18 schools to be rebuilt, updated if DPS bond OK'd

BY LORI HIGGINS
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER

Detroit Public Schools will rebuild or completely renovate 18 schools as part of the $500.5 millionbond proposal that will go to voters in November.

District officials said today it will take 36 months to complete the projects.

Schools that would be replaced: Brightmoor Elementary, Chadsey High, Finney High, King High, Maybury Elementary, McNair Elementary, Mumford High and Munger Elementary.

Schools that would be renovated: Bethune Academy, Cooley High, Duffield Elementary, King Elementary, Garvey Elementary and Twain Elementary

Schools that would either be renovated or replaced: Denby High, Ford High, Northwestern High and Western International High.

“The opportunity to modernize and secure our buildings, provided through federal stimulusfunds, will help us continue the academic transformation taking place in the Detroit Public Schools,” Robert Bobb, the district’s emergency financial manager, said in a press release today.

The district announced the projects at 5 p.m. today at King High, which would be torn down and rebuilt. The district plans to break ground on that $54.5 million project in January, if voters approve the bond.

The November bond initiative will be a better deal than a traditional bond because the measure will be tied to federal stimulus programs, which means the government is subsidizing some of the costs, saving taxpayers millions. 

If voters approve it, taxes are not expected to increase, but the payments city residents make on outstanding school district debt will continue for 15 years. Detroiters are repaying a $1.5-billion construction bond from 1994. 

The ballot measure is part of a larger, overall $1.14-billion capital program that Bobb has proposed for the 2010 through 2015 fiscal years.

2009 Dream Cruise Pics and T-shirts

Hey guys, I wanted to put up some positive pics of some cars you may see at this years Dream Cruise.

Casual Dreamers, a design and print company located in Southwest Detroit, has created some beautiful t-shirts for the occasion.

These shirts can purchased at the Dream Cruise or on casualdreamers.com

Have a great weekend!

Tigers Brawl in Beantown

BOSTON — Tigers pitcher Rick Porcello was ejected from Tuesday night’s game with Boston after he hit Red Sox third baseman Kevin Youkilis with the first pitch of the second inning.

Youkilis was ejected because he charged Porcello as soon as he was hit in his back. Youkilis threw his helmet at Porcello as he neared the mound (he missed), then got hold of the retreating Porcello between first and second base. But Porcello threw him down as the benches were emptying.

There appeared to be few if any other punches. There were no other ejections besides Youkilis and Porcello.

Youkilis, like Miguel Cabrera, got hit for the second straight Tigers-Red Sox game. In the first inning Tuesday, Cabrera got hit on or near the left hand by a 0-2 pitch from rookie Junichi Tazawa with two runners aboard.

In the Boston first, Porcello threw an inside pitch to Victor Martinez with two out and nobody on. Martinez gestured toward Porcello with one hand, but nothing else happened -- then.

Cabrera left the game in the second inning during his second at-bat, evidently because the hand that got hit the previous inning was bothering him. The club later announced he's suffered a bruised left hand and that X-rays didn't show any fracture. He was listed as day-to-day.

On Monday night, Cabrera got hit in the fourth inning by Brad Penny. Edwin Jackson hit Youkilis in the bottom of the inning.

On Tuesday night, getting hit twice in two nights was apparently too much for Youkilis.

Mike Lowell pinch ran for Youkilis and Chris Lambert relieved Porcello.

Detroit deficit estimated as high as $300 million

The City of Detroit's financial picture continues to worsen with a deficit forecast Friday as high as $300 million, increasing the likelihood of massive cuts in city services.

As first reported Friday on freep.com, Mayor Ken Cockrel Jr., in announcing the larger deficit estimate, said he already had ordered city departments to cut their budgets by 10%, and now the size of the cuts would increase. Cockrel would not say if any cuts would involve layoffs.

As recently as a month ago, Cockrel had pegged the deficit at as high as $200 million. He said the steadily rising deficit estimate is the result of sloppy bookkeeping by ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's administration.

The city is almost a year late in submitting its 2006-07 fiscal year audit.

"This whole process has been a lot like peeling back the layers of an onion -- the more you peel back, the more your eyes water," Cockrel told the Free Press. "Citizens need to be prepared for some pain."

Chief Financial Officer Joseph Harris said he advised Cockrel of the new deficit estimate after reviewing the city's current year cash flow, which is negative, as a number of payments to vendors and on city debt have come due. He said major cuts would be needed.

"I'll give him several alternatives, but none of them are pretty," he said of the plans he would offer to the mayor.

The situation is a stark contrast from what Kilpatrick had told the public about the city's budget. He had insisted that the city was on the cusp of eliminating its red ink. The city's budget is $3 billion.

In early October, Cockrel had said he would release his deficit elimination plan within days. But the mayor has delayed that announcement because as the city catches up on its auditing, it discovers more records showing the deficit is far worse than thought, he said.

Cockrel said Friday that he would not unveil his deficit elimination plan until his administration fully untangles the city's finances. He said he would provide an update in January.

However, Cockrel did say the plan would seek to protect essential city services.

"Our goal is to get back on the path of being fiscally smart, make decisions based on what is critical and necessary ... for the city," he said.

The state already has ordered an emergency financial manager for the Detroit Public Schools, and a potentially $300-million deficit could reignite talk that arose in Kilpatrick's first term about a possible emergency manager for the city. Cockrel said the city must fix its books and avoid the scenario in the Detroit schools.

"If there's tough decisions to be made, we ought to be the ones to make them," he said.

Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel, chairwoman of the council's Budget, Finance and Audit Committee, praised Harris for working to systemically uncover the city's true financial picture.

