Clowncil blasts fire and police

**mam2009** · October-09-10, 08:40 PM

Why DO our newspapers try to get us all riled up about our City Council? Here's a link to a website that just put the facts out there without the controversy peddling headline.

http://tellusdetroit.com/city-gov/co...rm-100710.html

Just the facts, ma'am. Just the facts.

Buy American · October-09-10, 10:07 PM

Originally Posted by mam2009

Other than in the title of the article, there is absolutely nothing in the article that states that the Detroit City Council blamed the fires on the fire and police. It sounds as if they are more appalled at DTE and at the Mayor characterizing this as a "natural disaster" that couldn't have been prevented. Did you read beyond the title?

" At the heated hearing, council members blasted DTE and the police and fire departments for slow response times"...

Did you read the entire article?

**mam2009** · October-10-10, 02:00 AM

Originally Posted by Buy American

" At the heated hearing, council members blasted DTE and the police and fire departments for slow response times"...

Did you read the entire article?

My apologies. I stand corrected. I should have said, other than in the subjective first line of the article, there is NO indication that the Council members were "blasting" the police and fire departments by casting blame upon them. As the far less provocative link that I posted from Tell Us Detroit illustrates [[and a viewing of the meeting which is posted on the Council's website shows), the vast majority of the Council's questions were just trying to figure out what happened and how to prevent it from happening again. If there was a tone of blame, it was focused moreso towards DTE and the MANAGEMENT [[i.e. the Mayor and his appointees) who made some regrettable choices such as when the Mayor referred to this tragedy as a "natural disaster" as if it were neither forseeable nor preventable.

The Councilmembers did seem to understand that response times were hampered because fire and police were babysitting down power lines. But, by and large, they were not blaming our frontline employees for that. They were trying to figure out why so many lines were down in the first place, particularly since this problem seemed to be limited to Detroit. As I've said many times before, for those of you who formulate your opinions about a matter based on what the newspapers print, do your own research. But in this case, one just needs to read carefully and critically beyond the headline and the first sentence.

**MrJones** · October-10-10, 11:29 AM

Bravo to the city council for opening a public debate on these important issues. Now that the door is open, citizens of Detroit and fire and police should openly, publicly state their views on the reasons for the apparent delays in response and offer up some improvement ideas.
It's obvious the first statement given doesn't have all the answers. Use the media to offer up constructive solutions and apply pressure to implement the better ideas.
Outrage from the Council and defensiveness from the Departments don't help solve anything.

**Meddle** · October-10-10, 01:24 PM

Just the facts, ma'am. Just the facts.

Meanwhile, Wayne County Sheriff's Deputies are patrolling an east side neighborhood due to the high crime rate.

**mam2009** · October-10-10, 03:47 PM

Thank you, Wayne County. The DPD needs all the extra help it can get. Too much crime, not enough crime fighters and nosy loose-lipped neighbors anymore. By the way, the Council has requested that the Fire Dpt return to the Council every 30 days to give a status report on the efforts to get our ambulances up and running. Do you know that HALF of the ambulances [[most of which are new) are sitting at a dealership awaiting repairs? How does a dpt run like that? The Council put money back into the budget last year for EMS, but I guess the "CLOWNCIL" gets blamed for that too. Let's stop demonizing the Council and stick to the facts. Everybody is doing without equipment they need to do their jobs better in this City - from 911 operators to the DPD to the Finance Dpt to the City Council. The City is broke. We've got a virtually new Council and a new mayor. How about supporting the Council? How about doing something that would encourage people to move their families and businesses back to this city instead of always having something negative to say about those of us who still live here and are working our butts off to try to make it better with the limited resources we all have to work with? Forgive me, I'm a little grouchy today.

**fryar** · October-10-10, 05:46 PM

Originally Posted by mam2009

Do you know that HALF of the ambulances [[most of which are new) are sitting at a dealership awaiting repairs? How does a dpt run like that?

I have wondered that myself. It's hard to imagine money couldn't be drummed up for repairs.

**mam2009** · October-10-10, 08:20 PM

Originally Posted by fryar

I have wondered that myself. It's hard to imagine money couldn't be drummed up for repairs.

