is nothing particularly "competent" that Gary Brown has done that supports his being considered head and shoulders above everyone else on council. Agreeing with the governor on everything doesn't count as competence. Competence implies having accomplished something, designed something, discovered something, done something successfully.

What profound ideas have come from Gary Brown? He has been advocating that DPD can still be cut while the EM is saying it needs to be built up. In fact, "cut, cut, cut" is all Gary Brown has advocated on council while the EM is really saying the city can't afford to cut anymore. No, this is his reward for carrying the state's water. Especially since he won't be re-elected to anything in Detroit right now.

His new role will however give him an opportunity to reveal just how competent he is or is not.

But maybe I'm just not comfortable yet with the sneaky way he and his attorney extracted his millions. I'm afraid I'm starting to see a trend.

Well said Locke09. Competence first and foremost involves being objective, just not rubber stamping everything to serve your self-interest.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

There is nothing particularly "competent" that Gary Brown has done that supports his being considered head and shoulders above everyone else on council. Agreeing with the governor on everything doesn't count as competence. Competence implies having accomplished something, designed something, discovered something, done something successfully.

What profound ideas have come from Gary Brown? He has been advocating that DPD can still be cut while the EM is saying it needs to be built up. In fact, "cut, cut, cut" is all Gary Brown has advocated on council while the EM is really saying the city can't afford to cut anymore. No, this is his reward for carrying the state's water. Especially since he won't be re-elected to anything in Detroit right now.

His new role will however give him an opportunity to reveal just how competent he is or is not.

But maybe I'm just not comfortable yet with the sneaky way he and his attorney extracted his millions. I'm afraid I'm starting to see a trend.

I agree. Gary Brown is nobody special. He's getting into this for his own personal satisfaction and gain. I mean, I'd ride off into the sunset, with my million dollar payoff, never to be heard from again.

[michimoby]

I agree. Gary Brown is nobody special. He's getting into this for his own personal satisfaction and gain. I mean, I'd ride off into the sunset, with my million dollar payoff, never to be heard from again.

...and there's a better option?

Look at your mayoral candidates, folks. Take what you can get.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

...and there's a better option?

Look at your mayoral candidates, folks. Take what you can get.

Who's to say he is a better option besides you ? I find Gary Brown to be self-serving. " I mean like, what's in it for me"?

[EastsideAl]

this is his reward for carrying the state's water

Bingo. No other mainstream politician in Detroit did Snyder's dirty work, so Brown was the obvious choice.

[erikd]

There is nothing particularly "competent" that Gary Brown has done that supports his being considered head and shoulders above everyone else on council. Agreeing with the governor on everything doesn't count as competence. Competence implies having accomplished something, designed something, discovered something, done something successfully.

What profound ideas have come from Gary Brown? He has been advocating that DPD can still be cut while the EM is saying it needs to be built up. In fact, "cut, cut, cut" is all Gary Brown has advocated on council while the EM is really saying the city can't afford to cut anymore. No, this is his reward for carrying the state's water. Especially since he won't be re-elected to anything in Detroit right now.

His new role will however give him an opportunity to reveal just how competent he is or is not.

But maybe I'm just not comfortable yet with the sneaky way he and his attorney extracted his millions. I'm afraid I'm starting to see a trend.

WTF are you talking about? What sneaky way did he extract millions?
Are you asserting that Gary Brown perpetrated some kind of nefarious scheme to frame Kwame Kilpatrick just so Brown could win a whistleblower lawsuit and then become a tool for a governor who nobody even thought was a legitimate candidate at the time?

And what the fuck do you mean by "this is his reward for carrying the state's water."?

I love my city, and I frequently call out the shortcomings of our state government, but the city of Detroit is not a sovereign entity, and the state of Mighigan is not an enemy of Detroit, nor is the state some kind of evil organization that is hell-bent on hurting Detroit.

I hear the anti-EM and anti-state accusations. but what exactly is behind the fears? What do you think that the state/governor/EM is going to do to hurt the city of Detroit?

Is the state and EM going to make Belle Isle like Milliken State Park on the riverfront? I surely hope so, because MSP is a wonderful asset to the city and city residents. Is the state and EM going to regionalize DWSD? If the city can retain ownership and a significant voice in operations, and finally collect a steady revenue stream from this asset, this is a huge win. When we regionalized Cobo, the city saved $15 million a year, and the funding and maintenance costs were shifted to the region. The city still owns Cobo, but the entire region is now responsible for the costs of expansion, maintenance and operations.

For years, we have been saying that the region and state should step up and shoulder some of the costs that Detroit has been paying for decades to support regional assets. Now that Detroit is broke, the region and state are finally starting to step up to fund things like Cobo, Belle Isle, the DIA, the Detroit Zoo, etc.

Finally the rest of Michigan is stepping up to help out, so what is the problem?

[corktownyuppie]

Finally the rest of Michigan is stepping up to help out, so what is the problem?

The problem is that some Detroiters think that the financial assistance should be on our terms.

Other Detroiters don't care whose terms it's under...only about the level of service they are receiving.

The first group is getting a reality check right now. And the 2nd group is starting to get better service.

[Locke09]

WTF are you talking about? What sneaky way did he extract millions?
Are you asserting that Gary Brown perpetrated some kind of nefarious scheme to frame Kwame Kilpatrick just so Brown could win a whistleblower lawsuit and then become a tool for a governor who nobody even thought was a legitimate candidate at the time?

And what the fuck do you mean by "this is his reward for carrying the state's water."?

I'll just respond to your first two questions because I decided to ignore everything else after the unnecessary cursing assuming it would just be more filth.

Surely you took the time to recall, before replying to me, how the jury had awarded Brown 6.5 million. Kilpatrick was set to appeal the case. Brown's attorney, with text messages he was not supposed to have as they were supposed to have been sent directly to the judge, let Kilpatrick know he had the text messages and asked Kilpatrick to agree to a settlement. They crafted an agreement for 8.5 million that was sent to City Council for approval, without revealing to Council why they all of a sudden decided to settle. His attorney, along with others, was disciplined. I for one don't believe that Brown was not aware of all of this so I consider him to have been a part of this underhandedness that resulted in the City paying more than it might otherwise have. If you will let the ends justify the means in one situation you'll do it in another so you are sneaky in my book. My opinion and I'm sticking with it.

I mean he carried the governor's water by siding with the state on every thing it proposed for the City. He was the only councilmember to vote against appealing to the governor to not appoint an emergency manager. Whether you agree with him or not he was the one always siding with Lansing no matter what Lansing proposed.

Now you know what the f I meant and you can disagree as vehemently as you like.