I already voted for President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in the Democratic presidential primary months ago, they’re not on Michigan’s primary ballot for next Tuesday, August 6.
There are plenty of other important choices on the ballot, such as whether Elissa Slotkin (D) or Hill Harper (D) will replace retiring Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan). I’m not really worried about Douglas March (Green) or James Frizzell becoming our next junior senator (the latter doesn’t even have a photo on Ballotpedia).
I do wish Hill Harper had run for the U. S. House instead, to replace Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Michigan, U. S. House District 13). That’s not my idea, someone else proposed it and I agreed completely. Thanedar is an immigrant with an inspiring life story who has turned out to be a major disappointment. The only nice thing I can say about his legislative tenure so far is that he votes with Democrats. That’s it.
But we’re stuck with Thanedar, even though he has challengers in the Democratic primary. Detroit City Councilwoman Mary Waters has the name recognition, but the only ads mentioning her by name are attack ads bringing up her old misdemeanor conviction as if it were something she did very recently. I guess I’ll be voting for Shakira Lynn Hawkins, a lawyer I had never heard of before.
The Detroit Public Library millage is up for renewal. From the Detroit Public Library website:
On Tuesday, August 6, 2024, Detroit voters will be asked whether they want the Library to continue serving the people of Detroit. Proposal L is a 10-year millage renewal of 3.9943 mills that generates approximately 85% of the Library’s operating funds.
The library needs every mill. I’m asking every voter in Detroit to vote in favor of Proposal L, even with the knowledge that some of the millage money will be stolen in the so-called “tax captures” for the Downtown Development Authority (DDA). Malachi Barrett explains for Bridge Detroit:
The library is projected to have $30.5 million in revenue this fiscal year [2023], according to the report, with $27 million coming from local property taxes and $2.6 million from state aid and county revenue. Estimated expenditures are $33.5 million, meaning the library will operate at a deficit.
Council Member Angela Whitfield-Calloway asked the Legislative Policy Division Thursday to explore whether the DDA could send up to $3.5 million to the library to make up the difference. The DDA will have collected $35 million in tax increment revenue from the library from 2012 to 2027, according to the financial report.
“We’re simply asking to have some of our money back,” Whitfield-Calloway said. “We want $3.5 million of our money back to subsidize the entity that you are capturing (or) diverting it from in the first place.”
Steel magnate Andrew Carnegie recognized the value of libraries, and he did much to promote and support American public libraries. Today’s billionaires are far less classy, eager to steal from public libraries than to give to them.
Next week, vote yes on Proposal L. And after that, we need to advocate for the Detroit Public Library to get every mill that the voters approved.
