As a matter of fact, he was terrified.
I know.
He whispered, in my ear, his prayer, and sealed it with a kiss on my cheek, which is why I am still on that mission because they were mean to my Sweetie.
Below, is a list of the names of individuals who falsely advised the Mayor of Detroit, but the only reasons I am preserving this is because they are of the same cloth of the individuals who have and continue to falsely advise Trump because they are the ones who executed, on the ground floor, the fake ass property tax foreclosures, right after the fake ass mortgage foreclosures, the fake ass Detroit Bankruptcy and the fake ass Detroit Bankruptcy creditors of the fake ass Detroit Land Bank Authority.
Karen has a tale to tell.
Advocates say residents fear being uprooted
Attendees of Detroit Mayor Dave Bing's land use summit:
• Marcell Todd, director, City Planning Commission
• Eugene Jones, executive director, Detroit Housing Commission
• Anita Lane, project manager, Community Development Advocates of Detroit
• Steve Ogden, executive director, Next Detroit Neighborhood Initiative
• Linda Smith, executive director, U-SNAP BAC Inc.
• Tom Goddeeris, executive director, Grandmont Rosedale Development Corp.
• Heidi Mucherie, executive director, Community Legal Resources
• Aundra Wallace, member, Detroit Land Bank Authority
• Burney Johnson, deputy director, Michigan State Housing and Development Authority
• Kathleen Lomako, deputy director, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments
• William Hunter, analyst, Data Driven Detroit
• Ann Lang, CEO, Downtown Detroit Partnership
• Faye Nelson, president and CEO, Detroit Riverfront Conservancy
• Don Edwards, founder, principal and CEO, Justice and Sustainability Associates, Washington, D.C.
• Jessica Green, of the Detroit Collaborative Design Center, University of Detroit Mercy
• Charles Cross, research and design fellow, Detroit Collaborative Design Center, University of Detroit Mercy
The community advocates invited to a land use summit at Detroit Mayor Dave Bing's office last week had a few words of caution for him: Don't make assumptions. Include the community in the conversation. Stay away from business jargon.
Urban agriculture may not be the answer.
The city, attendees said, should also move quickly to develop a positive message and terminology around the idea of developing a long-term land use strategy that will see some parts of the city mothballed and other neighborhoods bolstered.
Rumors have flown that city officials had a plan to reshape Detroit, or were developing such a plan in secrecy, fueled by the city's hiring of a Kresge Foundation-funded urban planner.
Until last week, the administration hadn't said much. Bing has said that among Detroit neighborhoods there will be “winners” and “losers,” that the city lacks the revenue to support its 139 square miles, and most often, that there's not a plan to shrink the city.
“I want to start by making one thing perfectly clear,” Bing told the group at a meeting on May 12, which was not open to the public. “There's been a lot of conversation about ‘the plan.' For all of you, there is no plan. … I think there are a lot of people in the media and in the community, people from all across the country, who are under the impression that we have a master plan for land reuse. This is just the beginning of the development of that plan.”
The assembled group, above, will serve as the mayor's advisory team.
Bing's team also plans to assemble a citizen advisory group.
City leaders have thus far declined to give a name to the process. In that absence, terms like “downsizing,” “shrinking” or “rightsizing” frequently are used.
But those words, the advocates said, rub residents the wrong way.
“The words you use are very important,” said Heidi Mucherie, director of the Detroit-based nonprofit Community Legal Resources. “There's a lot of pushback on ‘downsizing' or ‘shrinking,' and some people are embracing words like ‘re-envisioning' or ‘revisioning.' There are some people who said look, don't give this a fancy word, this is planning, so call it planning.”
Mucherie told Bing and his team that she observed two pervasive fears at a recent meeting held by her group. “(Detroiters) felt strongly that residents should lead the way, that the process should not be led by ‘outsiders' — and that could mean philanthropy, it could be consultants,” she said. “The other fear is the fear of land-grabbing and the fear of being involuntarily displaced.”
Some concerns aren't entirely unfounded.
While the city doesn't want to involuntarily relocate residents, said Karen Dumas, Bing's group executive for communications, “Nothing's off the table.” Business jargon like “rightsizing” or “downsizing” doesn't calm fears, said Tom Goddeeris, executive director of the Grandmont Rosedale Development Corp. “In the general population, rightsizing is a euphemism for layoffs,” he told the mayor. “It comes from the business community. … I also think you need to be careful about using too much business jargon. I know you're obviously a successful businessman, and you're using a business model for the city, but you need to be careful about business jargon. It makes people think it is all a front for big corporations that are going to grab all the land.”
Mucherie also urged city officials to approach the community without preconceived notions. Some Detroiters, she said, are put off by the idea of creating density. “They don't want to live in a dense neighborhood,” she said. “We heard from other citizens that they are furious about farming and urban agriculture being offered as a solution. That's not to say everyone feels that way, but … just because there are people out there who have advocated a solution doesn't mean this community has embraced it. You need to be very careful not to take assumptions to the community.”
Development of the plan will take 12 to 18 months, Bing said, and will be led by Marja Winters, deputy director of the city's Planning and Development Department, and Toni Griffin, the nationally recognized urban planner whose salary is paid by Troy-based Kresge.
Kresge will also foot the bill for a team of technical advisers to work on the plan and a community engagement effort, Winters said.
The advisory team will meet regularly to vet plans or suggestions developed by Griffin and a team of technical consultants before such items are incorporated into the plan.
The group's next move will be to weigh in on a formal community engagement strategy.
A request for such proposals has been made through the Kresge Foundation, but no companies have been chosen, Winters said. Kresge Communications Director Cynthia Shaw wrote in an e-mail to Crain's that costs for the consultants haven't yet been finalized, saying Kresge hopes the costs ultimately will be paid in concert with other foundations through a grant to a nonprofit organization.
Openness and transparency are key, Bing said. “I think people feel like this group in particular is a secret agent for this administration, that we're going to come out with this plan and keep it close to our chest and nobody's going to know about it — won't work,” he said.
“We've got to be transparent, and we've got to be inclusive.” Linda Smith, executive director of U-SNAP-BAC Inc., urged the city officials to develop a positive branding message. “What's the tag?” she said. “Something you can put on buses, something you can put on billboards. People have to get excited. Detroiters haven't been excited in a long time and it makes them negative.”
Developing a formal method for citizen input is crucial, said Anita Lane, project manager at Community Development Advocates of Detroit. “We want to be really creative about how we engage citizens and how we engage young people” she said. “I think it's important that we find a way to interact with the community. … Unless that happens here as well you will have a lot of pushback, and the plan may not succeed.”