Its actually not a money problem. The Ford dealer where they were taken for warranty repairs only has one mechanic to work on them! And so you wonder to yourself, why would a dpt only rely on one dealership when there are so many! That is a MANAGEMENT problem. My point, again, is that while it may be easy to blame the Council for EVERYTHING and disrespect them by referring to them as "Clowncil", the fact is that Council is a legislative body. They do not manage the folks who are charged with running the departments. That is the Mayor's job.

**Zacha341** · October-10-10, 08:34 PM

Hah! You've probably got a point there... I do know of one house that was doing that on my block... for certain the gas and electric box tampering/ by pass is going down. Comcast is vigilant it seems to cut down on the illegal hook ups of their services.

Originally Posted by softailrider

I'm in the city every day, I see illegal hookups all over. I do not however, see a lot of extension cords passed between houses.

**Hermod** · October-11-10, 04:48 AM

Originally Posted by mam2009

Let's stop demonizing the Council and stick to the facts. Everybody is doing without equipment they need to do their jobs better in this City - from 911 operators to the DPD to the Finance Dpt to the City Council. The City is broke. We've got a virtually new Council and a new mayor. How about supporting the Council? How about doing something that would encourage people to move their families and businesses back to this city instead of always having something negative to say about those of us who still live here and are working our butts off to try to make it better with the limited resources we all have to work with?

One very inexpensive way to fix things in the city would be to give me a copy of the city organization charts and a stack of non-recourse pink slips. In a month, i could reduce the salary load on the city budget without reducing the number of people that actually work at doing things for the city. With the city less than half the size it was in 1950, the council only needs half the personal staffs the council had back then. That is where I would start. I could go through the headquarters of the DPD and make cuts without affecting the number of officers on patrol.

**DetLiving** · October-11-10, 08:06 AM

We must remember that it was City Council, led by Gary Brown and Sauntel Jenkins that slashed the police and fire budget. Council also raised their individual office budgets while they advocated for the cuts in police and file. How much are we as Detroiters suppose to put up with?

Buy American · October-11-10, 10:14 AM

Originally Posted by DetLiving

We must remember that it was City Council, led by Gary Brown and Sauntel Jenkins that slashed the police and fire budget. Council also raised their individual office budgets while they advocated for the cuts in police and file. How much are we as Detroiters suppose to put up with?

This statement is 100% correct.

Originally Posted by mam2009

Its actually not a money problem. The Ford dealer where they were taken for warranty repairs only has one mechanic to work on them! And so you wonder to yourself, why would a dpt only rely on one dealership when there are so many! That is a MANAGEMENT problem. My point, again, is that while it may be easy to blame the Council for EVERYTHING and disrespect them by referring to them as "Clowncil", the fact is that Council is a legislative body. They do not manage the folks who are charged with running the departments. That is the Mayor's job.

The City of Detroit Common Council is run by a bunch of clowns, as was the previous one. The only reason Charles Pugh was elected was name recognition. Article after article was written about his inability to budget his money, he was sued by his condo association for non-payment of dues, he went into foreclosure....then he is elected with the most votes to become Council President. The members of council will always be called "clowncil" by me because they acted like clowns before this new group came into office and the new members are perpetuating the moniker by their antics. They are all a bunch of hypocrites....blaming others for slow response time, etc., when they could have budgeted funds for Police and Fire but chose not to.

As Monica Conyers [[the Chief Clown) said: "Get your house in order"...start getting these illegal hook-ups taken down because that is the biggest cause of fires in Detroit at this time. Take responsibility for the City of Detroit and trim your own budgets before you trim essential department budgets.

**Meddle** · October-11-10, 02:09 PM

I'm not sure what the operating budgets are for the Council and Mayor's Office, but I would imagine they could be cut by 25% at least with little or no effect on their daily operations.

First thing to go would be the cars and bodyguards for the Council and strict tightening of their expense accounts. If the body guards are POs, they would be reassigned to uniformed precinct patrols.

**fryar** · October-11-10, 05:13 PM

I agree. Ride the bus. Seriously.

There's no need for these people to jet-set anywhere, pick up Jesse Jackson "in style" or represent Detroit pride with some fancy wheels.

Ride the bus.

Edit: OK, the mayor, mayhaps. But not the council.