I haven't forgotten about Troy's library

It's been two months since I last posted about the plight of libraries in metro Detroit, and even longer since I posted specifically about Troy's library. This is somewhat ironic, considering the advice I gave you.

Stay tuned. I'm sure there will be lots more on this issue between now and August.

I was right. Since the election is a week from today, the campaigns for and against the millage are heating up.

I'll start with this video, which was posted to Keep Troy Strong by Sharon.




Troy Library needs you. Vote Yes August 2nd.

This millage question is the first one where I've seen commericials, such as the one I embedded here. It's also the first library millage where I found out that there will be a televised debate.

Representatives on both sides of the debate surrounding a proposed millage to fund the Troy Public Library will have a chance to make their case this week during a televised meeting.

The meeting, which is being presented by Community Media Network TV and The Oakland Press, is scheduled to air at 7 p.m. Wednesday, will be held at the station's studio, 1230 Souter Blvd. and is open to the public. Viewers will be permitted to call in with questions at 248-589-7778.

If you live in Comcast's service area in southeast Oakland County, you can watch the debate on channel 18 on Comcast cable. If you don't or, like me, you do but don't have Comcast, you can watch it online at Community Media Network TV.

Still more from the article on Troy Patch.

"Save the Library, save Troy"

Late last month, I posted the following in Save the libraries, save civilization:

Across metro Detroit, communities bracing for library closings
...

Troy's library was originally scheduled to close Sunday. But on April 18, the City Council postponed the closing until May 16, hoping to find a way to fund the library.

Troy Mayor Louise Schilling said she would seek a dedicated millage for the library, releasing its dependence on the city's general operating budget.

Schilling said she hopes a library millage is on the November ballot.

I do, too, Madame Mayor, and I know people who would campaign for it, too. I hope you get together with them.

Looks like I got my wish, which also happened to be the wish of those who will campaign for the library millage. From YummyNatto on YouTube comes the following pair of videos.

First the sales pitch about why Troy's library is worth saving, which was posted one day in advance of a City Council meeting where the Mayor put forth the question of a millage to support the library.

Residents of Troy, Michigan explain why they love and need their library. Falling revenues in Troy have put our library on the chopping block.

Next, the demonstration the supporters of the millage put on before the meeting. Listen to their chant as they marched from the library to City Hall.


Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Maybe because it's because I posted a link to Save the libraries, save civilization post on Troy Residents Unified for a Strong Troy (TRUST)'s Facebook page a few days ago. Or maybe great minds think alike and they were going to use that chant all along. Either way, the lobbying and demonstration seemed to work, as the following story from The Oakland Press indicates.

Troy City Council asks for August library ballot question
By BONNIE CAPRARA
Special to The Oakland Press

Troy voters will likely get a chance to keep the doors of the Troy Public Library open in an Aug. 2 special election.

The Troy City Council voted 5-2 at its regular meeting Monday night to direct the city attorney to draft ballot language asking for 0.70 mills in dedicated millage over the next five years to fund the city-operated library.

That's good news for the demonstrators, who managed to get two paragraphs in the story.

[A]bout 60 children and adults marched carrying homemade signs and chanting, “Save the library, save Troy,” from the library to the front of the Troy City Hall where they held a rally before the council’s meetings.

“After the last council meeting, I saw there was a lot of momentum we didn’t want to lose,” said Padma Kappa of Troy. “On Good Friday morning, we planned what we could do. We wanted to do it in a way that was respectful and in a way that people were well-informed of what the facts are.”

The demonstrators work isn't done yet, though, as the City Council has to vote to approve the ballot measure proper.

If the council formally adopts the ballot language at its next meeting on Monday, the council will have to vote on a measure to keep the library open at least until the special election. The library was originally scheduled to be closed after April 30. The council called off the closure last month until it had an opportunity to discuss ways to keep it open.

Here's to the City Council approving the measure and putting it on the ballot in August. That's a nice "maybe."

Millage vote on Troy's Library today

Remember this in which I commented on an article in Troy Patch?

[T]his is a big deal. How big a deal? Big enough that the local major party chapters have become involved.

