What Do Palestine & Detroit Have In Common?

Q: What Do Palestine & Detroit have in common?

A: Authorities, Israel & Clinton Foundation.


FUN FACT! DETROIT HAS AN AUTHORITY TO SHUTOFF WATER & ANOTHER TO STEAL LAND

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_National_Authority
The  (PAPNA; Arabicالسلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية‎ as-Sulṭa al-Waṭanīya al-Filasṭīnīya) is the interim self-government body established in 1994 following the Gaza–Jericho Agreement to  the Gaza Strip and Areas A and B of the West Bank[4] as a consequence of the 1993 Oslo Accords[5][6] Following elections in 2006 and the subsequent Gaza conflict between the Fatah and  parties, its authority had extended only in areas A and B of the West Bank. Since January 2013, the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority uses the name "State of Palestine" on official documents.^[7][9]

UN-HABITATS Investment in AMAL

UN-Habitat

In the Palestinian Territories, there is a serious shortage of affordable housing, estimated to be over 500,000 units within the next ten years, compounded by limited access to housing finance products. To address this, in 2009, UN-HABITAT committed $1 million for the Affordable Mortgage and Loan Corporation (AMAL, which means 'hope' in Arabic) as a crucial funding element in a $2 billion project. This project will lead to the construction of 30,000 affordable homes with security of tenure in the West Bank for low to middle income Palestinians--nurses, teachers, policemen and others who have no homes they can afford and no access to formal mortgage finance. The $1 million loan was an investment in the equity of AMAL. It enabled AMAL to fulfill capital requirements of the Palestinian Capital Markets Authority, and utilized the multi-lateral development status of UN-HABITAT and its established working relations with the government of Israel and the Palestinian National Authority. It was the final financial 'piece of the puzzle' to allow the project to go ahead.

Gaza residents to pay Israel for electricity

Gaza's weary residents expected to pay a collective fee of $2.8m a month to restore the power supply.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has requested that Gaza's residents begin regularly paying their electricity company for the first time to resume the power supply to the Strip. 

Gaza's residents would be required to pay a collective monthly fee of 10 million shekels ($2.8m) to restore the amount of electricity the PA asked Israel to cut off from the Strip in June, 

a source from the PA, who asked to remain anonymous, told Al Jazeera. 

"This is the first time that the PA has made such a request, but the government believes that the [Gaza-based] electricity company must pay the amount that it consumes from the electricity sector," he said. 

"The PA wants to support power supply in the Strip but within reason." 

INFOGRAPHIC

Gaza's electricity crisis

Since 2006, the Palestinian Authority, which administers the occupied West Bank, has paid Israel to supply electricity to Gaza. 

In June 2017, the PA requested that Israel reduce Gaza's electricity supply by 40 percent. The move was seen as an attempt by President Mahmoud Abbas to weaken the rival Hamas government in Gaza. 

When the PA asked Israel to cut back electricity, residents of Gaza started receiving only up to four hours of electricity a day as opposed to an average of six to eight hours. 

In response, the United Nations warned that longer power cuts threaten a "total collapse" of basic services in Gaza. 

On Wednesday, the PA said it would allow Israel to resume supplying the 50 megawatts of electric power it had asked Israel to cut six months ago. 

Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah described the development as being within the context of a reconciliation agreement between the PA and Hamas signed in the Egyptian capital Cairo in October 2017. 

The request, said Hamdallah, was to "alleviate the suffering of the people of Gaza and to improve living conditions". 

READ MORE

A guide to the Gaza Strip

But the PA source Al Jazeera spoke to said that one of Gaza's two operating power plant turbines would have to be shut down, as the cost would only cover the operation of one.

"In reality, the increase will be 25 megawatts, not 50," he explained. "They have to close down the turbine in order to cover the 10 million shekels." 

Because of high demand in winter, he said, the effect of restoring electricity will not make much of a difference to the lives of Gaza's residents. "The power may increase by an hour at most." 

