Cocktails & Popcorn: Is Ben Carson Getting In On The Detroit Land Bank Authority School Play?

This almost slipped past me.

Ben Carson makes his HUD announcement at Life Remodeled, the same Life Remodeled that has some Detroit Bankruptcy - Detroit Land Bank Authority issues on property ownership.

Here is the backgrounder, and for those who do not click the link, I have provided the documents of the property acquisition, below.

Time To Audit God: Detroit World Outreach, Child Welfare Fraud & Detroit Land Bank Authority

Learn more: BEVERLY TRAN: Time To Audit God: Detroit World Outreach, Child Welfare Fraud & Detroit Land Bank Authority http://beverlytran.blogspot.com/2017/06/time-to-audit-god-detroit-world.html#ixzz5ItwiHJmc
Stop Medicaid Fraud in Child Welfare 

I just find Ben's choice of venue to make such an announcement to be extremely interesting, even more interesting than the face of Mike Duggan.

Ben Carson backs off HUD plan that would raise rents

Detroit — U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson on Thursday backed off aspects of a controversial proposal this spring that would have led to higher rents for low-income households in the United States.

Carson, during a news conference in Detroit, said the plan was considered in April as officials were faced with budget restrictions. Since then, he said, more funding has come through, eliminating the need to impose the rent increases, as proposed, in favor of other options.

"The original rent increases were to make sure we didn't have to raise rents on elderly and disabled people and now we have some increased funding and we're not going to have to do that," Carson told reporters in Detroit after a news conference unveiling plans for the first of what will be more than a dozen hubs across the country to aid low-income households in the path to "self-sufficiency."

"The key thing to remember is that everything we're doing is aimed at elevating people and giving people an opportunity of removing some of the perverse incentives that have kept people in dependent positions," he said.

Carson on Thursday referenced a Detroit News/Associated Press article, "saying how horrible we were for raising all these rents on people." Carson said he's told the media that the consideration to raise rents was tied to HUD's budget restrictions. At that time, he said, it had been "the only option."

The “Make Affordable Housing Work Act,” announced on April 25, would allow housing authorities to impose work requirements, would increase the percentage of income poor tenants are required to pay from 30 percent to 35 percent, and would raise the minimum rent from $50 to $150 per month. For Metro Detroit, the move would boost housing costs by 21 percent on average, according to the new analysis.

"As far as the rents are concerned, they’re going to be simplified," Carson said Thursday, adding the numbers used for gross, rather than adjusted income, will depend on negotiations with Congress. 

"But again bear in mind: We would only raise rents if we have to raise rents. If we don’t have to raise them, that’s not part of the proposal. That has nothing to do with self-sufficiency, raising the rents. That has to do with practicality and making sure that we didn’t have to raise rents on the elderly, disabled or displaced people who are already in the program.”

Carson said rents will only need to be raised if they have to be, and he's confident he'll be able to work with Congress.

“Congress will work with us," he said. "We’re already in negotiations with them.”

Carson made the remarks as he stood alongside Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan to announce a Detroit-based "Envision Center," one of what will be 17 around the nation.

Carson touted the plan as one of his signature initiatives to offer HUD-assisted families access to support services and expand use of the limited federal dollars for assistance to more people who need them.

The federal government is not putting money, only support, into the program that is leveraged by dollars from local public-private partnerships, Carson said.

"We're talking about our people, not Democrats or Republicans," Carson said. "The road to self-sufficiency is not an easy one. We must all come together and try."

Carson said the EnVision Centers will provide more solutions to help move families out of poverty and federal assistance to a "much more rewarding lifestyle."

In response to Carson's proposal for higher rents for those receiving HUD assistance, Duggan said he was "concerned for one hour" until Carson informed him Thursday that the proposal was first made when Carson thought the federal budget was being cut.

"Now the money has been reinstated, and there won't be any rent increase," Duggan told reporters. 