Troy Citizens United is joined by the Troy-Clawson Republican Forum in opposing the library millage.
Kathy Martin, chair of the Troy Democratic Club and a founder of TRUST, said last week that she believes the groups leading the opposition to the library millage care less about taxes than they do a political agenda. "They want to take over Troy and have it be a base for the extreme right wing for the state of Michigan," Martin said. "There are people who are trying to manipulate for political control in the city ... they are trying to confuse voters."

The Troy Democratic Club is one of the two largest in the county along with the Pontiac Democratic Club, so it getting involved is definitely a big deal.

Yesterday's Oakland Press showed the partisan involvement has only grown.

Troy residents call to keep politics out of Aug. 2 library vote
By BONNIE CAPRARA
Special to The Oakland Press

The City of Troy's last-ditch effort to keep its library doors open by asking residents to approve a 0.7 millage on the August ballot has divided the city. And some are saying that taking the issue to partisan politics has gone too far.

Troy resident and registered Republican Timothy McGee expressed concern to 17 city Republican delegates and County Commissioner Robert Gosselin who signed a mailing sent on July 18 by the grassroots group, Troy Citizens United, which urges residents to vote “no” Tuesday, Aug. 2, on the millage and accuses Mayor Louise Schilling, Mayor Pro Tem Mary Kerwin and council members Maureen McGinnis and Dane Slater for partisan actions.

The TCU letter reads: “Council keeps asking for tax increases because Mayor Schilling and Councilmembers Kerwin, McGinnis and Slater were all endorsed by the local Democrat Party and unions. Mayor Schilling and Councilwoman Kerwin even had Elect Obama signs on their lawns. The Obama win has re-energized the Democrats in our city and they are working hard in Troy.”

“This is going to hurt the Republican Party,” McGee said. “If this fails, the Republicans will be held responsible for the library closing.”

DeBacker said that party politics are being played on the “yes” vote side, as well, which is being led by Save Troy.
...
“We didn’t start the political part; the other side did,” DeBacker said. “Frank Houston was seen prepping the ‘yes’ panelists before The Oakland Press/CMNtv town hall meeting last Wednesday. He doesn’t live in Troy. He’s a consultant to the Democratic Party and the chairman of the Oakland County Democratic Party.”

“A bunch of Republicans and Democrats (Troy Residents Unified for a Strong Troy) approached me about seven months ago and asked me to facilitate a meeting of how to save their library,” Houston said. “It has nothing to do with me being a party chair. I’ve worked as an independent consultant on state ballot initiatives. This is an issue that goes beyond party politics. When you have coalitions such as the League of Women Voters, the chamber of commerce and well-known Republicans and Democrats supporting the library, it shows how marginal how small this group of Tea Party activists opposing the millage is.”

Ellen Hodorek, spokeswoman for Save Troy and its research arm, TRUST, said: “TCU is turning this into a partisan thing. I’m a Republican and so are several members of TRUST. Fighting for the library is a non- partisan issue, which is why we started this. We formed TRUST to take the politics out of this issue.

”Despite their best efforts, it did become a partisan issue. Just the same, I'm taking the side of Keep Troy Strong on this one.

Please vote today and bring all your friends!

SAVE THE
LIBRARY!

SAVE
TROY!

TRUST will be posting live updates on its Facebook page tonight.

"Save the library, save Troy," continued

In our previous installment, I wrote:

Troy City Council asks for August library ballot question
By BONNIE CAPRARA
Special to The Oakland Press
...

If the council formally adopts the ballot language at its next meeting on Monday, the council will have to vote on a measure to keep the library open at least until the special election. The library was originally scheduled to be closed after April 30. The council called off the closure last month until it had an opportunity to discuss ways to keep it open.

Here's to the City Council approving the measure and putting it on the ballot in August. That's a nice "maybe."

"Next Monday" was yesterday, and there's no maybe about it.

The Oakland Press: UPDATED: Troy City Council approves August library ballot question, budget
By Bonnie Caprara
Special to The Oakland Press
May 17, 2011

TROY— The Troy Public Library will remain open — at least until August when voters will be asked to approve a 0.70 mill, five-year dedicated library millage.

That's good news right there, as the city found the money in its budget to keep the library open until the vote.

TROY— The Troy Public Library will remain open — at least until August when voters will be asked to approve a 0.70 mill, five-year dedicated library millage.

