Detroit firefighters speak out on bankruptcy
By Tim Rivers and Jerry White 29 July 2013 In fire stations across the city of Detroit, discussions are being held about the impact of the city’s bankruptcy filing and initial efforts by rank-and-file firefighters to mobilize opposition to the emergency manager’s attack on pensions and essential services. Last week, scores of red T-shirted firefighters, organized in the ad hoc Public Safety Workers Action Group (PSWAG), fanned out across the city holding informational pickets and protests outside of fire stations and the Federal Bankruptcy Court. Many are second- and third-generation firefighters, and due to reduced funding, few if any younger workers have been hired by the department for years, placing ever-greater pressure on older rescuers facing chronic manpower shortages and decaying equipment. “Why stay on the job and risk your life with no guarantee of a future?” Robert pointing to death notices at Engine 55 Ladder 27 “They want to bust up the pension fund,” Robert continued.
Detroit police struggle to protect bankrupt city
Aug 26, 2013 By Gina Damron Detroit Free Press DETROIT — Wind whipped through downed windows and the speedometer reached 90 m.p.h. as the police cruiser sped down the interstate. Weaving through traffic, Detroit Police Officers Derrick Keasley and Darius Shepherd rushed to reach other officers, who were miles away chasing down a suspect in a neighborhood off Van Dyke. It was about 9 p.m. on a warm evening this month as the special operations officers tromped through high grass, then came to a yard, where they handily climbed a rusty chain link fence and landed next to a dilapidated and abandoned building. This suspect was gone, but the shift was hours from over. Night after night, Detroit police officers are tasked with patrolling one of the most dangerous cities in America. The officers are working in a city so broke it filed for bankruptcy on July 18, citing more than $18 billion in unfunded liabilities. They patrol in run-down cruisers, sometimes with broken equipment. "Made location.
Detroit pays high price for arson onslaught
Detroit — Arson is a raging epidemic in Detroit, destroying neighborhoods and lives as the city tries to emerge from bankruptcy. Even amid a historic demolition blitz, buildings burn faster than Detroit can raze them. Last year, the city had 3,839 suspicious fires and demolished 3,500 buildings, according to city records analyzed by The Detroit News. Burned homes scar neighborhoods for years: Two-thirds of those that caught fire from 2010-13 are still standing, records show. "Nothing burns like Detroit," said Lt. Joe Crandall, a Detroit Fire Department arson investigator, referring to the city's high rate of arson. The Detroit News researched arson for more than three months and found that it remains a huge obstacle to renewal efforts following bankruptcy. Few neighborhoods were untouched by arson and the entire city bears its costs. "People don't realize arson is a felony. Arson Chief Charles Simms said the city is making progress in its long struggle with arson. 'Arson is like a cancer'
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Data shows Detroit is arson capital
Detroit — Nationwide fire data support Detroit's reputation among firehouses as the arson capital of the United States. "It's been that way for years. Every time you'd go to a seminar, you meet up with investigators nationwide and all they want to talk about is Detroit," said Jon Bozich, who retired in 2001 as the chief of the city's Arson Squad. "People used to say the arsons would only stop when the city runs out of fuel. It hasn't happened yet." Detroit has averaged 3,800 to 6,000 suspicious building fires annually for years. Nationwide, no city with a population of at least 300,000 has as many suspicious fires or arsons per capita, according to FBI Uniform Crime Reports and the National Fire Incident Reporting System of the U.S. And Detroit is near the top of both lists in total suspicious fires and arsons, despite its smaller population. Both databases have their problems. "The numbers are wacky," he said. The FBI tracks arson in its listings of major crimes.
Private citizens pick up the slack as Detroit cuts public services
With the city of Detroit now $2.5 billion in debt and the cancellation of city services, teams of private citizens are helping to provide basic services. To avoid bankruptcy, the city is being run by an independent emergency manager. Payments on unsecured debt were already canceled last month in an effort to save money and spend what they have on services such as the police force and fire departments. But with the lack of funds come the dismissal of several city services, which has spurred a measure of civic pride, Fox News reports. After the city abandoned a long awaited light-rail project, 26-year-old Andy Didirosi was “pissed” and chose to fund a transportation plan himself. A self-described “gearhead,” Didirosi had several old Greyhounds and school buses on hand and started the Detroit Bus Company, Fox reports. Not only has Didirosi provided a transportation route in the original location that the plan proposed, he has provided another route to the Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
As Detroit breaks down, scourge of arson burns out of control
A City in Remission: Can the “Grand Bargain” Revive Detroit? - Non Profit News For Nonprofit Organizations
Editors’ note: This article was the last that Rick Cohen wrote for the Nonprofit Quarterly, and it was one of his most ambitious in its weaving of political, philanthropic, and community intentions, partnerships, and realities. Rick died suddenly just as we were beginning our edit, and we were left with the sad task of doing the best we could without his input—any errors of fact should be put down to the editors, and life’s interruptions of this process. That said, this case study of an historic interplay between the sectors to try to save a city, and the intended and unintended consequences that resulted, is sure to become a classic. It can be found in the Nonprofit Quarterly’s winter 2015 edition, “When the Show Must Go On: Nonprofits & Adversity.” Donna Murray-Brown, CEO of the Michigan Nonprofit Association, lives the duality experienced by many Detroiters faced with tough decisions to make for the city’s economic recovery. A History of Unrealized Plans and Hopes Leadership. 1. 2.
A city in flames: inside Detroit's war on arson
For eight long years, the firefighters of Highland Park, Michigan, worked out of a warehouse. There was no red-bricked facade, no lanky Dalmatian. No freshly washed engines gleaming in the sun. No second-floor fire pole to descend in the dead of night to wailing sirens. Whatever idealized vision you have of firefighting, Highland Park is not it. The Highland Park fire department opened nearly a century ago, in 1917, to serve the booming city. "We do stuff kind of old-schoolish, because that’s what we have: old-school, crap equipment," says Scott Ziegler, a first-generation fireman who’s worked in Highland Park for four years. Highland Park is three square miles surrounded by the city of Detroit, and shares the litany of woes affecting the area. "We’ve pulled up to stuff we just couldn’t control." But the population peaked in the 1940s at over 50,000 people. "We’ve still got a lot of nice neighborhoods here. "Well, just let the whole city burn down.