Earlier, the mayor told a crowd gathered at the Life Remodeled EnVision Center on Collingwood Street that the facility will bring services to people in the neighborhoods.

"This is about creating opportunity," Duggan said, adding that Carson is starting in Detroit with a place that can help individuals who need it most. "I think this is going to be great progress."

The center, officials said Thursday, will be a tenant in the Durfee Innovation Society. The facility features a gymnasium and will offer a makers space, educational and literacy programs for young children as well as neighborhood job training services. Life Remodeled is a city-based nonprofit that invests in Detroit neighborhoods and has been working for more than a year on renovations inside the former Detroit Public Schools building it's leasing from the district.

The EnVision Centers, to be located near public housing developments, will serve as incubators to support what Carson says are "four key pillars of self-sufficiency," including economic empowerment, educational advancement, health and wellness, and character and leadership.

The effort is driven by federal agencies, state and local governments, nonprofits, faith-based leaders, public housing authorities and others. The centers, officials said, will leverage public-private partnerships to connect HUD-assisted households with services that offer pathways to self-sufficiency.

"All of us together, we are the answer," said Chris Lambert, Life Remodeled founder.

In Michigan, there will be two centers in Detroit and a third in Inkster, according to a HUD news release.

Other centers will be located in states from California to Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington.

Detroit City Councilman Gabe Leland said after the event that he's excited about the center and that Carson was in Detroit to announce it. But Carson's focus forward has to be on negotiations in Washington, D.C., he said.

"Mr. Carson needs to be in Washington, negotiating the principles that he talked about today and spending more time with Congress," Leland said. "I'm not sure he accurately explained the rough and tumble relationship that Congress has with this president. Carson should be in Washington to boost up those relationships and get to work."

Detroit Public Schools and Life Remodeled Lease of 12-30-2016 for Property of 1945 Webb, Detroit, Michigan by Beverly Tran on Scribd

1945 Webb - Detroit, Michigan Deed and Taxes by Beverly Tran on Scribd

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Day 33.4. Lambert vs Campbell.

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Time To Audit God: Detroit World Outreach, Child Welfare Fraud & Detroit Land Bank Authority

To begin, I would like to honor the Redford Police Department for executing an extremely delicate, social arrest, with a professional grace.

Now, on to why this is an issue of child welfare fraud.

This is the quote from the article that made me take pause:

"The church has more than $15 million worth of assets, including its main campus in Redford Township, the parsonage, additional real estate and a “sizable discretionary fund” for the senior pastor, according to Harmon."

Additional real estate?

Why and how does a church, a non-profit, tax exempt organization hold more that $15 million worth of assets?

1945 Webb, Detroit, Michigan

So, what I did was a take a simple visit to its website and, voila, I found a questionable relationship of a real estate transaction in conjunction with the glorious Detroit Land Bank Authority.

Detroit World Outreach is in partnership with Life Remodeled, another non-profit with a plan to take over Detroit Public Schools.

Through the Detroit Bankruptcy case, overseen by presiding Judge Steven Rhodes, who was subsequently appointed by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder as the Emergency Manager for Detroit Public Schools, "blighted' properties were "transferred" via the Hardest Hit Funds, devoid of any due process or any opportunity for legal remedial challenge, to the private, non-profit Life Remodeled.

In the particular case of 1945 Webb, below, Wayne County had previously transferred the property to
Andre McCoullough of Quality Solutions, with payment arrangements and payments of past due taxes, where the legitimacy of these so-called past due taxes may be even called into question.

1945 Webb - Detroit, Michigan Deed and Taxes by Beverly Tran on Scribd

Without any notification, the property of 1945 Webb, I guess the best superlative would be, was "miraculously" transferred with lease to Life Remodeled, a tax exempt, non-profit, without any notification to the...current owner (?), signed between Steven Rhodes and Chris Lambert.

