Thursday, October 9, 2014

UN Investigates Detroit Water Denial

United Nations investigators will be in Detroit this month, just weeks after a bankruptcy judge ruled that poor people do not have a right to clean water for drinking or sanitation despite international human rights law.
"There is no such right or law," Steven Rhodes said.
Rhodes’ decision means crews can continue cutting off water for up to 400 customers a day. At the time of Rhodes’ September 29 decree, more than 24,000 accounts had already been blocked since the start of the year.
But in July, experts with the Switzerland based UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern about the massive shutoffs in Detroit.
“…when there is genuine inability to pay, human rights simply forbids disconnections,” said Catarina de Albuquerque, the expert on the human right to water and sanitation.
Leilani Farha, the expert on the right to adequate housing, expressed concern that children are being removed by social services from their families and homes because, without access to water, their housing is no longer considered adequate. “If these water disconnections disproportionately affect African Americans they may be discriminatory, in violation of treaties the US has ratified,” Farha added.
The Peoples Water Board Coalition, a grassroots group that announced the UN visit, said Alburqueque and Farha will attend a public town hall session October 19 at Wayne County Community College in downtown Detroit.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

900 reasons why Deform is reign

The lack of professionalism lies as hundreds of employees earned jobs without the info for the civil test.. The officials got beside themselves, in other words arrogance which ensues to ignorance the conclusion. The lack of common sense truthfully I believe when the overcast passed surprisingly left many on the gluteus as the Dark Knight starved for apprehension of the abuser of substance...

Thursday, August 6, 2009

The Crooked County Judicial System is A.F.U

I've been in a judicial twist since February 2006. The case was initially set for visitation with the child of an uncooperative witch who deprived me the privilege after I earned my CDL to become a truck driver. I was awarded visitation January 2008; I didn't receive due diligence until May, In June 2008 rejuvenation surfaced as suspicion became truth when the DNA test found me not to be the father of the offspring. May 2009 was the next date set...Which entailed to a re-test at a court approved facility that ironically was taken a year to the day of the previous test... Obviously, the derelict has yet taken the test.... October to be continued........ Appalled to discover from the Magistrate that its a total of 3 that handle all the cases in the county.... Frustration for I..... The innocent child may the Lord be with him..... The trifling, deceitful jucker..... The system expeditiously garnished me for support, yet slow to rescind.... The Deform of the (Crooked) County defined Cuyahoga......

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Return of the Locusts

It has been 50 years since the upper classes have come this close to grabbing complete control of Cuyahoga County government, only to have their dreams thwarted by an energized and united black community.
In 1959, powerful county engineer Bert Porter headed a charter commission that put on the ballot a proposal to replace the county commissioners with a single executive. Many assumed Porter wanted to be that executive. It might have passed if the NAACP and other vocal black activists had not mounted an all out campaign against it. They understood that just as the African American community was on the cusp of significant political power, defenders of the status quo wanted to frustrate their efforts by changing the playing field and moving the county away from concerns about social, judicial and economic justice. Because of the mobilization of black voters, the plan was defeated.
If anyone thinks the current effort has a different motivation, the June 9 Plain Dealer sets the record straight.
The front page map of the proposed county council districts with clusters of affluent suburbs makes it clear that this will guarantee Republicans a presence in county government that they cannot achieve at the ballot box under the current rules.
Even more telling is the statement of Parma Heights Mayor Martin Zanotti, the early architect of the proposal who is rumored to want to head the county. According to the Plain Dealer, Zanotti said the county should no longer concentrate on social and judicial services.
This despite the entrenched poverty, homelessness and depravation of children that is increasing throughout the community.
Bert Porter's real goals became apparent eve of the historic 1967 Cleveland election. As chairman of the county Democratic Party, he sent a letter to members telling them to vote for Ralph Locher and warning that if Carl Stokes was elected mayor instead, Martin Luther King would run City Hall. Such racist transgressions are not punishable, but Porter did later go to prison for forcing his employees to kick back a part of their salaries.
Let's not let the late Bert Porter win a posthumous victory.

Mayor Brewer response to Plain Dealer --Part Two

(Read Post, click on comment, invite folks who agree or disagree)

I'm not going to get into a "point by point" discussion about the merits of Zanotti, Mason and Akers' bad reform plan because it's a bad reform plan in its entirety.  Voters shouldn't even bother to sign the petition. 

