No City of Detroit grass cutting, auto/truck repair,vacant lots.

[pkbroch]

This morning I received and email from our neighborhood Association. It outlines the very drastic cuts outlined by the council. If fully enacted it will lower the little quality of life we. Read and weep, then send these council persons an email.

The following information was sent to me from Roberta Henrion, President of the Friends of Belle Isle, Lori Heinz, President of GreenAcres Woodward Civic Association, and Alicia Biggers-Gaddies from the 12 precinct Neighborhood Coalition. It is quite alarming.

Dear Friends:

Detroit City Council has proposed cutting $9,000,000 from General Services Department and $1,000,000 from Recreation Department. If this happens, both departments will have to lay off all their spring/summer grass cutters and people who pick up trash in the parks.

IF they have to lay off all these people, they will have to close more than 100 parks [[since they will have only a few full time staff left). I [[Lori Heinz) asked what "closed" meant and I was told they will have no one to cut the grass or pick up the trash! They will also have to target for closure some of the larger and harder to maintain parks, including Rouge Park, Palmer Park, Farwell.

I was told that a final decision has not been made on which parks – but I don't think we can afford to not mow any parks. We have to keep our City looking clean and high grass and weeds is not clean, it also is a breeding ground for crime. This means our [[NEXT Detroit and volunteers from Greenacres, 12th Preceinct NC, and other neighborhoods) recent efforts may have been in vain. We are all working hard to make Palmer Park a destination within our neighborhood; one where children can participate in productive organized sports and not in criminal activities since there is nothing productive for them to do. I really understand that budget cuts are necessary; however, changing our city is a holistic process starting with our future, our children.

Also, General Services will cut all budgeted money for vacant lot mowing – meaning no vacant lots will get mowed starting in July – and will lay off over 40 mechanics [[out of 90 mechanics) who repair city wide vehicles including Fire, Police, DPW trucks and other equipment. This will result in slower services to the citizens and response times. I think we all realize the City is in tough financial straights - but to cut money that is a core service seems counterproductive to me. [[I sure hope that these are not the trucks that come out and fix our lights...many of which lights are currently out)

Belle Isle is staffed 75% by spring/summer help – if they are laid off grass will not be cut all summer in the parks along the river including Belle Isle, Gabriel Richard and Erma Henderson. Belle Isle Comfort Stations will be closed and port-johns will return, as we had this winter, because staff will not be hired to maintain and clean them. Nine people are left to maintain all of Belle Isle; they are the same people that maintain all the parks along the river.

I encourage all of your association's Conservation Committees and residents to call City Council members and ask them to reconsider these cuts. There will be public hearings to review the budgets on Tuesday May 25th: 10:00 am in City Council Chambers and/or the evening session starting at 7:00 pm at Mt. Zion Baptist Church at Van Dyke and Mack. Our voices can and need to be heard at these meetings. If your work schedule prevents you from attending, numbers and emails for all of our City Council Members are listed below.



Roberta Henrion, Pres. of Friends of Belle Isle: I realize the City is in tough financial straights - but to cut money that is a core service seems unbelievable. The parks and the entire City will look awful. Where will children go to enjoy their summer vacation? The parks are essential to the well being of Detroit area citizens as is the maintenance of the public vehicles.

If you live or work in the city of Detroit, you pay taxes and your voice should be heard. Please call AND e-mail each Detroit City Council member asking them to reconsider this cut. Also attend the public hearing at 10 am on Tuesday May 25th in City Council Chambers, 2 Woodward Avenue. Your voice should be heard at these meetings.


Listed below are the telephone numbers & e-mail addresses for each council member.

