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Realitycheck
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Username: Realitycheck

Post Number: 300
Registered: 08-2004
Posted From: 68.41.173.240
Posted on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 2:18 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Granholm calls for regional cooperation, urges support of Detroit

By Amy Lane
Crain's Detroit Business


Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Wednesday morning urged regional cooperation and called on state lawmakers to recognize the importance of the Detroit area to the state’s health.

“The state will not succeed, unless the city of Detroit succeeds,” Granholm said in remarks at a Detroit breakfast meeting. The “Pancakes & Politics” breakfast featured Granholm, as part of a series of forums focused on a variety of business, civic and political issues. The series is presented by the Michigan Chronicle; Crain’s Detroit Business is a media sponsor.

One important regional issue, Granholm said, is a light-rail system between Detroit and Ann Arbor that’s under study. She said she supports the proposal and said if the region is to prosper, it must “have the ability to move people” between their homes and jobs.

Asked about her relationship with Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Granholm said the relationship “has never been stronger. We are both committed to transformation.”

She discussed the need to boost crime-fighting efforts, targeting a subject that she said “is so important to people’s quality of life.” Granholm said the state will soon announce a “major re-emphasis of resources” to the issue.
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Gildas
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Username: Gildas

Post Number: 586
Registered: 12-2004
Posted From: 147.240.236.9
Posted on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 4:04 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

You would never guess it's an election year.
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Jt1
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Username: Jt1

Post Number: 7248
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 198.208.159.19
Posted on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 4:05 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

No quote from LBP. How did he not get his 2 cents in this article. He must be slipping.
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Deputy_mayor_2026
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Username: Deputy_mayor_2026

Post Number: 20
Registered: 04-2006
Posted From: 152.163.100.8
Posted on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 4:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

In the words of Kwame's Campaign Manager himself, "So goes the City of Detroit, so goes the State of Michigan.

I know MCM 2026 noticed this as well: Kwame is using Granholm's election year as a means to extort good things for Detroit. This was especially clear at the State of the City address and his constant references to her. I'm not a fan of his administration, but I welcome things such as these.
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 3604
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.172.95.197
Posted on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 10:02 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It's no surprise. And, though I honestly believe that Granholm cares about the health of Detroit, she owes the city alot. It's a quid pro quo. Kwame has scratched her back, now it is time for her to return the favor. Politics, as usual.

(Message edited by lmichigan on April 27, 2006)
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Erikd
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Username: Erikd

Post Number: 597
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.242.214.106
Posted on Thursday, April 27, 2006 - 4:42 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Only in Michigan could this be viewed as some kind of radical position taken as a form of political payback...

The governor thinks that the economic status of the state's largest city has a significant impact on the state economy. Wow, that is some really radical thinking that must be the result of heavy political influence.

I can't imagine the governors of Georgia, Illinois, or Indiana saying that Atlanta, Chicago, and Indianapolis are important to the state economy. That's just crazy talk...

The "Detroit is important to Michigan" statement was pretty crazy, but the support of a Detroit-DTW-Ann Arbor transit line is totally insane.

What kind of governor would ever support a mass transit line connecting two of the states largest cities to a major international airport?

The mayor must have some incredible influence to get the governor to say these crazy statements. There can be no other explanation...
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 3607
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.172.95.197
Posted on Thursday, April 27, 2006 - 4:55 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

You must not be from Michigan. lol Supporting Detroit is committing political suicide under the right conditions. You forget that what's normal in almost any other part of the country is sometimes radical in dysfunctional Michigan.
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Fnemecek
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Username: Fnemecek

Post Number: 1605
Registered: 12-2004
Posted From: 70.225.118.224
Posted on Thursday, April 27, 2006 - 11:05 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Erikd:
May I copy your post and send it to everyone I know? There's a lot of people who need to hear it.

Lmichigan:
This, more than anything else, is why Michigan's economy is in the state that it's in.
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 3609
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.172.95.197
Posted on Thursday, April 27, 2006 - 6:25 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Oh, I'm definitely not supporting that idea, but one can't be surprised that supporting Detroit is a radical idea on the right economic and social conditions.
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Goat
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Username: Goat

Post Number: 8368
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 70.53.96.121
Posted on Thursday, April 27, 2006 - 6:45 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Fnemecek, one word..Outsourcing.
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 3611
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.172.95.197
Posted on Thursday, April 27, 2006 - 7:37 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Not really. Many other states have been just as hard hit by outsourcing. Michigan's problem is that it refuses to adapt, because it would require regional cooperation, a totally taboo idea in this backwards state, at the moment. Outsourcing is far too often and casually thrown around as the only (or main) reason why Michigan is failing. I know this is blasphemy coming from a Michiganian, but it's always easier to see the enemy on the horizon than to see that the enemy is our own. We are our own worse enemy.