That's the next "maybe." Is it ideal? I'll let the Free Press tell that story.

That amount would fund a library that is “less than the full-service, award-winning library we had a few years ago,” but more than a bare minimum of library services, “which I thought was a good compromise,” Mayor Louise Schiling told the council members.

That's not ideal, but it's a lot better than closing the library for the next fiscal year.

Speaking of Mayor Schilling, she had more to say in the article from The Oakland Press about why August and not November.

“I think August is the right time to have this election,” said Mayor Louise Schilling, who proposed the ballot question at last week’s Troy City Council meeting. “It would be a clear vote on one issue. It would not be confused with other things on the ballot. This community has asked time and time again to have a clean vote.”

When I first wrote about the plight of the local libraries here in metro Detroit, I made the following remark about the scheduled closing of the Romulus Public Library:

The millage defeated in February included support for other services and would have cost residents between $150 and $300 in increased taxes.

Looks like the library was collateral damage.

Looks like that was the case in Troy, too.

Councilman Martin Howrylak presented an alternate resolution to place the ballot question on the Nov. 8 general election ballot in an effort to bypass the $90,000 cost of holding a special election on Aug. 2. Councilman Wade Fleming was the only councilmember to support Howrylak’s resolution. They both voted against the Aug. 2 ballot proposal.

Yeah, but while the November election would have cost less, it would have resulted in the library closing, or costing the city more to keep it open. The first way would have defeated the purpose, while the second would have been penny wise and pound foolish. Besides, as the Free Press story mentioned, "Residents who spoke at recent forums said they wanted the issue resolved quickly, and the lack of a secure future for the library was hurting property values, those in the majority said." Even the most conservative councilmember should appreciate the property values argument.

Stay tuned. I'm sure there will be lots more on this issue between now and August.

Save the libraries, save civilization

ETA: I wrote this post twelve years ago, but the topic of defunding libraries has returned to the news, so I added the preview image above for better visibility and decided to start sharing it again.

In the very first post on this blog, I wrote:

Saving civilization is about preventing libraries falling into ruin while we build sports arenas and military bases.
...

Actually, saving the libraries might strike some people as frivolous, but remember that the way the humans in the book discovered the truth about moties was by stumbling into a museum designed to speed the rise of Motie civilization after the next collapse.  Another example involves Canticle for Leibowitz, the plot of which revolves around a monastery that includes a library the mission of which is to help revive civilization after its collapse.  So, it's not as stupid an idea as it seems.  Thanks to that suggestion, you can expect posts on saving cultural institutions during collapse, not just for how to keep yourself fed and safe.

I haven't been very good about doing so (I didn't even blog about the musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra ending their strike, which fits the topic), but the Detroit Free Press has obliged me with an update.

Across metro Detroit, communities bracing for library closings

After Romulus voters rejected a 2.75-mill proposal in February, officials announced plans to close the city's library.

But members of the Friends of the Romulus Public Library hope to make a last-ditch plea to the council tonight that may keep the doors open or at worse, eliminate a permanent shutdown.

"If we close the library, we are denying people's rights," said Sylvia Makowski, president of the group. "It goes against democratic principles."

Now, that's a take on the situation that I like, and I wish to hear Ms. Makowski elaborare on that idea. Instead, the article quotes the mayor, who points out the economic benefits of the library.

"The library is not just for kids, but our seniors and those who are using online services," Romulus Mayor Alan Lambert said. "In this economy people are using the library to do their résumés and for other job services."

Remember, this article is about austerity, which means the question becomes where does one find the money. The Friends of the Romulus Public Library have an answer.

The group has a plan that includes a 0.2-mill levy, which would cost residents about $8.50 more in taxes a year.

The millage defeated in February included support for other services and would have cost residents between $150 and $300 in increased taxes.

Looks like the library was collateral damage.

Romulus isn't the only community where the libraries are in danger.

At a time when demand is soaring, communities such as Detroit, Dearborn and Troy are facing major obstacles to keeping library doors open.

Check out that roll call.  All of them get their turn in this article, and then some.

Gretchen Couraud, executive director of the Michigan Library Association, said the issue is not declines in state revenue sharing, but in tax revenues.