'They cannot afford to live' 

Gaza's two million residents have suffered from ongoing power cuts for the past decade, owing to Israel's crippling land, air and sea blockade on the Strip, and because of the PA's sanctions. 

The Gaza Strip's sole power plant cannot operate at its maximum capacity as a result of the shortage of spare parts and industrial diesel because of Israel's airtight blockade, in place since 2007.

The electricity crisis has only made matters worse for Gaza's residents, who have been subjected to three major Israeli military assaults over the past 10 years that have damaged much of the territory's infrastructure. 

READ MORE

Gaza power cuts: 'This is the worst it's ever been'

About 42 percent of Palestinians in Gaza suffer from poverty, youth unemployment stands at 58 percent, and some 80 percent rely on international aid, mainly food, according to the World Bank. 

Mohammad Abu Jayyab, head of an economic newspaper in Gaza, said he believes it is unrealistic to ask Gaza's residents to start paying for their electricity. 

"The return of supply is not about reconciliation or lifting the sanctions on Gaza's government. It is about a demand from the PA to the electricity company to cover the cost of supply," he told Al Jazeera. 

A spokesperson for Gaza's Electricity Distribution Company, Mohammad Thabet, told Al Jazeera the company once contributed to the cost of power supply, but with the worsening economic situation it has recently been unable to do so. 

Thabet described the PA's request for payment from Gaza's residents as a "natural demand". 

READ MORE

Mass protests on Gaza's borders over electricity crisis

"Of course we have to pay for this electricity because it is a commodity. Those who use the electricity must pay for it," he said. 

"This money that the electricity company will collect will be exported to the Israeli side through the Palestinian ministry of finance." 

But Abu Jayyab said the PA's plan is unsustainable given Gaza's dire economic condition. 

"The PA will fall into the trap of the diminished economic situation in Gaza whereby the resident cannot pay," said Abu Jayyab. 

"The company will hit a wall and Gaza's political leaders will not accept this. I predict that the electricity issue will rise again within two months". 

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

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.

\

"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.”

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Day 107 - DynCorp Harvest, Killing Is Good Business

DynCorp Infiltration of America's Sheriffs, Your County

Enter Cemex, Shorebank, and Seaboard with Decameron Hotels

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

FBI & NYPD: Clinton Foundation Probed for Money Laundering, Financial Transactions with Islamic Terror Groups

UPDATE: It seems Sorcha Faal has used me as a citation source.

The following is a publication of True Pundit, not me.

What I do is capture everything, preserve it, and add it to my bucket of crap I like to scrape off the internet, or what many will understand as propaganda.

Sorcha Fall sucks because it was mean to my Sweetie.

Imitation Is The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: How To Spot Poorly Constructed Propaganda

There are cyber rumors that Sorcha is David Brook, who sucks, too, but hey, what do I know?

http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=120195

I know I feel better now that I have clarified my position on Sorcha Faal using my work, improperly, as a source of citation.

I even have a copyright they violated because they used my work to make money and give legitimacy to its propaganda.

This is about child welfare, and not once, has anyone, but me, has said one word about it.

This looks like a pathetic effort to make me look bad.

Since you have found yourself here, enjoy going through my database, for I have dedicated my entire blog for justice to be served, though the heavens shall fall.

#32819#

~END~

I am just going to leave this right here for now.

Get ready.

Money launderers who bragged on a secret federal wire tap that they could employ Clinton Foundation connections to funnel and cleanse millions in illicit cash have sparked a newly-minted FBI investigation into the embattled charity run by Hillary Clinton and her family, federal law enforcement officials confirm.

The money laundering allegations being probed by the FBI have been buoyed by recent revelations and evidence discovered by the NYPD from a laptop confiscated from Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin’s Manhattan residence. According to NYPD, several of the emails recovered on the hard drive disclosed sensitive financial details of the Clintons and their charity. That evidence is now in the hands of the FBI too, whose New York field office has opened a parallel Clinton Foundation investigation.

Federal law enforcement sources said the Los Angeles-based money launderers, who are part of a separate federal investigation, discussed previously using Clinton Foundation personnel to domesticate foreign funds that could not be legally brought into the United States through traditional bank wires and deposits.