• Council President Charles Pugh 313.224.4510 [[office)
  313.224.0230 [[fax) CouncilPresidentPugh@detroitmi.gov
• Council President Pro Tem Gary Brown [[313) 224-2450
  CouncilMemberBrown@detroitmi.gov
• Saunteel Jenkins
  [[313) 224-4248 [[office)
  [[313) 224-1787 [[fax)
  E-mail: councilmemberjenkins@detroitmi.gov
• Kenneth V. Cockrel, Jr. [[313) 224-4505 [[office)
  [[313) 224-0367 [[fax)
  E-mail: CockrelK@kcockrel.ci.detroit.mi.us
• Brenda Jones [[313) 224-1245 [[office)
  [[313) 224-4095 [[fax)
  E-mail: bjones_mb@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us
• Andre L. Spivey
  [[313) 224-4841[[office)
  [[313) 224-0369 [[fax)
  E-mail: CouncilmanSpivey@detroitmi.gov
• James Tate [[313) 224-1027 [[office)
  [[313) 224-0372 [[fax)
  E-mail: councilmembertate@detroitmi.gov
  
• Kwame Kenyatta [[313) 224-1198 [[office)
  [[313) 224-1684 fax)
  E-mail: K-Kenyatta_MB@detroitmi.gov
• JoAnn Watson [[313) 224-4535 [[office)
  [[313) 224-1524 [[fax)
  E-mail: WatsonJ@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us

[Gannon]

YAY! Operation Johnny WeedSeed will commence immediately...

The only hindrance was that pesky occasional wandering mower...we will succeed in saturating the city with enough THC to render all drug testing moot. Everyone will fail.

[LodgeDodger]

If the council doesn't reinstate the funds, what are the chances of the various neighborhood groups in the city "adopting" a park this summer? It could work. Comments?

[Danny]

Don't rely on your Detroit city leaders to clean up somebody's mess. The People of Detroit must clean up the litter.

[Funaho]

YAY! Operation Johnny WeedSeed will commence immediately...

The only hindrance was that pesky occasional wandering mower...we will succeed in saturating the city with enough THC to render all drug testing moot. Everyone will fail.

It would certainly make the city smell good, too.

[pkbroch]

Many smaller parks are already adopted by neighborhood groups. We in Palmer Woods already have cut our Woodward and Seven Mile greenbelts for at least 20 years. We also maintain our 25 + traffic islands. All of which are city property. We do City clean up projects.

However we do not have the manpower to Keep up all of Palmer Park, with its tennis courts, baseball diamond, pond etc. No one will use those facilities if they have to walk through 3 foot high grass. The park is one mile long and 1/2 mile wide.

The greater problem is Belle Isle and the parks along the waterfront. Close to one thousand acres of parks. So much for the Riverwalk experience.

For those who care whether you live in the area or not email the council with your concerns.

[gazhekwe]

How about this example? http://friendsofelizahowell.org/

When there are limited resources, we all need to think creatively. The government owes us only what we can afford, considering shrinking revenues. Just because we expect something to be given to us because it always has been, doesn't mean we can still get it when the revenues from homeowners and business taxes shrink.

[ventura67]

This is awesome news- not cutting the grass is the next concrete step in allowing the city to disappear so nature can reclaim it! [[After continual building demolitions and a lack of street repairs)

[Hermod]

What is really needed is to reduce the mayor's and the council critter's personal staffs to 1910 levels. Then go in to every city department and fire anybody with a job titile of deputy, assistant, aide, coordinator, or administrative assistant.

[Islandman]

What is really needed is to reduce the mayor's and the council critter's personal staffs to 1910 levels. Then go in to every city department and fire anybody with a job titile of deputy, assistant, aide, coordinator, or administrative assistant.

This I second.

[ggores]

Vacationed over in the neighborhood over the weekend and it was amazing to see, as far as I could see, fields and lots full of big, green, grass blades. Must've been grown well over four feet. It was really something. Biggest problem, and what would seem to be a public safety hazard, was that it is difficult navigating through intersections, the view is so obstructed. But who knows, they may have cut that grass yesterday. I know they cut down grass somewhere. It was on the news.

