Rev. Jim Holley envisions Detroit-based culinary, hospitality training academy for youth
DSO’s Classical Roots honors the flame of great African-American music in Detroit
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Volume 80 – Number 26
Gretchen Whitmer makes her case to be Michigan’s next governor
michiganchronicle.com
March 8-14, 2017
New St. Paul Tabernacle Church of God in Christ is where a group of more than 200 Detroit ministers gathered last week to protest dramatic water rate hikes. Mayor Mike Duggan and DWSB Director Gary Brown say the city will do everything it can to work with churches to resolve the issue. PHOTO: Alisha Dixon
By Keith A. Owens Senior Editor
On Tuesday, Jan. 3, former Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer became the first candidate to announce her intention to run for the office of governor of Michigan. Since that time, she has been campaigning hard across the state in an effort to get a head start on the process and to become a familiar face and presence to a larger number of Michigan voters. Last week, Whitmer visited the Michigan Chronicle to talk more about Gretchen Whitmer her background, her positions on the issues, and why she believes she is best suited to be Michigan’s chief executive. What made you decide to run? I remember when Michigan led the world. The best schools in the country, the best job opportunities. You could make a good living and have a nice retirement. Put your kids in a position to be better off than you were. I think we deserve better from our leaders. [But] there are three things that put me over the top: the scandal at the State House between two legislators that put Michigan on the national news in the most embarrassing light again [referring to the highly-publicized affair between former Michigan State reps, Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat, that led to a fabricated sex scandal invented by Courser as a clumsy way to try to hide their indiscretions in 2015], the fake road plan that the governor and the legislature patted themselves on the back for and pretended like they fixed the infrastructure in Michigan when they haven’t, and finally, the Flint water crisis. It was all those things that made me look at where we are as a state, and I thought we need somebody who’s going to fight for the people. What are the impediments to getting a workable infrastructure/roads repair plan done? Well, it comes with a huge price tag. The governor’s commission on infrastructure came back and said in order to really fix the problem that we have, it’s going to cost $4 billion a year for, like, 20 years. So the governor, even though he’s got a super majority in the legislature, can’t seem to get the Republicans to agree to figure out how to pay for that. We haven’t seen a meaningful plan put on the table that looks like they can get it passed. Now, President Trump is talking infrastructure, but what does that mean in terms of the reality of money coming back to Michigan so that we can put it into our roads? And how do we have confidence that that’s where the money will ultimately go? As governor, what would be the priority items for Detroit? I really believe that a strong governor can do a lot of things to help with the school sys-
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WHITMER page A-4
Daylight Savings Time Begins March 12 Remember to set your clocks forward one hour.
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But if churches can’t pay their water bills, then who?
By Keith A. Owens
ly been much more than a house of prayer and worship, they are a place of refuge. In other words, churches don’t just manage the business of the hereafter, they are frequently called upon to manage the here and right now. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is the most obvious example of that, but there are so many others, some of them right here in our own city.
Senior Editor
Last week, more than 200 Detroit pastors gathered to hold a press conference and publicly register their discontent with the looming prospect of dramatically increased water bills due to recalculated drainage fees attached to their properties. This issue has been brewing for quite some time, so it’s not surprising that it’s finally coming to a head. And it’s also completely understandable why the churches are not only upset but why many are worried about their ability to keep their doors open if they can’t find a way to work out an arrangement to lighten the load. Consider this: Your water bill used to be several hundred dollars a month, but then one day you are notified that some adjustments had to be made and your bill is about to blow up by several thousand dollars per month. Do you think you might be a shocked? Or maybe the phrase “freaked out” comes a bit closer to how you might feel. Perhaps even a phrase that cannot be reprinted in a family newspaper. So now you know how the churches feel, because this is not an exaggeration in more than one case involving newly assessed church properties. But there are almost always two sides to a story, and after speaking with Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) Director Gary Brown recently about the problem, it became clear that there is considerably more to this story that hasn’t been fully reported as of yet. The gist of the problem boils down to this: If the churches are unable to
All that is understood and greatly appreciated. However, as Detroit continues to right-size itself, an unfortunate part of that right-here-and-rightnow is that the water bill is coming due. Not only for churches, it should be noted, but for a number of businesses, organizations and institutions. Brown re-emphasized the position of Mayor Mike Duggan that the city will do everything it can to work with the affected churches.
Gary Brown pay their drainage fees, somebody else has to because they are not going away. In many cases, a significant part of the problem is due not only to the size of some church parking lots, but to all the additional properties owned by some of these churches where water drainage fees are also owed. In some instances there are as many as 30 or more additional properties attached to one church. Understand that this is not meant in any way to be a blanket indictment of Detroit’s pastors or churches. Certainly some manage their affairs better than others, but in so many cases, it is the churches that have stepped in to bridge the communal gaps where government programs have been unable to step up for so many years. Churches, particularly in the black community, have historical-
What follows is portion of the Chronicle’s interview with Brown. From your viewpoint, what is the main complaint of the churches? What are they upset about? GB: Their main complaint is that the new drainage charge that’s being rolled out is going to put a lot of them out of business and it’s just not affordable for them to pay the charge. They’re feeding the poor, clothing the poor, sheltering the poor, and the dollars being used to pay the water bill is going to take away from those resources. And in a lot of cases that’s legitimate. At the same time, the Water Department is mandated by law and by regulation to treat everybody equally and fairly. And so we’ve got to find a compromise that meets the goal of equity and fairness, and at the
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BILLS page A-4
Detroit: A case study in moving local housing market forward Because of decades of disinvestment, population loss and exclusionary housing policies, Detroit’s housing market experienced distress well before the housing market collapse and the recession.
Most notably, Detroit’s population between ages 25 and 44, the group with the greatest transitions to homeownership, fell sharply between 1990 and 2014.
A healthy housing market is an important component of a healthy city. It enables residents to build wealth and respond to opportunities, gives cities resources to provide its residents services and fosters community by supporting a mix of residents. In a recently published report the Urban Institute, Detroit is used as a case study to examine three interdependent elements of a healthy housing market: demand, supply and credit access. In Detroit, these elements pose significant barriers to residents and other parties working in the housing market. Yet, Detroit policymakers, lenders and nonprofits have designed
programs and policies to address these challenges and jump start the housing market. We examine these core challenges, identify trends and document promising programs in Detroit and beyond.
has fallen significantly. In 2000, 55 percent of Detroit residents owned their homes. By 2010, the share had fallen to 51 percent. This decline occurred for several reasons.
Demand
First, Detroit’s population has seen steady losses since 1970.
Homeownership
in
Detroit
Second, people who remained in Detroit suffered from unemployment rates and incomes that did not keep pace with regional and national trends. In April 2016, Detroit’s unemployment rate was 9.1 percent, 4.4 percentage points higher than the national unemployment rate. Detroit’s median household income fell short of national averages by $27,000. Other factors that contributed to the population decline include high taxes, low-performing schools and safety concerns. Supply Detroit’s housing supply lost more than 45,000 units between 1990 and 2013, with the number
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