NYPD sources said Weiner’s email treasure trove contained correspondences regarding a company linked to President Bill Clinton and at least one offshore company, a South American affiliate of the Clinton Foundation. The emails also contained offshore financial correspondences, the source said.

Federal agents said one U.S.-based company is owned by Bill Clinton and according to linked banking intelligence discovered in emails, that entity disbursed millions of dollars via wire transfers through global banks to additional accounts controlled by the Clinton family and its charity. NYPD intelligence sources versed in anti-money laundering, said the emails and other items obtained from Weiner’s laptop paint a portrait of a complex corporate umbrella strategically formulated to seemingly operate and avoid law-enforcement detection.

“There’s sophistication in how this works and distributes cash to other accounts,” a federal intelligence source said. “Do we think this involves gun-running or drug-dealing criminals? Not intentionally, but the infrastructure is set up almost identically. Proceeds and income are being hidden the same way.”

Has the Clinton Foundation and/or affiliates underwritten or profited from terror groups? It is distinctly possible it has conducted business with terror-backed financial concerns, federal agents said based on a cache of suspicious financial activity reports filed by institutions with the U.S. Treasury which flagged transactions with known terror-linked cartels, including Islamic factions.

While the sophistication of the financial structuring and money movement may seem familiar to law enforcement, this case is anything but a normal investigation, notwithstanding its targets include a former U.S. president and secretary of state. Normal joint operating protocols between the FBI and Justice Department have been abandoned. FBI agents in the Los Angeles field office, where the money laundering probe launched have been continuously hassled by Justice Department naysayers who want the investigation spiked. Likewise, Justice Department officials have instructed FBI agents in New York City to stand down and abandon the inquiry. However, the Bureau has refused to buckle, especially after receiving corroborating evidence from the NYPD, FBI officials said.

Is the Clinton Foundation federal probe the work of FBI agents gone rogue? No. The FBI agents, with approval from headquarters in Washington D.C., have been sanctioned to continue the investigation, ignoring directives from Attorney General Loretta Lynch and her underlings, including Leslie Caldwell, Lynch’s point running the Justice Department’s criminal division.

Neither Lynch nor Caldwell were available for comment.

The FBI’s probe of the Clinton Foundation is actually a compartmentalized investigation. Field offices in Los Angeles and New York are spearheading the case but other offices are involved and contributing, sources said.

According to federal sources, transactions linked to Clinton corporate holdings have raised several regulatory eyebrows even beyond of the Justice Department, specifically in the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury that reports to the Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. FinCEN’s mission is to combat and pinpoint money laundering for personal profit or underwriting terrorism through the collection, analysis, and dissemination of financial intelligence and strategic use of financial authorities, namely banks and investment houses.

According to federal sources, FinCEN is warehousing numerous Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) forwarded to Treasury from financial institutions for transactions from Clinton-owned entities, both in the United States and globally, all triggered by anti-money laundering safeguards. These reports are confidential but federal agents are using these filings as key pieces to the Clinton Foundation financial puzzle.

According to details gleaned from FinCEN, federal agents acknowledge the Clinton Foundation operates a menagerie of subsidiaries and corporate structures beyond the parent charity. According to law enforcement sources, the FinCEN revelations coupled with the emails recovered by the NYPD detail a complex myriad of shell corporations linked to the Clintons and their charity. FBI sources describe these financial entanglements as vast and global. And many defy normal operating procedures of legitimate charities, officials said.

Has the Clinton Foundation underwritten or profited from linked terror groups per the intelligence warehoused in FinCEN’s vast Treasury database? It is distinctly possible the Clinton Foundation has conducted business — knowingly or not — with terror-backed financial concerns or groups, federal agents said, especially because these are the exact suspicious transactions the U.S. Treasury mandates compliance and security officials in U.S. financial institutions to report to FinCEN under threat of hefty fines and imprisonment.