[English]

What is really needed is to reduce the mayor's and the council critter's personal staffs to 1910 levels. Then go in to every city department and fire anybody with a job titile of deputy, assistant, aide, coordinator, or administrative assistant.

This I second.

It's been properly moved and seconded... I'm ready to vote "aye."

I guess I have to eat humble pie. I really thought with a new mayor and 60% new city council, priorities would change. Guess I was wrong.

You know what? It's not just about the quality of life. This is also, as some have put it, a safety issue.

[ejames01]

Welcome to the Jungle.....

[agirlintheD]

Welcome to the Jungle.....

But, it doesn't have to be this way. When did everything get so out of hand? When did we take so little pride in our city? We really need to get back to basics. I, like English, thought with a new mayor and new council we'd have make strides forward. I can see it's more of the same old, same old.

[Gannon]

Someone cut everything over by Cub's Georgia Street Project...but the rest of the city is now nearly three feet taller, and with these rains today...whoa.

I drove through an alley shortcut near Django's yesterday that was passable just a few short weeks ago...my buddy Buddy was with me, and he couldn't believe I was daring it...like driving through the car wash! The bushes and trees and grass were steadily closing it in and taking over...another few weeks, it will no longer be an alley.


This week on Mutual of Michigan's Wild, Wild, Wild Kingdom...

[Hornwrecker]

Time to call in Operation Ranch Hand.

[kraig]

I hope none of you are falling for this crap. This is all just a campaign orchestrated by the City's General Services Department to get money that was cut put back in their budget. Bing is going to veto the cut and GSD is recruiting people to speak on their behalf so that Council won't override the veto. Somebody tell Brad Dick nice try.

The contracts for grass cutting have already been approved and the money is already there. If people want to get upset, they should get upset with the fact that GSD only plans on cutting the grass twice for the entire season.

They should turn the grass cutting back over to Recreation and DPW. While not perfect, grass was getting cut at least twice a month for a whole lot less.

GSD was one of Kwame's pet departments that served the purpose of hooking up Kwame's friends and family. The City needs to get rid of the department altogether.

[Gannon]

Great catch, Kraig, thanks for the illumination of another shadow these corrupt creeps continue to hide within.

[jt1]

Sounds like perfect community service work for non-violent offenders

[kraig]

Thanks Gannon. No problem.

Jt1. You should get awarded a free meal from the Mexican restaurant of your choice. That's the post of the day.

[Diehard]

What is really needed is to reduce the mayor's and the council critter's personal staffs to 1910 levels. Then go in to every city department and fire anybody with a job titile of deputy, assistant, aide, coordinator, or administrative assistant.

Or tell them their job descriptions have changed, and plant their butts on lawnmowers.

[kahnman]

Let's take it one step further. Re-instate the CCC from the 1930's with a slight twist; call it the CGCC - Civilian Grass Cutting Corps.

[Fnemecek]

I hope none of you are falling for this crap. This is all just a campaign orchestrated by the City's General Services Department to get money that was cut put back in their budget. Bing is going to veto the cut and GSD is recruiting people to speak on their behalf so that Council won't override the veto. Somebody tell Brad Dick nice try.

The contracts for grass cutting have already been approved and the money is already there. If people want to get upset, they should get upset with the fact that GSD only plans on cutting the grass twice for the entire season.

They should turn the grass cutting back over to Recreation and DPW. While not perfect, grass was getting cut at least twice a month for a whole lot less.

GSD was one of Kwame's pet departments that served the purpose of hooking up Kwame's friends and family. The City needs to get rid of the department altogether.

How is splitting the work between two departments more cost-effective than consolidating it into one?

[kraig]

How is splitting the work between two departments more cost-effective than consolidating it into one?

It was done before. Recreation handled the parks and DPW handled the rest. I remember some of the non-profits that I worked with had contracts with the City [[through DPW) to cut the grass at vacant lots in the city. The city had a whole bunch of contracts with a whole lot of non-profits and small businesses to provide the grass cutting.