"The structural problems of the country, the state are really colliding head-on now with the structural weaknesses in Detroit's finances that are now decades old," she said. "I think we can anticipate serious levels of sacrifice."

Student Winners Announced In Thanksgiving Parade Design Contest

By TAMMY BATTAGLIA • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • November 11, 2008

Julissa Madrigal smiled as she stuck out her finger and popped a bubble floating through the air in front of her, a bubble from the float she designed for this year's America's Thanksgiving Parade.

The last time seventh-grader at Earhart Middle School in Detroit had seen her creation "Our Aquarium," it was a paper and colored pencil drawing she created with help from her art teacher, Nick Ellis.

Today, she saw it come to life as a float, her creation chosen as one of two top winners in the 17th annual Skillman Foundation float and balloon design contest for students throughout Detroit.

“It’s beautiful,” Julissa said as her mother, Ana Madrigal, shed tears of joy behind her, as the song “Down By The Sea” blared and a life-sized foam whale seemed to jump across bright plumes of plywood seaweed and little pretend children on the float. “I just love killer whales. They’re my favorite animals.”

Emirene Munoz grabbed a rope, her eyes growing wide as she held the rein for a 20-foot-tall version of her winning elephant balloon design floating in front of her. The eighth-grader from Clippert Academy said she was very nervous about seeing “Elephante” for the first time today outside the Parade Studio on the city’s east side.

“I never won something like this before,” said Emirene, 14, who hasn’t decided yet whether to be a doctor or an artist. She said her favorite thing to draw is actually people. “I just see folks walking or cartoon people”

The two grand prize winners were chosen from more than 300 designs created by Detroit students.

The honorable mention winners for balloon designs were:
Arlene Torres, sixth grade, Academy of the Americas, for Neighborhood Butterfly”;
Adam Yang, fourth grade, Fleming Academy, for “The Dragon Warrior”; Walter Richey, seventh grade, Leland Community Affairs Inc., for “Make a Change-Change Brightmoor”, and Ande Villarreal, fifth grade, Bennette Elementary, for “The American Heart.”

The honorable mention winners for float designs were: Regina Aleman, eighth grade, at Clippert Academy, for “Art Bucket”; Atziry Ruiz, fifth grade, Bennett Elementary, “Candy X-Press”; Mariah Shaw, third grade, Harms School, “The Neighborhood Zoo”, and Yajaira Carrillo, fifth grade, Cesar Chavez Academy, “The Crazy Wheel.”

New coffee bar for Corktown

Former Zingerman's Delicatessen managing partner Todd Wickstrom is teaming up with Phillip Cooley, co-owner of Slows Bar BQ, to open Mercury Coffee Bar in Detroit's Corktown area by early summer.

Located at 2163 Michigan Ave., across the street from Slows, the 50-seat restaurant will have an in-house bakery on the first floor and a main dining area on the second. It will offer coffees, moderately priced pastries, and sandwiches, ranging from $7 to $8, made with ingredients grown in Detroit.

By using locally grown products, Wickstrom said he hopes to boost the local farming community. The pair also planted 40 pounds of garlic in an urban garden just south of I-94.

Cooley and Wickstrom began renovating their 3,000-square-foot, leased building in January. They estimate that renovation costs will total about $200,000.

Cooley initially was hired by Wickstrom as a designer through his general contracting firm, Los Pistoleros, but became a minority partner after Wickstrom realized Cooley's knowledge of Detroit restaurant operations.

Cooley was equally impressed with Wickstrom.

“Todd has years of experience and a wonderfully socially conscious mind. His past has been about quality, and we have an opportunity to bring quality at a different kind of value,” Cooley said.

Wickstrom was with Zingerman's in Ann Arbor from 2001 through 2005. He said his time there taught him what it takes to be successful.

“I learned a lot about the restaurant business at Zingerman's,” Wickstrom said. “I did everything from busing tables to ordering balsamic vinaigrettes from Italy.”

Wickstrom also co-founded New York-based Heritage Foods USA in 2001. The food broker helps small farmers sell their goods to restaurants and stores across the U.S., including Bastone in Royal Oak and Bower's Harbor Inn in Traverse City.

Both Cooley and Wickstrom recognize the importance of keeping their revenue in the city of Detroit.

“The question is: How do we get the money from the front door to stay in the city?” Wickstrom said. “In that sense, we are the antithesis of Starbucks. All the money they earn goes to the corporation or another city.”

Movie Thursday - Role Models

From website:

Seann William Scott and Paul Rudd star in Role Models as Wheeler and Danny, two salesman who trash a company truck on an energy drink fueled bender. Upon their arrest, the court gives them a choice: do hard time or spend 150 service hourse with a mentorship program. After one day with the kids, however, jail doesn't look half bad.

Surrounded by annoying do-gooders, Danny struggles with every neurotic impulse to guide Augie (McLovin from Superbad) through the trials of becoming a man. Unfortunately, the guy just dumped by his girlfriend (Elizabeth Banks)has only sarcasm to offer a bashful 16 year old obsessed with medieval role play.

Meanwhile, charming Wheeler tries to trade in an addiction to partying and women to assist a fifth grader named Ronnie redirect his foul mouthed ways. It would probably help if his new mentor wasn't an overgrown adolescent whose idea of quality time includes keggers in Venice Beach.

Once the center's ex-con director (Jane Lynch) gives them an ultimatum, Danny and Wheeler are forced to tailor their brand of immature wisdom to their charges. And if they can just make it throught probabtion without getting thrown in jail, the worlds worst role models will prove that, sometimes, it takes a village to raise a child.