Rip "The Rip-Off" Rapson has finally come to the realization that there are "The Poors" (always said with clinched teeth) in the inner cities so he is going to build parks because, I shall assume, he wants to do as little as possible for Detroit's most precious treasures.
DETROIT (WJBK) - In an exclusive one-on-one with FOX 2, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan talked about a spike in development that has nothing to do with downtown, Corktown or Midtown.
"We had a vision here in the Fitzgerald neighborhood at McNichols and Livernois that you could renovate 100 vacant houses, that you could turn the lots into beautiful flowers and we wanted to start anchoring it with a park," he said.
It's
the answer to the question so many have asked, "what about the
neighborhoods?" That can be answered at one of the new parks off Prairie
Street on the city's west side. The park, which had its name chosen by
residents who live around it, used to be home to five abandoned houses.
"When
we said, 'Let's take what worked Midtown, let's go out to McNichols and
Livernois, let's go out to West Village, let's go to Vernor in
Southwest Detroit, and we asked the philanthropic community for support
to get us started and they came through with $42 million, which will
bring in another $150 million in private investment and it's taken off,"
he said.
The
money for this comes from the Strategic Neighborhood Fund 2.0. Over 5
years, 10 neighborhoods will see over $400 million in park
rehabilitation and affordable housing. Neighbors are already excited
about what's to come.
"Months ago it was just grass and it was
never maintained and there was dumping on it. We had vacant houses
here. So neighbors are really excited. We have young people that are
excited that they'll have a place to go in the neighborhood," said
District 2 manager Kim Tandy.
Renderings show commercials
corridors through seven neighborhoods that will be getting some of the
cash to make these improvements. The Kresge Foundation made a $15 million contribution to the fund.
For the people who have toughed it out:
"It
was worth the wait, that we have not perhaps done justice to the
residents of Detroit over the last decade and now we are going to get
really serious about that. We have always understood they are the
backbone of this community but they need resources. They need support,"
said Rip Rapson of the Kresge Foundation.
Duggan says he feels a lot of the people who stayed are glad they did so.
"We'll
knock down the burned down houses, we'll save the houses that we can
save and move people in. We will clean up the blight, we'll build
parks," he said.
Rip "The Rip-Off" Rapson making Marygrove an offer
they cannot refuse.
Someone once made the comment to me:
"All you do is repost articles and make some comments."
I do much more than just "repost".
I am preserving the historic record as these articles are removed and wiped from the internet;
I am creating a one-stop-shop database for everything thing in child welfare fraud research;
I am commanding law enforcement investigations for States, Federal and International entities;
I am promulgating my legal arguments;
I am educating the public;
I am having a blast doing therapeutic stand up castigation; and,
I am writing an epic romance.
With that said, it looks like Rip "The Rip-Off" Rapson is working overtime trying to rewrite the annals of history by covering up fraud and creating a legal defense in a public relations move.
[Detroit, Michigan] –The following outlines The Kresge Foundation’s actions to stabilize and preserve Marygrove College and its campus, a historic educational anchor in the heart of an important northwest Detroit neighborhood. Kresge acted to stave off the college’s precipitous collapse and a raft of potential consequences.
Overview
Over the past two years, The Kresge Foundation invested $16 million to stabilize and preserve Marygrove College and its campus, as the college faced significant financial and operational challenges. Kresge grant and social investment funds have been deployed in a variety of ways since February 2016, including:
Financing the college’s ongoing academic programs and campus operations, including payroll, health benefits, and utility services;
Funding faculty, staff and student supports through the wind-down of what was determined to be an unsustainable undergraduate program;
Supporting the college’s recent transition to a graduate-level-only institution;
Protecting the integrity of the college’s 53-acre campus as a key community asset in the revitalization of one of Detroit’s most important neighborhoods;
Creating a new body, The Marygrove Conservancy, to steward the campus as a community resource;
Satisfying or restructuring Marygrove’s most pressing debts; and,
Exploring the feasibility of establishing an innovative cradle-to-career educational complex as a potential future use for the property.
How Kresge’s Involvement Began
In February 2016, newly appointed Marygrove President Dr. Elizabeth Burns contacted Kresge President Rip Rapson to discuss a precarious situation unfolding at the college. Burns indicated that the college would be out of cash within weeks and was facing an anticipated $5 million shortfall for the calendar year - this despite an emergency loan made in May 2015 to the college from its founders, the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM), to avoid a similar liquidity crisis.
Dr. Burns sought $5 million in immediate support as part of a broader $15 million, multiyear Recovery & Sustainability fundraising campaign to stabilize the college. Several factors contributed to the college’s financial situation, including:
Total enrollment plummeted from 1,862 students in 2013, to 966 in fall 2016 (roughly 50 percent undergraduate, 50 percent graduate).
The college’s endowment had dwindled to $500,000; endowments at comparably-sized private schools in the region averaged more than 70 times that amount (e.g. University of Detroit Mercy, $43.5 million; Madonna University, $35.8 million; Adrian College, $33.6 million).
There was a growing burden of accounts receivables (outstanding tuition balances owed to the college).