Once Kwame established the General Services Department, the first thing the Department did was phase out the small businesses and non-profits by consolidating a lot of the properties into bigger contracts. They also required that any bidders had to have enough equipment to handle the capacity of doing so many lots. Of course, only the businesses that had enough equipment to start their own Home Depot store qualified under the new rules. Unfortunately, those companies charge far more to cut than the non-profits and small businesses do. Therefore, the only way that the City could afford those new prices was to have the vendors provide fewer cuts.

Let me give you an example. Under the way DPW used to administer grass cutting contracts, if that good group of civic minded people that was out there cutting at the Tiger Stadium site were to form a small business or non-profit and get a contract with the City. For $25,000.00 or less they could get out there and cut Tiger Stadium and probably a few other lots every week for the entire season. Under the way that GSD administers contracts, that group would probably not qualify because they probably don't have a warehouse with 30 or 40 riding lawnmowers, edgers, etc. GSD would determine that they don't have the capacity to do the job. Even though as evidenced last week, clearly we know that they can. Instead the few big companies [[Kwame's boys) will get the work and charge the political kickback prices that the group that Tiger Stadium would not charge.

As seen on Fox2 last night. The department admitted that the contracts are in place. It's just a matter of time before the vendor gets to certain areas [[You know, those areas that they're sending news cameras to. Then again, maybe the Department is deliberately not getting the job done, in order to make their case that they need more money). Which is the problem with having fewer companies getting all of the work. A handful of businesses are not going to cover as much ground, in the same amount of time, as a hundred or so small businesses and non-profits. The way it is now, over the past five years that GSD has been in existence, grass cutting has slowed down to the pace of dangerous building demolition. Which is, or would be by standards of most other cities, completely unacceptable.

[jams]

It was done before. Recreation handled the parks and DPW handled the rest. I remember some of the non-profits that I worked with had contracts with the City [[through DPW) to cut the grass at vacant lots in the city. The city had a whole bunch of contracts with a whole lot of non-profits and small businesses to provide the grass cutting.

Once Kwame established the General Services Department, the first thing the Department did was phase out the small businesses and non-profits by consolidating a lot of the properties into bigger contracts. They also required that any bidders had to have enough equipment to handle the capacity of doing so many lots. Of course, only the businesses that had enough equipment to start their own Home Depot store qualified under the new rules. Unfortunately, those companies charge far more to cut than the non-profits and small businesses do. Therefore, the only way that the City could afford those new prices was to have the vendors provide fewer cuts.

Let me give you an example. Under the way DPW used to administer grass cutting contracts, if that good group of civic minded people that was out there cutting at the Tiger Stadium site were to form a small business or non-profit and get a contract with the City. For $25,000.00 or less they could get out there and cut Tiger Stadium and probably a few other lots every week for the entire season. Under the way that GSD administers contracts, that group would probably not qualify because they probably don't have a warehouse with 30 or 40 riding lawnmowers, edgers, etc. GSD would determine that they don't have the capacity to do the job. Even though as evidenced last week, clearly we know that they can. Instead the few big companies [[Kwame's boys) will get the work and charge the political kickback prices that the group that Tiger Stadium would not charge.

As seen on Fox2 last night. The department admitted that the contracts are in place. It's just a matter of time before the vendor gets to certain areas [[You know, those areas that they're sending news cameras to. Then again, maybe the Department is deliberately not getting the job done, in order to make their case that they need more money). Which is the problem with having fewer companies getting all of the work. A handful of businesses are not going to cover as much ground, in the same amount of time, as a hundred or so small businesses and non-profits. The way it is now, over the past five years that GSD has been in existence, grass cutting has slowed down to the pace of dangerous building demolition. Which is, or would be by standards of most other cities, completely unacceptable.

Funny to think, while we have so many unemployed looking for things to do, we need contracts with large companies to do simple work.