The EM, The End of Democracy and Our Collective Future

As a longtime community volunteer and now mayoral candidate, I was horrified at the EM's Threat Meeting, where I kissed democracy good-bye. My heart is broken. We are the last people to know democracy if this EM structure succeeds and spreads. I was so beside myself at the multitude of threats from him, I couldn't even yell, like in a movie when the killer comes and no scream comes out of the victim's mouth. It is one thing to know about something like the end of democracy, it is another thing to live it. It was mind boggling to watch a man with such a misunderstanding of Detroiters and who was the embodiment of the end of democracy. The silence of the crowd was mainly disbelief and holding back vomit, not agreement.

If the New Mayor Won't Be My Puppet Then...
He basically said that if the new mayor does not agree with him, maybe its better that they start their term after he leaves. Democracy can wait, right? Isn't that their saying? As well there is some financial oversight board he leaves behind forever to plague the new mayor with their agenda. What happened to the old fashioned model - elected officials do their jobs and LAW ENFORCEMENT DO THEIR JOBS WATCHING THEM AND PROSECUTING THEM WHEN THEY DO WRONG?

Fried Chicken and Lynching

Overall, there was the whole threatening tone, his stomach turning attitude and his fakey little snippets about his life and his trips to a fast food chicken restaurant. Even he seemed surprised that his speech writer put the restaurant in there twice. I suspect his speech was made by a racist white speech writer to 1. make him seem like he really isn't probably just getting room service at the Book Cadillac off our tax money - he is just a regular guy and 2. to outright make fun of Detroiters in a sinister way where they could wicked belly laugh - the kind that racist white people have not been able to do since the Klan ran around and lynched people. Only this time, they are so proud of themselves that they are about to lynch the whole city financially and hang it from a tree.

Belle Isle
Belle Isle could be a source of much revenue if city leaders (or unelected, unconstitutional Snyder employees) would collect the revenues for the people of Detroit. There was just a music festival with 40,000 non-Detroiters on the island. How much money did Detroit make from it? It made the island almost completely inaccessible to the people who regularly use the island on the weekend. To say they left it open to the public, they said you could walk across the bridge.

When the EM or others spout off about how much it costs to keep up the island, revenues are rarely discussed, AT A TIME WE ARE ON THE EDGE OF BANKRUPTCY. Why wouldn't a city want to keep something that is revenue producing? We are being robbed in daylight. This is the deal: they say we can't afford to keep up the island. They give it to the state, the state makes the revenue off it until they can figure out how to slide into some smarmy hands who want to put condos on it to make it look some crappy richy inaccessible island of which there are already too many on earth. In the EM's Threat Meeting he mentioned something about fixing the boathouse. Really, is that how he is calculating the cost to keep up the island? That would be unnecessary to me and it makes me worry about how he is calculating every single thing. Just one more peek into the mess of the future - he doesn't know Detroit so he will make bad decisions. I would like the opportunity to explain democracy slowly to him like how he explained Detroit's financial issues at a second grade level to myself and the other intelligent people at the EM Threat Meeting. Here it is: you see, we usually ELECT officials who LIVE here and they work with the people who live here to make these kinds of decisions for the good of the community. But enough of my nonsense about our former democratic system.


His Vision for Detroit - Expensive Apartments like New York

When he gave a sketchy snippet of the New York "bankruptcy", he said there were union protests and riots (he is clearly expecting them here and is prepared - how much did that bomb squad cost to come to the meeting?). He also said, but look how they are doing well and have some thousands of dollar apartments. As if that is our city's goal? That is success? No, Mr. Orr, that is just the dream of shallow rich people. That is why rich people do not usually make good public leaders. In the end, when people whose empty souls who only care about money get in power, they ironically drive the economy into the ground from their own short-sightedness and short term cash focused solutions. There are so many things wrong with this EM structure that will actually reverberate into the surrounding rich communities and hold Detroit and Michigan back even further. Mark my words. Will I have a chance to turn the Snyder titanic to just miss the iceberg? 

What I Think Detroit Needs
Detroit needs a REAL and updated version of its financial situation from which to make good decisions - like an infusion of updated software and enough staff to process all financial paperwork. There are probably some parts that need the FBI to come in and shake them down. There needs to be a truly independent thorough audit that is unconnected to the City and to the State. Once that is done, then we  (elected officials and members of the community with strong financial backgrounds and those with good ideas) can decide how to move on, with the good of the people of Detroit, of southeastern Michigan, and Michigan as a whole. This is not just about preserving democracy, it is also about making smart decisions for the long term of the region and protecting all the people, not just a few banks, investors and gentrifiers.