With a city government that is strapped for cash, has no idea how to spur economic development and has been given clown noses to wear at commission meetings, it’s no wonder Mount Clemens is in the mess that it is. There is no perfect solution for these (and the other issues facing the city), but if we do not start taking steps in the right direction soon, then the city will go downhill, and fast. Think South Warren fast. A big underlying issue is that the people are not represented in city government; they have no say in what happens.By switching out system from electing all city commissioners at large to a ward system that will allow for neighborhoods to be more represented, give the voters a better choice, and encourage more people to vote and to run for office.
A ward system, for those who don’t know, is where the city is divided up into parts, and each part is represented in government by an elected individual. If there are parts A, B, C, and D then people from Ward A can only vote for a candidate who lives in ward A, and so fourth. This is exactly what activist and former mayoral candidate Gloria Haller is proposing, thus far it has gotten public support from former school board member Joe Rheker and sitting board member Larry Humphrey, while getting opposition from Mayor Barb Dempsey.
Much of this is the fault of the people themselves. If you don’t vote, then you are held prisoner by those that do (of course, not voting because you have no candidate you want to vote for is completely different). And there are even less people who are willing to step up to the plate and run for political office.
This issue borderlines cronyism, where a section of the city breeds all the people who will run it. How bad is it? There is only one elected official in Mount Clemens who lives north of Cass Avenue: School Board President Earl Rickman.
This map shows where the Mayor, the City Commission, and the School Board members live.
The southern 2 neighborhoods control the whole city of Mount Clemens
This map is taken directly from the new Master Plan of Mount Clemens. This is the neighborhood map, and from what I can tell by itself, is very accurate. Neighborhoods 7 and 10 (which also correspond with current voting precincts 2 and 9) run the entire show.
Driving through these areas, it’s not hard to see where this is different from the rest of the city. These are the nicest neighborhoods in town, and the people that live there are likely to be the most successful, college educated and have a little extra cash in the bank. Others who live in these neighborhoods include long time Mount Clemens High School Principal Nelson Jackson, Charter Commission President Jake Femmineneo, and former Congressional Democratic Whip David Bonior.
Due to the nature of these ares, it’s not surprising that these people are more likely to vote and more likely to run for office themselves. Voter data all across the country will give similar stories: higher income and better education almost always lead to higher voter turnout.
Due to the small voter turnout in Commission and School Board elections, there is absolutely no need to run a city-wide campaign if you are seeking office. If you win precincts 2 and 9 (on election day and the absentee), you’ve just won the election. I know this first hand, I won 14 of 17 precincts last year when I ran for school board and still lost the election, having lost precincts 2 and 9 and tied in precinct 1. This means that when you run a campaign, knocking on doors all over the city means nothing.
We have a culture where only 2 neighborhoods elect the officials. With all these politicians in the same area, it’s no wonder that they breed more politicians from the same neighborhoods. And when your friends and neighbors are all running for something, you get to know them pretty well, even if you already didn’t.
When election time rolls around, someone from neighborhood 7 will see a name on the ballot he recognizes. Maybe it’s his friend or long-time neighbor. Maybe he’s knocked on your door to talk to you about the campaign or you’ve gotten something in the mail from his committee. Over the years you might have seen this candidate washing their car or doing their own landscaping, maybe even playing ball with the kids and the family dog on the front lawn.Maybe your kids are friends with theirs, and they walked to school together, or even dated! Either way, it’s a community within a community. And this is someone you know either through reputation or just because you’ve seen them out and about and know they’re a “good person”.
That same person in neighborhood 7 might also see another name on the ballot. Someone who knocked on their door once or twice during the campaign. You’ve never met them beforehand, and you don’t know what kind of person they are. They seem very nice and very well intentioned, but aside from a quick conversation and a little reading, you know nothing about this candidate’s character, how he conducts his life, or anything else other than what he wants you to know.
When election day comes, guess who is going to get the vote?