"I would advise residents to talk to the Legislature and tell them that libraries are important," Couraud said. "There has been erosion at every level."

If you want libraries, you're going to have to vote for them, get others to vote for them, and find ways to pay for them. As for why...

Couraud said library usage across the country is rising. Nearly one-third of all Americans turn to their neighborhood libraries for Internet access.

Can you say "digital divide?" I knew you could. BTW, that theme is repeated in community after community, especially Detroit.

Just one month after laying off 83 employees, Detroit Public Library officials are meeting to discuss closing 12 to 18 of its 23 branches.
...[C]commissioners are also considering closing the libraries for 30 to 60 days to avoid shutting branches entirely.

At least the system as a whole will remain open. The same could be said about Dearborn.

In Dearborn, Mayor Jack O'Reilly announced that the city needed to cut $20 million from its budget, which may mean a library branch closure. The city has already laid off several librarians and consolidated children's services from the city's three library branches to the Henry Ford Centennial Library.

What about Bloomfield Hills and Troy, the poster children of cities in Metro Detroit who either have lost access to other cities' libraries or whose own libraries are in danger of closing?

[B]loomfield Hills, which never had a library of its own, city officials are negotiating with the directors of Baldwin Public Library in Birmingham to give Bloomfield Hills residents full borrowing privileges.

Birmingham would be a better match for Bloomfield Hills than Troy, which the city had been using. It turns out Troy has issues of its own.

Troy's library was originally scheduled to close Sunday. But on April 18, the City Council postponed the closing until May 16, hoping to find a way to fund the library.
Troy Mayor Louise Schilling said she would seek a dedicated millage for the library, releasing its dependence on the city's general operating budget.

Schilling said she hopes a library millage is on the November ballot.

I do, too, Madame Mayor, and I know people who would campaign for it, too. I hope you get together with them.

An update on library access for Bloomfield Hills

Just after I posted yesterday's library news, C&G Newspapers reported on another situation I covered in my first post about the plight of local libraries. Here is what I wrote then as a commentary on the Detroit Free Press article on the subject:

What about Bloomfield Hills and Troy, the poster children of cities in Metro Detroit who either have lost access to other cities' libraries or whose own libraries are in danger of closing?

Bloomfield Hills, which never had a library of its own, city officials are negotiating with the directors of Baldwin Public Library in Birmingham to give Bloomfield Hills residents full borrowing privileges.

Birmingham would be a better match for Bloomfield Hills than Troy, which the city had been using.

I've already written about Troy's situtation, twice, and I'm sure I'll write more about it between now and August, when the city's residents vote on the millage proposal to keep the library open. It's Bloomfield Hills' turn.

The Bloomfield Hills City Commission decided to raise the city’s tax rate from 9.05 to 9.85 mills May 10 in order to obtain a balanced budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year, officials said.

Remember, the issues with the libraries are part of a general fiscal crisis for government. The usual solution has been austerity--cutting services and laying off employees, not raising revenue. That Bloomfield Hills has decited to raise revenue is a sign that trends might be moving in the other direction. Now, what about the community's library access?

At the same meeting, the commission agreed upon a counter offer to submit to Baldwin Public Library, with which the city has been in negotiations for library service. The counter offer would levy 0.3 mills for three years for library services — but only with the approval of voters come November.

The 0.3 mills would bring in around $220,000 a year, officials say, which equates to just less than $150 per household.

Those numbers are important. The 0.3 mills turns out to be the minimum level that qualifies for state library funding. The $150/household would be lower than the $200 the residents have been paying for access to Troy's library. That arrangement has the Bloomfield Hills residents buying cards and then Bloomfield Hills reimbursing them. Since Troy's library is still open, Bloomfield Hills residents can still use their library, which gives Bloomfield Hills time to negociate. They'll need it.

Baldwin recently turned down a $166,000 offer from Bloomfield Hills for library service. That was a counter to Baldwin’s initial request of roughly $380,500 a year for three years from the city for library services.

The library had not accepted the recent counter offer at press time, so official ballot language — which would have to be approved by August — had not been decided.

Stay tuned to see how this "maybe" turns out.

Millage passes; Troy Public Library will stay open!