Triggered by such anti-money laundering controls, federal investigators, for example, said they have examined a Clinton-affiliated offshore entity that essentially is a multi-million dollar private for-profit equity firm operated like an unsanctioned U.S. hedge fund outside the regulatory reach of the Securities and Exchange Commission. That for-profit business however, is controlled by New York-based Clinton Foundation, a not-for-profit registered charity. Also, while the profits of the offshore company are taxable in its foreign domicile, the parent company — the Clinton Foundation — is exempt from the same annual taxes in the United States.

Likewise, because the affiliate of the Clinton Foundation operates as a private offshore company, no one — including regulators in the United States — is privy to its clients, its investments or whether it perhaps served as a front company to secretly commission pay-for-play political schemes and favors during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state.

The challenge for the investigators? The Clinton Foundation and family have dozens of such affiliates and companies, an intricate corporate tapestry confusing to outsiders and intentionally complex by design.That’s why FBI agents in more than five separate field offices are working this case, federal sources said.

http://truepundit.com/fbi-nypd-clinton-foundation-probed-for-global-money-laundering-financial-transactions-with-islamic-terror-groups/

One cannot sell money and make a profit unless historically excluded populations are included. 

Hey Pretty Preet, can a gal get a "non-spoilage" request of docs?

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Three Real Estate Developers Charged In White Plains Federal Court With Conspiracy To Corrupt The Electoral Process In Bloomingburg, New York

                                "Detroit politics make me giggle"

Pretty Preet!!!  Pretty Preet!!!

Boy, for a minute there, I thought this was about Detroit.

I love my #Superfans.

Shalom Lamm and Others Charged in Voter Fraud Scheme in Connection with a March 2014 Bloomingburg Election

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney Jr., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), today announced the unsealing of an Indictment charging SHALOM LAMM, KENNETH NAKDIMEN, and VOLVY SMILOWITZ, a/k/a “Zev Smilowitz,” with conspiracy to corrupt the electoral process, in connection with an election in Bloomingburg, New York.   Bharara also today announced the guilty plea of HAROLD BAIRD, a former Town Supervisor of Mamakating, New York, to conspiracy to submit false voter registrations, charged in a one-count Information unsealed today.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stated:  “In pursuit of millions of dollars in profits from a real estate development project, the defendants allegedly hatched a cynical ploy to corrupt the electoral process in Bloomingburg.  As alleged, to get public officials supportive of their development project elected to local government, the defendants concocted a scheme to falsely register voters who did not live in Bloomingburg, including some who had never even set foot there.  And to cover up their voter fraud scheme, the defendants allegedly back-dated fake leases and even placed toothpaste and toothbrushes in empty apartments to make them appear occupied by the falsely registered voters.  Profit-driven corruption of democracy cannot be allowed to stand no matter who does it or where it happens.”

FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. stated:  “Today’s charges allege the defendants corruptly advanced their own personal real estate projects in Bloomingburg, New York, at the expense of honest citizens who expect and deserve a fair election system.  In their scheme to promote their own real estate development projects, the defendants violated federal law as they schemed to put themselves first.  This type of behavior simply won’t be tolerated.”  

As alleged in the Indictment unsealed today in White Plains federal court:

SHALOM LAMM, KENNETH NAKDIMEN, and VOLVY SMILOWITZ, a/k/a “Zev Smilowitz,” the defendants, were real estate developers who, starting in or about 2006, sought to build and sell real estate in Bloomingburg, New York.  From these real estate development projects, the defendants hoped for and anticipated making hundreds of millions of dollars.  But by late 2013, the first of their real estate developments had met local opposition, and still remained under construction and uninhabitable.  When met with resistance, rather than seek to advance their real estate development project through legitimate means, the defendants instead decided to corrupt the democratic electoral process in Bloomingburg by falsely registering voters and paying bribes for voters who would help elect public officials favorable to their project.