Meanwhile, why would someone from neighborhood 9 even consider voting on election day? They may see a handful of names on the ballot, where none of which have knocked on their door or given them any information. If they are an informed voter they may have read their profile in the C&G paper or Macomb Daily and seen their website if they have one, but that’s it. And odds are, they are someone from the other side of town, who lives in a very different part of Mount Clemens than you do. So different in fact, that if you were shown pictures of the different neighborhoods side by side, you would never know that it’s the same city. It’s easy for people to not vote when they don’t feel represented, and that’s exactly what happens.
For someone who wants to make a difference, running an election is difficult if you don’t live in the right neighborhood. The people that statistically always vote will be harder to win over when they don’t already know you. Especially when one of their neighbors in on the ballot. And when you see all of your neighbors putting up yard signs for the local guy, you start to think “well these guys are all like me, and this is who they like, so this candidate must be my kind of guy”.
The machine just generates more cogs. The candidates ignore the rest of the city, as they don’t have to answer to them. It matters not what they do as long as they appease their neighbors.
By putting the city into a ward system, we eliminate this. This will allow people from different neighborhoods to elect someone who they know, who they may have known for a long time. This will allow the candidate to take their message right to the people, instead of trying to impress folks from the “rich side of town” into voting for them over one of their neighbors. This will entice more people to run for commission as the campaigns will be easier to manage with a smaller geographical area and less expensive to run with a smaller voter base to work with.
At meetings, this will bring new, fresh perspectives to the table. Mount Clemens, despite being small, is not small the way that Armada, Romeo, or Oxford is small. We are one of the most diverse cities in Macomb County, with different ethnic groups, races, ages, incomes, lifestyles and viewpoints. Because of this, we are underrepresented across the board. And as the old saying goes, “No Taxation without Representation”.
This will also make sure that there is no cronyism in board appointments or replacements: people will be elected by their neighbors come special election or anything else. For example, take a look at the map again. Towards the bottom there are 2 shapes that overlap, one of those is a newly appointed school board member and the other is a siting elected board member. I am not making accusations against the qualifications of newly appointed school board member Laura Kropp. But I will say that it surprises me not one bit that despite being the voter’s 2nd choice to sit on the board last May, I was passed up for appointment that was given to a sitting board member. And while I have no evidence to support this theory, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit of she was “asked” by her neighbor to apply for the appointment, so the board could use the opportunity to pass me over.
Opponents of the Ward plan say that it will force the new commissioners to only serve their neighborhoods, as opposed to the city at large. This point is downright laughable. If the current commissioners are doing their best to work for Mount Clemens as a whole then the system needs obvious reform. Because right now, it isn’t working.
Let me say that again: the current system is NOT working. Businesses are closing up left and right, neighborhoods are in decline, and people are moving out. The current elected officials have failed us.
The more realistic story is that they are not serving the community at large, but their own little community within a community: Seminole Hills and the Wilson School Area. Precincts 2 and 9. Neighborhoods 7 and 10. Whatever you want to call it, it’s the southwest end of town and it runs the show.
Because of this, there is no accountability. All you have to do to win is be from that area and show your neighbors that you’re like they are. No matter what way you want to look at it, the city is suffering, the people are underrepresented, and the people have little say in anything that happens. Their cries at board meetings can be ignored, because the commissioners know that if the angry person behind the mic gets everyone he knows to vote against you, you still have a strong base.
The one thing about the Haller Ward Plan that I do not like is the raising of pay for the elected officials. People are driven to public service for things other than the pay, and the better campaign platforms that can be developed as well as the chance of knowing that they can win an election will be more than enough to get more people to seek public office. The other small thing would be that the school board should be included in this as well.
With that being said, it’s time for a change. A Ward system would give better accountability, different viewpoints at the table, and allow government to be what it was meant to be: of the people, by the people, and for the people. Instead of a few elite neighborhoods that have power over the rest of the city with no accountability overall for their actions.
Let’s take this step to save our city and bring responsible government to Mount Clemens.