Marygrove was not an outlier. Across the nation, the independent higher education sector was, and remains, in crisis mode. During the past decade, dozens of private liberal arts colleges have faced financial issues due to plummeting enrollment and weak endowments, causing them to close or pursue mergers.
Initial Response
“Our meeting made clear that Kresge had to respond, and rapidly,” says Rapson.
The importance of Marygrove to its immediate neighborhoods, city and region was obvious in several dimensions:
Marygrove has held an important role and legacy in urban education. The college had been educating Detroit women since the 1920s. In particular, Marygrove doubled-down on its commitment to educate minority women in the aftermath of Detroit’s 1967 uprising.
The college had embraced a role as a progressive force for racial and social justice and healing, both in its immediate neighborhood and in the greater southeast Michigan community.
The Livernois-McNichols district in northwest Detroit was emerging as a key place where equitable recovery could take root.
Just six months earlier (August 2015), University of Detroit Mercy, Kresge and other community partners announced the formation of the Live6 Alliance to steward that recovery process. The nonprofit planning and development organization was created to enhance quality of life and economic opportunity, with a particular focus on the Livernois Avenue and McNichols Road (aka 6 Mile Road) corridor in northwest Detroit. (The 53-acre Marygrove campus is located on the south side of McNichols Road, approximately a half-mile west of Livernois Road.)
Marygrove College has occupied its wooded, parklike campus since 1927.
Driven by the college’s status as an educational and cultural anchor in the neighborhood, coupled with Kresge’s recent commitments and investments in the area, the foundation was deeply interested in helping Marygrove shape a course of protection and preservation. The prospect of the college closing and the campus going dark was deemed unacceptable. The damage to surrounding home values, small businesses and other anchors in the district would have been calamitous.
“At the precise moment when the community should have been gaining momentum, there was a real fear of being forced backward,” says Rapson.
Kresge responded to Dr. Burns’ request with an initial operational support grant of $575,000 to keep Marygrove solvent. That spring, a Kresge-led convening of other philanthropies led to additional grant commitments totaling nearly $500,000 from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the McGregor Fund and individual donors. Kresge also committed an additional $2 million to Marygrove for ongoing operational support.
“There was more at stake than a school, its academic mission and its tradition of community service,” says Rapson. “The collapse of Marygrove could have left the campus in private hands with no commitment to community betterment or engagement. Or worse, the college could have wound up under a cloud of litigation that would forestall progress for years. There was no other choice than to link arms with the college and systematically confront its challenges.”
Long-term Challenges
Marygrove enlisted an auditor to analyze the college’s finances and assist Dr. Burns with the turnaround plan. The resulting report gave Marygrove a deeper understanding of its challenges. Beyond the cash-flow issues, the report helped Marygrove begin to address its debt obligations:
DoED – The U.S. Department of Education demanded a $7.2 million letter of credit as a condition of roughly $15 million in Title IV funds (student financial aid). Without these funds, the college would be forced to close immediately.
Senior Mortgage – A senior lender’s balloon note of $7.3 million – collateralized by the campus, thus putting it in jeopardy – was due in full on December 31, 2016. The loan was in default, and the lender was no longer willing to amend or extend it.
Wayne County– A debt of $500,000 was owed to Wayne County. The county provided this loan to Marygrove so that the college could acquire and renovate the Immaculata High School building for the purpose of creating a new community center. Marygrove was unable to raise the additional capital needed to complete the renovation, and the loan had gone into default.
IHM Sisters – A balloon note for $10 million was due to the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This loan was also in default for nonpayment. The IHM Sisters have, however, remained far more flexible than other lenders and have not called the loan.
The college determined it was incapable of resolving any of these debts on its own and asked Kresge for funding and supports to resolve the following:
DoED – In 2017, Marygrove convinced the DoED to accept a letter of credit secured by Kresge for $1.5 million (10 percent, rather than 50 percent, of the Title IV funds the school would receive through tuition scholarships to students) in lieu of sequestering other Marygrove funds.
– Kresge supported Marygrove’s negotiations with the senior lender, ultimately restructuring the debt with a $5 million loan from a new financial institution (and secured, in part, by a $3.75 million guarantee from Kresge for the balance). The new loan is not secured by the campus.
Wayne County – In early 2018, Kresge provided Marygrove a $500,000 loan to pay off the county debt.
Meanwhile, ongoing operational expenses and payroll obligations were piling up, and Marygrove requested additional supportsfrom Kresge. And, as the year went on, Marygrove’s situation became more dire as enrollment projections for the fall 2016 semester were substantially lower than projected. Beginning in fall 2016, Kresge made $5.68 million in grants to the college to cover those expenses.
Difficult Decision
In spring 2017, Marygrove hired a consultant to conduct an operational audit and to evaluate its recovery plan. The firm specialized in providing consulting services to independent higher education institutions.
The operational report was presented to the Marygrove Board of Trustees on August 1, 2017. Based on a thorough analysis of academic program and student support costs, as well as enrollment and financial projections, the firm determined that there was not a sustainable path forward for Marygrove. The report recommended full closure of Marygrove or a drastic reduction in academic program offerings.