Specifically, in advance of an election in March 2014 for Mayor of Bloomingburg and other local officials, LAMM, NAKDIMEN, and SMILOWITZ, the defendants, and others working on their behalf, developed and worked on a plan to falsely register numerous people who were not entitled to register and vote in Bloomingburg, because they actually lived elsewhere.  People the defendants falsely sought to register to vote in Bloomingburg included those who never intended to live in Bloomingburg, those who had never kept a home in Bloomingburg, and indeed, some who had never even set foot in Bloomingburg in their lives.  The defendants took steps to cover up their scheme to register voters who did not actually live in Bloomingburg by, among other things, creating and back-dating false leases and placing items like toothbrushes and toothpaste in unoccupied apartments to make it seem as if the falsely registered voters lived there.

LAMM, NAKDIMEN, and SMILOWITZ, the defendants, also bribed potential voters by offering payments, subsidies, and other items of value to get non-residents of Bloomingburg to unlawfully register and vote there.  LAMM, for example, agreed to pay an individual $500 for every voter that the individual procured, and LAMM and NAKDIMEN’s real estate company ultimately paid the individual more than $30,000 per month for his efforts.

As alleged in a separate Information unsealed today in White Plains federal court:

From in or about January 2014 through in or about March 2014, BAIRD conspired with others to submit false voter registrations so that he could run for political office and vote in Bloomingburg.  In fact, however, BAIRD did not live in Bloomingburg, and his voter registrations were false. 

LAMM, NAKDIMEN, and SMILOWITZ were arrested this morning and will be arraigned today on the charges in the Indictment before United States Magistrate Judge Judith C. McCarthy in the White Plains federal courthouse.    
                              

LAMM, 57, of Bloomingburg, NAKDIMEN, 64, of Monsey, New York, and SMILOWITZ, 28, of Monroe, New York, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, in particular to corrupt the electoral process by submitting false voter registrations, buying voter registrations, and offering bribes for voter registrations and votes.  The offense carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

BAIRD, 60, of Sullivan County, New York, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to submit false voter registrations, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  The defendant will be sentenced at a future date.  The case is assigned to United States District Judge Cathy Seibel.

The statutory maximum penalties are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencings of the defendants would be determined by the judge.

Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI-Hudson Valley White Collar Crime Task Force, the Sullivan County District Attorney’s Office, the Sullivan County Sherriff’s Office, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, the Internal Revenue Service, and the United States Postal Inspection Service.  Mr. Bharara also thanked the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section, Election Crimes Branch, for its assistance in the case.

This case is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division.  Assistant United States Attorneys Kathryn Martin, Benjamin Allee, and Perry Carbone are in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Detroit's New Home Loan Consumer: "The Poors"

One cannot sell money and make a profit unless historically excluded populations are included. 

I guess that is what you call a "financial diversity" initiative. 

Good luck with that! 

Student debt, lack of access to living wages, poor employment opportunities, illiteracy, developmental disabilities, and a dearth of quality & affordable housing is just going to slow down the chamber's plan of profiting off "the poors".

The poverty rate in Detroit is the highest for a major city in North America.
Child poverty is even higher.

So, the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce is going to teach people living in poverty how to save money and budget

Seriously?  Really?

What an insult to humanity!

"Hey, instead of using a whole cup of water to make your cup-o'-noodles daily dinner, how about just cutting the water portion in half.  Think of the savings you can use to pay down your outstanding debt and improve your credit score to eventually qualify for a home loan in 10 years of which you will eventually default upon when you lose that dying wage job!"

Nice pitch, but try again.

Editorial: Detroit needs financial literacy

The world runs on credit. And that’s not good news for Detroit, where on average residents have among the worst credit scores in the nation. That’s a drag on the city’s efforts to repopulate its neighborhoods and build a stronger small business base.

Coming out of last week’s Mackinac Policy Conference, the Detroit Regional Chamber is making improving financial literacy in Detroit one of its top ongoing priorities.

“It’s key to reviving the city,” says Sandy Baruah, chief executive of the chamber. “If we can improve financial literacy and raise credit scores, now we’ve created a different kind of consumer, one who can go from renter to buyer.”

