The Detroit News. October 20, 2018
Wilson donation shows philanthropy’s promise
The Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation’s $100 million donation to the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy and its connecting pathways is an example of the vital role philanthropy is playing in the city’s rebuilding.
Foundations are the strong third leg of the stool supporting Detroit’s revival. Business is pouring investment dollars into commercial projects that show promise for a healthy return. Government is supporting that effort with infrastructure funding and other resources.
And philanthropic giving is providing some of the luxuries that government can’t afford to pay for right now.
Think the Q-line, the rescue of the Detroit Institute of Arts, Campus Martius and now a world-class park on the west riverfront.
The RiverFront Conservancy’s 22-acre West Riverfront Park will help complete the 5.5-mile river walk from the Belle Isle Bridge to the Ambassador Bridge.
Designed by renowned landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh (Maggie Daley Park in Chicago, Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York), Detroit’s newest park is destined to become both a tourist attraction and a gathering spot for the community.
It’s state-of-the-art playgrounds, nature features and beach cove will give Detroit an outdoor recreation area to match any in the country.
The cost is pegged at $55 million to $60 million, for which the conservancy is now in a fundraising drive.
The Ralph C. Wilson Foundation is giving the effort a huge boost with $40 million for the buildout and $10 million for long-term maintenance. Another $50 million is targeted at completing pathways spreading out from the park throughout the region.
A similar amount is being donated by the foundation for a park in Buffalo, New York, on Lake Erie, where the late Wilson, a Detroit business titan, owned the Bills football team.
Wilson, who died four years ago, left his $1.2 billion fortune to the foundation with the instructions to spend it on quality-of-life projects in Detroit and Buffalo over 20 years.
The foundation has 16 years left to spend down the money, which with interest and earnings will ultimately generate $2 billion in donations.
It’s enough to make a significant impact on two cities that have gone through similar challenges.
How the West Riverfront Park germinated is also worth noting. This is not the vision of either the Wilson foundation or the conservancy. Rather, a group of community members was drafted to study the best parks in the nation, and match the possibilities with the needs of Detroiters. The Wilson foundation helped fund that effort as well.
The parks in both Buffalo and Detroit will be called the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial parks, in honor of what would have been their benefactor’s 100th birthday this month.
It’s a great gift to the city, one that will change both the look of the riverfront and the image of Detroit as a whole.
And it’s happening because a right-minded businessman chose to leave the fruits of his very successful life for an entire region to enjoy.
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Times Herald (Port Huron). October 17, 2018
We used to have good reason to elect judges
Nearly all state and local judges across the country have to run for election. Federal judges are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Why the difference?
Author Jed Handelsman Shugerman, a professor at Harvard Law School, found the answer in a book he wrote about the history of the judicial selection process in the United States. In the beginning of the republic, most state and local judges were chosen the same way as federal judges.
It didn’t take long for reformers to recognize that process brought too much nastiness and politics into the process. State judges became beholden to the political machines that owned the statehouse.
By the 19th century, states had thrown out judicial appointment and turned to the ballot box.
Shugerman says the most successful selection process currently in use is a hybrid system. The governor’s office selects the judge. When the judge’s term ends, though, he must stand for election. Think of it as checks and balances.
About 20 states select judges that way. Shugerman says it does the best job of ensuring that judges are both capable on one hand and fair, independent and accountable on the other.
In Michigan, we elect our judges - even if it sometimes feels like voting on who will get to perform your next surgical procedure. We even vote for state Supreme Court justices while usually only vaguely aware who they are. We call them nonpartisan even though we know they are selected by the political parties.
There are six candidates on the November ballot competing for two seats on the Michigan Supreme Court.
Kurtis Wilder and Elizabeth Clement have the advantage. They were appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to vacancies on the court, so they get the title “justice” next to their names on the ballot. Justices tend to retire when a political ally sits in the governor’s office. Wilder and Clement are part of the court’s 5-2 GOP majority.
On the Democratic side, Birmingham lawyer Megan Cavanagh continues a long and cynical court campaign tradition - name recognition. She’s part of a political dynasty that includes a past Supreme Court justice and former Detroit mayor Jerome Cavanagh. Campaigning on a name that is distinguished and easy to remember is pathetic.
Sam Bagenstos is the other Democratic pick. He was a high Justice Department official in the Obama administration and now teaches law at the University of Michigan.
Kerry Lee Morgan is the Libertarian Party’s pick. He is a civil rights lawyer who practices in Detroit. Doug Dern is the perennial nominee of the Natural Law Party. He is also the party’s Michigan chairman.
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The Alpena News. October 20, 2018
End the water, sewer dispute quickly
Was the water agreement ordered between Alpena city and township governments really that bad?
Or, as we might suggest, was it really that good?
The Alpena Municipal Council voted this week to appeal the recent order by 26th Circuit Court Judge Michael Mack regarding litigation between the two government entities over water and sewer rates. Council’s position follows similar action taken by Alpena Township trustees last month.
So, let us see if we understand this correctly. Neither the city nor township is happy with parts of the ruling?
In our humble estimation, when neither side is completely pleased with a ruling such as this, then probably it is as fair and just as possibly could have been reached. Both sides walked away with something back in the middle of September, when it was announced. And, while it might not have been everything either would have hoped for, there were aspects both could claim victory over.
But victory quickly is lost if this issue never has a conclusion.
And, victory is a term that usually involves winners and losers.
In this issue, the only winners that we can determine are the lawyers and consultants, who must be smiling as the litigation fees keep mounting. At last count, both sides have spent over $2 million on a suit that remains unsettled.
If you, as a city or township resident, is OK with that, then more power to you.
We are not.
Enough is enough. Hammer out a compromise and move on.
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The Mining Journal. October 20, 2018
County board making good decisions on budget matters
We haven’t hesitated in the past to use this space to criticize budget moves made by the Marquette County Board or other elected bodies, when we believed such criticism was warranted and appropriate.
We have, historically speaking, taken our municipal oversight responsibilities seriously and we certainly plan to continue that going forward.
All of that said, we’d like to call to our readers’ attention that the Marquette County Board of Commissioners recently approved its 2019 general fund budget, and for the second year in a row, the spending package was less than the previous year, without a reduction in current services or staff.
If you’re a taxpayer in Marquette County, that’s a good thing.
“This budget is about a quarter of a million less than last year, and we were able to keep everyone working and have a balanced budget,” board Chairman Gerald Corkin said for a Mining Journal story on the matter. “And we have renewed contracts, in most cases settled for two years, as fairly as we could.”
The general fund budget for next year is about $25.8 million. Among key ways commissioners held the line on spending was making fiscal decisions that tracked with revenues. Put another way, if income was flat, they didn’t spend money they didn’t have. Sounds simple but look at the debacle in Washington, where both houses of Congress spend like drunken sailors before ordering up new borrowing to cover it.
And, as an added bonus of sorts, commissioners didn’t tap the county’s rainy day fund to underwrite programs. That too, is a good thing.
None of this is to imply that all is 100 percent well with the county’s finances. Like elected bodies from sea to shining sea, the issue of unfunded liabilities in the public pension system is the proverbial 600-pound elephant in the room.
We believe it’s only a matter of time before many of these these funds start running dry and large infusions of cash - public cash - will be needed to keep them viable.
At least the commission isn’t making new decisions to spend money they don’t have.
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