Detroit Public Schools and Life Remodeled Lease of 12-30-2016 for Property of 1945 Webb, Detroit, Michigan by Beverly Tran on Scribd

In allegation only, at this particular point in time, this is the agenda of Betsy DeVos, U.S. Department of Education Secretary of Privatization (my lil mismomer), in charter schools to religious, tax exempt, corporations for purposes of private investments through questionable billing to child welfare programs, like, um.....Medicaid.

Of course, I provide my disclaimer that I have not fully vetted this transaction, but the purpose of this publication is for my #Superfans.

To my precious, most delicious ones in the Michigan Eastern District U.S. Attorney's Office, go forth, and make Mommy proud...

#Time2AuditGod

Widow, megachurch battle for control of mansion, millions

Redford Township — Local religious leaders are warring with a bishop’s widow over a $3 million mansion and control of the soul and mega bank accounts of one of Metro Detroit’s megachurches.

The war is 4 months old, triggered by the death of Bishop Benjamin Gibert, the charismatic, leather-clad leader of Detroit World Outreach in Redford Township, a megachurch whose leaders believe wealth is God’s reward.

Within days of the bishop’s death, church leaders fired his widow, Charisse Gibert, from her church post and announced plans to sell her home, an 11,000-square-foot parsonage in Northville Township that was controversially removed from the tax rolls 10 years ago.

 Church leaders also are trying to block Charisse Gibert from collecting on her late husband’s $2 million life-insurance policy.

 State and federal court records and interviews chronicle a power struggle over who should succeed Benjamin Gibert, a legal battle filled with palace intrigue, police and claims that the church has financial problems, an ironic twist that could end up benefiting Wayne County taxpayers.

 “The dispute is about control and the future of the church, though money and power is always in the background,” church vice president and treasurer Marvin Wilder said. The power struggle is not unusual.

 “Megachurches that are built around the personalities of their leaders most of the time do suffer when there is an unexpected death or loss of that pastor, as do smaller churches,” said Scott Thumma of the Connecticut-based Hartford Seminary, who studies megachurches.

 It is somewhat rare for a clergy’s spouse to become the new leader of a church, but that typically happens when the spouse is viewed as an equal, Thumma said.

 “This does not sound like it was the case at (Detroit World Outreach),” Thumma said. Charisse Gibert’s lawyer did not respond to a message seeking comment.

 After Benjamin Gibert, 54, died of a heart attack Feb. 28, his widow tried to take control of the church from Detroit World Outreach’s board of elders, leaders allege.

 Charisse Gibert tried firing church elders and stocking the board with family and friends, church lawyer Henri Harmon wrote in a Wayne County Circuit Court filing. Gibert’s handpicked board includes her 23-year-old daughter and a brother-in-law. Gibert claimed her late husband, before he died, named her first vice president.

The move was an attempt to leapfrog her past Wilder and put her first in line to become the church’s new senior pastor, the lawyer alleges.

 “The ‘first vice president’ position does not exist, and never existed,” Harmon wrote in the court filing.

 The move was designed to grab control of church finances and assets, including the $3 million mansion in Northville Township, the lawyer alleges.

The church has more than $15 million worth of assets, including its main campus in Redford Township, the parsonage, additional real estate and a “sizable discretionary fund” for the senior pastor, according to Harmon.

The dispute turned ugly at the church’s main campus March 19, according to court records.

 Charisse Gibert and others arrived at the facility and seized control of the church’s live web feed, according to Harmon.

 A week later, during Sunday services, Gibert returned and insisted she be allowed to speak to parishioners. Someone called law enforcement and Gibert agreed not to take the pulpit, according to Harmon.

 “Gibert did not keep her word,” the lawyer alleged.

 The church says Gibert twice interrupted Sunday services before law enforcement intervened, handcuffed her and led her off the stage.

 Video of the incident was posted on YouTube. On March 21, Charisse Gibert unsuccessfully tried to have the church bank accounts put in her name, according to a court filing.