And since so many small business people rely on personal credit cards and loans to get their start, making city residents smarter about personal finance is also key to another priority for the chamber — fostering entrepreneurship.

To get there, the chamber has teamed with John Hope Bryant, a national advocate for financial literacy, with a plan to open five Hope Inside centers in Detroit. One is already operating in the Northwest Activity Center, sponsored by Fifth Third Bank.

Baruah says that simply walking in the doors of the center will improve an individual’s credit score by 50 points by cleaning up reporting errors.

After that, credit counselors help develop debt repayment plans, work with creditors and teach better habits with a goal of eventually improving credit scores by up to 200 points.

Detroiters have the 10th worst credit scores in the nation, according to Moneywatch. (Three other Michigan cities — Benton Harbor, Inkster and Flint — are also in the bottom 10.)

The chamber also intends to work with Junior Achievement of Southeastern Michigan to head-off bad financial habits before they form.

JA is undertaking an ambitious program to make eighth-graders in the city financially literate, hoping to teach them the skills they need before they begin taking part-time jobs.

Its three-year Financial Freedom Project aims to reach 8,000 young teenagers with 25 hours of instruction in personal finance and entrepreneurship. GM Financial is the major sponsor.

“Detroit’s recovery won’t be sustainable if we don’t teach the next generation how to manage money and create wealth,” says Margaret Trimer-Hartley, president of JA.

The combination of helping adults fix their mistakes and teaching students to avoid them should aid Detroit in building the sound financial skills base needed to speed its recovery.

“It’s one way you stabilize neighborhoods,” Baruah says. “A number of people in Detroit aren’t in the banking system at all. They have debts, but they don’t have access to credit.

“This gets them into the system and on their way to better management of their personal finances.”

This may not be as dramatic an effort as tearing down blighted buildings or erecting new apartments and offices downtown, but it is a crucial step to reviving the city and keeping it healthy for the long term.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Detroit Land Bank defends hiring of $760-an-hour attorney in federal investigation

The Detroit Land Bank will spend up to $760 an hour for outside legal counsel during the federal investigation into the city’s massive demolition program, according to records obtained by Motor City Muckraker under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Land Bank hired two outside law firms that will charge between $300 and $760 an hour. The top attorney, Jeannie Rhee, of Washington D.C.-based WilmerHale, will be paid $760 an hour, a 20% discount from her normal fees.

Rhee is a former assistant attorney general, veteran trial attorney and expert in handling government-related investigations and white-collar crime.

The Land Bank defended the hourly rate, saying it was critical for experienced lawyers to help assemble and review documents that are requested by the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP). The FBI is assisting in the investigation.

“In my 30 years of the practice of law in Washington, I always had the best possible counsel who specialized in dealing with each federal agency,” said Erica Ward Gerson, chairwoman of the Land Bank Board of Directors. “It’s essential to make sure that we comply fully and seamlessly with whatever that agency is seeking.”

What remains unclear is how the Land Bank, which uses federal funds to demolish houses, will pay for the legal fees.

In a letter to Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones, Detroit Corporation Counsel Melvin “Butch” Hollowell said it’s his “understanding that funding for the legal services will be paid from the Detroit Land Bank General Operating Account which includes Hardest Hit Fund allocations, proceeds from real estate sales, and foundation grants.”

The Land Bank is prohibited from using federal demolition funds on legal bills.

Federal investigators haven’t revealed what they are looking into, but questions have been raised about the rising cost of demolitions.

The Land Bank, which has received more than $170 million in federal funds in the past 30 months, has demolished nearly 9,000 houses since Mayor Duggan took office.

http://motorcitymuckraker.com/2016/05/26/land-bank-defends-hiring-of-760-an-hour-attorney-in-federal-investigation/

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Conyers Praises $188 Million Hardest Hit Fund Allocation for Michigan Homeowners

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Treasury Department announced today that it will allocate an additional $188 million in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds to the Hardest Hit Fund (HHF) program in the second phase of funding.  The additional funding into the HHF program, which is the result of recent bipartisan cooperation in Congress, will assist homeowners who are struggling to keep a roof over their heads and help stabilize impoverished neighborhoods.

