Daily Detroit

In an interesting take on Chrysler’s chapter 11 filing this afternoon, a New York Times article shows the United Auto Workers union coming out of the ordeal on top.

The New York Times, April 30: The U.A.W. members at both automakers stand to lose some of their pay and benefits, but the cuts are not as deep as those faced by airline and steel workers when their companies went bankrupt. Under proposed deals devised by the Treasury Department, U.A.W. pensions and retiree health care benefits would largely be protected.

The U.A.W. has derived its leverage in part from the support of a Democratic president and Congress. But it also results from a long-term strategy to build support in Washington that stretches back more than 60 years.

On the other side of the spectrum, 50 unsecured creditors listed on Chrysler’s bankruptcy filing, a large portion of which are based in Southeast Michigan, may not see a dime from the company. These include Chrysler’s Troy-based advertising firm BBDO and suppliers like Continental Automotive in Auburn Hills and Bridgewater Interiors in Detroit. Here’s a copy of the bankruptcy filing; the list of unsecured creditors, along with the amount of money owed, starts on page 12.

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Detroit voters planning on brushing up on ballot issues the night before the May 5 election won’t get very far. Detroit Free Press editorial writer Stephen Henderson found out the hard way that a sample ballot doesn’t exist anywhere on the Web. Henderson blogged about his experience trying to find one while writing an editorial about the charter revision commission.

Detroit Free Press, April 29: I went to the Department of Elections Web site figuring that less than a week before the election, the ballot would certainly be available.

No luck. Although under the link for “Voter Information,” I did find a place to download a “Special Primary Election Newsletter.” Of course, that had information about the Feb. 24 primary election and a copy of the ballot from that election, but nothing about the May 5 contest.

I also went to the City Clerk Janice Winfrey’s Web site, thinking perhaps she had the ballot online. No luck here, either. Though there is a complete .pdf of the City Charter at her site, the only copy available online, at least to my knowledge.

A little puzzled, I called both Winfrey’s office and the Department of Elections, and was told that ballots never get put online.

Bottom line: if you want to make an informed decision, you’ll have to go the extra mile. And people wonder why it’s so hard to rally people to the voting booth.

The president of the nonprofit Detroit leadership and economic growth organization Detroit Renaissance thinks plans for a light rail connecting Detroit’s New Center district to the riverfront would do little to stimulate economic growth.

Chad Halcom of Crain’s Detroit Business writes that Doug Rothwell broached the topic today during an economic development meeting in Birmingham.

Crain’s Detroit Business, April 29: Rothwell told 120 or so attendees at the chamber’s Regional Economic and Community Development Forecast that a rail line along Woodward was not a bad idea for the city and region, but shouldn’t be considered an integral part of a regional economic development strategy.

“Because of the way we’re dispersed in Southeast Michigan, I don’t know any one area where you could lay down a fixed mass transit line and get the critical mass to use it,” he said.

“The best route, maybe, that I could see is Woodward Avenue or…possibly M-59 connecting Oakland and Macomb county…But call me a skeptic.”

As of March, the project reports contributions of $44 million from financial backers including the Detroit Downtown Development Authority, the Kresge Foundation, Peter Karmanos, Jr. and Mike Ilitch. Its goal is to reach $120 million.

A Detroit Urban Land Institute meeting on May 5 will include a special presentation on the M1 Rail led by project CEO Matthew P. Cullen.

As expected, talk quickly turned to the failed Cobo deal in last night’s third and final Detroit mayoral debate. Candidate Dave Bing called it an example of failed leadership, and today in front of The Detroit News’ editorial board, Mayor Kenneth Cockrel, Jr. reflected on what he could have done differently.

He said he wishes he had pushed it harder, but mostly, he just blamed council members.

The Detroit News, April 24: “I take responsibility for some of it; there’s no doubt,” Cockrel told The Detroit News editorial board Friday. “We engaged council pretty heavily. In retrospect, I probably should have been more involved personally in that…

“I also recognize that at the end of the day it takes two to tango, and I think at a certain point, frankly, I think certain council members just got scared,” Cockrel said. “They were scared of the perception about how that may be seen by the voters in terms of what was being done.”

Without naming them, he said other council members just “didn’t want to work with us. They just didn’t want to get it done for whatever reason.”