Marygrove would use the fall semester to ensure that every student had an individual transition plan and that faculty and staff had the opportunity to meet with administrators. Marygrove would also use the fall semester to invite other colleges and universities to campus to meet with students and help them identify a fit that would enable them to continue their undergraduate education.
College Transition Support
Kresge agreed to support the college in an orderly wind-down of the undergraduate program. Operating support for the college’s final undergraduate semester, and preparation for its transition, now included costs such as severance and health benefits for faculty and staff, campus maintenance and security, and numerous vendor obligations. At year’s end (2017), Kresge made a grant of $2 million to fund faculty and staff severance packages, a Student Transition Fund, and consulting support to help the college transition to a solely graduate-level institution.
“After supporting Marygrove’s good faith attempt to find a new path for its undergraduate program, we worked with the college to help faculty, staff and, particularly, students make their career or educational transitions,” says Rapson. “These have been wrenching changes for everyone. We’ve watched the entire college community making sacrifices, working together in common purpose, and otherwise trying to achieve the best possible outcomes under the most trying of circumstances.”
Where Marygrove Stands Now
In February 2018, Marygrove introduced the $1.2 million Student Transition Fund, supported by Kresge, to help cover additional costs incurred by students as a result of transferring to another college or university. Roughly 180 former students will be eligible to apply for reimbursement of logistical expenses (transportation, one-time moving, room and board) as well as some academic expenses (tuition rate increases, additional classes required by new school, and others).
Today, Marygrove, with Kresge’s support, has satisfied or restructured its most pressing debts. Between February 2016 and February 2018, Kresge’s total commitments to help stabilize and transition the college total $16 million.
Marygrove is in the midst of further developing its online graduate education programs and is actively recruiting to boost enrollment and achieve sustainability. Currently, in its first semester as a graduate-only college, enrollment has climbed to 436 students pursing advanced degrees, professional development and certifications in several education specialties, as well as advanced degrees in social justice and human resource management.
The 53-acre campus is being transferred to a new body, the Marygrove Conservancy, chaired by Sister Jane Herb of the IHM. The conservancy will manage campus operations and steward the campus as a resource for high-quality uses in the community. Inaugural board members include neighborhood leaders such as University of Detroit Mercy President Antoine Garibaldi and Marygrove President Emeritus Glenda Price.
With the campus held by the conservancy, the college will be a tenant on a long-term lease at a cost of $1 per year. (The college previously was a tenant to the IHM Sisters during its first 70-plus years on the campus, then purchased the campus facilities in 2009, which were subsequently mortgaged to a lender.)
Next Steps: Positioning Marygrove for a New Future
Kresge, Marygrove, the IHM Sisters and the conservancy are currently exploring the possibility of a consortium of educational institutions coming together to create a campus comprising a continuum of educational opportunities – from pre-school to K-12 to post-secondary to graduate. Examples of this kind of P-20 campus exist around the country, but are relatively few. These consortiums typically coordinate classroom education with wrap-around services and intensive community-based engagement and programming. A particularly powerful example of this approach is the Penn Alexander School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The Marygrove Conservancy, Kresge and other partners are developing a robust process to engage the surrounding community on the future development of the campus and enlist additional private, public and nonprofit partners.
“Revitalization on this campus must, and will, be accomplished with broad and deep engagement from community residents, civic organizations and businesses. Marygrove is part and parcel of the Live6 neighborhood – through its history, its ongoing renewal efforts and its aspirations for the future. Every dimension of community life will be shaped by the activities on the campus. We all have a stake in its success,” says Rapson.
______________
About The Kresge Foundation
The Kresge Foundation is a $3.6 billion private, national foundation that works to expand opportunities in America’s cities through grantmaking and social investing in arts and culture, education, environment, health, human services, and community development in Detroit. In 2016, the Board of Trustees approved 474 grants totaling $141.5 million, and made 14 social investment commitments totaling $50.8 million. For more information, visit kresge.org.
About Marygrove College
Marygrove College is a Detroit-based independent, Catholic graduate institution, sponsored by the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary that educates students from diverse backgrounds, fosters values-based leadership, provides innovative graduate studies and professional development toward career enhancement and social responsibility, and serves as an institutional leader within the city of Detroit. Marygrove students, as citizen-leaders, will inspire transformative change in their workplaces, communities, and society through their intellectual rigor and professional excellence, creativity and imagination, active compassion for others, and lifelong commitment to a just, humane, and inclusive world. For more information, visit marygrove.edu.
Former President Bill Clinton heralded Detroit's turnaround after the Motor City's exit from a record setting Chapter 9 bankruptcy restructuring — and jokingly compared the city's mayor to Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
At a Clinton Global Initiative event Wednesday in Denver, Clinton held a panel discussion with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Kresge Foundation president and CEO Rip Rapson and a Detroit business owner, April Anderson, who owns Good Cakes and Bakes on Livernois.
During the nearly 40-minute discussion on neighborhood revitalization, Clinton said that being mayor of Detroit could be America's "most coveted municipal job" — and noted that with the Detroit land bank, much of the city's 139 square miles is controlled by the city.