Vermin Supreme giving an interview during the 2008 primaries
I can’t believe this went so long without me noticing it. Being involved in politics for as long as I have, I’ve seen some really screwball candidates. But at long last, I think I may have found a candidate who is even more absurd than the infamous Vermin Supreme.
Now, to Mr. Supreme’s credit, he can form coherent sentences in the manner in which the average Joe would say such things…he just says stuff that we would never say. But hey, he was running for president of the United States (and one of the few people I’ve ever met who was also a fan of Imperial Emperor Norton I). Livonia City Council Candidate Glenn Moon on the other hand, not only says things that no mentally competent person would ever say, but he says them in a manner in which prepositions are completely optional and has invented his own nomenclature. Continue Reading
The following is being re-posted with permission of John Mohyi, the chap heading up the efforts at Michigan Central Station. I’m glad to report that great progress is being made, ideas are coming into the fold, and more people are getting involved.
Since our strategic grassroots restoration effort to save the Michigan Central Station (MCS) began on June 30th 2009 volunteers have eliminated nearly three dumpsters worth of debris, planted over 1,000 flowers, and inspired a sense of hope in the heart of Detroit.
I have been working closely with the station owners, students, residents, businesses, elected officials, organizations, and volunteers to secure the future of the station. Many individuals have come out of the woodwork and needless to say we could never have made it this far without them.
To me the Michigan Central Station is a symbol for the city of Detroit. At one point it was known for its greatness and then slowly it slipped away into the decrepit state that exists today. It seems as if the more debris we remove from the building, the more corrupt and incompetent politicians we remove from office in the city of Detroit. After we remove the debris is when the real work begins.
After this Friday, July 10th, the MCS project will move into its next phase. In addition to various skilled volunteers, Home Depot corporate has expressed interest in sponsoring our efforts by providing equipment and professional volunteers to help us achieve our objectives. Assuming everything goes according to plan it will not be very long until the station comes to life. For this part of the volunteer effort we will need volunteers who are 18 and older with a decent background in construction.
Once the building is safe and secure, we will need skilled artists to help with the aesthetics of the building. I envision the second main room with the metal roof as a giant mural. As you can imagine this will be an enormous project and the College of Creative Studies (CCS) will likely play a key role. Continue Reading
I came across something rather interesting online the other day, and I’ve now had some time to dwell on it. It’s a video of Australian Professor Ian Plimer discussing what he calls a new religion in radical Environmentalism. For those interested, here’s the video (about 5 minutes long).
Now, professor Pilmer has made some very interesting points here. Regardless of how you feel about global warming or any other environmental subjects, its hard to argue that the paralells between the formation of major religions and environmental fundamentalism. For those who didn’t feel like watching the video, here are some of the main points.
Religion doesn’t have to be part of a church
Religions gather support by fear, that if we don’t change our ways we are in trouble
Religion must make sacrifices in order to save ourselves
Religion tries to make sense of what is currently going on in the world
New Religions come through during the decline of old ones
Religions label non-believers as heretics and refuse to accept their arguments as valid
Modern environmentalism fits all of these and more. Desipte the fact that there have been thousands of global warmings and coolings over time (and at least four threats either way in the past hundred years), we are being told that this time, we have something to fear, that we have comitted great sins (co2 releases, pollution) and if we don’t repent immediately (pay the government to “fight” global warming), we are going to hell (the world will burn with all of us on it). It’s not hard to see where things line up. Despite science disproving global warming, the environmentalists only listen to the science that wants to prove it. Many of the followers are fundamental and very radical in nature, outright demanding that man act NOW or you are seriously part of the problem.
In short, the professor is right: anyone who blindly believes something without examing all sides is no better than the other. The Environmentalists are no better than the Creationists. Those who attempt to shove global warming down our throats are no better than those who tell us that man lived at the same time as dinosaurs.