The News’ editorial board talked to both candidates today and videos of the interviews are on detnews.com. Here are links to the first parts:

Mayor Cockrel’s interview with The Detroit News Editorial Board, Part 1

Dave Bing’s interview with The Detroit News editorial board, Part 1

Attention CNN Money: Not all young people want to leave Detroit in the dust (“Detroit’s youth: We’ll leave if we have to,” April 24, CNNMoney.com).

D-town creativity cultivator Detroit by Design is hosting a meet and greet tomorrow night featuring Mayor Kenneth Cockrel, Jr., hoping to rally the city’s young and talented behind the community.

The group hosts a monthly bash for artistically inclined young Detroiters called S2dio that showcases local music, art and photography. They’re dubbing this weekend’s event “a unique evening of entertainment w/ key Detroit creative, cultural and neighborhood community leaders.”

An invitation posted on the group’s blog in March, which advertised the date as April 24 instead of April 25, says the night will focus on “young professionals and organizations in our community supporting Detroit’s creative talent, cultural programs, and neighborhood development.”

Detroit by Design, March 6:
Program Highlights:
- Meet and Greet w/ Detroit Mayor Ken Cockrel.
- Fashion shows by Femilia Organic Couture, William Malcolm and designer tba.
- Artwork by internationally acclaimed painter and designer, Camilo Pardo.
- Butter-style canape service and wine bar
-Music provided by Source Audio and Detroit by Design tba.

The evening kicks off with the mayoral reception at 7:30 p.m., followed by a dance party at 11 p.m. It’s located in the Bankle Building at 2944 Woodward Ave. in Detroit.

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Leave it to the national media to speculate how Detroit should fix its woeful financial state. But today brought even more bad news from the auto industry, and National Public Radio makes a good point — Detroit needs to tap into some new marketable commodities.

The story, which can be heard on npr.org and calls the Detroit music scene a “rich treasure trove,” runs through a musical history of Detroit, playing clips of everything from The Supremes’ “You Can’t Hurry Love” and Mitch Ryder’s “Good Golly, Miss Molly” to Eminem’s “8 Mile.”

But the real interesting part of the story is less about Detroit’s musical past and more about monetizing it in the future.

NPR’s Morning Edition, April 23: Detroit lawyer Gregory Reed is convinced that Detroit can still turn its music scene into a tourist destination. “We haven’t cultivated our music culture or our talent to create the industry around it except through Motown,” he says. “We haven’t harvested, we haven’t nurtured it, and we have literally neglected it.”

Reed has been named head of a newly created Detroit Entertainment Commission. He says businesses need to see that there is money to be made. “You’ve got to plug in the business side,” he says. “Because other than that, the talent will leave the city, and it’s just a cycle.”

Reed says the commission’s goal is to focus on entrepreneurs with private funds who realize music is a valuable resource that the city hasn’t fully tapped.

But even without a physical place to point to as the home to Detroit’s music scene, the city continues to cultivate talent that it exports to the country and the world.

Here are some classic Detroit music clips that are sure to help boost spirits, if not the entire local economy.

“Where Did Our Love Go?” The Supremes

“Jenny Take a Ride,” Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels

“The Hardest Button to Button,” The White Stripes

Courtesy of Matthew Maaskant via stock.xchng

It seems the timing was all wrong for a Madison Heights couple caught with more than 20 marijuana plants in their home on March 30. Now they’re hoping time, and Michigan’s newly implemented medical marijuana law, will be on their side in a case that could land each of them in prison for 14 years.

A Detroit News article says the couple’s lawyer will defend their right to possess using dates as evidence.

The Detroit News, April 23: Defense attorney Matthew Abel said the charges should be dismissed because Redden and Clark were legally permitted to possess the plants on March 30, the day police entered their home. Abel says the law took effect Dec. 4, according to the language of the statute — not April 4, which was the day the state released its regulations on the law.

Robert Redden, who suffers from bone disease, and cancer patient Torey Clark both had recommendations from their doctors to use marijuana. According to the Oakland County Daily Tribune, Abel will also challenge the search warrant used to find the plants.

Daily Tribune, April 23: Abel said records show police searched the couple’s garbage at the curb to turn up some marijuana use evidence in order to obtain a search warrant. Police began searching the garbage based on an anonymous tip, he added.

Redden and Clark’s story embodies the confusion surrounding the new law, and the verdict in their case might help set a legal precedent.

The Detroit News, April 21: Officials in charge of the state’s Medical Marijuana Act told The Detroit News this week that, despite what many believe, the law does not require medical marijuana users to have state-issued ID cards in hand to legally possess or use the drug.