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

After the funding was approved by Congress, Rep. John Conyers sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, advocating on behalf of Michigan as the Obama administration designed a process for distributing the funds between states. He urged the Administration to take into consideration Michigan’s “disproportionate economic challenges resulting from the Great Recession,” including continued high unemployment and underemployment, and the ongoing impact on Michigan families of the drop of housing prices caused by the economic collapse.  Rep. Conyers also highlighted the “expeditious manner that Hardest Hit Fund resources have been disbursed in our state,” as the funds enabled Michigan to conduct more blight removal than any other state, in addition to providing important assistance with those at risk of losing their homes due to property tax foreclosure.

After the second phase of funding was announced, Rep. Conyers made the following statement:

“The people of Michigan and I are deeply grateful for the work of the Treasury Department and our Michigan Congressional delegation for this significant infusion of funding to the Hardest Hit Fund and to Step Forward Michigan.  As the aftermath of the Great Recession continues to cause severe hardship for many Michigan families, I am thankful that Secretary Lew and the Obama Administration shared my perspective that the additional funds should provide special assistance for our state. Due to this fair formula devised by the Department of the Treasury, the first phase of new funding provided Michigan with one of the largest portions of funds, per capita, of any state receiving assistance. In the second phase, which was announced today, Michigan will receive the largest allocation of any state. I look forward to witnessing the impact of this funding as our communities continue to heal and rebuild.”

The process announced by the Department of Treasury allocated $1 billion using a formula based on state population and the state’s use of their HHF allocation to date. In the second phase that was announced today, Treasury focused additional resources on those states “with significant ongoing foreclosure prevention and neighborhood stabilization needs, a proven track record in utilizing funds, and successful program models to address those needs,” mirroring the criteria Rep. Conyers urged Treasury to consider in his February 2016 letter.

The Hardest Hit Fund was created in 2010 to provide $7.6 billion in targeted aid to 18 states and the District of Columbia, deemed hardest hit by the economic and housing market downturn.  The program has funded numerous initiatives in Michigan that have made significant progress for the people of Michigan. As of January 17, Michigan’s Blight Elimination Program had successfully demolished 8,022 blighted properties, the most of any state in the country. And aside from California (which has a population four times greater than that of Michigan), Michigan has used the Hardest Hit Funds to assist the greatest number of homeowners of any state, surpassing 30,000 in January 2015. 

Visit the Treasury Department’s website for more information on how the Hardest Hit Fund is helping communities and homeowners across the country.

U.S. Representative Conyers Letter to Treasury Secretary Lew Regarding Michigan Hardest Hit Fund 2.2.16 by Beverly Tran

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Wayne County, Michigan Property Tax Foreclosure List 2016

There are estimated more than 70,000 commercial and residential properties of Wayne County, Michigan Treasury judicial foreclosure.

2016 Wayne County Tax Liens

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CONYERS Applauds Additional $2 Billion Dollar Investment into the Hardest Hit Fund

DETROIT – Last week the U.S. Treasury Department announced that it will be adding an additional $2 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds to the Hardest Hit Fund (HHF) program due to bipartisan procurement of additional funding in Congress.  The additional funding into the HHF will assist homeowners who are struggling to keep a roof over their heads and help stabilize impoverished neighborhoods.

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representative
John Conyers, Jr.john 

After the funds were approved by Congress, Rep. John Conyers sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew earlier this month, advocating on behalf of Michigan as the Obama administration designed a process for distributing the funds between states. He urged the Administration to take into consideration Michigan’s “disproportionate economic challenges resulting from the Great Recession,” including continued high unemployment and underemployment, and the ongoing impact on Michigan families of the drop of housing prices caused by the economic collapse.  Rep. Conyers also highlighted the “expeditious manner that Hardest Hit Fund resources have been disbursed in our state,” as the funds enabled Michigan to conduct more blight removal than any other state, in addition to providing important assistance with those at risk of losing their homes due to property tax foreclosure.