(Message edited by lmichigan on April 27, 2006)
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Dougw
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Username: Dougw

Post Number: 1099
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 136.2.1.153
Posted on Friday, April 28, 2006 - 1:31 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Well said, Lmich. And Erikd's post was even better. :-)
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Erikd
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Username: Erikd

Post Number: 599
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.242.214.106
Posted on Saturday, April 29, 2006 - 8:13 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Fnemecek,

I am honored by your kind words. Feel free to spread the message. The only way that we can overcome our obstacles is by working together.

The long standing practice of working against each other is killing us.

A perfect example of this is a recent episode of a technology themed podcast. The show featured an interview with an Ann Arbor tech company, but it devolved into a 5 minute Detroit-bashing. The host asked if the company was located near Detroit, and an anti-Detroit tirade followed.

Instead of promoting the company and focusing on positives, he spent his airtime talking about how terrible and backwards Detroit is, and trying to distance the Ann Arbor area from Detroit.

These people need a wake up call. Detroit bashing and attempts to divorce themselves from the city do not help their image. This attitude only serves to reinforce the negative image of a hostile and divided region.
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Danny
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Username: Danny

Post Number: 4062
Registered: 02-2004
Posted From: 141.217.173.169
Posted on Saturday, April 29, 2006 - 10:14 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Well she did mentioned about jobs and the ecomony.

After she discuss about "Light rail" transit, that's not enough.
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Mcp001
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Username: Mcp001

Post Number: 2138
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 69.14.135.95
Posted on Saturday, April 29, 2006 - 4:47 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Gee, it took the guv this long to figure out that little detail???
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Themax
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Username: Themax

Post Number: 2
Registered: 09-2005
Posted From: 69.246.123.118
Posted on Sunday, April 30, 2006 - 12:11 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

So does this all boil down to racism? And where does it come from? Is it home-grown or a relatively new phenom? I know there has always been some racism, but this appears to be so vicious as to be destructive to the state.
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Rocket_city
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Username: Rocket_city

Post Number: 16
Registered: 04-2006
Posted From: 141.217.173.124
Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 12:04 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

If you're talking racism, I would say that's presenting the concept as a generalization. Deeper establishment of the roots of the problem lie within concentrated race and concentrated poverty. These are two very destructive social characteristics in the Detroit area.
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Mike
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Username: Mike

Post Number: 594
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 68.41.109.36
Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 1:59 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Metro Detroit has three main problems, Michigan as a city has only one.

1. Every other major city got over the race riots of the sixties, and the suburbanization of the seventies except Detroit.

2. Other cities have embraced mass transit, while Detroit has not.

3. Other places have anti-sprawl laws except Detroit.

4. And did I mention that Michigan is a conservative, religous (intolerant), and racist state? Thats Michigan's problem.
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 3616
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.172.95.197
Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 2:50 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Despite the oversimplifications, I disagree with number one in that very FEW cities have "gotten over" the race riots of the 60's. They've just been much better in not letting them define what they are as a city. Most of America's major cities, and especially the more established ones, still have a huge racial divisions (i.e. Cleveland, New York City, Los Angeles...)

And, I disagree with number four, as it is a gross over-simplification. Michigan may not win any awards for being progressive on social issues, anymore, but if you're even going to try and put it down with the likes of Mississippi, Georgia (yes, even Atlanta), and the rest of the truly notoriously conservative, religious, and racists states, than you've fallen off your rocker.

Even number three is far-fetched. It's not that most other cities have anti-sprawl laws (and it would be the states' if any party that deal with sprawl seeing as how cities only have juridiction over their small amount of land), it's that most other cities have ordinances that promote density and walkability, something Detroit doesn't have at the moment.
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Mike
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Username: Mike

Post Number: 595
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 68.41.109.36
Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 3:13 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I don't know Lmich, I am not going to say I know any more than anyone here (because I don't) But it has been my experiance that Michigan cities outside of the Metro Detroit area are pretty much conservative and do not like other "types" of people.

My Michigan tour...

1. Big Rapids
2. Cadillac
3. Ludington
4. Muskegon
5. Grand Rapids
6. Holland
7. Kalamazoo
8. Battle Creek
9. Coldwater
10. Grand Haven
11. South Haven
12. Niles
13. Traverse City
14. St. Joeseph

Those cities may have been mostly on the West side of the State, and other than Lansing. Those cities have a really difficult time with excepting "other" people.

This is a very religous, republican, and conservative State outside of Metro Detroit.

Again, this is from my experiance.

I will not group Michigan with the southern states, but I will go out on a limb and say that for the most part (West and UP Mich) do not like anything other than white christans. This part of the state hates anything that has to do with Detroit... including the black people.
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 3617
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.172.95.197
Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 5:59 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

You just listed all of "Small Town" Michigan with the exception of a few. This is true in almost any state. As conservative as West Michigan may be, the rest of the state (rural Michigan) is no more conservative (and dare I say maybe even a bit more moderate) than the entire state of Indiana, Southern Ohio, Southern Illinois...and so on.

BTW, just another point, while West Michigan conservatism is still offputting from anyone from a major city, it is quite a bit different than Southern Baptist-type conservatism you'll find in much of the South. For instance, the Reformed Church is BIG on charity and social relief, it is also much less feverntly pro-war than the Southern Christian-type of conservatism.

