Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
- President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Joe Cwik

He's a good man, and he's in my blog roll.

All right, I am from the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti metroplex. I am about forty miles away from the strife and angst of Detroit metro. Still, Wayne county is the heart of my state. I am three kinds of pissed off at the mayor of Detroit, and I can't do jack or shit about it.

Or can I?

Joe Cwik is a real Detroiter. He pays the income tax, and he cares about his city. However, he is fighting against decades of corruption and mismanagement. I want to help him. Ever hear about Jacksonville, Florida? Yeah, I thought as much. It just happens to be the largest municipality by area in the country. New York City is 468.9 square miles, Jacksonville is 885 square miles.

It also merged the operations of Duval county into the city operations in 1968. This essentially expanded the city into covering almost the entire county. Why am I telling you this?

When was the last time you heard of Jacksonville being on the "most miserable cities" list? Or the "most dangerous cities" list? When was the last time you heard of Jacksonville?

Look, I know it's a long shot, but if the county operations were merged with Detroit, and any Wayne county resident could vote for mayor of Detroit, things would begin to change in Wayne county. The whole city versus suburbs false argument would go up in a puff of irrelevancy.

Still not sold? There are still three cities unaffiliated with Jacksonville in Duval county. The citizens of these cities can (and do) vote for the mayor of Jacksonville. Indeed, someone who LIVES in one of those cities is currently mayor of Jacksonville.

Proud cities like Dearborn and Wayne could maintain their independence, but at the same time, have a stake and a say in what goes on in Detroit. The mayor of Detroit could attack city problems in a more holistic way, not really worrying about the old "eight mile" boundaries.

It makes sense to me. I mean, we are going to have medical marijuana on the ballot this November, why can't we have a measure that will fundamentally change the way Wayne county works next November?

4 comments:

Rev said...

While it certainly makes sense, I'd much rather turn Detroit into a John Carpenter-like prison colony.

Really, all it needs is the walls at this point.

Sure....Joe gets a post named after him....

Joe C said...

So going to a Tigers game is like a conjugal visit?

Interesting....

I'll have to move before the wall goes up, though.

Drunken Chud said...

i've been saying this for years. but, to my real point, why are wayne and dearborn proud cities? i've never met anyone proud to be from either and when i think of both i think of sewage and poor people, and waaaaaaaay too many union assholes. proud my ass.

I'm Scooter, but I might be a troll. said...

See, that's the whole issue, Chud. It's not the message, it's how it is presented. Sure, I realize you hate unions, but the only way to restore the balance is to end the balkanization of Wayne county. The UAW doesn't care where a plant is in the Detroit metroplex. All it cares is keeping them open, and keeping membership high.

If you pitch it correctly, you could get the unions to support the measure.

As for equating Wayne and Dearborn with sewage, it has to be processed somewhere. Tact and kissing a little ass goes a long way.

The only way to get the suburbs and city to agree to something like this is to accentuate the positive aspects of both communities, and not piss off the unions.