Last month, I wrote about how the Northville School District was using the threat of an Emergency Manager to strong arm concessions from teachers in their contract negotiations. Snyder’s budget strips away money from the schools. The schools are forced into a bankruptcy situation. They turn to their employees and teachers for drastic concessions (a nearly 10% pay cut and […]

My latest piece at A2Politico gives an illuminating look at the number two administrator in the Snyder administration in charge of our state’s Emergency Managers. His name is Roger Fraser and, until earlier he was the City Administrator for Ann Arbor, Michigan’s sixth largest city, a position he held for nine years. He currently has the position of Deputy State […]

Unionized school employees in Detroit were dealt another blow today as Emergency Manager Roy Roberts wiped away their union contract and cut the wages by 10% across the board. This comes after Detroit Public School (DPS) employees accepted a major wage concession just a year and a half ago. Wielding power under a new state law to modify union contracts, […]

This scenario was entirely predictable. The latest call for an emergency manager in Metro Detroit is coming from an unlikely place — the affluent Northville Public Schools. Stalled contract negotiations between administrators and employees have school board members discussing the possibility of seeking an emergency manager, which under state law must be appointed by the governor. Emergency managers have the […]

When Michigan Republicans passed the legislation that became Michigan Public Act 4 of 2011 or P.A. 4 or the “Emergency Manager Act” or “local government and school district fiscal accountability act” or, as I call it, the Financial Martial Law Act, they took a subtle step that few noticed. They changed the name of “Emergency Financial Manager” to simply “Emergency […]

I can’t figure this out. You’ll recall that I recently blogged about Benton Harbor Emergency Manager Joseph Harris restricting access to Jean Klock Park by changing the hours of operation. The change happened in May but flew under the radar until Michigan Messenger’s Eartha Jane Melzer reported on it. Now, it turns out, Joe Harris has changed the park’s hours […]

THIS seems rather arbitrary. Which probably means there’s some underlying reason for it that will raise your hackles. Locals are no longer allowed to take early morning walks in the park under an order issued by Benton Harbor’s Emergency Manager Joe Harris. Jean Klock Park, the city’s public waterfront which has already been partially privatized as a Jack Nicklaus golf […]

A while back, I wrote a piece for A2Politico.com in which I took the Michigan Democratic Party to task for, among other things, not supporting the efforts stop Public Act 4 (or, as I call it, the “Financial Martial Law Act”). Subsequent to that article, I contacted the Michigan Republican Party and several leaders of tea party groups around the […]

The effort to repeal Public Act 4, the Financial Martial Law Act, in Michigan got a great jump start yesterday when nearly 100 local activists, concerned citizens and organizers got together for an informational townhall meeting. The event was put on by the Washtenaw Community Action Team, a group that describes itself as “a coalition of local unionists, activists, students, […]

I’m getting ready for a townhall meeting in Ann Arbor tomorrow where I will be presenting an overview of Michigan’s “Financial Martial Law Act”. The townhall meeting is from 10:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. at the Ann Arbor Community Center. The Facebook page is HERE. If you are in the area, I encourage you to join us. I realized the […]

I want to draw your attention to sureujest‘s fine Daily Kos diary covering yesterday’s Pontiac press conference held by Sugar Law Center and plaintiffs in the lawsuit to declare Michigan’s Financial Martial Law Act unconstitutional. In it she has photos, video and interviews from participants. Here is an excerpt: At the late afternoon press conference in Pontiac, MI today I […]