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.