Blog #7/ Dr. Keranen

PS 3070

One big problem with Michigan’s current form of revenue sharing is that towns and cities in the suburbs do not appear to be sharing money, at least in very large portions, to help rebuild Wayne County neighborhoods who have the greatest need for help. I am going to focus mostly on Wayne county and Detroit because they seem to be suffering the most. Detroit and other spots in Wayne county have been in a dangerous fiscal crisis for many years. What would happen to the rest of the state if Detroit again became a money maker? I am not an economist but it seems like some of that money spill over to the suburbs. Isn’t it worth it for the suburban people to help rebuild the city and turn it into a place in their state that they are proud of.

Our White, Jewish and Chaldean business owners and residents have left to live and work in the suburbs because of a riot that happened years ago. It seems like a lot of people have not healed but have judged and run away from Detroit. They have left Detroit a suffering, continuously decaying ghetto, infamous to the rest of the country for its violence and corruption. Detroit is number one in the nation for violent crime. Could that be because its people are mostly uneducated and being in an ongoing fiscal crisis, the employment opportunities just are not there? People, heads of families turn to hustling, maybe selling drugs to make ends meet and a lot of people get killed over drugs and other crimes. What a lack of good transportation? There is only enough money for now, for the Q-line to run from downtown to the Boulevard. How do very poor people get out of the city to work at jobs in the suburbs until jobs are available right in Detroit to the city residents?

What is being done to heavily the car companies who moved overseas to get more revenue back to MI state? This is the revenue and many jobs they took away from Detroit. Maybe the Federal government could help find a way to do this legally. Losing these jobs helped the state’s economy to fall apart. Our district, city officials and other local officials need push our state government to repair this county financially with laws that force revenue sharing to Wayne county and Detroit between townships and cities while carefully helping them to balance their budgets so they do not share too much money so that they will go under financially too. Each municipality should appoint or elect some people who are economists or business people that can be an early warning system before a fiscal crises. Granted this could be hard to do and may be unrealistic. But maybe having a person, regardless of their background be there only to be an early warning system to the state legislature when it’s economy is headed for trouble would be a good idea. Maybe some people would accept a low salary for this just to get into politics. When they may be headed for trouble they could be required to report it to the state and seek help soon before a crises.

I do not know of any system the state has set up that requires revenue sharing to poorer counties and cities from wealthier ones. As I said our state legislature needs to do this because different districts are getting more revenue than they need and other very poor districts like Wayne County barely get enough revenue to help the people survive on.

It takes money to tear down old buildings and houses and perhaps incentives, money being a big one to bring more business to Detroit to make it a more prosperous city that is less of an eyesore. The more business expand or move into Detroit the more tax revenue will come in. There should be huge incentives that will bring merchants to Detroit . Can the state help to give low interest rates on bank loans to black and white business owners for having them expand into Detroit? This seems like a tall order for a poor state to accomplish. There should be more real estate incentives to move to Detroit although cheaper housing is bringing more people to the city especially younger generations who are more open to moving there. The state legislature must be informed of the obvious lack of money going to Detroit and it needs to start with local city and county government officials from Detroit continuously bringing to the attention of district Representatives and Senators who can bring it to the legislature. Are citizens writing the state government or demanding revenue sharing be required from wealthy cities? Demanding that all the money the state is supposed to refund be given to the local governments most of it first going to the poor city of Detroit. The problem with Michigan’s current form of revenue sharing is that there are no laws, that I know of that require it.

Every district has its problems but why doesn’t Wayne county get more funding to rebuild its neighborhoods and try to make them safe? Why do they get back the least amount of money in gas taxes than any other county. Because the state is not requiring revenue sharing from other cities and counties Detroit continuous to be in grave fiscal trouble. Detroit has very little money by itself. This city may never be what it used to be but it could be greatly improved and again be a major money maker for the state, eventually being self-sufficient again.

The Govenor should be pushed to use some monies to hire people whose soul job is to look for corruption and different types of crime from people working for the city government. This is because there has been so much corruption in Detroit historically and there has been in some other cities. Maybe more be done to get increased money from the casinos to help Detroit’s scars to be removed.