Staff report DETROIT — Mayor Dave Bing and Gov. Rick Snyder announced Sept. 12 a tentative leasing agreement that will transfer management and operations of the city’s historic Belle Isle park to the state of Michigan and Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Additionally, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) will assume responsibility for roads and bridges on Belle Isle. According to the propo ...

Rev. Al Sharpton, president of National Action Network (NAN) (left), joined Rev. Charles Williams II, president of National Action Network-Michigan (center), in Detroit Sept. 8 and 9 for NAN’s Voter Engagement Tour to help citizens register to vote and rally for the Nov. 6 general election. Shown above, Revs. Sharpton and Williams register Detroit resident Lamont Muhammed at Metro Foodland on the city’s wes ...

Amendments would clarify counsel’s role, allow some gifts, gratuities By Mike Sandula The Michigan Citizen DETROIT — Detroit residents will get to decide on four proposed changes to the City Charter in the Nov. 6 election. After Gov. Rick Snyder denied three proposed City Charter amendments, City Council voted to approve them anyway. The three amendments would remove the prohibition on gifts to city officia ...

By Marcus Wright Special to Michigan Citizen DETROIT — The city of Detroit is batting 3-for-7 in its implementation of the new provisions mandated by the 2012 Charter. The new provisions include Council by Districts; City Insurance; Community Advisory Councils; Green Initiatives; Debarment Ordinance; Contract Approval and Disclosure; Redundancy Report Issued; Appointment of Inspector General. Districts are ...

The Democratic National Convention has been held. Strategy and tactics have been developed. The public speeches have been made. What did the speakers say to make you go out and vote? I listened to some of the speakers. The one that moved me most was (President Bill) Clinton. He broke it down, made it plain. That’s what the Democrats need to do. They need to make their whole program simple. Everybody needs t ...

By George E. Curry NNPA Editor-in-Chief CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Judging from the recently concluded Republican and Democratic conventions, the question of who will be inaugurated as president in January may turn on how voters answer a question posed by Ronald Reagan in his 1980 debate with Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter: Are you better off today than you were four years ago? The question was raised at the Repu ...

By Shea Howell Special to the Michigan Citizen DETROIT—Over the next few weeks we are going to hear a lot about data-driven decisions. The Detroit Works Long Term Planning Project will be holding what it calls community conversations on the strategies for development it has generated. Public schools will be counting children, teachers, attendance and class size. Tests and “measures of accountability” are be ...

Ricky Green, in his fourth year on the varsity for Central High’s football team, has been named the Detroit Public School League’s first Proud Strong Learner of the Week for 2012-13. “I’m excited. I feel good about it,” Green said of the honor, representative of the PSL’s top boys and girls athletic performers as nominated by their coaches. The award is presented by the DPS Office of Athletics and sponsored ...

Cass Tech 57, Northwestern 0; East English Village 34, King 26; Cody 54, Ford 0; Pershing 16, Osborn 0; Douglass 28, Central 12; Renaissance 41, Western 6; Denby 20, Southeastern 12; (nonleague) Warren Collegiate 48, Mumford 12 PSL East Highlight: Village Prep wins big over King DETROIT — East English Village Prep’s Desmond King led his team to a 34-26 victory over the Martin Luther King Crusaders in the PS ...

By Julia Pointer Putnam As the new school year begins, millions of children, parents, teachers and administrators are trying to function in an educational system that has become a pipeline to prison because it was created a hundred years ago to provide a mechanism for separating the “winners” (those privileged by family background) from the “losers” (those destined for robotic jobs on factory assembly lines ...