 The next day, the church sued her in Wayne County Circuit Court.

 The church wanted an order declaring Charisse Gibert is not senior pastor and has no right to control the church’s assets. The church also wanted an order preventing her from entering the church and kicking her out of the mansion.

 Charisse Gibert countersued, arguing she and her late husband were both senior pastors.

 Gibert asked the Wayne County judge to declare her senior pastor, temporarily block Wilder and others from interrupting church finances and remove him from bank and credit card accounts.

 Wayne County Circuit Judge Annette Berry refused to decide who is the church’s rightful leader.

 “The question of who should perform as a pastor is an ecclesiastical question, which the court is not authorized to decide,” Berry ruled.

 Berry also refused Charisse Gibert’s request to have a representative attend church services to collect and count money given to the church.

 The case is pending and the judge has ordered both sides to participate in mediation June 29.

 Apostle Ellis Smith is handling senior pastor duties while a church search committee hunts for a new leader. Charisse Gibert, meanwhile, is holding her own church services at Metro Detroit hotels.

 While the court case lingers, the church is struggling financially.

 The church had 4,000 members a decade ago.

In January, there were half as many members, which Wilder attributes to changing church demographics and a natural decline as members move from church to church.

 The Sunday after Gibert died, the church lost 900 members, Wilder said.

 “When a pastor dies, some people in a congregation don’t know how a church is going to go on, so they find a new spiritual home or go looking at other churches,” Wilder said.

 The drop in membership has turned the mansion from a symbol of prosperity into a millstone.

 The church spends $380,000 a year on mortgage and maintenance costs.

Detroit World Outreach can no longer afford the expense because church revenue has fallen by approximately $2 million since 2010 “and our weekly attendance has dropped significantly,” Wilder wrote in a court filing.

 “Selling the property would cut the debt of the church by close to 50 percent,” Wilder wrote.

 Selling the property could benefit Wayne County and Northville Township by putting the home back on the tax rolls.

 The county, township, schools and others would split more than $54,000 a year, township assessor Holly Cozza said. For now, Charisse Gibert continues to live in the mansion, Wilder said.

 “I suspect she will leave and we’ll be able to sell the property,” he said.

 The fight between Gibert and the church intensified June 6.

 That’s when American General Life Insurance Co. sued Charisse Gibert and the church in federal court in Detroit.

 American General insured Benjamin Gibert’s life and wants a judge to decide who collects on the insurance policy.

 Benjamin Gibert set up the policy so that the church and his wife would split the money. On March 28, a month after her husband died, Charisse Gibert tried to collect her $950,000 share.

 She also demanded that the insurance company pay no benefits to the church, citing the ongoing lawsuit.

 “I am quite concerned about possible fraud and mismanagement of church properties and funds,” Charisse Gibert wrote in a letter to American General.

 On May 25, the church told American General not to pay any benefits to Charisse Gibert, according to the federal court lawsuit.

 American General wants to deposit the $1.9 million in an interest-bearing account until a federal judge can determine the proper beneficiary.

 Wilder, the church vice president and treasurer, laments the ongoing disputes and effects on the congregation of a church that is 82 years old.

 “It’s unfortunate that this has happened and that the congregation did not get to properly mourn Bishop Gibert,” he said.

“It’s a shame that this has marred his legacy.

 “He made significant contributions — I don’t want to belittle them — but they pale in comparison to 82 years,” Wilder said.

“The church doesn’t belong to you.”

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On Detroit Public Schools Closures: "Every Corporation Should Hire A Child"

If anyone would like to hold my 2 cents on why Michigan is on the fast track to shutter its Detroit schools, wait no longer!

The answer is quite simple, well, it will be if I am able to bite my microecnomic tongue for the duration of this post.

It is called privatization, or, in this instance, Life Remodeled and it even has a spokesperson, Chris Lambert, who is politically campaigning with these public dollars and public lands.