 

Zanotti, Mason and Akers can offer any anecdotal "after the fact" comments they want, atempt to drag the discussion into the mud and resort to name calling.  I'm very accustomed to the name calling tactics people with miniature intellects use to try and distract the public away from the real issues.  Former East Cleveland Emmanuel Onunwor used the same name calling tactics after I reported him to authorities.  But a close examination of the "manifesto" Zanotti, Akers and Mason created and now have to defend will reveal that these so-called brilliant political strategists are not equally brilliant thinkers or students of government.  They're political hacks who've come together to figure out how to carve up the county's jobs and contracts for their own benefit and for the benefit of their benefactors and friends.  Zanotti, Mason and Akers' very bad reform plan smells like an organized crime takeover of Cuyahoga County and the schemers have now been exposed.

 

I won't even address Plain Dealer editorial page Editor Elizabeth Sullivan's ignorant comments about the reform plan not being finalized.  The reform plan is finished and there will be no additional tweaking as she falsely claimed.  The language for the completed reform plan is required by sections 3.02 to 3.24 of the Ohio Revised Code to be placed, in its entirety, on a petition.  If the committee gets enough signatures the plan goes before the voters as is.  There is no re-tweaking.  If Sullivan had contacted the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections at 443-3200 she could have learned this information before she exposed her lack of knowledge.

 

It's unfortunate that the Plain Dealer promotes staff who don't do their homework and who have to later defend their own misrepresentations of fact.  Sullivan had a duty to read the reform plan before the Plain Dealer's editorial writers shared their "pro reform" views with the newspaper's readers.  If I were her boss she'd be issued a strong written reprimand and suspended for negligence and dereliction of "editorial" responsibility.   Her misrepresentation of fact speaks to the heart of the Plain Dealer's credibility gap.

 

A copy of Mr. Young's letter will be faxed to 999-6366 in your name.  Please do not mischaracterize anything I have written in this communication.  I expect any story in which comments are attributed to me not to be misrepresented in any way.

 

Mayor Brewer



Mayor Brewer response to Plain Dealer --Part One

(Read Post, click on comment, invite folks who agree or disagree)

Ms. Johnston,

 

Without responding to each and every counterpoint, since my letter speaks for itself, I will offer the following as I just received a copy of a letter from the Ohio Public Defender Commission.  The author is Tim Young.  I'm not sure of his title.  The organization is opposing the elected Public Defender and has noted that Cuyahoga County will lose $8.4 million in indigent defense funding if it goes forward because that plan does not qualify for the funding. 

 

"Reform also suggest that the body studying the problem will go out and investigate and research alternatives and return with the best answer.  It appears no one contacted anyone regarding the most efficient and effective way to deliver quality indigent defense services.  The body in Cuyahoga County promoting the election of a public defender never contacted anyone at the State Public Defender Office, the Ohio State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, or even the U.S. Justice Department."

 

"Any move to make such sweeping changes require public hearings and comments.  None of those happened.  The group promoting this reform was not a public body and as result, did not seek public comment on this issue before revealing it at the very last minute.  Had it done so, experts from around the country were available to come to Cuyahoga County to help seek real, meaningful reform in this area."

 

Mr. Young's statements characterize my opinion of the entire proposed Charter and the process the committee underwent in crafting it.  Mayor Martin Zanotti, Mayor Bruce Akers and County Prosecutor William Mason failed to study Title 3 of the Ohio Revised Code in relation to the statutory duties of the elected officials they were seeking to eliminate.  They've admitted this more than once.  Zanotti, Mason and Akers failed to perform any real due diligence and have only regurgitated the same plan that was advanced by former CWRU professor Cathy Barber in 1996 when she was commissioned to study county reform by former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Mary Boyle.  It was a bad plan then and it's a bad plan now.




Plain Dealer to East Cleveland Mayor Eric Brewer

(Read Post, click on comment, invite folks who agree or disagree)


Mayor Brewer,


Hi. I'm a the PD reporter working on a story to explain the proposed charter. I read your letter and have spoken to Mayor Zanotti and Mayor Akers, neither of whom will respond to your comments about them being power-hungry political gangsters. However, they responded to some of your (and my) concerns about the structure.


I'd like to summarize some points and ask you to respond.


About the county executive having too much power:

The proposed structure is similar to a city or state, with a mayor and council, or governor and legislature. The county council's main power comes by controlling the budget. That, reform advocates say, provides checks and balances. Currently, the commissioners have no check.


The council also must confirm the executive's appointees to boards and commissions. Do you think that provides a check and balance?


Do you think the council should be full-time?


About the law director:

He or she (and maybe two or three others) will serve as the council and executive's private counsel. The prosecutor will still perform civil duties, lawsuits, etc. Thoughts?


About evaluating:

The charter calls for a re-evaluation in 2012, 2017 and then every 10 years.


Please e-mail me back with any comments. Thanks very much for your help. 


Sincerely,

Laura Johnston


Laura Johnston

The Plain Dealer

1801 Superior Ave.

Cleveland, Ohio 44114

phone: (216) 999-4115

fax: (216) 999-6374