Oakland County Clerk.

PUBLIC LIBRARY OPERATING MILLAGE PROPOSAL - CITY OF TROY (Vote For 1)
...
18 of 18 Precincts Reporting
Percent Votes
YES 58.19% 12,246
NO 41.81% 8,799
[TOTAL] 21,045

Not only did the proposal pass overwhelmingly overall, it won in 25 of Troy's 30 precincts including two (Troy 19 and Troy 28) where it earned 801 yes votes to 254 no votes. STOMP!

Even more amazing, the library millage election had the highest turnout of all the elections in Oakland County last night, ranging from 20%-50% and probably averaging about 40%. I said this was a big deal!

In contrast, the races for Mayor and City Council in Rochester Hills had turnouts ranging from less than 10% to 40%, with most precincts reporting less than 20% turnout, none of Southfield's precincts had more than 20% turnout for four City Council races, which were hotly contested, and no precinct in the County Commissioner District 2 race turned out more than 10% of registered voters.

Finally, I echo the sentiments of Keep Troy Strong.

The library has been saved. Thank you Troy!

Save the libraries, save civilization!

Duggan re-elected as Detroit mayor plus local election news from across Michigan

Here's news so expected I wrote the first half of  this post's title of on Sunday: Mike Duggan wins re-election, beating Coleman Young II for Detroit mayor from WXYZ.


Congratulations to Mayor Mike Duggan!  I agree with him and the overwhelming majority of Detroiters that Detroit is moving in the right direction.  I also would like to agree with Duggan as he says "This is the year we put us-versus-them politics behind us forever," as MLive reported.

"This is the year we put us-versus-them politics behind us forever," says Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan after winning reelection, Nov. 7, 2017.

I hope that's true, but I'll have to wait to see if it is.  Until then, "One Detroit!"

The other Detroit contest I was watching was for Detroit City Clerk.  The Detroit Free Press reported Janice Winfrey re-elected Detroit clerk in tight race.

Incumbent Janice Winfrey has won re-election as city clerk in a race that went down to the wire.

With all 590 precincts reporting, Winfrey was ahead by roughly 1,400 votes, with 49,882, (50.5%). Challenger Garlin Gilchrist II had 48,400 votes (49.0%) in what election watchers predicted would be a race down to the wire.

I live out in the suburbs, not in Detroit, but I was still rooting for Gilcrist.  That should come as no surprise after what I wrote in The party starts as Michigan recount begins as ordered.

That a third of precincts in Detroit may be ineligible for a recount is not good news for anyone having their hopes up that this recount will change the result of the election.  If anything, Trump's lead may increase because of it.  It also makes me even less enamored of both Janice Winfrey, the Detroit City Clerk, and Cathy M. Garrett, the Wayne County Clerk.  Neither one of them appears to be running a tight ship, or otherwise these kinds of irregularities would happen so frequently.  If either ever is up for nomination at a Michigan Democratic Convention for Secretary of State, I'm not voting for them and might just see if I could join a group to recruit another candidate.  Barb Byrum in Ingham County or Lisa Brown in Oakland County, the first two counties to participate in the recount, would be my choices.

Winfrey deserved that scare and I hope it makes her run the Detroit City Clerk's office better.  As for the Democratic nomination for Secretary of State, I doubt either Byrum or Brown will be running next year.  Jocelyn Benson, who ran for the office in 2010, is running again.  I already plan on voting for her, both at the convention and in the general election.

Follow over more election news from across Michigan.

More metro Detroit library news for May 2011

While I was celebrating some good news for Troy's library in yesterday's post, other libraries were making less auspicious headlines. From the Detroit Free Press comes the following story.

Macomb Co. libraries take a hit in plan
BY CHRISTINA HALL
May 17, 2011

Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel gave his organization plan to county commissioners Monday, detailing $2.5 million in cuts annually, including more than $900,000 to the county library.

As I wrote, not a good headline. Since the devil is in the details, let's take a close-up look at Old Scratch.

Hackel's plan calls for transferring the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, which employs four people, to the Clinton-Macomb District Library, saving the county nearly $200,000 a year.

