By Zenobia Jeffries The Michigan Citizen LANSING — Supporters of regional transportation are a House vote away from seeing many years of hard work and dedication toward the measure materialize. The State Senate passed the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) bill package Nov. 27,                with strong bipartisan support. The bills are now going to the House of Representatives with hopes of success. ...

“We are in an environment, I think, of entitlement. We’ve got a lot of people who are city workers, who for years and years, 20, 30 years, think they are entitled to a job and all that comes with it.” — Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, Nov. 30, during a CNN interview. Do you agree or disagree with Bing? ...

Hantz Farms’ drive to take over nearly 2,000 publically owned lots on the city’s east side is an opportunity to think very differently about how we approach land use. We urge the City Council to put in place productive, visionary principles, policies and practices to guide this and all future efforts at development. ...

The Michigan Senate passed legislation Dec. 4 that would allow for the creation of a Detroit Lighting Authority (DLA). The main bill passed 25-13 after it was revised to allow the city to retain more local control. The legislation will now go to the House for an up or down vote before going to Gov. Rick Snyder’s desk for approval. Sen. Bert Johnson, D-Detroit, is the principal sponsor of the three-bill pack ...

The Michigan Land Bank “Fast Track” transfer program has devised a plan to give developer MAGIC Plus LLC the State Fairgrounds property to build an outdoor strip mall. The property is owned by the taxpayers of Michigan. According to Michigan Land Bank’s Web site, the proposal submitted by MAGIC includes a mixed-use development for the entire property that combines retail, residential, green space and entert ...

November 29, 2012 ...

Last year’s 49-13 rout by Cass Tech was no fluke. That’s what Novi Catholic Central found out Nov. 24 as the Technicians got ready for the rematch against the Shamrocks. Catholic Central wanted a “grudge rematch” and they got it. The Technicians built a 29-7 lead and never looked back as they silenced the once powerful Novi Catholic Central, 36-21, to win their second straight Division 1 Title in front of a ...

After a couple of years of Hantz Farms’ President Mike Score proposing a meeting between myself and John Hantz and discussion on the terms of such a meeting, early this year, I agreed to meet with Mr. Hantz, if Kathryn Underwood were present. Kathryn is the City Council’s representative on the Detroit Food Policy Council and a planner with the City Planning Commission. She has led the urban ag workgroup tha ...

During the week after President Obama’s historic re-election, Wayne State University’s Urbanology: Art as Activism class visited Grace Lee Boggs at the Boggs Center. Our class, taught by Zimmerman and offered in the Department of Art and Art History, has been using Grace’s book “The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the 21st Century” in lieu of a standard textbook. We have conscientiously g ...

This is the latest in a series of columns discussing the Environmental Justice Principles drafted and adopted by delegates to the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit held Oct. 24-27, 1991. ...