Bellant for Detroit City Council

Northeast Detroit needs representation. It is largely ignored by elected officials outside of election campaign seasons. No elected City official has been from our area for many years. City government needs leadership that does not surrender the City to powerful interests, whether they be lobbyists, influence peddlers or state politicians. From the day the new Council is seated until the end of “Emergency” Manager rule, we need a City Council that is providing careful oversight and is prepared to opposed actions that would permanently strip assets from the City that are need for our long term recovery, including key departments, parks and services. At all times we must be reporting directly to Detroiters what decisions and actions are occurring. In 18 months from the appointment day of the Governor’s “Emergency” Manager we need a City Council prepared to vote to end Lansing rule and return to home rule, if the Courts have not ended it before then. After the EM period is over, we need a City Council knowledgeable about City operations that can put the best service operations budget together. But Council must be committed to seeking a restoration of revenue sharing from Lansing that has declined or been eliminated over the last decade, even though we pay the taxes for it. The return of unused federal dollars to Washington, D.C. must stop. We need City leadership that will use those funds as intended to provide essential services.

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Detroit Democratic Club Endorses Russ Bellant for City Council

Russ Bellant is proud to have earned the endorsement of the Detroit Democratic Club for Detroit…

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Defending Independence: Detroit Library Commission Fights State Takeover

Amateur video of portions of Detroit Library Commission meeting, Redford Branch Library, Tuesday,…

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The Takedown Detroit's Public Lighting Department & Neighborhood Street Lights

The City of Detroit’s Public Lighting Department (PLD) is misnamed, as it provides more services than lighting our streets. It sells power to over 100 customers, including the Detroit Public Schools, Wayne State, The Detroit Public Library system, the…

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Public Lights and Public Power

The “Emergency” Manager has announced plans to shut down the City’s Public Lighting Department (PLD) and turn over its 115 electricity customers to DTE.

Part of the overall plan that was developed by former DTE executives includes permanently shutting off…

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Keep Detroit Voters In Control

The “Emergency” Manager law is Unconstitutional and therefore illegal.

The purpose of the law is to set aside the voters, to take away their power and authority, so that Governor Rick Snyder can completely run this City without challenge to his control.

R…

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Public Safety

Public Safety includes at its core a professionally trained and motivated group of City employees that constitute our police, fire fighters and EMS. Our current City policies and treatment of our public safety professionals do not encourage positive…

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The Ownership of the Assets and Control of our City are at Stake this Election

Gov. Rick Snyder controls Detroit right now – our government and our schools. This election is about whether we want an elected government that controls our services and the assets we own, or whether we have a government that sits on their hands while our…

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A Better Education System for Detroit

Detroit citizens elect a school board to run the Detroit Public Schools. The City Council should not get directly involved in their responsibilities. But for the last 14 years Lansing has exerted direct or indirect control over our schools, causing 201…

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Job Apprenticeships and Training

We need job creation in Detroit but we also need to keep the jobs that we have.

On job creation, I led and expanded City of Detroit apprenticeship training and placed over 200 Detroiters in jobs as highly trained electricians, millwrights, plumbers,…

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Reducing Crime is Primary for District 3

Crime is affected by the lack of jobs, blight, absence of street lighting, a damaged educational system and reduced law enforcement. I have made separate statements on each of these topics. These are the matters that City Council can and must address. If…

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Fighting Neighborhood Blight

The major source of blight in our neighborhoods is the empty homes and commercial properties that have been foreclosed due to nonpayment of property taxes that are then resold on the internet. Purchasers from all over the world are buying many of these…

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Bobb’s Unlawful Budget Process

Robert Bobb is announcing a budget tonight that by law was supposed to be made public five days before adoption. Presumably today is adoption day, as it goes into effect in a few hours.

Yet the budget was still being changed as of yesterday. Despite the…

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DISTRICT 3 ACTION ALERT: STOP THE SHUTDOWN AND KEEP OUR STREET LIGHTS!

Mayor Dave Bing developed a plan to get rid of 42,000 of our 88,000 City street lights. Our blocks could have 20% of our lights cut off forever. This appears to be why lights are not being fixed in our area.

Come to a meeting to discuss how Rick Snyder’s…

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Register To Vote - Final Day Is TODAY

Michigan Voter Information Center

Today, Monday July 8, 2013 is the last day to update your voter…

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Fourth of July 2013

Kevyn Orr, Emergency Manager 2 Woodward Avenue Detroit, MI. 48226

Today is the one day that we are…

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Tumblr blog

The social blogging tool Tumblr has been popular with its ease of reblogging posts, creating an…

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Facebook page

You’ll find there’s a Facebook page – Bellant4Detroitwhich will have posts from the blog here. If…

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