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"It takes a village, then pillages the resources."

Yes, this seems like a great idea, until you look into the complex financial schemes of NGOs capitalizing on tax exempt, public dollars and public land, to maximize revenues for their social impact investors.

In return, the community supports the business center, which trains students through federal cost reimbursements for free, lifetime supply of child labor, who will stay loyal to the product and community model for generations.

There is no transparency as we all know, you cannot audit God, or, in this instance, a 501c3, which will own the land, the businesses, the homes, the food supplies, the workers and all other local opportunities.

This is nothing new, because I have documented the exploits of privatization with such fervor, for many, many years, that I guess I will continue to call it out until someone listens.

Every corporation should hire a child, and that is exactly what the future of public education is.

“The law is clear: Michigan parents and their children do not have to be stuck indefinitely in a failing school,” Schuette said in a news release. “Detroit students and parents deserve accountability and high-performing schools. If a child can’t spell opportunity, they won’t have opportunity.”

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette

Please, keep in mind, that I am only calling out the issues of privatization and how individuals are profiting from the ills of the sardonic policies to generate poverty for the purposes of prosperity for profitable returns on corporate social investments with tax dollars to fund political campaigns.

Oh, and I am calling out "The Elected Ones" for doing absolutely nothing in presenting alternative plans to improve the educational and life opportunities for the children in their respective districts, because, audible hallucinations of religous locutions on the floor of the Michigan Legislature or in other political campaign venues do not qualify as a substitution for a policy initiative.

#Time2AuditGod

Detroit schools file suit against Michigan to stop potential closures

The Detroit Public Schools Community District formally filed a lawsuit aimed at preventing the state from forcing the closure of failing schools in the district.

The lawsuit was filed in the Michigan Court of Claims against the state School Reform Office, the State of Michigan and Natasha Baker, the state school reform officer.

"Papers will be served today," Alycia Meriweather, the interim superintendent for the district, said during a meeting Monday morning with parents and community members at Central Collegiate Academy.

"Just know, we're standing with you against closure by the" School Reform Office, Meriweather said. "If any school closures are to happen, it should be at the behest of the elected school board. That's our position."

The state school reform office in January identified 38 schools for potential closure because the schools have ranked in the bottom 5% academically for the three straight years. The list included 16 schools in the Detroit district.

The Detroit board of education voted last week to take legal action, more than a month after giving the district administration the authority to pursue a possible suit. The 147-page lawsuit was formally filed Friday.

The lawsuit comes despite a deal made two weeks ago by the Michigan Department of Education, which operates independently of the reform office. The MDE told districts with schools on the list that they could avoid closure if they enter into a partnership agreement with the state to turn around the schools.

The lawsuit makes a number of arguments against closing schools. One is familiar: That the legislation approved in June that created  the district, and left the Detroit Public Schools district intact solely to pay off debt and collect taxes, gave the district a fresh start.

"Not only do defendants lack authority to do so, their actions are based on flawed data, violations and misinterpretations," of the state school code, the lawsuit argues.

"Because the DPSCD — a brand new school district  — did not operate any of the schools on any bottom 5% list for the three immediately preceding school years, the SRO cannot close them ... before July 1, 2019."

That date would be three years after the Detroit district was created.

If Baker is allowed to close schools in the district during or immediately after the current school year, "the DPSCD will never be given a proper opportunity to fulfill its intended purpose, which is to turn around its lowest achieving schools."

The argument was first made in a memo last summer by the Miller Canfield law firm, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the district. Gov. Rick Snyder supported the argument.

But in September, Attorney General Bill Schuette issued an opinion that contradicted the idea that lawmakers intended to give the district a fresh start as it relates to school closures.

“The law is clear: Michigan parents and their children do not have to be stuck indefinitely in a failing school,” Schuette said in a news release. “Detroit students and parents deserve accountability and high-performing schools. If a child can’t spell opportunity, they won’t have opportunity.”

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