Council member Kenyatta (video)

A special broadcast from Kwame Kenyatta regarding current times and issues in the City of Detroit.

• City Council
• Hantz Woodlands 
• Miller Canfield Contract
• Next steps - empowering each other
• Working with ALL the people - bringing something to the table

Detroit Community Trust

Community! Land! Trust! Video Rally and Call to ACTION Today! from Detroit Justice Communications on Vimeo.

Video Rally:
Saturday, December 8, 2012, activist and actor Danny Glover visited the proposed Hantz Woodlands 'footprint' to provide support and encouragement to the people of Detroit during this time of unprecedented violations of the people’s rights.

Call to Action:
TODAY! Public Hearing on Hantz Woodlands
Monday December 10 6PM
Be there at 5PM to get a comment card!
East Lake Baptist Church
12400 East Jefferson @ Conner

View Hantz Woodlands in a larger map
TODAY! Call City Council members, tell them NO to Hantz and Yes! to a Community Land Trust. We need to do this differently!

CHARLES PUGH
313.224.4510
CouncilPresidentPugh@detroitmi.gov

GARY BROWN
(313) 224-2450
councilmemberbrown@detroitmi.gov

SAUNTEEL JENKINS
(313) 224-4248
councilmemberjenkins@detroitmi.gov

KENNETH V. COCKREL, JR
(313) 224-4505
Kenneth.Cockrel@detroitmi.gov

BRENDA JONES
(313) 224-1245
bjones_mb@detroitmi.gov

ANDRÉ L. SPIVEY
(313) 224-4841
CouncilmanSpivey@detroitmi.gov

JAMES TATE
(313) 224-1027
councilmembertate@detroitmi.gov

KWAME KENYATTA
(313) 224-1198
K-Kenyatta_MB@detroitmi.gov

JOANN WATSON
(313) 224-4535
WatsonJ@detroitmi.gov

TODAY! Let your voice be heard! #HantzOff #LandJustice #CommunityLandTrust

Community Trust: Our Communities Are Up to Us!
LEAP does not speak for us.

We, the Community Trust, are a coalition of organizations that have done sustained, substantial work on the east side of Detroit for many decades.

We have established youth programs, worked on anti violence efforts, organized business initiatives, encouraged economic innovation, established gardens, reclaimed homes, planted trees, developed new models of education, and supported artistic and creative activities.

Like all Detroiters, we have contributed to the support of public lands, and we have all suffered from their neglect.

We Believe

Public lands are a public trust.

Public land should be used to further community health, welfare, beauty, independence, and interconnection.

Community Land Trusts are the best path for us to take for the future development of our city.

What We Want
The City Council should actively pursue policies, projects, and programs that support community based initiatives that foster self- sufficiency, community ties, and sustainable ways of living.

The City Council should develop a specific process for Community Based Agreements for all development projects effecting neighborhoods.

The City Council should explore Community Land Trusts as a way to protect public lands.

The Council should reject the proposed deal with Hantz Farms/Woodlands. The sale of public land to a single individual violates the public trust.

The Council should understand Our Community is more than LEAP.
The Lower East Side Action Plan (LEAP) does not speak for us.

They have no right to claim they speak for the whole community.

Their so-called community agreement is illegitimate. It is not a Community Benefit Agreement. It was not publicly negotiated through a broadly based, inclusive process. It is the product of discussion between Hantz Farms/Woodlands and LEAP leadership.