Detroit's 2013 bankruptcy restructuring allowed Duggan to "basically become the most powerful municipal official in the country. He controls over half the land mass in the city of Detroit now. He's making old Putin look like a piker — and people actually like (Duggan)," Clinton said to laughter, according to video of the event posted online by the Clinton Foundation.
Rapson said Duggan may not live that image down: "That's a great image. I like to think of Mayor Duggan as our Mayor Putin. That's terrific. I think that's going to stick," Rapson said.
The city owns nearly half the city's property, Duggan said, or about 40,000 vacant parcels. Clinton compared Detroit to the "Homestead Act" in 1862 that convinced Americans to help settle the west by offering them free land. Duggan didn't directly respond to the Putin comparison.
Kresge was one of the nonprofits that helped Detroit exit bankruptcy more quickly by contributing to a fund that saved city-owned art at the Detroit Institute of Arts from being sold and defrayed pension losses for retirees.
Clinton praised the city's revitalization, but noted that the city lost 60 percent of its population since the 1950s — and is down a quarter since 2000.
Duggan, 56, said that he is focused on boosting the population — and has said he wants to be judge when he is up for re-election if the city is growing again. Detroit has lost population for every year that Duggan has been alive.
"You can drop Manhattan, Boston and San Francisco in the city of Detroit boundaries — and still have room left over," Duggan said. The real challenge is revitalizing the neighborhoods after the dramatic turnarounds in downtown and midtown, he said.
Duggan said there are 5,000 new housing units under construction in Detroit. Duggan said he is working to sell the 40,000 vacant houses in the city. The city is auctioning three homes a day. On Tuesday, three homes sold for a total of $100,000, Duggan said.
Duggan noted that the city is offering to allow homeowners to buy next door vacant lots for just $100. The city is now also offering to lease vacant land if the neigbhorhood association signs off on the use — such as a playground or urban farm.
During the event, Duggan said Clinton is the single biggest customer of Detroit watchmaker Shinola. Clinton bought customized watches for the Secret Service agents on his security detail that featured the presidential seal as Christmas presents.
JPMorgan Chase has announced that it will boost its philanthropic investments over the next five years by 40 percent, to $1.75 billion.
Announced as part of the bank's plan to invest $20 billion in support of employees, branch expansion, and local economic growth, the additional investment in its corporate philanthropy activities will support ongoing efforts to drive inclusive economic growth in underserved neighborhoods, including an expansion to other cities of the model it developed for its $150 million Detroit revitalization initiative. The bank also is boosting its support for the Entrepreneurs of Color Fund, which it created with the Detroit Development Fund and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and will replicate the fund in San Francisco and the South Bronx.
In addition, the bank will continue to support job training initiatives in dozens of cities, including Dallas, Los Angeles, and Miami; will expand its Fellowship Initiative, an academic, leadership, and professional development program for young men of color, to Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and New York; and will make the JPMorgan Chase Service Corps — a three-week skills-based volunteer program that engages JP Morgan Chase employees in helping nonprofit organizations — available to more nonprofits in Chicago, Detroit, and the South Bronx.
The larger $20 billion investment in the economy announced by the bank includes a hike in wages from between $12/hour and $16.50/hour to between $15/hour and $18/hour for hourly bank employees in more than a hundred cities; the opening of four hundred new branches that together will create three thousand new jobs; a $4 billion increase in small business lending; and a commitment to boost mortgage lending in low- and moderate-income communities by 25 percent over the next five years.
"Our philanthropy continues to be a strategic investment in driving inclusive economic growth," said Peter Scher, head of global corporate responsibility at JPMorgan Chase. "We have established a model to help more people share in the rewards of the economy, and with this investment we will be able to further scale meaningful, long-term growth in more communities."
It looks like we have unmasked more members of "Legal Geniuses" (trademark pending) in the FBI.
So, let me get this straight.
You have two public officials who are part of a major federal investigation, having an affair, using text messages to communicate, then, actually believe they can just "delete"?
Is this not the same, exact damn thing Kwame Kilpatrick, former Mayor of Detroit and Christina Beatty, his Chief of staff, were doing, that the FBI was investigating, meaning, there are legal opinioins and case law about doing this?
Did not Kwame eventually get over 30 years in federal prision for the public corruption from what was found in those text messages?
Did you know this entire "Russia-gate" investigation started in Detroit?
The FBI’s top agent on the Trump-Russia investigation sent a text message last year that one top Republican senator says suggests he saw no evidence of Trump campaign collusion.
The text message, which was sent by Peter Strzok, is “jaw-dropping,” Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said in a radio interview on Tuesday.
In an interview with WISN-Milwaukee radio host Jay Weber, Johnson read aloud a May 19, 2017 text that Strzok sent to Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer and his mistress.
Strzok wrote: “You and I both know the odds are nothing. If I thought it was likely, I’d be there no question. I hesitate in part because of my gut sense and concern that there’s no big there there.”
Johnson said that the text referred to the Mueller investigation, which had kicked off two days earlier. Strzok joined that team, but was removed in July after the Justice Department’s inspector general discovered his anti-Trump text exchanges with Page.
As the FBI’s deputy counterintelligence chief, Strzok was picked in July 2016 to oversee the investigation into possible Trump campaign collusion with the Russian government. Prior to that, he was a top investigator on the Clinton email inquiry.