At least that's not closing a library (and this particular facility would be a very bad one to close), just having someone else take care of it. Still, I wonder what the Clinton-Macomb District Library thinks of this and what it will do to their budget. That's something for a follow-up post.

What else?

It also calls for phasing out, by the end of the year, the Reference and Research Center, which provides reference books, magazines, newspapers and online databases, saving the county $716,000.

That's not good. This closes off a major source for research in the state's third most populous county. Unfortunately, I don't know of any constituencies outside of librarians and scholars who would rally to keep it open.

Speaking of programs who have advocates in the community, here's one that survived the budget axe.

Nearly $34,000 to Macomb Literacy Partners would continue in the plan, but a more suitable location for the program would be explored.

Basic literacy has a big constituency, even if it's only parents with young children, so I'm not surprised this program will continue. Besides, it constitutes only a small portion of the budget.

There are all kinds of other budget-saving and austerity measures in the revised budget, so I recommend you read the article at the link. However, I want to point out one set in particular that has nothing to do with libraries, but everything to do with sustainability, before I move on.An additional $100,000 in savings would come from eliminating seven of the county's 38 boards, including the Water Quality Board, Historical Commission and county Economic Development Corp.

However, Hackel said he is considering advisory councils for some of the eliminated boards, such as water quality, a big issue for him and the commissioners.
...
[County Commission Chairwoman Kathy] Vosburg said she doesn't believe anyone will see a group being the watchdog for water quality going away, "and the board will make sure that function of being that watchdog will not go away."

The bad news is that local governance for sustainbility--water quality, historical commission, and economic development (the sustainability triad, environment, society, and economy, strikes again!)--has been demoted. The good news is that the really important ones will continue in less expensive forms.

Now, some good library news from earlier this month that I missed.

Royal Oak Review via C&G News: Voters approve operating millage for Clawson library
By Jeremy Carroll
May 3, 2011

Voters approved a 0.33-mill tax increase to fund operations at Blair Memorial Library and to allow the facility to be fully self-sufficient.

The vote came two years after voters passed a 0.5-mill increase to expand the building, which opened again in 2010 after a period of reconstruction.
...
A total of 54.8 percent of the 2,425 voters approved the measure during the May 3 election.
...
The 0.33-mill request will raise just over $100,000, the amount the library would have needed from the city to remain open the minimum number of hours to receive state aid.
...
A total of 25.6 percent of registered voters in the city cast their ballot in the election, higher than Clerk Machele Kukuk expected.

That's all good news, and may it foreshadow an equally good result in neighboring Troy this coming August.

Weekly Roundup for July 31st through August 6th, 2011

This past week was probably the second busiest week for this blog so far. It surpassed last week in all categories, as I posted 16 entries, a record, readers left ten comments, and the blog received 1006 page views, only the second time that has happened. In contrast, the previous week saw 12 entries, five comments, and 783 page views. This week is off to a good start already, as two people have already left comments. You all keep reading and commenting, and I'll keep posting.




Sunday was the last day of NaBloPoMo's July Swim theme, but the only real "Swim" post that day was Weekly Roundup for July 24th through 30th, 2011 in which I recapped all of the previous week's Swim posts. It turned out that the big theme of the rest of the week wasn't the August NaBloPoMo theme, Fiction, but a continuing breaking news story, the Debt Ceiling Hostage Crisis, the resolution of which became the Satan Sandwich.

The first year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News: Part 1 of several

Yesterday, I wrote:

I know I promised a retrospective post yesterday. Don't worry, I'm working on it and will post it tonight or tomorrow.

I've decided to make this a multi-part post spread over the rest of the month. Today's installment features an overview of the statistics and the first part of a series reflecting upon the most popular posts from the past twelve months.

Stats

During the first year of the blog, March 21, 2011 through March 20, 2012, I made 483 posts, readers posted 204 comments, and the blog received 47,808 page views. That means I averaged 40.25 posts per month. Considering that I was starting to complain of burnout by the end of last May and decided not to use Crazy Eddie's Motie News as my official blog for NaBloPoMo during June, I'm pleasantly surprised that I managed to have that much consistency and endurance in my blogging. Here's to keeping that up this coming year.

