Nov. 6, Michigan voters repealed Public Act 4. Republicans have introduced legislation to maintain the Emergency Manager Law. Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer joined the Republicans. He said the state needs an emergency manager law. What do you think of Republicans’ actions? What about the Democrats? ...

Detroit City Council sent Hantz Farms back to the drawing board after a Nov. 15 committee meeting to revise a proposal for the purchase of more than 1,500 parcels of city-owned land. Council members and concerned citizens expressed their concerns about the sale to Hantz Farms under a purchase agreement that would benefit the city financially, but would allow the commercial urban agriculture initiative to ac ...

John Hantz is pressuring the City Council to sell to him nearly 2,000 vacant lots located on the east side. Last week, in spite of an informal agreement that this deal would be put on hold until the Detroit Agricultural Policy was in place, Rob Anderson, the director of the city’s Planning and Development Department, urged the council committee to approve the deal. The council’s Planning and Economic Develo ...

Experts say intrusive security at public schools reproduces social inequality By Marcus Wright Special to the Michigan Citizen DETROIT — “I don’t like it but it is what it is,” one Detroit Public School student said after going through video-monitored metal detectors and being patted down upon entering his school. Many of the districts’ high school students — including DPS and the newly created Educational ...

Billed as education reform, a new Republican measure would give the governor power over an expanded, statewide Educational Achievement Authority (EAA) with power to seize local school district properties and weaken local control. Subject of a legislative hearing Nov. 13, the citizens who traveled to Lansing and who opposed the bill were not allowed to testify on House Bill 6004. ...

In a special meeting Nov. 13, the Detroit Board of Education voted unanimously to end the district’s contract with the Educational Achievement Authority and passed other measures as they attempt to recover from more than a decade of state control under emergency management. ...

Detroit City Council delayed a vote on a no-bid contract Nov. 13 that would take control of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) out of public hands and into the control of the privately owned EMA, Inc. More than 100 citizens from across the Southeastern Michigan region and from as far as Toledo, Ohio filled council chambers in opposition of the contract that Councilwoman Brenda Jones categorize ...

Michigan voters repealed Public Act 4 eliminating emergency managers. Gov. Rick Snyder has not moved to remove DPS Emergency Manager Roy Roberts. Attorney General Bill Schuette has moved to remove seven DPS school board members from office. How will citizens get the power back? ...

There is a lot of good news in the election results of 2012, especially for Detroiters. First, voters turned out in record numbers. After a relentless media barrage that portrayed us as uninterested and incapable of making political decisions, Detroiters went to the polls in the highest numbers in over three decades. A record 65.3 percent of active voters cast 289,982 ballots. ...

There is a shooter randomly targeting drivers on I-96 near Wixom, a suburban area, yet the media often portrays Detroit as the only violent place. Is this fair? ...