Bobb's carved out a little fiefdom for himself in Detroit, and an extension to his contract - which ends in March - may be what he needs to stay in Detroit. He and the DPS board have engaged in a power struggle for weeks over Bobb's hiring authority and seemingly absolute power. The two parties are expected to iron out their differences via a mediator next month.
That's not to say Bobb has only gained enemies. In August, he went door to door with Bill Cosby to promote Detroit schools and convince parents to bring their kids back to the public school system.
November's election may more fully determine Bobb's fate. He's pushing a bond measure called "Proposal S," which would provide construction bonds to rebuild Detroit's many aging schools. Today there was an interesting exchange between Bobb and the Detroit City Council:
Gone? Not so fast, my friends. We can connect the dots and see that if Proposal S passes and he can maintain his authority at DPS, he'll have little reason to leave. He has the backing of Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm (who happens to be a Bay Area native). Then again, what if Proposal S doesn't pass? He's left himself a convenient out. He could easily get a new residence in Oakland early next year while continuing to do his DPS job, allowing him to beat the election filing deadline.But Councilwoman Joann Watson pressed Bobb, saying she was on a similar panel for the 1994 bond and members' input was "thrown out when they started to steal the money."
She said the state should be held accountable for today's deficit that accumulated during the state takeover, saying "they should be sent an invoice."
Councilwoman Barbara Rose Collins agreed, but said the city would be foolish not to pass the bond, dubbed Proposal S, because it is tied to federal stimulus money. She said Bobb needs to say whether he will stay on to oversee the construction bond.
"The community needs assurances you can finish what you started," she said.
"I will definitely be here until March 2," Bobb said.
10 comments:
I see what you saying ML, but I honestly think the chances of Bobb running for mayor now are extremely thin...which is unfortunate because the chances of him winning a mayor election in oakland would be very high
I liked Bobb when he was around. He seems like a guy who is focused on doing things rather than talking about them. It is too bad that Jerry Brown decided Bobb needed to go because he disagreed with him about Uptown.
On a related note, I have heard that the Forest City Uptown development has a low occupancy rate... is that true? Does anyone know the actual occupancy rate for the development that took the place of Fox Theatre Field?
Hey ML-
I was down at the Poor House Bistro (near the train station) for lunch yesterday, and there appeared to be a lot fewer buildings down there. Do you know what's going on? I they preparing to build anything? Parking?
City has been demolishing the old buildings SJRA acquired for the ballpark. Here's the latest report blurb:
"Demolition of the buildings is complete and the underground fuel storage tank has been removed. All the building material from the demolished structures has been sorted into three major groups: metal; wood; and concrete and masonry. The metal has been delivered to a metal recycler for further sorting and recycling; the wood has been delivered to a facility to make landscaping ground cover/mulch and soil amendments; and the concrete and masonry material will be crushed into an aggregate base to be used on-site for surface erosion control purposes. Crushing operations were completed at the end of September. New fencing for the perimeter will follow the completion of grading
and gravel placement. This project is complete and will no longer be included in the report."
The report notes that the demolition cost $270k. It doesn't look like they'll put parking there. The cost to pave and seal it probably isn't worth it right now considering the budget and the limited number of spaces they'd get out of it.
So ML--what's the word on the upcoming SJ Chamber of Commerce meeting slated for 10/26--A's and Earthquakes together--players or team representatives at every table--Wolff talking about what the plans are for both in San Jose---will this be the "official" announcement?
Probably word they're officially starting their A's push to SJ and/or that the Quakes stadium construction is a go. Word was a little over a week ago they've made some good headway on getting those last bits of funding they needed for the Quakes Stadium construction to begin. If they signed a stadium naming rights sponsor that could have put them over the top.
From the SJ/SV Chamber of Commerce web site:
"This year, you are in for a special treat as we recognize The Spirit of Santa Clara Valley within our community and celebrate not one but two teams. We are pleased to announce that the Oakland A's and the San Jose Earthquakes have joined forces with the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce for this special luncheon (10/26/09).
Join us and hear how these two teams will SHAKE our valley with their exciting plans, and how these plans will JOLT our economy. This event will be off the Richter scale."
Can't demolish those old buildings at Diridon South fast enough!
From the SJ/SV Chamber of Commerce web site:
"This year, you are in for a special treat as we recognize The Spirit of Santa Clara Valley within our community and celebrate not one but two teams. We are pleased to announce that the Oakland A's and the San Jose Earthquakes have joined forces with the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce for this special luncheon (10/26/09).
Join us and hear how these two teams will SHAKE our valley with their exciting plans, and how these plans will JOLT our economy. This event will be off the Richter scale."
This sounds like Wolff has gotten some sort of behind-the-scenes reassurance from his U. Wisc. classmate that the Pabst Blue Ribbon committee will soon decide that SJ is available. Otherwise, that luncheon would be riling up the Giants for no good reason.
ML,
Any idea why the A's have decided to be a part of this celebration? It seems to me that such an appearance would be ill advised, given that the committee has not made their findings/recommendations public yet. Even if Selig has given the unoffical nod to the A's, wouldn't it just look better for the A's to just wait?
I advise SJ partisans to set their expectations low. I don't expect this to be much different from the previous Chamber event involving Wolff. The differences are that it's a luncheon so I won't be so sleepy when I attend (last one was a breakfast), and that SJ and the Quakes/A's are a little further along in the process.
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