Signatures (partial listing)
• Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership
• Building Movement Detroit, member Detroit Food Justice Task Force
• Creative Community Pathways, member Detroit Food Justice Task Force
• Coalition Against Police Brutality
• Detroit Black Community Food Security Network
• Detroit Evolution
• East Michigan Environmental Action Council
• Feedem Freedom
• Free Detroit No Consent
• Great Lakes Bioneers, Detroit, member Detroit Food Justice Task Force
• Opening of Detroit
• People’s Kitchen Detroit, member Detroit Food Justice Task Force
• Urban Network
• We The People Of Detroit
• We Want Green Too
• Youth Educators Alliance

Read:
Detroit is Creating a New Model by Grace Lee Boggs
http://www.dcoh.org/2012/12/detroit-is-creating-a-new-model/

Hantz opportunity by Shea Howell
http://michigancitizen.com/hantz-opportunity/

Ill-conceived Hantz Farms land deal should be dropped by Malik Yakini
http://michigancitizen.com/ill-conceived-hantz-farms-land-deal-should-be-dropped/

Call to action: Public hearings on land use by Gregg Newsom
http://michigancitizen.com/call-to-action-public-hearings-on-land-use/

Who is Hantz _ ?

From 2009 article at CNN Money
Assignment Detroit article

If you've been following the evolving Hantz story it has moved from establishing Hantz Farms, LLC to becoming Hantz Woodlands, LLC. The initial aim was to create a commercial grade urban agricultural farming business. Questions have surfaced over the years regarding what kind of crops, what machinery, creative use of abandoned property, pesticides, herbicides, manner of irrigation and run-off. There was even question as to livestock. Would it be a walled off city within the city?

Urban Agriculture Ordinance Meeting Tonight

Many of those questions belong with the Urban Agriculture Ordinance which will be discussed tonight.
Location: City Council meeting room 13th floor of the Coleman A Young Municipal Center, 2 Woodward Ave.
Time: 5:45 pm

Resources for the meeting: Detroit Urban Agriculture (moderated additions permitted)


Questions pertaining directly to the Hantz Farms/Woodlands purchase would be best asked at the Public Hearing in the community. Meet with community leaders and discuss this. There are organizing activities each day & night.

Hantz Farms / Woodlands Public Hearing - Monday December 10 @ 6pm

Location: East Lake Baptist Church, 12400 E Jefferson at Conner - southeast corner.
The proposal has moved to establishing woodlands with hardwoods and conifers (pines). Hardwood trees take years to grow to size for market, depending on if you are selling saplings or harvesting to mill into lumber. Conifers are softwood trees and grow faster than hardwoods. Genetic engineering can create hardwoods that grow faster, however the quality of wood is lower grade as it lacks density and has more imperfections.

Management Team of Hantz Farms, LLC

• John Hantz Hantz Farms, LLC - Owner and CEO (a subsidiary of The Hantz Group, a conglomerate enterprise)
  The Hantz Group was founded in 1988. Today, with 24 offices in Michigan and Ohio, it employs over 500 people  and serves 27,000 clients. Prior to founding Hantz Group, John was a group vice president for the American Express Financial Advisors’ largest and most successful cluster in Metropolitan Detroit.  He earned his Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree in Economics from Northwood University in 1984, and later successfully completed Harvard Business School’s the Advanced Management Program (AMP) program. In 2004, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Northwood University.
  
  
• Michael Score Hantz Farms, LLC - President
  
  
• Matt Allen Hantz Farms, LLC - Senior Vice President
  Mr. Allen recently joined the Hantz Group after concluding a governmental appointment as Press Secretary for the City of Detroit. As a broadcast journalist, he has experience in the mortgage industry as a loan consultant and has 7 years of retail management experience with Dayton Hudson, Target and TJX.

Hantz Group - List of Conglomerated Companies

HantzGroup, Inc. is the parent corporation to a number of wholly or partially owned subsidiary companies, including but not limited to:

• Hantz Financial Services, Inc.
• Hantz Tax & Business, LLC
• Hantz Agency, LLC
• Hantz Commercial Insurance Agency, LLC
• PLUS Agency, LLC
• Hantz Benefit Services, LLC
• Hantz Lending, LLC
• Hantz Software, LLC
• Hantz Technology, LLC
• Hantz Group Sports & Entertainment, LLC
• Hantz Racing, LLC
• Hantz Soccer USA, LLC
• Hantz Farms, LLC
• DiLaura Brothers, LLC
• Bowling IQ, LLC
• Hantz & DiLaura Properties, LLC
• United Beverage Group, LLC
• Hantz Air, LLC
• Hantz, Rhoades & Doehrer, LLC
• Hantz Titus Urbanski, LLC
• Hantz Ewald, LLC
• Hantz Real Estate Ventures, LLC
• 1540 South Holland Sylvania, LLC
• Hantz Golf, LLC
• Hantz Golf Club of Tecumseh, LLC

$300 in Detroit

Opinion by Stephen Boyle

Notice posted 

You can sell a junk car in Detroit to someone with a 248 (Oakland County) phone number and get $300. The City has determined they can sell land and property for $300 each lot to Hantz. As a matter of fact nearly 1,900 parcels of land, some with buildings. This is the largest speculative purchase of land by a single purchaser in the Detroit area. The price is right for Hantz, since the opening bid for the tax auction is $500 per lot. PLUS they get they get first option to purchase additional parcels within 1 mile surrounding.

The initial area is from Mack to Jefferson and Van Dyke to St Jean, as shown in red on the map. Note the north-most edge of the map is 8 Mile Rd, so what you see is the entire distance of the City of Detroit North to South that holds the purchase area.

View Hantz Woodlands in a larger map

The option to purchase makes the area grow 1 mile in each direction as shown in yellow.

A community meeting will be Monday, December 11  6:00 pm at East Lake Baptist Church, 12400 East Jefferson at Conner. Shown as the blue marker on the map.

Immediate Involvement Required

The attendance of City of Detroit residents and concerned was impressive on Tuesday, November 20.

At the last scheduled City Council meeting of 2012 the views expressed and information shared with City Council helped shape how the votes were made during that session. We hate to say it but the issues we're facing keep resurfacing like a Return of the Return of Dawn of the Living Dead. Your city needs your continued vigilance during this most holy season.

The State of Michigan and powers that would rather Detroiters just shut up and take their ill-fated medicine keep injecting that questionable life into the issues. We have to continue to stand together united.

Tuesday, December 4 - 9:55 am at CAYMC, 13th Floor

Detroit City Council meets to rescind their scheduled break until January 8 with three meetings of City Council of the Whole. The first meeting to take place at 10:00 am to work on Budget Deficit issues. This can and will include coercion to re-vote any issue previously voted, such as NO on Miller Canfield contracts, NO on DDOT contracts, NO on the EMA contract with DWSD, and stopping the Milestone Agreement from approval. 

Portion of map available at
Opening Of Detroit website

Monday, December 10 - 6:00 pm at East Lake Baptist Church, 12400 E Jefferson at Connor 

Public Hearing in the community regarding Hantz Woodlands (a subdivision of the conglomerate Hantz Group, originally known as Hantz Farms) acquisition of over 1,500 parcels of land [map] with the option to purchase surrounding land within 1 mile. This Land Grab is the largest speculation in Michigan history. Development plans have not clearly identified working with the community in the best interest of the residents in the areas impacted. The extended area of impact is from the Dequindre Cut, north of Warren, east to Grosse Pointe, and south to the Detroit River. Read much more depth through these references:

• Opening Of Detroit - commentaries, map of land use topics around Detroit, and more
• Be Black And Green
• Hantz Questions, The Michigan Citizen Nov 20, 2012 

Tuesday, December 11 - 10:00 am at CAYMC, 13th Floor

Final City Council of the Whole meeting during which Hantz Group arrangement will be pressed to a vote. Likely if any issue has not yet been pressed to the will of those that would dissolve Detroit it will be brought into the meeting again.

More Details On Critical Topics  

Links to posts regarding critical topics of discussion on the Free Detroit website, find these as a cloud on the website's sidebar.

• DWSD take over
• Hantz Farms /. Woodlands
• Miller Canfield Paddock & Stone, LLC 
• Public Lighting
• Detroit Public Schools