“The people of Michigan and I are deeply grateful for the work of the Treasury Department and allies in Congress for this important infusion of funding to the Hardest Hit Fund.  As the impact of the Great Recession continues to be particularly harsh for Michigan families, I am thankful that Secretary Lew and the Obama Administration supported my request to design a process that will provide special assistance for our state. The result of their process is that, in this first round of funding, Michigan will receive one of the largest portions of funds, per capita, of any state receiving assistance. The formula for the second round of funding considers states' housing market realities and capacity to put additional funds to use, again positioning Michigan to also receive a substantial portion of the funds in the second round."

The process announced by the Department of Treasury will allocate $1 billion using a formula based on state population and the state’s use of their HHF allocation to date. In the second phase, Treasury will focus additional resources on those states “with significant ongoing foreclosure prevention and neighborhood stabilization needs, a proven track record in utilizing funds, and successful program models to address those needs,” mirroring the criteria Rep. Conyers urged Treasury to consider in his February 2016 letter.

The Hardest Hit Fund was created in 2010 to provide $7.6 billion in targeted aid to 18 states and the District of Columbia deemed hardest hit by the economic and housing market downturn.  The program has funded numerous initiatives in Michigan that have made significant progress for the people of Michigan. As of January 17, Michigan’s Blight Elimination Program had successfully demolished 8,022 blighted properties, the most of any state in the country. And aside from California (which has a population four times greater than that of Michigan), Michigan has used the Hardest Hit Funds to assist the greatest number of homeowners of any state, surpassing 30,000 in January 2015. 

Visit the Treasury Department’s website for more information on how the Hardest Hit Fund is helping communities and homeowners across the country.

U.S. Representative Conyers Letter to Treasury Secretary Lew Regarding Michigan Hardest Hit Fund 2.2.16

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Detroit Has A New Property Deed Fraud Pimp

There is only one thing I despise more than a liar and that is a liar who steals from the vulnerable.

"Mike" the Real Estate Pimp

Approximately high noon, today, February 19, 2016, there was a series of violently loud poundings on my side door.

Being alarmed, I walked out of my front door, leaned over the side porch railing to see who would come walking from behind my house.

A well-dressed man appears, dawning a smile as he introduces himself only as "Mike".

After asking "Mike", a very well-spoken man, why he was lurking in the back of my house, he proceeded to inform me that he had purchased the house from a corporation via a real estate agency, and was in possession of the deed to my property.

My heart and my mind began to furiously race as I was just downtown the day before at the City County Building investigating the serious deficiencies of property taxes and title of my house.

At no time did I see in the records of the Wayne County Registry of Deeds anything which gave indication that I sold my house.

He told me that he knows about real estate as he owns more than 10 houses, an obvious real estate pimp.

He also told me that I needed to calm down because he knows how to deal with hysterical women as he is married with four daughters.

Extremely infuriated with his demeaning insults, I told him that obviously he was defrauded in the purchase of the property and that I was going to call the police.

"Mike" told me not to call the police and that he was going to call the real estate agency to come and talk to me to prove that he owns the property.

All I know is that my instincts were telling me that this was not a local casing out of my house for breaking and entering, but this was a professional intel recon operation.

Something was about to happen to me and I needed to protect myself.

I called the Detroit Police Department officers who were assigned to the neighborhood as they had passed out Crimestoppers door hangs with their direct mobile numbers.

"Mike" quickly walked to his car and I followed to capture a photo of him and the license plate of his vehicle so I could warn others in the neighborhood to be on the look out for this scam artist-break in con man.

The reaction on his face says everything, but I have the power to say more.

If you know who this man is or if you see him in your neighborhood, report him immediately to the Detroit Police Department.

1-800-777-2587

I have also reported the incident to the Wayne County Deed Fraud Unit.

I am sure there are those who are posing the question, "Why is she so upset?"

There are many individuals who adore me, yet there are many more who hate me because I do not and will not tolerate liars who defraud the vulnerable.

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