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Volume 78 – Number 28
Judge Charles Farmer dies There will be a memorial service for Judge Charles Southall Farmer Sr. on Friday, March 27, 6 p.m. at Plymouth United Church of Christ, 600 E. Warren Ave. Visitation will be Charles from 4 to 6 Farmer p.m.
CHRONICLE SENIOR EDITOR
Contrary to conventional wisdom and what has long permeated in this town, Detroiters are actually responding to the Office of the Wayne County Treasurer by either paying their taxes or making payment arrangements. Here is the statistical breakdown.
Following law school graduation, Judge Farmer served as an assistant Wayne Country prosecutor and later an assistant state attorney general. In the 1950s he and others formed a pioneering Black law firm.
Judge Farmer is survived by a son, Charles Jr.; a daughter, Nancy; six grandsons, four great-grandsons, an array of nieces, nephews and others.
WHAT’S INSIDE
The Women of Excellence Experience With Special Guest Speaker
Desiree rogers
CEO, Johnson Publishing Company
March 27, 2015
MGM Grand Casino and Hotel Sponsored by
Presidential abuse (Page B-4) “No stunt is too low or too vile for conservatives who hate everything about President Obama,” writes George E. Curry.
Beyond Basics (Page B-1)
DETROIT DEPUTY MAYOR Isaiah “Ike” McKinnon speaks during the launching of the Detroit 1967 Project last week at the Detroit Historical Museum. McKinnon recalled in his remarks that he was a Detroit police officer at the time of the riot. He said during that time he was pulled over one night by two White officers from DPD who paid no regard to him being a fellow officer. In the process of being pulled over an altercation ensued when the officers told him he was going to die that night. He exchanged shots with the officers and luckily drove away alive.
WHY DETROIT
1967 Matters Historical Society launches giant project to connect the past to the present and future
D
ecades after the 1967 race riot in Detroit triggered by a police raid of an after-hours bar, the Detroit Historical Society (DHS) is returning to that pivotal moment in the city’s history with the giant task of retelling the stories of 1967. In his first print interview with Bankole Thompson, editor of the Michigan Chronicle, DHS President & CEO Robert Bury explains in detail why the Detroit 1967 Project is afoot to mark the commemoration of the riot which will take place two years from now. MICHIGAN CHRONICLE: Why the Detroit 1967 Project?
ROBERT BURY: The Detroit Historical Society’s mission is to tell Detroit’s stories and why they matter. Arguably, the events of 1967 are among the most significant stories of the last 100 years. Telling that story in a thoughtful, objective way is both our responsibility and duty to the community. By telling Detroit’s story — in our own words as Detroiters — and inviting the participation of a diverse base of people and organizations across the community, we hope to promote the understanding of our collective past and foster the cooperation and reconciliation that will enable us to emerge stronger, resilient and hopeful for the days ahead. The well-known quotation, “Those who cannot learn from history are destined to
See 1967 page A-3
Helping underserved children in Detroit and surrounding communities is the mission of Beyond Basics, a literacy based organization.
Compassionate hospice care (Page C-1) David Turner is a strong advocate for championing and rendering hospice care in Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties.
A TV presence since age three (Page D-1)
JOSEPH L. HUDSON Jr., founding chairman of New Detroit, Inc. which was created after the 1967 riot, addresses those gathered for the Detroit 1967 Project press conference at the Detroit Historical Museum.
Raven-Symoné, now 29, was first introduced to television viewers as Olivia, step-granddaughter of Heathcliff and Clair Huxtable on “The Cosby Show.” She has always been there since then, including two additional series, “Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper” and “That’s So Raven.”
Out of the 62,000 parcels of land that were served, 17,000, representing 27 percent, have paid their 2012 taxes and are out of Bankole Thompson foreclosure. On top of that, there is 10,000 owners of land which represents 16 percent of the entire foreclosure list who are on a payment agreement. The deputy county treasurer, David Szymanski, told me that as long as those respondents keep up their payments they can avoid foreclosure. Additionally about 2000 homeowners are in the process of making payment arrangements, which accounts for 3 percent of the foreclosure list. The distressed owner occupant extensions, meaning individuals who have not owed any taxes prior to 2012, represents another 1000 homeowners, or 1.5 percent. Those individuals have been given a year to pay what they owe for 2012. The Treasurer’s Office now has 1000 owners who are in what is called hold status, basically homeowners who are facing dire financial issues like bankruptcy. About 400 of the 1000 are already in bankruptcy. Given this statistical breakdown, the treasurer’s office noted that about 31,000 parcel owners are still facing foreclosure, which is 50 percent of Detroiters. But because of the canvassing Szymanski and the office has been doing they discovered that 10,500 of the 31,000 parcels are actually vacant land with no structure which basically means 34 percent are vacant land. Another 8,000 of the 31,000 parcels are structures that have been abandoned accounting for 26 percent. The occupied structures represent 12,500 parcels or 40 percent of the 31,000 foreclosure list. The Treasurer’s Office believes that among these numbers there are landlords who are collecting rent and not paying taxes. When you assess the overall numbers, it does represent tremendous effort to reduce the number of foreclosures in the city and underscores the fact that Detroiters are paying their taxes. But as Szymanski indicated, it is still depressing to think that people are being foreclosed on. “The economy has been devastating to so many in Detroit and Wayne County. When the choice is to feed one’s family or pay taxes, the choice is obvious. Once one neglects the taxes, the impact is not immediate. People have grown accustomed to neglecting taxes. That must end. A requirement of ownership is the payment of taxes. Properties receive services whether or not the taxes are paid,” Szymanski said. “If one does not pay the electric bill, service is terminated. When one does not pay taxes we cannot tell the fire department to deny
See TAXES page A-3
‘Psychological gentrification’ vs. the new Detroit By Zack Burgess EDITOR-AT-LARGE MICHIGAN CHRONICLE
The drive down Woodward Avenue is attention-grabbing. It wasn’t long ago that Midtown and the Cass Corridor were examples of urban decay. Today they are hip, trendy — and mostly White. It gets even more interesting. Drive down Gratiot Avenue, make a left into the Eastern Market, drive a little further down and you can see a two-bedroom condo starting at $300,000. The deeper and deeper you look into what’s happening in Detroit, the more you understand that it is not only a city gentrifying, but morphing.
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Detroiters are paying taxes on foreclosed parcels By Bankole Thompson
Tennessee-born Judge Farmer died on March 10 at the age of 94.
In 1961, Judge Farmer accepted an appointment to the Detroit Common Pleas Court. Later he was elected to the Wayne County Circuit Court (now Third Circuit Court), serving for a quarter of a century.
March 25-31, 2015
KEN COCKREL JR, executive director of the Detroit Future City project.
Many people are making their way back to Detroit. And as more and more young Whites and empty nesters from the suburbs move back to
the city, many want to know how it will affect Blacks who have occupied this city for many decades. “I think at the end of the day when we talk about gentrification, George N’Namdi’s lesson is one that we really should all learn from,” said Ken Cockrel Jr., executive director of Detroit Future City. “He foresaw what was coming, positioned himself and took advantage of it. All too often when we talk about gentrification it starts from a place of fear. That’s really not the place we should be starting from. We should be starting it from a standpoint of curiosity and how we can seize the opportunity, because that’s how you get what George has developed here, like what Chris Jackson has done with Queen Lillian.” Recently, the N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art held its first of
See THE
NEW DETROIT page A-3