Bobb reaches out to city to drum up voter support
DPS manager says he’s fighting past with bond proposal
By ROBIN ERB
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER
With time running out, Robert Bobb spent part of Saturday shaking hands, cracking jokes and getting residents out to vote on a $500.5-million bond issue Tuesday for Detroit Public Schools.
But DPS’ emergency financial manager acknowledged he’s fighting the past.
“There’s a lot of support for DPS. But there’s also a lot of distrust about how funds were spent in the past,” he said at Central High School over the sound of a half-time marching band. “I tell them: ‘If we keep looking backward, we can’t move forward.’ ” Proposal S would allow the district to tap into federal stimulus money to pay for building a new King High and seven other schools, as well as renovating 10 and demolishing 29 vacant facilities. Schools districtwide would get security and technology upgrades.
Taxpayers will have to repay the money, though nearly half would be repaid at 0% interest.
Taxes would not increase, but debt payments residents currently pay would be extended for another 6 years.
The stimulus money can’t be used to pay salaries or close the multimillion dollar budget gap.
There are a lot of issues to weigh, said Tameka Duffield, 28, of Detroit, part of the Central football crowd. She said she still hasn’t decided how she’ll vote. “Why don’t we fix the schools we have before opening eight more that we can’t afford?” she asked. “I like Bobb. I think he’s done some good things, but if you closed down some of those schools for a reason, why don’t we focus on what we have now?”
But Bobb found some support, too.
At Big D Barber and Beauty Salon on Livernois, amid the snip of scissors and chatter from those who packed inside, Bobb shook hands that extended to him from underneath plastic capes.
“She didn’t do it right, man,” Bobb joked with Cimarron Moorer, 35, while Moorer got a trim. “You get a free haircut.”
Nearby, barber Janet Robertson, 46, and her client, Ezra Gray, 44, watched. It didn’t matter to them, they said, that Bobb didn’t specifically mention Proposal S; his presence was enough to reinforce the importance of the issue.
Both former DPS students, Robertson and Gray said they’d already decided to vote in favor of Proposal S.
Sure, the district has had better days, they agreed. “But it’s about the kids,” Gray said, “and … you can’t just give up on them.”
DECISION 2009 EDITORIAL
Vote for change
Electing right mayor and council will begin to put Detroit’s failures behind it
Tuesday’s election won’t fix all that ails Detroit. But it could help set the city on a healthier course Voters should be mindful of both the significance of this election and the opportunity it presents as they go the polls.
Unless voters walk off the dock, Mayor Dave Bing will be confirmed as the man who will hold that post for the next four years. He can finally move beyond the serial elections of the past 10 months and focus all of his energies on solving the city’s problems.
A victory will give Bing the certainty he needs to force Detroit’s employee unions to get serious about bargaining concessions. Right now, the unions are still clinging to hope that their donations and votes might get Bing’s opponent, Tom Barrow, elected. After Tuesday, they should understand that Bing is the guy they have to deal with.
Bing can’t get the job done alone.
He needs help from a smart City Council that is able to stand up to the community’s sometimes self-destructive tendencies and vote the right way.
The four open spots on the nine-member council provide an opportunity to seat such a council.
Unfortunately, the campaign has revealed that not all of the newcomers on the ballot would be a significant improvement from the incumbents they’ll replace. They’ve shown too little courage to advocate real change for the city.
We have endorsed mostly new faces in this race — Gary Brown, Saunteel Jenkins, Lisa Howze, Andre Spivey Fred Eliot Hall
and David Cross ; and that’s the order we prefer them. If those six were seated alongside incumbents Kenneth Cockrel Jr . and Brenda Jones , it promises to be the most effective legislative body Detroit has seen in decades.
We withdrew our endorsement of a ninth candidate, Charles Pugh, after his tangled personal finances were made public.
Three other incumbents are on the ballot — Kwame Kenyatta, Alberta Tinsley-Talabi and Jo Ann Watson. The defeat of Watson would be addition by subtraction. She is the ringleader of the council faction that panders to Detroit’s worst instincts for divisiveness and entitlement.
Eighteen candidates are vying for election to draft a new City Charter.
It’s essential that former Deputy Mayor Freman Hendrix and former Ombudsman John Eddings are among the nine selected. Their experience is needed in the task of revising the document.
Detroiters also will be asked to approve a $500 million bond issue to rebuild deteriorating schools. We understand their hesitance on this request; we had reservations as well, until Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb agreed to stick around to guide how the money is spent.
In many ways, this vote is a referendum on the work Bobb is doing to rid the district of corruption and improve its academic performance.
Nothing is more important to Detroit’s future than providing a quality education to the 80 percent of the children in the public schools who either drop out or graduate unprepared for college. Bobb is trying to make the schools better; voters should support him with a yes vote.
Tuesday is a day Detroiters can put some of the city’s failures behind them. They should use their ballot to bring real change to Detroit.
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