The readers also did their part, helping the blog average 3984 page views per month and 99 views per post. I'm pleased with those stats as a baseline to build on for the coming year, especially since the blog has had more than 4,000 page views per month for seven months running, including the current one that has another week to go. About the only averages I find disappointing were those involving comments, with 0.42 comments per post, 17 comments per month, and 0.0043 comments per page view. However, it's not surprising. As I've mentioned before, if I want comments, I'll cross-post my entries to LiveJournal, JournalFen, or Daily Kos. Blogspot is great for readership, but it really doesn't have the sense of community the other blogging platforms have.

Most Viewed Posts




In first place, with 615 page views and 4 comments is The New York Times reports on Troy's problems from May 20, 2011. It figures with all the posting I've done about the city of Troy, Michigan, that one of them would be the top post. However, I don't consider this to be my best post about the subject (either Troy Mayor Janice Daniels shows how to be vulnerable to a scandal or "Save the Library, save Troy" would be), just the best marketed and promoted. Here's what I wrote over at Kunstler's blog.

I'm surprised you didn't write about The Rapture as a non-event the news media would rather report on than our real problems. I did, as I thought a blog about the collapse of civilization would be remiss if it didn't have something to say about the supposed beginning of the end of the world. I guess you didn't agree. However, we might agree on the following:

No supernatural causes will be needed to bring about the collapse of civilization; the interaction of human behavior with limited resources can do that all by themselves. That end will be completely natural, not supernatural.

As for managing contraction, the New York Times reported on the Detroit suburb of Troy facing that issue. I blogged about it on Crazy Eddie's Motie News, where I have a link to the original article. It's a sign that contraction is hitting even the most well-off areas.

That comment was just about as long as the post itself. Speaking of which, this entry was the most successful of several where promising Kunstler's readers a link to an article in the New York Times got their attention--567 pages views worth, the most of any single referring page. There are at three others on this list.

I'll continue with the second most popular of the top twelve posts tomorrow. Until then, I'll leave you with my two favorite images of signs in Troy. The first is from the library millage election, and counts as a cruel but effective political practical joke. The second proves that I can fail the Butt-Head half of the Beavis and Butt-Head test. What makes it even worse is that is the exit sign for the Hooters in Troy. Think about it.

More millage election news

I already posted the top story from this report in Millage passes; Troy Public Library will stay open! Now the other results of last night's millage elections from the Detroit Free Press.

• Allen Park voters overwhelmingly rejected a Headlee override proposal to raise their taxes from 10.59 mills to 12.5 mills. Had it been approved, the measure would have raised about $1.8 million for the general fund. Last month, the City Council narrowly approved a $21-million budget that presumed the Headlee override would be successful. City Administrator Dave Tamsen said officials would have to look at other ways to replace the money if the measure failed.

• Center Line voters opted to tax themselves for police and fire, but not for school improvements. A 10-year, 7.5 mill tax increase won handily, whereas the plan to borrow $44.9 million for up to 30 years for a new elementary school, new athletic facilities and technology upgrades narrowly failed.

• Inkster...A proposal to borrow $20 million for 25 years to improve the city's sewer system narrowly failed.

• Livonia's charter amendment for a five-year, 1.7-mill tax for police and fire passed. The estimated revenue would be about $7 million in the first year. Another charter amendment to levy a 0.25-mill for senior services and the Greenmead Historical Village passed. The mill would raise about $1 million in the first year.

• Garden City voters passed, by six votes, a sinking fund millage that will pay for major repairs and renovations.

• In Madison Heights, Lamphere Public Schools passed a millage renewal and extended sinking fund millage.

I have only one thing to say about the Allen Park vote and the budget that was contingent on the millage passing--oops. The vote in Center Line is interesting--yes for protection, no for education. Since K-12 public education is being underfunded, I don't think that's a good thing. I think Inkster will be sorry they didn't fix the sewers. That's a disaster waiting to happen.

There were also primaries for municipal offices. Since those don't show the interplay between austerity and sustainability as directly as millage vote do, I'll just refer you to the Free Press article.

Hot for Words on the plight of libraries and bookstores

My dear students, today's video is about books and libraries.

This video came out on Monday and the timing would have been perfect to add to the Millage vote on Troy's Library today post. Better late than never.

Marina also mentions the end of Borders Books, which gave me a bonus reason to feature it today.

