Tika Sumpter
Shaun Robinson
shines the spotlight on human trafficking in Detroit
in dual role as leading lady and producer in ‘Southside With You’
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POWERED BY REAL TIMES MEDIA
August 24-30, 2016
michiganchronicle.com
Volume 79 – Number 50
DWSD hunts bigtime offenders, millions at stake Industrial businesses and even churches have cost the city billions in uncollected revenue
By Keith A. Owens Senior Editor
Come Oct. 1, the owners of 22,000 parcels in Detroit are going to experience a state of shock, courtesy of the Detroit Water and Sewer Department (DWSD). But unlike the first wave of unsettling news to come from the DWSD two years ago when the department was making international headlines resulting from a rash of residential customer shutoffs for delinquency and nonpayment, this time the target for collections are the truly big fish who have not been paying their fair share of water rates — if they’ve been paying anything at all — for years. The announcement of this approach comes at Gary Brown an opportune time for DWSD, which made news again last week due to fears that its WRAP program, targeted to provide payment assistance for lower income customers, was running out of money. DWSD Director Gary Brown quickly put that fear to rest, saying that this was not true. It is also an important response to critics who charged that the rampant shutoffs were unfairly targeting poor and low-income residents for non-payment while allowing larger corporate, industrial and non-profit businesses (including many churches) to walk away free and clear. Not anymore, because in the end, money does talk. And the amount of uncollected funds represented by these 22,000 customers, many of whom are also absentee landlords and real estate speculators, is enough to make a dead man shout. The amount of money that DWSD could have collected from them over the past six years amounts to roughly $75 million — money that they are still legally empowered to recoup, according to DWSD Chief Financial Officer Marcus Hudson. But instead, Brown has decided that to try to claw back that much cash from customers all at once while simultaneously raising their monthly water rates by dramatic amounts would essentially be to declare open warfare. Not worth it. The program that Brown says is designed to bring more fairness and equity to the bill payment system will give customers a three-year phase-in to the new plan that will switch over
See DWSD page A-4
WHAT’S INSIDE
Is the RTA anti-Detroit? Amalgamated Transit Union thinks so, but RTA makes strong case to the contrary
By Keith A. Owens Senior Editor
Earlier this month, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) submitted a strongly worded formal complaint to the Regional Transit Authority (RTA), accusing them of racism and discrimination in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Regional Transit Authority issued a highly detailed response to that complaint 10 days later, presenting numerous reasons — accompanied by supporting attachments and documentation — why they believe such accusations are wildly inaccurate. It is hard to imagine that the ATU fabricated their complaints out of thin air just for entertainment value. No doubt something triggered the discontent that prompted ATU Local 26 President Fred Westbrook to sign the letter representing his union membership plus all those 843 Detroit residents who signed the petition to take the action they did. And certainly the RTA must always remain cognizant of the needs of Detroit’s black majority population when making their decisions. However. Based on the content of the written complaint from ATU, when held up against the thorough response presented by the RTA, it is difficult at best to assert that ATU’s Title VI complaint, as it is written, has much merit. Whatever the strength of the reasons ATU might have for filing the complaint, it appears RTA did a much stronger job of rebuffing those complaints. Once again, this is not to say that ATU members have nothing at all to complain about, only that the listed complaints in the docu-
ment filed don’t appear to be quite so strong when viewed under the light of scrutiny. “For me this is a labor issue, which is best addressed by the administration, but I am a strong supporter of the RTA,” said Detroit City Councilman Scott Benson. “I’m hoping that we can come to an agreement, a resolution, on any labor issues and issues presented by the ATU prior to the implementation by the Regional Transit Authority. I also want to make it clear that I am a strong supporter of ATU and I want to make sure their concerns are addressed, but I also want to make sure that our region gets a strong transportation authority.” Fred Westbrooke, president of the ATU and the one who signed and dated the complaint on August 5, was unable to be reached by the Michigan Chronicle as of press time after several attempts, however the complaint itself is fairly ex-
grew into a politician and civil rights leader.
TriceEdneyWire
See page C-1
Rumors of his death circulated heavily in journalistic circles on Saturday night until it was confirmed by Dr. Bernard Lafayette, MLK confidant and chairman of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference shortly before midnight.
Curry’s connection to the SCLC was through his longtime
At the time of his passing, Curry was raising money to fully fund Emerge News Online, a digital version of the former magazine. He had also continued to distribute his weekly column to black newspapers.
ing. Reactions and memorial information will be forthcoming. The following is his edited speaker's biography as posted on the website of America's Program Bureau: George E. Curry is former editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service. The former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine, Curry also writes a weekly syndicated column for NNPA, a federation of more than 200 African American newspapers. Curry, who served as editor-in-chief of the NNPA News Service from 2001 until 2007, returned to lead the news service for a second time on April 2, 2012. His work at the NNPA ranged from being inside the Supreme Court to hear oral arguments in the University of Michigan affirmative action cases to traveling to Doha, Qatar, to report on America’s war with Iraq.
Few details of his death were readily available Sunday morn-
See CURRY page A-4
Curry began his journalism career at Sports Illustrated, the St. Louis Post Dispatch and then the Chicago Tribune. But he is perhaps best known for his editorship of the former Emerge magazine and more recently for his work as editor-in-chief for the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) from 2000 to 2007 and again from 2012 until last year.
Pioneering civil rights and black political journalist George E. Curry, sometimes identified as the dean of black press columnists because of his riveting weekly commentary in Black newspapers across the country, died suddenly of heart failure on Saturday, Aug. 20. He was 69.
“This is a tragic loss to the movement because George Curry was a journalist who paid special attention to civil rights because he lived it and loved it,” Lafayette said through his spokesman Maynard Eaton, SCLC national communications director.
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See RTA page A-4
Award-winning civil rights journalist George Curry dies By Hazel Trice Edney
Enter the world of 3525 ... 365
plicit in describing ATU’s charges. “This complaint is brought by the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 26 and 843 individual Detroit-area residents who signed the attached petition …protesting decisions by the RTA to divert funding from Detroit and create unneeded bus routes to serve suburban communities, while perpetuating inferior service for Detroit residents. “The population in Detroit, which is served by DDOT, is predominately minority and low-income, whereas, the surrounding suburban areas serviced by SMART are majority Caucasian and relatively higher income. Detroit residents are heavily dependent on public transit, with ridership levels averaging nearly three times the ridership on SMART. Nonetheless, DDOT has increasingly seen funding diverted away
George E. Curry childhood friend, confidant and ally in civil rights, Dr. Charles Steele, SCLC president. Lafayette said Dr. Steele was initially too distraught to make the announcement himself and was also awaiting notification of Curry’s immediate family. Steele and Curry grew up together in Tuscaloosa, Alabama where Curry bloomed as a civil rights and sports writer as Steele
His name is as prominent among civil rights circles as among journalists. He traveled with Rev. Jesse Jackson and appeared weekly to do commentary on the radio show of the Rev. Al Sharpton, “Keepin’ It Real.”
As editor-in-chief of Emerge,