However, where I differen from Professor Pilmer is on the accusation that this is, in fact, a new age religion. Something that just came out of nowhere, has caught fire like some sort of fashion fad or the latest Hilary Duff. When in fact, environmentalism is not new, the people who believe in this have been around since pre-christianity, they are just flying under a new banner.
The modern environmental movement is nothing more than a revitalization of the wiccan paganism that thrived before Christianity. As Christianity spread (after it came about of course), it had ripped through the big cities, saying that they had seen the truth from a savior and were willing to spread this messgage at all costs. Those in the cities took larely to these new ideals (eventually) and those who didn’t get the message quick enough were the rural farmers and people who had for many years, simply worshipped the land. They were labeled as heretics and ignorant non-believers who were merely clinling to ways of the past, as there was no “proof” for what they believed in worshipping something just because they always had, and that the proof lied in what the Christians had seen in Christ.
Well ladies and gentlemen, it’s the exact same thing today. One thing has remained constant is that religous history tends to repeat itself over time, be it from similar themes in different faiths to the destruction of the old religion to make way for the new one.
And it’s happening again.
Global warming theory spreaded quickly through the liberal cities of the world, and if you look around today, where are the most die-hard Bible-thumping Christians? They don’t live in the city. They don’t live in the suburbs. They live in the rural areas. They’re the people who have “Christ is Lord” written on the roof of their barn, which you can see plain as day while driving down the interstate. And just as Christianity converted the city dwellers and moved outward, environmentalist pagans are started from the inside and are working their way out towards the forestral frontier (which may be the final frontier) of Christians.
Except this time the tables have turned.
This is the old Pagan forest druids, the native American tribes, and Wiccans, and the countryfolk of old reborn into a modern, liberal, focused machine. And they are having their revenge on those who persecuted them in the past, only instead of being a religion with a church, they are calling themselves lightened to science. This all despite the fact that the average Buddhist has a better understanding of enlightenment and the average Scientologist has a better understanding of science (its ironic, but in a sad way).
Due to the nature of this beast, being political and not theological, they have adopted a political mantra as well. Each religion needs a Hero and a Villain, be it Zeus and Hades, God and Satan, or The Flying Spagetti Monster and a giant fork.
The hero of Environmentalism is the Earth, but if that is indeed the case, who is the villain?
There are essentially two villains in the environmentalist religion. The first is a carry over from the ancient pagan days, where it is simply man that is the cause of the problems, and that we must in a sense hate ourselves and what we are in order to save things.
This is equally as ridiculous as the episode of The Boondocks were Uncle Ruckus formed a church telling african-americans that God “hates darkies” and you must reject yourselves to be saved and enter white heaven. Video to illustrate point:
The second villian is a new one. The claim is that we are not just problems in ourselves, but we have created an industry that nurtures and promotes the destruction of the Earth (or in this case, God, however you want to look at it). That industry is production of goods and services. It is a system that encoruages us to make as much as we can, get as good at is as we can, and profit as much as we can. The environmentalists have a devil in the form of Capitalism. This is why they are looking at the government to save them from the horrors of “global warming” and the system that they are saying caused it.
Hence, we can gather two points of conclusion:
Anyone who is a radical environemntalist cannot rightly identify with any other faith.
You cannot call yourself a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew, or anything else if your time of worship is spend worshiping the earth and little to nothing else. Your God is the planet, nothing else.
Anyone who is a radical environmentalist is a socialist and/or a communist. Anyone who attacks the free market and competition in favor of strong government controls to preserve nature is a socialist. Rightly so, the more extreme position of everybody working together to achieve a positive society in so there is no competition, is a communist.
Nature has it’s ups and downs in temperature, just as the stock market does in it’s own nature of working. These entities regulate themselves and always have, government interference will not make things any easier and will only be used to strengthen the power of those already in power to opress the people in to doing what they want. Except this time, it isn’t the King of England demanding that his country be Catholic, it is people like Al Gore demanding that we all give ourselves to the Earth. Either way, Capitalism is wounded with every stride this new religion makes.
And if history continues to repeat itself, we are in serious trouble.