“I think that’s kind of jaw-dropping,” said Johnson, a Republican, said of the Strzok text.
“In other words, Peter Strzok, who was the FBI deputy assistant director of the counterintelligence division, the man who had a plan to do something because he just couldn’t abide Donald Trump being president, is saying that his gut sense is that there’s no big there there when it comes to the Mueller special counsel investigation,” he said.
The text message was included in 400 pages of text messages exchanged between Strzok and Page. Lawmakers have started reviewing the trove of documents for evidence of anti-Trump and pro-Clinton bias.
Johnson also addressed the revelation last Friday that the FBI “failed to preserve” five months worth of text messages exchanged between Strzok and Page. A Justice Department official told Johnson’s committee and five other congressional panels that a “misconfiguration” issue caused “many” FBI-issued mobile devices to not back up to the bureau’s servers.
The FBI said it does not have text messages for Strzok and Page for the period between Dec. 14, 2016 and May 17, 2017 — the day that Mueller was appointed.
Johnson said that Congress needs to see the missing text messages because Strzok and Page were “completely unguarded in their communication.”
“So we’re getting insight into exactly what is happening inside the FBI at the highest levels. And who knows who else they might implicate in terms of corruption,” he said.
Detroit – First-term State Senator Ian Conyers, D-Detroit, announced Friday he plans to run for the U.S. Congressional seat vacated by his great-uncle John Conyers Jr.
Ian Conyers, 29, was elected to the Michigan State Senate in a 2016 special election to fill the 4th District seat by the resignation of Virgil Smith Jr., who stepped down amid a domestic violence scandal. The 4th District in Wayne County includes the cities of Allen Park, Lincoln Park and Southgate. Elected at the age of 28, Conyers became the youngest state senator in Michigan history. He assumed office in November 2016.
“My family is from around here,” said Ian Conyers, who made his announcement in front of the Sampson-Webber Leadership Academy on Tireman Avenue. “My great-grandfather settled around here. Some (family) went to school here. As a student teacher, I even taught math here.
“I will go to Washington and work for the people in Detroit,” Conyers said.
Chief among his focus will be issues involving civil rights and economic justice, he continued. “It’s time to put people back to work and I intend to continue my grand-uncle’s political legacy.”
The 13th Congressional district in Wayne County he seeks to represent includes portions of Detroit, some suburbs and was the only congressional district in Michigan to be contained within a a single county in the 2012 redistricting.
John Conyers Jr., the nation’s longest-serving U.S. congressman, resigned last month amidst allegations of sexual harassment of mistreatment by former female aides. The 88-year-old Conyers — who served 52 years as a U.S. Representative — denied allegations of wrongdoing but bowed to pressure from other Democrats to be the first Washington lawmaker to step down.
Conyers has endorsed his son, John Conyers III, a partner in a Detroit minority-run hedge fund, to succeed him. The younger Conyers said he did not seek his father’s endorsement and hasn’t decided whether to run for public office.
While not dismissing a potential Conyers versus Conyers race, Ian Conyers said that doesn’t concern him.
“It’s my understanding he (Conyers III) hasn’t decided if he even wants to run for the seat,” he said. “I am fully committed.”
Conyers noted he attended Georgetown University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in government and a master’s degree in urban and regional planning. He served as a regional field director for President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign and was also Democratic Party Treasurer for Michigan’s 13th Congressional District.
Conyers, who is on the Economic Development & International Investment , Energy & Technology, and Banking & Financial Services Committees in the State Senate, stressed he “knows Capitol Hill” and “am not impressed by Washington.”
“While others (candidates) will have to familiarize themselves with Washington and how it works I already have a good idea,” said Conyers. “I am prepared to begin work from day one that I am elected to office.”
Every so often I come across something that makes me squeal out loud in a rush of pure exciting joy like being on the drop of a rollercoaster.
This is how I think about my journey, through the political process of the United States, to end Mediciad fraud in child welfare.
Something tells my my #Superfans are just as giddy.
This is going to be so much fun, and romantic.
In a nutshell, the John Podesta Wikileak email basically is saying that they are going to pump a scheme through the congress, with backpocket veto, to make sure they can drawn down the rest of the $350 billion in TARP funds.
By pushing through the Detroit Big 3 auto bail out, they knew the industry would pay it backm making them look like "Legal Geniuses" (trademark pending).
Then, in falsely advising POTUS with an official Memorandum to support the fraud scheme, in a private, backdoor email, they created a false sense of authority in their advice to have the administration to commit to $25 billion, for the creation of a homeowner orientated housing measures, (a.k.a. Detroit Land Bank Authority, et al., in conjunction with the Clinton Global Initiative, et al.)
That is the exact same shit they were doing to my Sweetie.
John - Mona/Larry S have done a TARP strategy memo in the email below which they're anxious to email to the PE, in order for Rahm/Phil S to start executing on this on Friday.
I told Mona I thought you should review this first, but wasn't sure what your schedule is today.
