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MIRS, January 12, 2007
The number one issue Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick placed on
his wish list of things he'd like to see the Legislature do for
Detroit this year is create a mental health authority to deal
with the enormous problem the Detroit area has with its
apparently unaddressed mentally ill population.
Currently, mental health cases in Detroit are handled by the
12-person Detroit-Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency,
but the board is made up of six Detroit appointees and six Wayne
County appointees, which makes progress difficult to accomplish.
State lawmakers have tried to go in a different direction in the
past with the board, but have been unsuccessful.
"They (the state) should get it away from the city and away from
the county," Kilpatrick said. "Mental health problems account
for 60 percent of the crime we (Detroit) have to deal with and
80 percent of the homeless problem. We've been struggling with
the mental health authority issues for a long time. We need to
get some results."
MIRS briefly spoke with Kilpatrick prior to his Detroit Economic
Club luncheon address today. The first question asked was for
Kilpatrick to address the top three things he'd like to see the
state Legislature do this year.
"I really wanted to save some of that for Feb. 28 (the date of
his State of the City Address)," Kilpatrick quipped.
After starting out with his remarks about creating a Mental
Health Authority, Kilpatrick next listed amending PA 312, which
requires binding arbitration between governmental units and
labor unions representing public employees.
"We need to do something to help the education community be
allowed to have some certainty when it comes to budgeting,"
Kilpatrick said. "I don't advocate getting rid of PA 312, but I
believe we have to amend it."
Kilpatrick brought the topic of amending PA 312 up following his
speech in reply to an audience question about Detroit Public
Schools.
"In 1967 that was introduced in the Legislature by none other
than Coleman YOUNG," Kilpatrick said. "Later he said he thought
it was the worst thing he'd done in the Legislature. We really
need to amend PA 312. Right now one bad decision by an
arbitrator can wipe out all the progress we accomplish."
"By the way," Kilpatrick continued. "I think the (school) board
did an excellent job bringing people in to interview for the
administrator job. The truth is that no one wants that job
because all it takes is six votes (on the board) and you're out.
So, all it would take is getting six board members mad at you
and you're fired. If the city council could fire a mayor that
way every mayor in the history of Detroit would have been fired
every Friday. They really need to be able to have more
stability."
The third thing Kilpatrick listed as wanting to see the state
Legislature do was to "really focus" on the economic development
of Detroit and other urban areas.
"We really need to bring attention to building and improving
core cities," Kilpatrick said. "Not just because Kwame
Kilpatrick wants it, but because the whole state will benefit
from doing it. There needs to be a deliberate effort to focus on
that."
MIRS asked Kilpatrick about his relationship with new Senate
Majority Leader Mike BISHOP (R- Rochester), who served in the
House when Kilpatrick was House Minority Leader.
"We worked well together," Kilpatrick said. "Actually we worked
together on quite a few things. He and I traveled to Israel
together. He's a good legislator. I also worked a lot with
Senate Democratic Leader Mark SCHAUER (D-Battle Creek). He and I
came into the House at the same time and he was my seatmate. I'm
looking forward to working with both of them."
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