Michigan has it's problems, for sure, but I often find that we are our own worst enemy, and that we believe in, or concentrate, more on our faults than we do our successes. It seems to be a very sad self-fulfilling prophecy. It's very sad considering at one time we were a Progressive state, in many regards, and then started to latch onto the idea that the sky was falling when the auto industry started to fall. Instead of diversifying and changing paths we seemed to be content with bitching and whinning, and look where that has gotten us.
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Rocket_city
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Username: Rocket_city

Post Number: 21
Registered: 04-2006
Posted From: 141.217.214.203
Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 5:58 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mike, I am from Northern Michigan, and I can say that a lot of the social views from the people up there are very distant from those of "downstate". They are far removed from Detroit and therefore are only opinionated about it. They don't tend to desire to know or care what goes on down here other than the "ghost stories" about the term "Detroit" that you learn about from a very young age.

You may think that this isn't any different from people of Southern Michigan, but from my experiences, that's not true. Here, we have so much more of a social responsibility because we are the creaters of our wellbeing (or lack there of). Northerners feel like their only worth is just talking about it. So, while they may come across as conservative, racist, and close minded, that may not be as much of an accurate representation of their character based solely on the notion that their lifestyles aren't influenced like the people here.

It's not necessarily a fault but an absence from a sphere of influence.

Sorry, for the long-winded reply.
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Livernoisyard
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Username: Livernoisyard

Post Number: 577
Registered: 10-2004
Posted From: 69.242.223.42
Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 6:29 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Detroiters don't seem to care at all about what happens to other people living elsewhere in the state or even in the suburbs. So why is it so hard for them to understand that others may not likewise give a tinker's damn about them?
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Erikd
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Username: Erikd

Post Number: 605
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.242.214.106
Posted on Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 5:00 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

Detroiters don't seem to care at all about what happens to other people living elsewhere in the state or even in the suburbs. So why is it so hard for them to understand that others may not likewise give a tinker's damn about them?




Suburbanites don't seem to care about what happens to people living in Detroit, and West Michigan residents don't seem to care about what happens to people living in SE Michigan.

That is the problem with Michigan. We only care about our little area, and the rest of the state can go to hell.

As long as we keep pointing fingers instead of working together, all of Michigan will continue to suffer.

The divisions in Michigan result in a state that is avoided by businesses and residents.

Petty infighting and lack of cooperation has become SOP in Michigan. We have become so caught up in this childish behavior that we don't even think about how much it hurts all of us.

If you want to insure our continued decline, keep pointing fingers at CAY/LBP/Engler/Detroit/suburbs /etc...

This type of local infighting and petty pissing matches makes us look like children fighting over toys in a sandbox. Michigan is in need of a good nanny that will force us to play nice, or take our toys away.

It is no wonder why people and businesses avoid Michigan like the plauge. If given a realistic alternative, who would choose to plant themselves in the middle of this dysfunctional quagmire?

I hope the finger-pointing and blame game makes some local people feel better, because the rest of the world views all of us as pathetic bunch of children that can't learn how to get along.
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Track75
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Username: Track75

Post Number: 2339
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 12.75.24.7
Posted on Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 10:58 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Jennifer says . . .

quote:

I'm all about ...



OK, this is off-topic except when taking the thread title literally, but "I'm all about ..." has to be the Gov's favorite phrase. She probably used it a half-dozen times during last Friday's Town Hall, again over the weekend and yesterday during a radio interview.

"I'm all about creating jobs."

"I'm all about the education of our children."

"I'm all about moving Michigan forward."


Even DeVos got caught up in the moment and laid down one or two "I'm all about..." lines.

I hate that phrase.
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Mikem
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Username: Mikem

Post Number: 2463
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.43.15.105
Posted on Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 11:11 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Maybe it's the California in her?
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Track75
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Username: Track75

Post Number: 2340
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 12.75.24.7
Posted on Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 12:38 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Whatever the source, Mike, I really wish she'd stop. It has the same pathetic trying-too-hard vibe as when she wore the dark sunglasses for the Cool Cities announcements.

She has the bad habit of slipping into a more casual vernacular when addressing primarily black audiences like the Town Meeting. "I was talkin' to a guy workin' on the line ..." She doesn't talk like that when she's on WJR.
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 3623
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.172.95.197
Posted on Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 7:56 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

People (and especially politicians) pander to their audiences, and they always have and always real. Even Martin Luther King, Jr. talked differently when speaking on camera, and when speaking to his church congregation. It's a human characteristic. It works better for some than others. It doesn't fit Jenny to well, though. If anyone heard her at Rosa Parks' funeral, it was just painful to listen to her, and this is coming from a Black guy. It doesn't fit her very well, at all. BTW, cutting the "g" in those type of words is not necessarily a Black venacular, it's one of the working class regardless of race.

(Message edited by lmichigan on May 02, 2006)

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