________________________________
From: Mona Sutphen
To: Sara Latham
Sent: Thu Nov 27 14:00:11 2008
Subject: Draft Memo to PE
Sara - I hope you're having a nice holiday! And I'm sorry to step into it… I planned to get this to Alyssa in the next hour or so -- we discussed this last night -- and wanted John to be aware. Let me know if you think I need to hold this until John reviews… Thanks. Mona
Alyssa - I hope you're having a great holiday. I'm not sure if you're in touch with the PE today, but Rahm hoped to get this to him as there is some time sensitivity. It is not urgent, but it is important to make him aware of anticipated action on Friday morning. Thanks. Mona
November 27, 2008
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT-ELECT
FROM: Mona Sutphen & Dan Tarullo
SUBJECT: Treasury Access to TARP Resources
The following memo to Rahm from Larry Summers reviews the Administration’s intent to access the remaining $350 billion in TARP resources in early December, and a short-term strategy for managing our involvement in a way that will facilitate Treasury access to the TARP funds while limiting our exposure to the extent possible.
We reviewed the memo late yesterday in a call with Larry, Tim, Phil, and Rahm. We discussed in particular the impact that Treasury’s explicit endorsement of TARP money for the auto industry might have on prospects for avoiding Congressional disapproval the Administration request. The effects of a more explicit embrace of autos in TARP are likely to move in opposite directions in the House and Senate, and it is as yet unclear whether the Administration can secure sufficient Republican support to avoid a negative vote.
Per the memo, on Friday Rahm intends to speak to the White House and Phil will begin some consultations with key members. Larry is working on a set of Q & As on this subject for your Monday press availability; Rahm asked him to develop alternate answers as a means to help focus a decision on the posture we should take on the TARP issue generally and the autos connection specifically. We likely will need to discuss this with you prior to Monday.
MEMO
To: Rahm Emanuel
From: Larry Summers
Re: Short Term TARP Engagement Strategy
Tim, Lee, Dan and I all believe that we need to move quickly to flesh out the possibility of our cooperation with Secretary Paulson to obtain continuing TARP authority. Not obtaining access to the remaining TARP capital at this time would substantially increase risk to financial system and increases the likelihood that addressing TARP related issues in January would interfere with other legislative priorities intended for rollout during that period. In order to maximize the chances of success while preserving flexibility, we believe a TARP notification should have four elements:
* Commitment to a dollar amount – perhaps $25 billion – for homeowner oriented housing measures.
* Commitment to use TARP for auto companies (if necessary).
* Use of TARP to support consumer credit – expanding yesterday’s action.
* Contingent availability for shoring up the financial system with capital infusions if necessary.
We’re confident based upon our conversations with Secretary Paulson that the administration is comfortable with all but the auto piece of this approach. We suggest as a next step that Phil do some consulting directed at figuring out our chances of voting down a disapproval motion in the Senate and that you call Josh Bolton to determine their position on autos.
Background
* The Current administration has pledged most of the original $350 billion of TARP capital.
* They believe and we concur, that the remaining unpledged capital (approx. $15 billion) is insufficient to address any contingencies that may arise between now and January 20th. In this regard, Secretary Paulson believes there is a reasonable probability that another large bank will require a rescue during this period.
* Further, it is likely that the markets will begin to focus on this fact in the short run, causing further deterioration in confidence.
* Secretary Paulson also believes that our support is necessary to garner enough votes to obtain authorization to draw the remaining $350 billion.
* In the absence of our support or in the event that it appears Congress will be unwilling to authorize the drawdown, Paulson has indicated he may need to rely on a Presidential veto of the negative vote. In our judgment there is a reasonable probability that this outcome could negatively impact confidence in the markets.
* Paulson believes he must submit a formal notice to Congress with a detailed plan by December 8th. He appears to recognize that he will need to include certain commitments on housing/foreclosure mitigation in any plan he submits and is willing to include a modified version of the FDIC approach advance by Sheila Bair.
* He also appears to understand that including a commitment to use some TARP capital on auto companies could help substantially. He indicated that the decision on autos is being driven by the White House. Paulson believes the probability of a GM bankruptcy before January 20th are low. Work done by a group led by Josh Steiner suggests greater uncertainty in that regard.
We look forward to discussing with you this afternoon.
Well, if I am a public nuisance, conspiracy theorist, then, what is the Michigan Auditor General, Doug Ringler because he just released the Office findings of more conspiracy theorist findings in the discovery period of my case.
I believe this is why MSHDA backtracked on its initial report that there was bid rigging in Detroit demolition with the Detroit Land Bank Authority.
Other departments were conducting other audits to compare to previous reports.
It looks like there are more rogue state employees in Michigan.
The point raised in this report has to deal with District 14, Wayne County and the question surrounding the acquisition of real estate for the Qline.
If the Qline got its properties from the Detroit Land Bank Authority, et al. with dirty deeds, then we have a serious problem.
Rip "The Rip-Off" Rapson wants to pitch another one of those social impact bond investment programs schemes to help "The Poors" (always said with clinched teeth).
For a synoptic overview of Rip "The Rip-Off" Rapson, his work and his legacy in Detroit, make sure to click the link provided, below, because it makes for an interesting read on the history of the City that only I shall continue to preserve in the annals of history, in the spirit of fuchsia.