Weekly Roundup for July 24th through 30th, 2011

This past week maintained the pace set the week before, when I posted 12 entries, readers made five comments, and the blog received 783 page views. Last week, I again wrote 12 entries, readers left four comments, one of which was spam, and the blog had 753 page views, more than 100 a day. This past week also saw the first time the blog exceeded 4,000 page views in a month, which happened late Friday. The month ended with 4,181 hits, a record. The stats are already looking good for this week, as readers left six comments, none of which were spam, and the 114 hits for today are well above last Sunday's 65. If this is the new normal, then I'm happy.




This was the last full week of Swim posts and most of my posts fit this theme one way or another, beginning with the previous Weekly Roundup in which I summarized all the previous week's Swim posts. The real Swim posts began with the second post of last Sunday, when I began covering the story of Raquel Nelson in A petition against the criminalization of walking, the most popular post of the week with 128 views. I followed up with Update on petition to decriminalize walking and wrapped up Raquel's story, for this week at least, in Her day in court, in which I also covered the conclusion of Julie Bass's legal journey.

Swimming against the tide of politics was the theme of many of the rest of the week's postings as well, beginning with I haven't forgotten about Troy's library, in which I revisited the struggle to keep local libraries open. The election for the millage will be the day after tomorrow. Look for a post about it. The swim against ignorance continued in Why do Tea Partiers hate high-speed rail?--a post inspired by a reaction to a story covered in Silly Sustainability Saturday: Carmageddon, Tea Partiers against manatees, and Butterbeer from a few weeks ago. This same story made another cameo in Silly Sustainability Saturday: The Onion, more manatees, heat wave denial, and a poem in which a U.S. Representative from Florida actually took their conspiracy theory seriously. If it weren't for the fact that the Tea Partiers are the epitome of what Kunstler calls "corn-pone fascists" who are standing in the way of sustainable solutions, I'd just type "LOL Teabaggers" and be done with them.

I didn't only document other people's attempts to swim against the political and cultural currents. I got up on my virtual soapbox myself. In What motivates Americans to act, I expressed my cynicism about America's screwed up priorities. For further commentary on this subject, read the LiveJournal version of this entry in which I explained why the NFL lockout had been resolved but the debt ceiling hostage crisis so far hasn't. I became a more idealistic in Allow me this rant on an anti-tax meme. I despaired in We could have had the Moon, instead we get Afghanistan. By this morning I was getting a bit punchy, as you can see in Debt Ceiling Cat, which will be in the next weekly roundup.

Of course, I also had the linkspams. This week, I posted only two of them, Sustainability news from Michigan's research universities for the week ending July 23, 2011 and Sustainability news from midwestern research universities for the week ending July 23, 2011. There were articles left over, which I'll collect into another sustainablity in archeology post, probably along with another CoDominion post and a leftovers post. That's in addition to the two linkspams of material I already have saved in another file. Hey, I'm an environmentalist, I recycle.

If you noticed, the previous weekly roundup didn't include a back-catalog champion. That's not the case this week, as Portland is watching "The End of Suburbia" cracked the weekly top ten with 14 page views. It also ended up as one of the top ten posts for July with 47 hits.

By the way, next month's theme for Nablopomo is Fiction. I'm participating. Here's the badge.




More on this theme beginning tomorrow, which will be in a few minutes. See you then!

Nablopomo for August: Fiction

Seems like only yesterday.

By the way, next month's theme for Nablopomo is Fiction. I'm participating. Here's the badge.



More on this theme beginning tomorrow, which will be in a few minutes. See you then!

Time to share the following from my email.

August's theme for daily blogging: FICTION. Certainly, blogging is about truth-telling; recording our lives. But how often does fiction seep into our reconstruction of our day? Is it important to always be honest, or can we skew the facts to present a better story?Beyond that, how can you not enjoy delving into a work of fiction? Finding a new world, new characters, new inventions that didn't exist until the writer placed them on the page. This month, we have to spend some time sharing our favourite books, authors, and characters.

I've been waiting for a theme like this to come along for months, as I have a whole bunch of book-related posts that I've been promising to do, going all the way back to April, when I wrote three entries in which I said I'd revisit the topic.