Detroit Lighting Authority, did someone say turn off the lights?

Tuesday December 12 Michigan House of Representatives will be voting on the Detroit Lighting Authority, HB 5688 and HB 5705. These are aligned with SB 970 which passed Michigan Senate on

Lets take Senator Coleman A Young Jr's advice that was given in the letter linked below and establish a Public Infrastructure Trust, such as the one Chicago has. Detroit can do this, it doesn't require the State of Michigan stepping in.

View PDF of letter with the attached bills and analysis as it moves to Michigan House of Representatives on Tuesday, December 10. Document also available through ScribD.

Detroit Public Lighting - Detroit in Darkness

Mayor Bing released his plan to address public lighting across the city on August 10. The graphic shown here demonstrates the phases of the plan as it would occur from now to 2016.

The plan addresses the most desirable and populated areas of the city first, leaving neighborhoods that are experiencing darkness now in the dark for years. This usurping move to the bill introduced by Senator Maureen Stapleton drew her criticism. 

“That’s absolutely offensive,” Stapleton said. “Everybody deserves lights. When you start putting neighborhoods in tiers, that defeats the purpose of the legislation.”

The bills that went before Michigan Senate were defeated August 15.

It seems that as hard as they (Mayor Bing, COO Chris Brown, and City Fellow Beau Taylor) try - public lighting has become a hot issue. They are the public face behind something that resembles the film Neverending Story - the darkness of nothing is spreading throughout Detroit and even these plans are not saving it soon enough to prevent people from being killed  due to insufficient lighting on busy streets.

Mayor Bing's 2010-11 budget plan included mothballing Mistersky Power Plant and the layoff of Public Lighting Department staff (re: Michigan Citizen, May 26, 2010, Diane Bukowski). Statements in opposition were given by analysts to City Council and published in the article mentioned.

In the PLD letter, James Anderson said he and other street lighting workers had given the council the productivity plan that would save money without cutting their jobs, adding further to Detroit’s unemployment rate. 

“Ten Street Light Maintenance Workers will be eliminated and work given to Overhead Lineman at $11 an hour more,” said Anderson. “They replace and not repair. More waste. Thousands of lights are already out city-wide, calls still coming in, and an untrained [contractual] work force is handling a heavy load.” 

Anderson said the city charter mandates a vote of the people before shutting down Mistersky. It was built in the 1920s to power the entire city, including homes, not just street lights and public buildings, as does the Lansing Public Power and Light. 

“It is a multi-fueled plant with six generators,” he said. “Managed properly it can make money, an asset the city can’t afford to waste.”

The public has been outspoken at meetings saying the Mistersky Power Plant needs to be turned on. There are objections to the city's continued dependency on DTE for power. At the September 10 Financial Advisory Board meeting COO Chris Brown stated "The city doesn't want to be in the business of generating power." If the public could respond we would have asked why not?

A new generator was delivered to the Mistersky Power Plant and still has yet to be turned on. However the current administration has been seeking assistance in the usual places - corporation sponsors, municipal bonds, and privatization of municipal interests. But it isn't truly assistance - the administration is committed to the selling off of assets and placing the city into contractual arrangements with corporations and state government for services.

A solution would be to relieve the city of this administrative nightmare and bring in leadership that can perform in the best interest of the people. Free Detroit No Consent has been asking people to turn in Ethics Complaints - these have been pouring in at the Board of Ethics and investigative steps are in process. We need to keep the pressure on, showing each time the administration is jeopardizing the public which it has sworn oath to serve. We need people to continue coming out for community meetings and speaking of the violations those who are running the meetings have committed. Educate your neighbors, church members, the seniors, students, and business owners near you.

A City of People Lost to Corporatehood

Opinion from Stephen Boyle,

Detroit has its share of darling corporate investors that some believe to be the knights bringing a future of prosperity. However we need to look closer into the "benevolence" of these investments. Proposals for development are brought into the city offices with the promise of creating jobs through redevelopment of land to usable spaces for corporate, entertainment, and residential interests. The city is hungering for these proposals, although that hunger isn't being satisfied.

The problems in development lay in the concessions that are requested and sometimes rewarded without request. The hunger of the city for meaningful development has to translate into tax dollars as these are being built. Tax abatements are not helping the city maintain or grow services that are required for business to find success. Lets look at the three interest areas seeing development as noted.

Corporate developments need to have utilities provided to the facility, the building of the pipes and drains up to the property doesn't magically happen without investment. Its great that the building is created functional within its space, but the surrounding area often needs improvement as well. Public lighting gives employees peace of mind working at the facility during early morning and late evening hours. Transportation is needed to bring employees in for work, and that means mass transit and public roads. The infrastructure of the city has to be addressed for your business to succeed and that requires taxation during and following development.

Saying you are creating jobs doesn't often translate to jobs for Detroit residents, and at present there seems to be little assurance through current administration of regulating abatements to ensure Detroit residents have preferred status in getting employment. We need an ordinance that says when you meet a certain percentage of workforce with residence in the city, THEN you get an abatement and it will be reduced taxes not tax-free. Tie the abatement to residency and time as a factor. It doesn't work to bring in just enough residents to meet your abatement requirement then let them go once the city reduces your tax burden.

Entertainment projects need to be able to draw people in, keep them safe with needs provided, and ensure that when departing people feel safe as well. All of the reasons in the prior paragraph need addressed, with an emphasis on transportation. You can hold a great event, but if safety concerns prevent people from coming it isn't going to bring in a return on your investment. We also need to remember if patrons don't move closer to the events then they have many more miles of roads to travel reaching the destination, which should mean higher taxes to cover maintaining an extensive network of roads coming from whereever to your noted destination.

Lights OUT on Oakland St in Northend neighborhood, 

a demonstration zone for Detroit Works Project

Finally we come to residential developments and these have obvious requirement for strong neighborhoods that corporations and entertainment partner in fostering a community that lives, works, and plays together. Public lighting, roads, waste pickup, transportation, and more need to be addressed now. The infestation of cut services is driving people away. We need developments that bring people together face-to-face, reduce driving times that emit tons of fossil fuel waste, and restore the health of moving around instead of sitting in a chair gathering weight from a diet that contains few living, vibrant foods. Detroit's community gardens are a wonderful thing to celebrate, bringing people out for healthy activity, meeting others, and enjoying the produce.

The Detroit Works Long Term Planning has stated on a poster that "many of Detroit's sewers, power lines, and phone lines will reach the end of their lifespan by 2030." The only way those will be improved is with infrastructure investments derived from taxes paid during development.

In closing, I'd like to encourage taxing businesses setting up shop in Detroit. Should abatements be required, they need to be tied to ordinances requiring residency measured over time. The services we need don't show up without funding from development.

The above post was written to my personal blog on the Detroit Free Press website.