Two big Michigan-based foundations announced Friday they are investing $50 million to support efforts to improve early childhood outcomes for Detroit children - money that will be used for a number of things, including upgrading existing facilities, building a state-of-the-art early childhood center and providing competitive wages for early childhood educators.
And not a penny for other things critical to improving childhood outcomes for Detroit children like, quality and affordably housing, food, water, you know, the basics, but have no fear, those state-of-the-art early childhood centers will be filled to capacity once Rip "The Rip-Off" and his cabal finish its forced migration plan for "The Poors" (always said with clinched teeth).
The $50-million pledge was made by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Kresge Foundation, each of which is investing $25 million.
Hold on, it is coming...the money shot.
That money will support the Hope Starts Here Community Framework, a 10-year plan for ensuring young children and families are placed at the center of public policy and business decisions. It's a broad plan that was developed based on needs in the community and in part on the input of people closest to the issue - parents and early childhood providers.
BAM! The money shot. Children are the most profitable segment of human capital.
"This gives us a road map to make sure that Detroit puts kids first," La June Montgomery Tabron, president and CEO of the Kellogg Foundation, said during an event at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.
"We are organized and engaged and ready to push that agenda. By working together, we can ensure that every child in Detroit fulfills their potential."
Ladies and Gentlemen, and very tiny woodland creatures, allow me to present the international tempplate for social impact investment, featuring, none other than the notorious Clinton Foundation (a.k.a. Detroit Land Bank Authority). Yes, the Clinton Foundation also operates in Canada because they do not have to disclose their contributors under Canadian law, even though it is a U.S. foundation, registered under the purposes of a presidential library in Arkansas, yet registered in multiple states, under a different name, the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, designating them with the sole controlling interests, without ever tellling the IRS what it is doing. Rumor has it November 15, 2017 is F-day, filing day, that is for those pesky things called audits. The Michigan Attorney General is over the Charity Division and refuses to do a damn thing about people who come into the state and set up shop by filing bogus corporation documents and charity tax exempt filings. Anyway, I digress, but I just wanted to put that out there just in case Bill Schuette thought he would blackmail them for more campaign contributions for his gubernatorial campaign, just saying...
But despite the big investment from the two foundations, officials said Friday that they need more people to get involved.
"It's all hands on deck," said Rip Rapson, president and CEO of the Kresge Foundation.
Chop chop! Do what I tell you for I am your savior and I need to generate that best interest of the child rate.
To that end, they've created a way for people to donate to the effort: By texting the word Hope to 50503. Text that number, and you'll receive a link to donate.
A key part of the efforts involves creating some cohesion for a system that is disconnected, with many providers and little collaboration.
What the city has now is "many people working with high purpose," but without "any kind of connection to resources."
That "working with high purpose" is called survival without "any kind of connection to resources", like water shutoffs.
Among the strategies targeted in this area is the creation of a central coordinating body that would lead early childhood efforts in the city and the use of a single data system to increase information sharing.
That need for a more coordinated effort is timely, given last week's announcement by Southwest Solutions, a nonprofit social services agency, that it was pulling out of a Head Start collaborative, affecting 420 children in the city. Efforts are being made to ensure those kids are placed elsewhere.
Rapson said he hopes that the stewardship board that has been in place for a year and will remain in place - guiding the implementation of the framework - could play a role in helping address some of those issues.
Now, Rip "The Rip-Off" is calling privatization take over of government a "stewardship board", indicating admirality, with a manifest of goods, human goods, to be exact.
"It may be that we couldn't have prevented it any better than the folks on the ground could. My hope is that we will. It's an opportunity for us to reason together and problem solve together," Rapson said.
Steve Ragan, senior vice president at Southwest Solutions, said exiting the collaborative - which includes several other Head Start providers - "has just been really painful." Money was an issue. The collaborative received a $60 million federal grant but was expected to provide $15 million in match funding. That, and a lack of adequate classroom space in the city, were factors that led Southwest Solutions to exit the collaborative.
Actually, no one wanted to work with Southwest Solutions. They have, oh, how do we say this, Detroit Land Bank Authority issues.
Ragan and Rapson said the exit is a symptom of a larger problem.
The larger problem is the fact that Rip "The Rip-Off" promulgated the largest rip-off scheme in this nation's history by fueling the burgeoning class of "The Poors" (always said with clinched teeth) by stealing the children, the land, the water and the votes from Detroit.
"By working together,
we can ensure that every child in Detroit
fulfills their potential"
La June Montgomery Tabron,
president and CEO of the Kellogg Foundation
"I hope it causes people to look really hard at the circumstances of early childhood education," Ragan said.
"This is needed in Detroit. There's a real gap. But it's a very difficult program to financially operate."
That gap is not just financial, it is economic. You ran the people away to bring in selected populations who have money to pay your social impact bond dividends.
"We have to figure out some way to put a stake in the ground about delivering these services in a way that’s consistent, coherent and adequately sourced," Rapson said. "Even if the magnitude of the problem exceeds the resources available, we are going to take long steps toward making sure that more resources are made available to the right activities over time," Rapson said.
That is why "Every Corporation Should Hire A Child", whether for-profit or non-profit, but tax exempt is always more profitable and using charities to profit from children is not as savage, you know.
