Proposed layoffs for Ypsi firefighters bring us full circle

One year ago, almost to the day, I posted "AATA Subsidy: A lesson in how not to negotiate." I lamented a certain city leader failing to even try to get us the best deal he could on our AATA subsidy, knowing full well that nothing good was to come of that particular losing strategy. Last week, the failure came full circle. The Ann Arbor News reported that city administration thinks the only viable way to cut the budget is to further cut public safety. The problem arises due to an 8% reduction in property tax revenue that leaves a hole in our city budget to the tune of a half million dollars. Yep, that's the very same budget that the very same city administration put together not all that long ago. It is now short by half a million just a few months into 2009. In related news, AATA wants to increase the subsidy we pay by 10% next year. That, of course, could have been the start of a negotiation in which AATA would ask us to pay 10% more on an already reasonable subsidy due to our successful prior negotiation, and then we would further bargain ourselves to an even more modest increase from that already reasonably low subsidy. Had we positioned ourselves to do this, we would have obviated a sizable chunk of the current budget problem. However, I'm now guessing that with a track record like ours, the AATA can count that as money in the bank, even if it means layoffs in our public safety departments and selling parcels of property over on Water Street by the square inch. When I read articles such as this in the paper, I note that AATA says things like "basis for discussion" while our leaders say things like "I'm glad they put a stake in the ground saying this is where they want to go." AATA seems to want to negotiate, and we seem to want to cave without actually having a negotiation. It's time that we actually play some hardball with other governmental entities, rather than bowing to demands as if there are no other options. Now to the math. Had we successfully negotiated a significant reduction in the AATA subsidy last year, we would have been well-positioned to adopt the proposed "B Plan" and be close to balancing the budget, certainly without substantial impact to the excess revenue currently earmarked for the city's major street fund. But it's too late to do that now. Yet one more option in a sea of dwindling options has drifted away -- right at a time when we need as many options as we can get. The pressures that are bearing down on Ypsi are the same pressures affecting everyone. It is the job of a city leader to not only negotiate the best deal possible for us, but also to push back when organizations such as the AATA continue to make us pay more than we can afford to cover a subsidy that ought to be covered by other entitites more able to pay. Others seem to play hardball with us, but we seem unable to play hardball back at them. Public transportation is a priority and it should continue to be. However, it should never, ever be pitted against public safety or the preservation of necessary jobs and services that we depend on, which is exactly what is occurring now, and is precisely what our city administation permitted to occur last year at this time. It was a mistake to frame the issue in these terms a year ago, and it is a mistake to frame the issue in these terms today. I hope our relatively new Council majority refuses to further cut public safety and instead continues to try its best to make do with the dwindling resources we still have. UPDATE: I have it on good authority that when the budget is proposed to Council, there won't be cuts to public safety.

Ypsi Youth Orchestra this weekend!

Our own Ypsilanti Youth Orchestra will be playing this Sunday, April 26, 2009, at West Middle School. The concert begins at 3:00 P.M., and word on the street is that it's FREE!

Ypsilanti Symphony This Sunday!

Please join us this Sunday, April 19th, 2009 at 3:30 p.m. at Towsley Auditorium on the campus of Washtenaw Community College. The concert will feature Clayton Penrose-Whitmore, Junior Laureate of the 2007 Sphinx Competition, and music of Afro French composer Chevalier Meude Monpas. This will be a great show! Tickets available online or at the door. We hope to see you there.

Wireless Ypsi Invading the East Side

It's here. Wireless Ypsi is invading the East Side. Click here for a map showing the current radios out by me. As you can see, my antenna can reach Depot Town through a radio a couple of doors down on Maple Street. My antenna can also reach Dave Strenski's house, which also reaches Depot Town. This is really branching out nicely. I'll bet in a month or two the signal will pass Prospect Park!

Like it or not, we are now a country who tortures our prisoners

Used to be a time when the U.S. was known as a beacon of freedom to the entire world, a time when observance of civil rights was considered a sacred guarantee of that freedom. We are, however, now better known for the words and actions of people like former Vice President, Dick Cheney: When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry . . . . These are evil people. And we're not going to win this fight by turning the other cheek. If it hadn't been for what we did—with respect to the . . . enhanced interrogation techniques for high-value detainees . . . —then we would have been attacked again. Those policies we put in place, in my opinion, were absolutely crucial to getting us through the last seven-plus years without a major-casualty attack on the US . . . . - February 4, 2009 (from The Red Cross Torture Report: What It Means). The Red Cross authored a report detailing the torture used by the CIA on detainees. The report was supposed to remain secret and was not intended for public dissemination. However, it has been leaked. You can read it here. One of the things little known about the torture is how little usable information it actually extracted. Dick Cheney certainly doesn't want you to know. He's a true believer. In Dick Cheney's world, you have to become evil to fight evil. NPR did a story you can listen to here. I think it is high time that the violations of international law, civil rights, military law and professional responsibility ranging from medical personnel to officers of the highest rank be investigated. Those that broke the law ought to be held accountable and punished. Doctors should lose their licenses, military officials should be dishonorably discharged, lawyers who authored self-serving memoranda should be disbarred, and those that performed the torture should be jailed. It's high time that we re-identify America with freedom, the rule of law, and the honor that our rich heritage demands.

Ypsilanti Youth Theatre perform all this weekend - don't miss it!

The Ypsilanti Youth Theatre is performing a Midsummer Night's Dream Friday, Saturday and Sunday this week. Friday's performance will be at 7:00 P.M. Saturday will bring two performances, at 2:00 P.M. and at 7:00 P.M. Sunday's performance will be at 2:00 P.M. All performances will be at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 120 North Huron, one block north of Michigan. We hope to see you there!