The $50-million invested by Kresge and Kellogg will also go toward efforts to improve the quality of early childhood programs and increase access to those programs. A program would be launched to train "passionate parents" and put them on a path to become early childhood educators.
Passionate parents, as opposed to unpassionate parents? Is unpassionate parents the latest craze in coming up with a reason to call CPS or launch some other creative corporate scheme to implement corporate parental rights over the trusts of the child to make those social impact bond dividend payments?
Part of improving the quality of programs is to address the low pay of early childhood educators and the struggle to find people to work in the programs, Tabron said.
"That low funding and low salaries
create turnover and mobility.
What we're trying to do is
stabilize the profession."
La June Montgomery Tabron,
president and CEO of the Kellogg Foundation
"If it's not a livable wage, you're not going to get people who are committed and can stay there for a long period of time," Tabron said. "That low funding and low salaries create turnover and mobility. What we're trying to do is stabilize the profession."
"Stabilize the profession", more privatization code words for social impact investing.
Meanwhile, a revolving loan fund would be created to help renovate early childhood facilities.
"It’s desperately needed," Rapson said. "You can walk into facilities in our community and by any measure a child simply should not be educated there."
Then, once you walk out the facility into the community that you helped destroy in stealing houses, by any measure a child simply should not be living there.
And the new state-of-the art facility, part of Kresge's investment, would provide not just early childhood education programs, but things like parent education programs and health screenings. It would be a model for the best ways to educate young children, Rapson said.
Nikolai Vitti, superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools Community District, said he's excited about the effort and ready to collaborate.
"Everyone wants change in education ... What we don’t see enough is people putting their shoulder to the wheel to do things differently ... and to think in a more visionary way to help do the work."
That's what excites him about Hope Starts Here, because "this is the right investment to promote equal opportunity."
No, this is the only investment. Rip "The Rip-Off" was the keyman in any investment opportunity once they pillaged the city treasures and set up a bunch of strawman operations to intercept federal assistance, specifically intended for the people.
Vitti said Detroit, where academic achievement overall is poor, doesn't have an achievement gap.
"We have an equity gap. We have an opportunity gap. We have a resource gap. For decades we've been blaming children and parents and neighborhoods ... and not calling out that we have an equity issue."
Hope Starts Here is the result of a one-year community planning process that involved more than 240 community members and experts.
Experts? Oh, you mean "The Elected Ones". How much did you line their campaign coffers with?
In the end, they came up with six so-called imperatives - things that need to happen. Under each of those imperatives is a set of strategies to accomplish those goals.
"They’re vitally important," said Mark Davidoff, Michigan managing partner for Deloitte. "They’re crucial. They’re essential. And there’s an urgency about this."
Here are those six imperatives:
Promote the health, development and well-being of all Detroit children
Support parents and caregivers as children’s first teachers and champions
Increase the overall quality of Detroit’s early childhood programs
Guarantee safe and inspiring learning environments for children
Create tools and resources to better coordinate systems that impact early childhood
Find new ways to fund early childhood, and make better use of existing resources
Here are a few more imperatives:
Stop stealing taxpayer funding for education to build sports entertainment complexes;
Stop stealing real properties and making the kids homeless;
Stop stealing property taxes and forcing kids to live in poverty;
Stop stealing the vote.
Several of the speakers Friday talked about the importance of the efforts in the context of the city's rebuilding.
"If we’re going to grow the city, if we’re going to build a city people truly want to call home….
We’ve got to invest in our children," said Alexis Wiley, chief of staff to Mayor Mike Duggan.
Yes, but as of the date of this post, you have yet to do a damn thing for our children, except make a profit.
Forum To Be Moderated by Professor Michael Eric Dyson
(DETROIT)– Saturday, September 7th, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) will be holding a forum to discuss legal and other implications of Detroit’s bankruptcy filing. The forum will be held at the Fellowship Chapel in Detroit at 3 pm, and will be moderated by acclaimed scholar and commentator Professor Michael Eric Dyson. Participants in the forum will include key public officials, legal experts, clergy and others. The forum will be taped by C-SPAN and broadcast at a later date.
Updated information about this event is detailed below:
Forum on Legal Implications of Detroit’s Bankruptcy Filing
Host – Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) – Ranking Member, House Judiciary Committee
Moderator – Michael Eric Dyson – Professor, Georgetown University
Robert Ficano/Hester Wheeler – Wayne County Executive/Assistant
State Senator Coleman Young
State Senator Bert Johnson
Detroit Council Member JoAnn Watson
Reverend Wendell Anthony – President, NAACP, Detroit Chapter
Al Garrett – President, AFSCME, Detroit Chapter
Rose Roots – President, AFSCME Detroit Retiree Subchapter 98
James Spiotto – Partner and Head of the Special Litigation, Bankruptcy and Workout Group, Chapman & Cutler LLP
Professor John A. E. Pottow – Bankruptcy and Commercial Law Professor, University of Michigan
Professor Melissa Jacoby – Bankruptcy and Commercial Law Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Krystal Crittendon – Former Corporation Counsel for the City of Detroit
Mike Steinberg – Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan
