Thursday, July 23, 2009

Demonstration at DTE Energy

Gather at DTE Energy Offices
One Energy Plaza, Near Bagley and Third Ave., Detroit


Friday, July 24, 4:00-5:00 pm


Demand that Governor Granholm and DTE Energy declare a moratorium on utility shutoffs (heat, lights, water)!

Demand that Governor Granholm declare an economic state of emergency!

Moratorium NOW! Coalition Meets With DTE Energy

Moratorium NOW! Coalition Meets With DTE Energy Representatives to Propose a Freeze on Utility Shut-offs; Demonstration Will Take Place Friday at Headquarters

Two representatives of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shut-off met with DTE Energy executives on Thursday July 23 to press for a company-imposed halt to service terminations. This demand is being made in light of the worsening economic conditions facing the people of Detroit and the state of Michigan.

DTE representatives did not endorse a moratorium on shut-offs but provided information about existing policies and proposals for new programs aimed at consumers. However, the Moratorium NOW! Coalition maintained that a halt to shut-offs would provide relief to consumers as well as save lives.

Our thoughts and concerns go out to the Detroit family that has loss four love ones as a result of the corporate policies of DTE Energy. Mar'Keisha, DeMarco, DeMonte and Vaughn Reed are no longer with us because of the negligence of a leading profit-making company located downtown.

After DTE Energy officials acknowledged in the newspapers recently that they had received information that could have prevented the shut-off of services for the Vaughn Reed family, the Moratorium NOW! Coalition is demanding that the shut-off of utilities services be halted immediately in order to prevent the further deaths of people in the Detroit metropolitan area.

The Detroit area is experiencing unemployment and foreclosures rates at an astronomical level. Inside the city over 25% of working families have suffered job losses and the consequent economic problems that follow.

The growing unemployment figures, the rising rates of utility shut-offs, the lack of health care, home foreclosures and evictions clearly illustrate that Michigan is in an economic state of emergency. Therefore, the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shut-offs is demanding that Gov. Granholm officially declare an economic state of emergency and immediately place a halt on all foreclosures, evictions and utility shut-offs throughout the state.

Banking institutions, the auto companies, and insurance firms have, all combined, received trillions of dollars in government handouts to maintain their operations. At the same time, millions of workers are losing their jobs, homes, apartments, health care and pensions every year in the United States.

The Moratorium NOW! Coalition is calling for the building of an effective movement to fight the worsening crisis facing working families in this region as well as throughout the country. Please join us in working toward this effort on Friday, July 24 at a demonstration and press conference outside the corporate offices of DTE Energy between 4:00-5:00 pm.

www.moratorium-mi.org

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Protest to support family, target DTE's criminal negligence Community members say DTE responsible for the death of four July 16

By Bryan G. Pfeifer
Detroit

The insatiable greed of DTE Energy has led to yet another criminal
atrocity resulting in the deaths of four African Americans in Detroit
July 16.

According to the July 17 Detroit News, the Reed-Owens’ family had
their electricity cut off by DTE for nonpayment July 15. With serious
medical conditions of various family members including asthma,
neurofibromatosis and bronchitis that needed the use of electric
breathing machines, the family was desperate when their power was cut
off. The Reed-Owens’ then went to their church to borrow a gas powered
generator which they placed in their basement; only hours later four
of the five family members died due to suspected carbon monoxide
poisoning. Marquetta Owens told the News that her partner Vaughn Reed,
and their children Mar’Keisha Reed, 17, DeMarco Owens, 12, and DeMonte
Owens, 6, perished in their home. (www.detnews.com).

Like millions of other families in the United States, the Reed-Owen’s,
through no fault of their own, had fallen victim to unemployment when
Mr. Reed was laid off from an auto parts supplier in January thus
creating many financial hardships for the family including their home
being foreclosed on. Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the
U.S. with the official figure at 15.2 percent but it is much higher
particularly in African American and other communities of color.
Foreclosures and evictions in the state are also at depression-level
proportions.

The Reed-Owens tragedy is particularly heart wrenching and outrageous
as the family had filed for bankruptcy protection thus it was illegal
for DTE to shut off their utilities. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court on June
25 sent DTE an electronic notification of the Reed-Owen’s bankruptcy
filing. But DTE didn’t stay the shutoff; instead the corporation
claims the notice was sent to the wrong address-not the home were the
Reed-Owens were residing. And even after a telephone call from Mr.
Reed to DTE on Wednesday, July 15 where he told the company he had
filed for bankruptcy, power wasn’t restored immediately; DTE says it
was going to turn the power back on by the next day but then it was
too late.

Neighbors and family members of the Reed-Owens are outraged and aghast
over DTE’s criminal actions.

“At these times of crisis, what is the problem?” said Pamela Jackson,
Mrs. Owen's cousin who said DTE never should’ve turned off the power.

DTE’s mission: Profits before People

DTE Energy is a monopoly corporation operating throughout the U.S. Its
2008 operating revenues were $9.3 billion and the corporation claims
over $24 billion in assets and $546 in net income according to its
2008 financial filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC). DTE’s two primary utilities are Detroit Edison Company (Detroit
Edison), an electric utility with 2.2 million customers in Michigan,
and the Michigan Consolidated Gas Company (MichCon), its natural gas
utility with 1.3 million customers. DTE is also making “significant
investments in non-utility asset-intensive businesses.”

DTE’s Board of Directors is crawling with Chrysler, Ford, Comerica
and other corporate thieves including investment “advisors,” and a
former Army General who worked for the Pentagon and the Army’s 1st
Infantry Division. Behind the corporation’s slogans of “making dreams
real,” the reality is that DTE’s top priority is putting profits
before families such as the Reed-Owens.

Granholm: ‘State of Emergency NOW!’

To protest the Owen’s family’s death and other murders and atrocities
committed by DTE and to demand that Michigan governor Jennifer
Granholm declare an immediate State of Emergency in Michigan to
include a moratorium on all foreclosures, evictions, utility shutoffs,
layoffs and plant closings, the Moratorium Now Coalition is having a
press conference and demonstration at DTE headquarters, One Energy
Plaza, in Detroit July 24 beginning at 4:30 p.m. For more
information: www.moratorium-mi.org.

-- 30 --

***************************************************

http://www.dteenergy.com/dteEnergyCompany/investors/corporateGovernance/board/boardDirectors.html

DTE Energy Board of Directors

- Anthony F. Earley, Jr. has been chairman of the board and chief
executive officer since 1998 and was also DTE Energy’s president and
chief operating officer from 1994 – 2004. He joined the company in
1994, and that same year was elected to the board.

- Gerard M. Anderson. has been the president and chief operating
officer of DTE Energy Company since 2005. He also served as the
president from 2004 through 2005 and Executive Vice President from
1997 through 2004. He joined the company in 1993. Anderson was elected
to the board in 2009.

- Lillian Bauder is the retired vice president of Masco Corporation.
She previously served as vice president of corporate affairs and as
the Chairman and President, Masco Corporation Foundation from October
1996 through December 2005. Bauder was elected to the DTE Energy Board
in 1986. (C, N, P)

- W. Frank Fountain is the chairman of the Walter P. Chrysler Museum
Foundation Board of Directors and advisor to Chrysler, LLC. He
previously served as senior vice president of external affairs and
public policy at Chrysler LLC. He joined Chrysler Corp. in 1973 and
held top leadership positions in the company's corporate controller's
office, treasurer's office and government affairs office in
Washington, D.C. He was elected to the DTE Energy Board in 2007. (A,
P)

- Allan D. Gilmour is the retired vice chairman of Ford Motor Company.
He served as vice chairman from 1992 to 1995, and then again from 2002
until his retirement from Ford Motor Company in 2005. He was elected
to the DTE Energy Board in 1995. (C, F, O)

- Frank M. Hennessey has been chairman and chief executive officer of
Hennessey Capital LLC since 2002. He is the former vice chairman and
chief executive officer of MascoTech Inc. He joined the DTE Energy
Board in 2001. (A, O)

- John E. Lobbia is the former chairman and chief executive officer of
DTE Energy. He retired in 1998. He joined the company in 1965 and has
served on the DTE Energy Board since 1988. (F, N)

- Gail J. McGovern is president and chief executive officer of the
American Red Cross. Prior to that, she was a professor at the Harvard
Business School, president of Fidelity Personal Investments and
executive vice president of consumer markets, AT&T. She was elected to
the DTE Energy Board in 2003. (F, P)

- Eugene A. Miller is the retired chairman, president and chief
executive officer, Comerica, Inc. and Comerica Bank. He retired in
2002. Miller has served on the DTE Energy Board since 1989. Mr. Miller
is currently the DTE Energy Board Presiding Director. (C, F, O)

- Mark A. Murray. has been the President, Meijer, Inc. since 2006.
Prior to that he was the President of Grand Valley State University
from 2001 through 2006 and Treasurer for the State of Michigan from
1999 through 2001. He was elected to the board in 2009. (P)

- Charles W. Pryor, Jr. has been Chairman, Urenco Investments, Inc.
since January 2007 and was the president and chief executive officer
of Urenco Investments, Inc., from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he was
the chief executive officer of Utility Services Business Group of
British Nuclear Fuels, plc and the former chief executive officer of
Westinghouse Electric Company. He has served on the DTE Energy Board
since 1999. (F, N)

- Josue Robles, Jr. is the President and CEO of USAA and was
previously the executive vice president, chief financial officer and
corporate treasurer of the USAA since 1994. A retired U.S. Army Major
General, Robles served more than 28 years in the military, including
an assignment as director of the Army budget and Commanding General,
1st Infantry Division, The Big Red One. He was elected to the DTE
Energy Board in 2003.
(A, P)

- Ruth G. Shaw is the former president and CEO of Duke Power Company.
Shaw joined Duke Energy in 1992, and held a number of executive
positions, including president of Duke Energy Foundation, and
president of Duke Nuclear. Prior to joining Duke Power, Shaw served as
president of Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, NC, and
president of El Centro College in Dallas, TX. Shaw joined the Board in
2008. (N, O)

- James H. Vandenberghe is the former vice chairman, Lear Corporation.
He retired in 2008. He was previously the Chief Financial Officer,
Lear Corporation. He was elected to the DTE Energy Board in 2006. (A,
F, C)

Committee membership: A - Audit, C - Corporate Governance, F -
Finance, N - Nuclear Review, O - Organization and Compensation, P -
Public Responsibility

***************************************************

DTE Energy Key Facts: 2008 Annual Report

Revenues $9.3 billion
Net Income $546 million
Market Cap $4.6 billion
Assets $24.6 billion
Credit Rating BBB-
Employees 10, 471

Monday, July 20, 2009

Demonstration at DTE Energy

Demand a Moratorium on Utility Shutoffs!
DTE Energy Officies, One Energy Plaza, Near Bagley and Third Ave.
Friday, July 24, 4:00-5:00pm


more info: 313.671.3715 or 313.887.4344

Our thoughts and concerns go out to the Detroit family that has loss four love ones as a result of the corporate policies of DTE Energy. Vaughn, Mar'Keisha DeMarco and DeMonte Reed are no longer with us because of the negligence of a leading profit-making company located downtown.

After DTE Energy officials acknowledged in the newspapers recently that they had received information that could have prevented the shut-off of services for the Vaughn Reed family, the Moratorium NOW! Coalition is demanding that the termination of utilities services be halted immediately in order to prevent the further deaths of people in the Detroit metropolitan area.

The Detroit area is experiencing unemployment and foreclosures rates at an astronomical level. Inside the city over 25% of working families have suffered job losses and the consequent economic problems that follow.

The growing unemployment figures, the rising rates of utility shut-offs, the lack of health care, home foreclosures and evictions clearly illustrate that Michigan is in an economic state of emergency. Therefore, the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shut-offs is demanding that Gov. Granholm officially declare an economic state of emergency and immediately place a halt on all foreclosures, evictions and utility shut-offs throughout the state.

Banking institutions, the auto companies, and insurance firms have, all combined, received trillions of dollars in government handouts to maintain their operations. At the same time, millions of workers are losing their jobs, homes, apartments, health care and pensions every year in the United States.

The Moratorium NOW! Coalition is calling for the building of an effective movement to fight the worsening crisis facing working families in this region as well as throughout the country. Please join us in working toward this effort on Friday, July 24 at a demonstration and press conference outside the corporate officies of DTE Energy between 4:00-5:00pm.



Monday, July 13, 2009

Mortgage Idiocy — Bank Sues Itself Which Denies Charges

From Dvorak Uncensored:

From the you-can’t-make-this-crap-up-department, unless you’re dealing with mortgages in Florida:

“Due to state foreclosure laws, lenders are obligated to name and notify subordinate lien holders,” said Wells Fargo spokesman Kevin Waetke.

Being a taxpayer-subsidized, too-big-to-fail institution, it’s possible that one of the few ways for Wells Fargo & Co. to know what it is doing is to notify itself with a court filing.

In this particular case, Wells Fargo holds the first and second mortgages on a condominium, according to Sarasota, Fla., attorney Dan McKillop, who represents the condo owner.

As holder of the first, Wells Fargo is suing all other lien holders, including the holder of the second, which is itself.
[...]
Wells Fargo’s defense lawyers even filed an answer to their client’s own complaint.

“Defendant admits that it is the owner and holder of a mortgage encumbering the subject real property,” the answer reads. “All other allegations of the complaint are denied.”

This is even dumber than the lending practices that led to this foreclosure mess, yet this is what the court record says. I learned about this from “The Consumer Warning Network” Web site, which posted an article by Angie Moreschi titled, “Have The Banks Gone Crazy?”

“We’ve apparently reached the perfect storm for complete and utter idiocy by some banks trying to foreclose on homes,” Moreschi wrote.

McKillop, the condo owner’s attorney, told me he thinks Wells Fargo doesn’t know what it’s doing, and that its lawyers figure it is all billable hours to them.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Detroit Diaries: Standing Up for Justice at The People’s Summit

By Desiree Cooper

In mid-June, summer finally arrived in Detroit after an endless season of soupy, chilly, Seattle-like weather. Detroiters were out in droves for the Red Bull Air Races and a smooth jazz festival along the bustling Detroit River.

But I didn’t go to the summer festivities. Instead, I went to check out the kick-off of the National People’s Summit [1] and Tent City in downtown’s Grand Circus Park.

National People's Summit [2]The summit, which was held June 15 to 17, and may soon be traveling to a city near you, is a convocation of activists who have watched the bail-out of the financial institutions and the reorganizing of America’s auto industry, while wondering when any of the changes were going to trickle down to the average worker. The situation is especially dire in Michigan, where the African-American unemployment rate is barreling toward 28 percent, the nation’s highest. In April, there were an estimated 16,000 Detroit homes in foreclosure, according to the Detroit Free Press. At 14 percent, Michigan’s foreclosure rate is higher than the 12 percent national average.

“Because Detroit is the manufacturing center of the world, we caught the crisis first,” said Abayomi Azikiwe, 51, one of the spokespeople for the National People’s Summit. “People thought we were doing something wrong in Detroit, but with the economic crisis spreading, they’re starting to see that corrupt economic policies are the problem. With downsizing, outsourcing of American jobs and the over-extension of credit, it’s all starting to unravel.”

The People’s Summit is timed to coincide with a National Business Summit held in Detroit this week, attracting more than 1,000 of America’s corporate leaders to the Motor City to “define America’s future.” The problem, said Azikiwe, was that workers and ordinary citizens weren’t exactly invited. “The people who are meeting to define America’s future are the same people who created this problem,” said Azikiwe. “They haven’t changed their perspective.”

Summit organizers hope that at least their counter demonstrations will cause people to stop and think about how their lives are being affected by global economic policies.

“It’s crazy, what people are willing to accept,” said Ahmina Maxey, 23, who attended the summit as an environmental activist. “When you get out and learn more about the issues, you can’t be contented to sit and do nothing. The economic crisis touches everything from labor to air quality to health care. It’s all interrelated.”

Rocio Valerio, 24, is a Mexican immigrant who came to the United States at age 9. Also an environmental activist, she attended the summit to join in a spirit of collaboration with other concerned Detroiters. “There’s a feeling, energy and connectedness you get when you gather with others for a common cause,” she said.

The crowd grew slowly on Sunday afternoon as Detroit City Council candidate and activist Joan Gist opened the summit with a prayer. She was followed by Latino workers who implored the crowd to focus not upon immigrant labor, but upon the slave-labor policies of corporate America that are exploiting undocumented workers while displacing legal workers.

Listening to the speakers, I felt myself awaken from the numbness that had entombed me after a winter and spring chock full of bad economic news. I started to think that these ordinary people who were calling for fair trade policies, a human-oriented balance between the military budget and the social safety net, an investment in America’s infrastructure, national health care, and the regulation of financial markets knew just as much as the corporate big-wigs about what was good for America. How many homes and jobs must we lose before Americans stop being complacent and insist that their voices be heard?

I asked 67-year-old Willie Kirksey whether he ever felt that protest was futile.

“Once you get sick of protesting, that means you’ve given up,” said the Alabama native, who was a spot welder for Chrysler in better years. “You can’t ever get tired of standing up for justice.”

Desiree Cooper is a contributing author to the anthology Other People’s Skin: Four Novellas. A former columnist with the Detroit Free Press and co-host of public radio’s Weekend America, she is now a freelance writer, BBC correspondent and novelist. You can find her at www.descooper.com [3].

* Share/Save/Bookmark [4]

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URL to article: http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/07/02/detroit-diaries-standing-up-for-justice-at-the-people%e2%80%99s-summit/

URLs in this post:

[1] National People’s Summit: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20090615/BIZ/906150384

[2] Image: http://www.thedefendersonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/National-Peoples-Summit.jpg

[3] www.descooper.com: http://www.descooper.com/

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Saturday, June 27, 2009

How Credit Card Companies Make Descending Into Their Version Of Hell Easy


Click to start

Saturday, June 20, 2009

KUDOS

The People's Summit and Tent City was a great success in terms of organizing and bringing together the people throughout the region and various states to elevate the revolutionary conscience of the masses to stand up (against the powers who have waged an economic war against the working class by their corporations, banks, and government entities that do not have the interest of the people at heart) and to fight back to demand what is rightfully theirs as citizens and workers.

Not only did it present a means of organizing and strategy but it sought to unify people from all stratas of society. It sought to educate, and open the necessary dialogue with which to engage the masses.

The camaraderie and solidarity that was felt throughout the summit was an example of what is possible and necessary to fuel the type of resistance needed to effect a much needed systemic change by planning, organizing, strategizing, unifying, televising, communicating, regulating, and escalating militant protest by key organizations and classes that have been left out of the so called economic recovery and to forge ahead with their plan and list of demands to continue this momentum that resonated during the Summit.

KUDOS to our comrades who camped out in the tents to represent the homeless and to bring to conscience the magnitude and impact of homelessness across the country and the neglect to bail out those who have been swindled out of their livelihood which is their property, their jobs, their health care, which should be a right.

All the speakers were of excellent character and their words, no doubt will resonate to keep the fire burning within to make enough inroads to organize mass participation and to continue the struggle to rectify and to eradicate this crime of globalization against humanity both at home and abroad.

KUDOS, to the Latino participation and education of their struggle with immigrants rights and deportation issues, as they made clear who the enemy and aliens truly are and to set straight the many questions surrounding their oppression. Their struggle is truly our struggle and we must remain bonded to their cause of common liberty and justice for all.

KUDOS to the Labor Unions who bravely and militantly showed that they do have some fight in them as they escalated a spirited demonstration throughout the summit that they will continue to be soldiers of solidarity for the working class people all over the world and be the example of confrontation against the capitalist bosses who exploit their labor for profit.

KUDOS to our press agents who exposed themselves to the media and the demands of the people regardless of the consequences to bring enlightenment to the masses and to send out a message that resistance is not futile and that resistance exists, right here, in Detroit to reverberate across the region and put the matter in check as to whether the people have the power to effect change.

KUDOS to our elected officials like Councilwoman Joanne Watson, Senator Hanson Clarke and Jessie Jackson, for bucking the status quo to join us on common ground to support our initiative and help drive the point that both the masses and the elected officials must do their part to save the people from those who continue to destroy their domestic tranquility and pursuit of happiness, liberty, justice and freedom.

KUDOS to the cooks and many members of various organizations who did the labor in erecting the tent city, cleanup, and logistics that was sooo necessary. Their work was a most necessary component and very much appreciated from the beginning to the end.

KUDOS to our performers of poets, hip hop artists, rock bands and folk singers who didn't think twice but showed up to exploit their talents for a worthy cause voluntarily as the people loved what they saw and heard.

And last but not at all the least, KUDOS, to the FIST Youth Organization members and our WW party members from NY and other states who always have the back of the people because their power and influence brought the energy and fuel necessary to pick up the momentum of the Summit by their intellect and support to the cause from the beginning to the end.

WE SHOULD GIVE OUR SELVES A HAND AND SALUTE OUR COLORS OF SOLIDARITY IN DARING TO CONFRONT THE POWERS THAT BE. I THINK WE TRULY PUSHED THE ENVELOPE AND THE WAY FORWARD IS NOT JUST A VISION, BUT CLEARLY DEFINED OVER THE HORIZON.

COMRADES LETS CONTINUE THE FIGHT!

Peace to You All,
Andrea Egypt

Another Perspective: More Help for "Working People" and The Poor

Week of 6.19.09
Another Perspective: More Help for "Working People" and The Poor
By Abayomi Azikiwe
Abayomi Azikiwe, spokesperson for Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions, talks about what he feels is irresponsible action by the government and corporations in regard to American employment and the poor. Moratorium NOW! held a protest rally—called "The People's Summit"—outside The National Summit, a conference of business CEOs and leaders which took place in Detroit June 15-17.

Over four million people have lost their jobs in the United States since December 2007 and more than two million people have lost their jobs since the beginning of this year. But neither the corporate community nor the American government have been able to respond to the deepening economic crisis by creating jobs for the unemployed and underemployed.

There are numerous factors involved in this apparent inability by multi-national corporations and the government to create jobs and provide other assistance to families suffering from home foreclosures, evictions, lack of health care and the evaporation of their savings and pension funds. Current policy imperatives of the ruling elites in this country favor the profit-making capacity of the financial sector and the most wealthy business people based in America and abroad. This is to the detriment of the interests of most working people and the poor.

The assumption is that if these banks and firms prosper, the benefits will flow downward to the workers in the form of lucrative employment and social benefits. However, this theory has been totally discredited through the lowering of real wages, the rise in joblessness, underemployment and the widening income gap between working people and the rich.

Many corporations have decided to go to areas of the country and the world where they can more freely exploit workers and consequently reap higher profits. When this system faced collapse during the fall of 2008, U.S. taxpayers were forced to bailout the very same financiers, insurance providers and automotive companies who had engineered the crisis. The collapse resulted in the worst loss of financial wealth since the Great Depression.

There must be a restructuring of national priorities in the United States. The $10 trillion in public funds and Federal Reserve-induced liquidity that was utilized to ostensibly prevent a full economic meltdown in 2008 could have easily been invested in government programs to create millions of jobs in the U.S. There could have been a national moratorium on foreclosures that could have allowed people to remain in their homes pending the outcome of the current crisis.

"Those who have guided the economic policy of the country must yield to the needs of the people who are the engine of any real program of reconstruction and renewal."
At the same time, the $700 billion annual defense budget—including the continuing occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan—is draining the resources of the country in wars that have no end and that could not possibly be won by a western industrialized nation against peoples of the developing world. These Pentagon resources could be re-allocated to build mass transit systems throughout the country, reopen closed schools, and rehire laid-off educators. There could be a genuine effort to repair the national infrastructure. All of these initiatives could result in the creation of millions of jobs.

What is most important in any plans to create jobs and stimulate economic growth is the empowerment of working people and the poor. This is something that receives a hostile response from the corporate community and the federal government. Nonetheless, if people feel they have no influence in the actual operations of the state and capital, their productivity and general outlook will be severely affected.

If there is no rapid reversal of the massive job losses in the U.S., the long-term implications will be catastrophic. With the need for 25 million jobs for the unemployed and underemployed this year, consumer spending will further decline and more businesses could slide into bankruptcy, resulting in even more unemployment.

Consequently, the epidemic of job losses and home foreclosures will contribute substantially to the erosion of living standards and social stability. Those who have guided the economic policy of the country must yield to the needs of the people who are the engine of any real program of reconstruction and renewal.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Detroit to Host 25,000 Social Activists At U.S. Social Forum in 2010

Detroit - Organizers of the U.S. Social Forum (USSF), a grassroots gathering of thousands of activists, will announce plans for a five-day event in Detroit 2010 at a kickoff on Monday, June 22. The kick-off event will be held from 6pm-9pm at the Detroit USSF Office, 23 E. Adams St, 4th Floor (near Woodward Avenue, downtown Detroit), in the Central United Methodist Church building.

A "media availability" explaining the Social Forum will be held at 6:30pm. The evening will include music, art displays, cultural performances and food. A detailed presentation to event attendees will take place at about 6:45pm. Musical performances will take place at about 8pm.

The USSF will take place June 22-26, 2010 at Cobo Hall and Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit. Other workshops and community art and culture programs will take place across the city. The USSF will convene social movements from across the United States and globally. Organizers are reaching out to young people, people of color, unionists, laid-off and unorganized workers, welfare recipients, veterans, persons with disabilities, indigenous people, freedom fighters, collectives, and many others. Key aims are to create an open space and a process for creating movement convergence and coordination, raise awareness of social justice issues, provide opportunities to share experiences, and discuss strategies that create social change and solutions to the problems facing people across our many struggles, sectors, regions, and diversity.

"Detroit is ground zero for the economic crisis facing millions of people, not only here in Michigan, but across the nation," says Maureen Taylor, a USSF staff organizer and Chair of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization (MWRO). "We are really pleased to host this historic event and we're sure that what happens in Detroit will have a huge impact not only here but elsewhere."

Next year's Social Forum in Detroit is expected to draw upwards of 25,000-30,000 activists. It will build upon the first USSF gathering in Atlanta 2007 that drew an estimated 12,000-15,000 people. Already, committees and working groups are meeting in Detroit and around the country to prepare for next year's forum.

"The USSF Detroit 2010 is going to be exciting since it's much more than just a simple conference or a big networking event," states William Copeland, a USSF staff organizer and member of the East Michigan Environmental Action Council (EMEAC). "This is a large scale and unique opportunity to learn from each other's experiences, shed light on social injustices, and build on community efforts to create real change."

USSF Detroit 2010 will also mark the 10 year anniversary of the World Social Forum process and highlight the international connections of the USSF to a broader global process.

Information about the June 22 kick-off event and Detroit Local Committee USSF activities can be obtained by calling: 877-515-USSF or emailing DetroitInfo@USSF2010.org. For more information about the US Social Forum, visit the USSF 2010 website at: www.ussf2010.org

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Homeowner dies resisting eviction

Cops enforce illegal bank foreclosure
Published May 27, 2009 1:55 PM

Mark D. Fussner died May 22 after an hours-long shoot-out with police following the bailiff’s unsuccessful attempt to evict the 44-year-old homeowner. Two 24th District Court officers had come to Fussner’s home on Anne Street, in the working-class downriver Detroit suburb of Allen Park, to carry out a writ of eviction after foreclosure.

Fussner reportedly ordered the bailiffs to leave his property and said he would open fire to defend his home. They left but returned with armed cops determined to carry out the eviction. The bailiffs’ provocation led to the shoot-out.

Fussner was the author of the 2004 book “The Zen of Permanent Weight Loss,” which chronicled his struggle and method of conquering obesity. A short biography of the author on Amazon.com states: “Educated in public schools, Mark designed his first invention at 16 years of age. In 1989 he received an Associate’s [degree] in Science from Henry Ford Community College. Working his way up from the bottom, he has made his career in Design and Project Engineering. ... He has owned and co-owned several businesses.”

After a five-hour stand-off, Fussner was found dead in his basement from a gunshot wound. It is not yet clear if the fatal injury was self-inflicted or if a police bullet killed him. The homeowner had barricaded himself inside his dwelling and exchanged dozens of rounds with cops from at least five cities, including Detroit’s “special response teams” and Michigan State Police. An Allen Park police officer was shot in the arm, leg and stomach early in the stand-off and was released from the hospital the same day. (Detroit News, May 23)

Neighbors and cops reported anywhere from several dozen to hundreds of shots fired by Fussner and police during the incident. People were told to stay in their homes, and schools in the area were put on lock-down. The state police have taken over the investigation, and the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s office will perform an autopsy on Fussner.

Moratorium must be enforced

What is missing from the limited stories in the big-business local media is that Fussner’s death and the entire eviction situation should not have happened under the law.

On May 20, two days before the visit from the eviction bailiffs and the ensuing gun battle that ended Fussner’s life, President Barack Obama signed public law no. 111-22, the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009. By placing a moratorium on subject foreclosures, the law enhances provisions of the Making Home Affordable Program instituted in March.

The MHAP already requires Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other major lenders–which together hold approximately 75 percent of home mortgages in the U.S. and which have been bailed out with hundreds of billions of taxpayers’ dollars—to work out loan modifications in order to avoid foreclosure. These lenders are to lower at-risk homeowners’ monthly payments—including property taxes and insurance—to no more than 31 percent of gross income.

Some of the 14 banks and lenders included under the program are Bank of America, Chase Home Finance, CitiMortgage, Countrywide, Ocwen and Wells Fargo. The MHAP guidelines apply to any homes that are owner-occupied, including homes that are already in foreclosure. (financialstability.gov)

Section 401 of the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act states that it is “the sense of the Congress” that there be a “foreclosure moratorium” in that “mortgage holders, institutions, and mortgage servicers should not initiate a foreclosure proceeding or a foreclosure sale on any homeowner until the foreclosure mitigation provisions” of the Hope for Homeowners program and Obama’s “Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan” have “been implemented and determined to be operational by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the Secretary of the Treasury.” (thomas.loc.gov)

Where were the headlines on May 21 in the capitalist-owned press about the just-signed Helping Families Save Their Homes Act and its foreclosure moratorium? There were none or very few.

Jerry Goldberg, a Detroit-based attorney who represents homeowners and renters in foreclosure and eviction cases, told Workers World: “The Register of Deeds records show that Mark Fussner’s mortgage was owned by Chase Bank, which had a duty under federal law to work out a solution that should have prevented the bailiff from coming to his home on May 20 to evict him.

“This eviction should not have happened. Fussner’s death should never have happened. It was entirely preventable except that banks and lenders don’t follow the law until they are forced to.”

It took a protracted struggle by activists around the country to win the new federal moratorium on foreclosures. It will take even more struggle to publicize this law and stop more deaths from occurring, as well as other drastic actions by homeowners who face the life-altering, heart-wrenching process of losing their homes in record numbers to foreclosure and eviction.

E-mail: khamel@workers.org.


Articles copyright 1995-2009 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Moratorium needed more than ever

As foreclosures hit new high

Published May 25, 2009 11:05 AM

Home foreclosures soared in April to a record-high rate. One of every 374 homes, or 342,000 homes in the United States, received a foreclosure filing: a notice of default, auction or sale notice, or bank repossession. Filings were up 32 percent from April 2008. (realtytrac.com)

This happened despite predictions by analysts of a lower rate for the month because of high foreclosure activity in March. Rick Sharga, a spokesperson for RealtyTrac, stated: “April was a shocker. ... We had been predicting 3.4 million filings for [all of 2009], but we’ll blow those numbers out of the water.” (cnnmoney.com)

Nevada is the hardest-hit state. One in every 68 housing units received a foreclosure filing in April, more than five times the national average. Filings in the state were up 111 percent from a year ago. In Las Vegas, one in every 56 homes is in foreclosure.

Florida has the second-worst rate in the U.S., with a 37 percent month-to-month increase in foreclosures and a 75 percent increase from last year. In the Cape Coral-Fort Myers metropolitan area, one in every 57 homes received a foreclosure filing during April. Foreclosure activity in April increased 31 percent from March.

California rounds out the top three states, with one in every 138 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing in April. Total foreclosure activity in California was up 42 percent from April 2008.

The six California metro areas of Merced, Modesto, Riverside-San Bernardino, Bakersfield, Vallejo-Fairfield and Stockton are included as having the top 10 highest documented foreclosure rates in the country. Las Vegas is on top, with Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Miami and Orlando, Fla., completing the list.

The top 10 states for foreclosure filings in April accounted for 75 percent of the national total. California had the highest total (96,560), followed by Florida (64,588), Nevada (16,266), Arizona (16,245), Ohio (12,324), Georgia (11,521), Texas (11,314), Michigan (10,830) and Virginia (6,254).

Filings overall were up 32 percent from April 2008 but rose less than 1 percent from March. At the same time, the number of bank repossessions, known as REOs, fell on a monthly and yearly basis, down 11 percent from March.

According to James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, “This suggests that many lenders and servicers are beginning foreclosure proceedings on delinquent loans that had been delayed by legislative and industry moratoria. It’s likely that we’ll see a corresponding spike in REOs as these loans move through the foreclosure process over the next few months.”

Moratorium on foreclosures NOW!

What can stop the crushing home foreclosure crisis in the U.S.? The first thing that should be done by the Obama administration is a declaration of a state of emergency on the national level, or at least in the top 10 states wracked by the disaster.

The federal government easily steps in when natural disasters occur. When a federal disaster area or state of emergency is declared after a tornado, for example, part of the emergency measures include a moratorium on government-backed mortgage foreclosures.

The president is also empowered to take executive measures when a “man”-made catastrophe happens. The same actions should apply to the “foreclosure tsunami” engulfing the U.S. A moratorium on all foreclosures must be put in place immediately to allow homeowners a chance to save their homes.

The quasi-governmental companies referred to as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own half the residential mortgages in the U.S. Both were bailed out by the federal government in 2008 to the tune of at least $400 billion.

Fannie and Freddie, along with other major lenders, which include JPMorgan Chase, CitiBank and Bank of America, are required by federal law as well as by the terms of their bailouts and pursuant to the Making Home Affordable Program, to work out mortgage loan modifications. They are supposed to lower at-risk borrowers’ monthly payments, including property taxes and insurance, to no more than 31 percent of a borrower’s gross income in order to avoid foreclosure.

The South Carolina Supreme Court, on the initiative of Fannie Mae, recently issued a temporary restraining order on all foreclosures of participants in the Making Home Affordable Program, to give homeowners a chance to take advantage of the loan modification provisions.

This moratorium should be extended to every state for all loans covered under the Obama/Treasury plan. The moratorium should include unemployed workers’ loans, as well as those of seniors and disabled people, who are disproportionately affected by the foreclosure crisis.

Under the federal Making Home Affordable Program, an unemployed worker must verify that he or she will be receiving unemployment benefits for at least nine months in order to count those funds as income for purposes of negotiating loan modifications. Because of this, many unemployed workers are or will be excluded from being able to take advantage of the program. In a state like Michigan, where the unemployment rate is expected to hit 17 percent by the end of the year, this means unemployed workers who have exhausted or are soon to exhaust their unemployment benefits will continue to lose their homes at record rates.

In addition, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and all government agencies have programs or regulations mandating that tenants be offered rental options to stay in properties subject to foreclosure. These programs are routinely being ignored by these government bodies.

In Detroit, for example, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are the leading evictors of tenants, many of whom don’t even know that the properties have gone through foreclosure.

There should be an immediate moratorium on evictions of tenants in foreclosed properties owned or backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or HUD.

The twin catastrophes of high unemployment and delinquent home loans mean millions more workers still face losing their homes as the economic crisis continues. It is time for activists to continue fighting for and begin enacting a foreclosure moratorium on the street, in the neighborhoods and at every level of government.


Articles copyright 1995-2009 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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Wednesday, May 6, 2009

National Summit moves to the General Motors HQ

Fannie Mae seeks foreclosure freeze only in S.C.

By Ashley Fletcher Frampton
aframpton@scbiznews.com
Published May 6, 2009, Charleston Regional Business Journal

Mortgage-backer Fannie Mae said it singled out South Carolina for an unusual court-ordered freeze on home foreclosure sales because the state gives local judges the authority to dismiss delayed cases, which other states do not.

Fannie Mae isn’t seeking a similar temporary freeze in other states, said Brian Faith, spokesman for the mortgage company.

“In South Carolina, judges have the discretion to cancel an ongoing foreclosure process if there is a significant delay between the foreclosure judgment date and the actual foreclosure sale,” Faith said in a statement.

If masters-in-equity — the special county judges that usually handle foreclosures in South Carolina — were to dismiss delayed cases, “the process begins anew, which leads to higher costs and losses,” Faith said.

“The court ruling effectively addresses this situation,” he said.

Fannie Mae suspended its foreclosure proceedings in late 2008 and during the first of quarter of 2009 while it reviewed cases for potential workout strategies, Faith said. In some cases, that created significant delays.

At Fannie Mae’s request, the S.C. Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order late Monday afternoon on foreclosure sales for some homes. It targets properties that could be eligible for a mortgage modification program that President Barack Obama’s administration is rolling out. The program offers more affordable mortgage payments to homeowners whose loans are backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac and who meet certain other criteria.

Fannie Mae did not want homeowners potentially eligible for the program to lose their homes in foreclosure before they had a chance to participate. The mortgage company estimates that more than 1,000 homes in South Carolina were headed to foreclosure sales this week. It filed the petition for a temporary restraining order on Friday.

Obama announced the Home Affordable Modification Program in February, but details were not outlined until April 6.

Masters-in-equity say they are still sorting through the implications of the S.C. Supreme Court order, which requires lenders seeking foreclosure to submit affidavits by May 15 stating whether loans in default are eligible for the modification program.

Homes not eligible will continue in the foreclosure process, according to the restraining order.

Mortgage Meltdown: Ruling buys troubled homeowners tim

By KRISTY EPPLEY RUPON - krupon@thestate.com, The State
Wednesday, May. 06, 2009

Homeowners facing foreclosure could get a little extra time to work out a new payment under a ruling Tuesday by the S.C. Supreme Court.

But if borrowers can’t afford a reasonable mortgage payment, their homes still will be headed for the auction block, said Rhonda Marcum, executive director for the Mortgage Bankers Association of the Carolinas.

The court agreed to suspend until May 15 foreclosures on homes in South Carolina whose loan servicer has agreed to participate in a federal modification program. President Barack Obama rolled out a $75 billion mortgage relief plan in February designed to keep up to 9 million Americans out of foreclosure.
Quantcast

The decision halts legal proceedings on all homes undergoing foreclosure.

South Carolina has an estimated 6,291 homes in some stage of foreclosure, said Rick Sharga, senior vice president for RealtyTrac, a foreclosure listing service.

It’s unclear how many of the homes would be eligible for the federal restructuring program.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which requested the injunction, had suspended foreclosure proceedings nationwide through March to give lenders a chance to work with homeowners who might qualify for the program.

The request for a ruling in South Carolina was because of an unusual state law.

South Carolina’s temporary suspension is designed to give servicers more time to evaluate homeowners’ circumstances before approving a modification.

“Doing a modification that’s not going to help the consumer doesn’t stop the bleeding; it just slows it down,” Marcum said.

Studies have shown that as many as 50 percent of loans that are modified end up in foreclosure again, she said.

If a homeowner has lost all income and has no prospects for employment, they likely would not be approved for a restructured loan, she said. But if someone loses a job and has a spouse still working, they potentially could cut expenses enough to afford a reduced mortgage payment.

“A payment has to be factored into what the consumer can realistically pay,” Marcum said.

Fannie Mae asked for the injunction in South Carolina, said spokesman Brian Faith, because the state has a rule that allows judges on a county-by-county basis to set aside foreclosure proceedings if too much time passes between a foreclosure judgment and a foreclosure sale.

Judges can make all parties start the process over from the beginning, which costs more for everyone involved, Faith said. He said South Carolina is the only state he is aware of that has this rule so Fannie Mae will not be seeking similar rulings in other states.

Dave Whitener, a real estate lawyer and adjunct professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, said he had never heard of judges using that rule and that it doesn’t make logical sense since it would add extra work.

Whitener applauded the Supreme Court for taking the action to suspend foreclosures to give struggling homeowners extra time to work out a modification plan.

“Our Supreme Court is saying, ‘Let’s slow this train down until we make sure whether or not these people can be protected,’” Whitener said. “I think that’s very impressive.”

Reach Rupon at (803) 771-8308.

South Carolina Supreme Court halts thousands of home foreclosure sales

SC court halts thousands of home foreclosure sales

By MEG KINNARD, The Associated Press
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina's highest court on Tuesday temporarily stopped thousands of pending foreclosure sales in the state to give homeowners more time to take advantage of a new federal program to help them refinance mortgages.

The injunction — which mortgage experts said appeared to be the nation's first court-ordered stop for an entire state — prevents judges in South Carolina from finalizing foreclosure sales on properties guaranteed by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae or any other mortgage company that has signed on to a federal assistance program.

RealtyTrac Inc., a foreclosure listing firm, says the ruling could affect 5,000 South Carolina homes facing foreclosure.

The ruling was in response to a request from a Columbia attorney representing Fannie Mae, who had argued that it was necessary to keep homeowners who might be eligible for federal assistance from being shut out of the process.

"Absent the injunction, mortgagors eligible for relief ... could be denied their right to participate because their property was sold at the foreclosure sale," lawyer Ronald Scott wrote in his three-page motion. "This qualifies as irreparable injury for which the court should provide redress in the form of a temporary injunction."

Fannie Mae said the ruling was necessary because of a South Carolina law meant to ensure that foreclosures sales are conducted in a timely fashion. Under the law, judges can cancel a foreclosure case and start over if the sale is delayed for too long.

The company argues that South Carolina's law gives lenders an incentive to speed up foreclosure cases because of the threat the process could be restarted, which would cost lenders more money.

"This ruling will allow us the flexibility to evaluate problematic mortgages in the state for possible eligibility for the (Obama) Administration's modification program and reduce the overall borrower and company costs associated with the foreclosure process," Fannie Mae said in a statement.

The Obama administration announced a plan in March to provide $75 billion in incentives for the mortgage industry to modify loans to help borrowers avoid foreclosure. Freddie and Fannie also rolled out a refinancing program for homeowners who owe up to 5 percent more than current total value of their home with an application deadline of June 2010.

Scott had asked the court to address about 1,000 South Carolina homes facing foreclosure and backed by Fannie Mae loans. But in her order, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal expanded the stoppage to foreclosures backed either by Fannie or Freddie — together, the government-controlled companies own or guarantee almost 31 million mortgages, more than half of all U.S. home loans — or any other lender who has agreed to participate under the Obama administration's plan.

Toal also set a May 15 deadline for plaintiffs in foreclosure actions to notify other parties if the loan is subject to modification under the federal program. If it is, those foreclosure proceedings will remain on hold. But if not, the sale can go forward.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had suspended foreclosure sales through the end of March to evaluate whether borrowers could qualify for the Obama program.

A spokesman for Freddie Mac, Brad German, said Tuesday the South Carolina ruling was the first he'd heard of in the country by a court with statewide jurisdiction.

"We're not aware of anything like this, anywhere else," German said.

Nationally, the number of homes facing foreclosure grew 24 percent in the first three months of this year from a year earlier. The total in 2008 was 2.3 million households that received foreclosure filings. In South Carolina, more than 13,700 homes are in some stage of foreclosure, according to RealtyTrac Inc., a foreclosure listing service in Irvine, Calif.

RealtyTrac spokesman Daren Blomquist also said the ruling appeared to be a first.

"There have been some piecemeal things, but nothing that broad statewide," Blomquist said.

Associated Press Writers Katrina A. Goggins and Alan Zibel contributed to this report. Zibel contributed from Washington.

On the Net:
* Making Home Affordable program: http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

All out for People’s Summit in Detroit

Activists to convene at economic ‘ground zero’
All out for People’s Summit in Detroit

By Workers World Detroit bureau
Published Apr 30, 2009 7:28 PM

Organizing for the June 14-17 People’s Summit and Tent City in Detroit is building fast. A planning meeting April 25 was attended by representatives from a broad base of progressive organizations. They included the Autoworkers Caravan, which has been in the forefront of challenging the massive attacks on auto workers’ wages and benefits; the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions; disabled activists from Warriors on Wheels; Call ’Em Out; the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization; the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality; and the National Lawyers Guild. Two UAW members from Toledo, Ohio, also attended.

The People’s Summit in Grand Circus Park will be an opportunity to link the struggles challenging the war on poor and working people, and to put forward a program for jobs, universal health care and a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions, as well as full rights for oppressed nationalities, immigrants, people with disabilities, women and the lesbian/gay/bi and trans communities.

Segments of the summit will be devoted to demonstrations targeting specific struggles such as the massive threats on auto workers. There will be a moratorium on evictions during the People’s Summit as organizers will participate in flying squadrons to aid individuals facing the hated dumpsters and bailiff evictions.

The People’s Summit is a direct challenge to the convening of big-business representatives at the National Business Summit scheduled for June 15-17. That event has been moved from Ford Field to the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center due to lower than expected registrations. More than 40 executives have agreed to speak at this gathering, which is to be co-chaired by Ford Motor Company executive head Bill Ford and Dow Chemical chief executive Andrew Liveris. Other participants will include corporate representatives from Conoco-Phillips, General Motors, Chrysler, Humana, Inc., and the presidents of the National Council of Competitiveness, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers.

Exciting developments were announced at the April 25 meeting, including the posting of a new video promoting the People’s Summit on YouTube. Participants discussed logistics and other components of making the four-day event a success. Organizers are out leafleting progressive events leading up to the summit, including May Day activities in Detroit.

The People’s Summit is receiving a solid response nationally from activist organizers who see Detroit as “ground zero” or the “Katrina” of the economic collapse. The call for the summit is posted on numerous progressive list serves and Web sites. The national Bail Out the People Movement and the National Poor People’s Economic and Human Rights Campaign are among a growing list of endorsers.

Donations for the People’s Summit are being solicited. Checks or money orders payable to the Moratorium NOW! Coalition/People’s Summit can be sent to 5920 Second Avenue, Detroit, MI 48202. The next organizing meeting will be held on May 9 at 2 p.m. at 2727 Second Ave. in Detroit. Call 313-887-4344 or visit www.moratorium-mi.org for more information.
Articles copyright 1995-2009 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

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May 1 March and Rally - Detroit

WWJ News: May Day March in Detroit drew 15,000 people this year!








Pictures by Alan

Friday, May 1, 2009

5,000 rally in Detroit for immigrant rights

Photo-BRIAN WIDDIS/Special to the Free Press
A rally for immigration rights flows down Vernor Friday morning, May 1, 2009. The march started at Patton Park and followed Vernor to Clark Park through Detroit's Mexicantown neighborhood.


By Niraj Warikoo
Free Press Staff Writer

from Detroit Free Press, May 1, 2009

Waving Mexican and U.S. flags, thousands of immigrants and their supporters rallied in southwest Detroit today for immigrant rights.

Rally organizers called for comprehensive immigration reform that would offer a path to citizenship for legal and illegal immigrants, and for an end to deportations that they say separate families.

Over the past four years, the number of deportations in Michigan and across the U.S. has sharply increased.

For fiscal year 2008, 7,514 illegal immigrants in Michigan and Ohio were deported, compared to 4,144 in fiscal year 2007, an 81 percent increase. Compared to 2005, when 2,243 illegal immigrants were deported, that’s a 235 percent increase.

The rally started at Patton Park and ended at Clark Park in the heart of the Mexican-American community. Ralliers held up placards that read “Stop the Raids,” “Legalize Hard Work,” and “No Human is Illegal.”

“We need a more humane approach to immigration reform,” said Rosendo Delgado, a co-organizer with Latinos Unidos. This is the fourth annual immigration rally in Detroit. It was smaller compared to previous years when Congress was considering bills that would crack down on illegal immigration.

Detroit police estimated today’s crowd at 5,000 to 7,000.

Jhonatan Ferrer, 19, of Dearborn Heights said many illegal immigrants “live in the shadows of society” and need a path to citizenship so that employers and others can’t take advantage of them. Right now, Ferrer said, “they have no rights.”

Others expressed concerns about deportations and its affect on immigrant communities.

Khaalid Walls, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the government agency that oversees deportations, said the government has “increased strategic enforcement efforts to identity and remove criminal and fugitive aliens.”

Contact NIRAJ WARIKOO: nwarikoo@freepress.com

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Hitting the Pause on Foreclosures

By Valeria Fernández
from Color Lines

Before she was evicted from her own home, Kendra Washington took a walk around her Detroit neighborhood. She found an empty home and decided to squat with her two children. “I refused to get my kids put out on the street,” said the single mother who moved into a vacant Housing and Urban Development house.
After government officials came knocking at Washington’s door, attorney Jerry Goldberg, a long-time civil rights activist, persuaded them in court that it was in the government’s interest to let Washington and her children stay. He argued that Washington had made improvements to the house and so maintained its value. Without her efforts, he explained, the house would have been vandalized.

Washington got to stay.

“In the 30s, there were organized committees all over the country, block by block. The sheriff would come and evict a family. After he left, they moved people back in. The moratorium was won on the streets.”
In the last year, Goldberg and his staff at Moratorium NOW!, a coalition of activists and union and religious leaders, have brought at least 50 cases to courts in Detroit on behalf of homeowners. They have been fighting to save homes literally one house at a time through picketing at the banks and legal action. Some of the people impacted are senior citizens with fixed incomes and also with medical conditions that have drained their savings. The houses have belonged to them for more than 20 years.

“We believe they have a right to a home and we defend their right to stay,” Goldberg said.

Some politicians agree. A new bill introduced in Michigan’s state legislature would create a two-year moratorium—making it the lengthiest moratorium in the nation.

According to Goldberg, in many of his cases, people have been able to stay in their homes because he showed that the foreclosure was violating federal law like the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA), which was approved last July. The law requires financial institutions to modify default mortgages when this will result in a greater recovery of their value than a foreclosure.

“We argued that the loan modification would add a greater value to the property than the foreclosure will,” he said.

In the cases of low-income homes insured by the Federal Housing Administration, Goldberg and his team have shown in court that the government hasn’t played by its own rules.

Homeowners in danger of being evicted are supposed to get the chance to stay in the house through a lease agreement. But many homeowners are finding their requests to stay in the home denied, said Goldberg. Instead, the Federal Housing Administration has been paying the mortgage companies the full value of the house after it foreclosed, he added.

They don’t always win in court though.

“When we don’t have good luck through the courts, we have good luck through the streets,” said Goldberg.

On at least six occasions, the coalition has picketed outside homes or banks just before people were about to be evicted. This is often the last resource when the actions can’t be fought in court because there’s no legal basis, Goldberg said.

On one occasion, a 78-year-old woman was able to get a new loan to stay in her home after the group picketed outside the bank Countrywide. The new loan allows her to stay in her home of 42 years.

•••

Washington made payments on her home of a decade for as long as she could after a foot surgery caused her to lose her $40,000 a year job. The lender wasn’t willing to lower her payment on the $150,000 mortgage. As her savings ran out, Washington watched homes in the neighborhood being sold for as little as $500.

Michigan has been hit by a severe economic downturn for the last decade. It has lost half a million, mostly union, industrial jobs in the last five years. The crisis struck Detroit before it did the rest of the nation, and the sub-prime market of predatory lending completed the job. In Detroit, the average medium sales price for a home these days is $6,237, according to data from Multiple Listing Services. One in every 137 homes in Michigan is facing foreclosure.

“Our business is to sell foreclosed homes,” said Carl Williams, chief executive of the Saturn Group. His real state company has sold at least five houses for $1 with buyers paying the realtor’s commission.

“When the properties get evicted, the homes are immediately stripped and vandalized, losing all their value, tearing down the fabric of the community,” said Goldberg.

more

.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

March and Rally - May 1, 2009


March and Rally
Friday
May 1, 2009

10 AM

Gather at W. Vernor & Woodmere (Patton Park), Detroit
March down Vernor to Clark Park for outdoor rally at noon

Initiated by Latinos Unidos

Lost your job? Losing your home?

Blame the rich, crooked bankers and mortgage lenders NOT immigrant workers!

read more

DEMAND:

* Jobs at a living Wage
* Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act
* Health care for all
* Housing
* Education
* An end to raids and deportations

Saturday, March 7, 2009

People’s Summit June 14-17

By Kris Hamel
Detroit
Published Mar 7, 2009 6:59 AM

The Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions voted unanimously on Feb. 28 to call a People’s Summit in Detroit from June 14-17. Organizers will begin widespread outreach to garner endorsers and draw other organizations into building for the June activities. These actions will include a march along Woodward Avenue for jobs and housing and a tent city in Grand Circus Park of the foreclosed-upon, jobless, underpaid, homeless and all who struggle for social and economic justice.

The People’s Summit will occur simultaneously with the National Business Summit, sponsored by the Detroit Economic Club, taking place at Ford Field in downtown Detroit. Millionaire and billionaire capitalists, including the heads of ConocoPhillips, Dow Chemical, General Motors, Chrysler, Humana Inc., Ascension Health, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, BNSF Railway Co. and PVS Chemicals, will gather at this event June 15-17. The presidents of the National Council on Competitiveness and U.S. Chamber of Commerce will also be attending.

Calling it “a Gathering to Define America’s Future,” the business summit’s Web site states: “Participants will have direct access to ... top business, government and academic leaders and a voice in shaping the outcome of the discussion.” In order to have a voice, however, a registration fee of $1,495 per person is required.

Those who can afford this exorbitant registration fee will be putting their heads together to discuss “innovation and policy ideas in technology, energy, environment and manufacturing.” In other words, they will be strategizing on how to further increase their profits at the expense of the ever-shrinking middle class, the vast working class and the growing millions living in utter poverty.

These business tycoons will gather in a city reeling from rampant foreclosures and evictions, record unemployment, plant closings, mass layoffs, school closings, cutbacks, union busting and other forms of devastation.

President Barack Obama and cabinet members have been invited to this gathering. Will these business tycoons allow Obama’s economic stimulus plan to proceed? Will they create jobs at living wages? Will homeowners have real opportunities to avoid foreclosure? Or will the suffering and misery continue?

Only a mass struggle of those most affected by the capitalist economic crisis will turn the tide. The Moratorium NOW! Coalition organizers note that so far only the banks and mortgage lenders have been bailed out, to the tune of trillions of dollars of workers’ tax money—money sorely needed to rebuild the lives of the people.

Organizers hope that the People’s Summit will attract everyone struggling for social and economic justice, not just in Detroit and Michigan, but on a national level. Everyone involved in any progressive struggle is urged to organize for the June 14-17 event.

Kris Hamel is an organizer for the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evicitions. She can be reached at krisdetroit@yahoo.com

Bail Out the People NOT Banks

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Detroiters Launch Campaign for Affordable Water

OUR WATER, OUR CITY

Let’s make it a law that the City of Detroit must make water affordable and stop shutting off the water of low-income people!

Join our petition campaign
Kick-off gathering: Saturday, March 7
10 a.m.-12 noon
Central United Methodist Church, 4th floor, 23 E. Adams (at Woodward), Detroit

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Michigan Welfare Rights Organization
23 E. Adams, 4th Fl.
Detroit, MI 48226
(313) 964-0618 www.mwro.org

Thursday, February 26, 2009

TeleSUR Video: Crisis of Capitalism - Struggle for a Moratorium on Foreclosures in Detroit

Michigan Coalition for Human Rights presents Fighting Foreclosures, March 5 , Barth Hall

There isn't an area of the city, SE Michigan, or the nation that hasn't been impacted by foreclosures, but it has hit hardest in poor areas among African Americans and Hispanics, causing erosion in cities and suburbs alike. Come and learn about the causes of foreclosures, its impact on families, and what is happening locally to begin to stem the tide.

Won't you join us on :

Thursday, March 5th 7 p.m.: "Fighting Foreclosures" ,
Speakers: Vanessa Fluker Esq.
Jerry Goldberg Esq.


"Two of the area's fiercest defenders of victims of predatory lending.

Location: Barth Hall
St Paul's Cathedral, Woodward and Warren, Detroit
Lit, Secure Parking, driveway off Warren, east of Woodward

$5 Donation accepted.



"Produce the Note" Video

Video describes a tactic that is growing in use and effectiveness. If you are in trouble, try it. If it works, let us know. email: moratorium@moratorium-mi.org

How to use “Produce the Note” in Non-judicial Foreclosure States


The Consumer Warning Network



Neighbors helping neighbors—to break into vacant houses

By Madeleine Baran , TC Daily Planet
February 14, 2009

Poverty rights activists broke into at least a dozen vacant Minneapolis buildings this week and helped homeless families move in.

“This is the modern underground railroad,” said Cheri Honkala, National Organizer for the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, the group organizing the “takeovers.”

This week’s actions are part of a growing national movement to illegally open up thousands of vacant, foreclosed homes to provide housing for the growing number of homeless people. Over 3,000 Minneapolis homes went into foreclosure in 2008. Advocates estimate that over 7,000 Minnesotans are homeless. Most Twin Cities’ homeless shelters have been filled to capacity for months.

On a recent afternoon, organizers planned their next takeover while eating cabbage, rice, sausage, and corn bread prepared by Rosemary, a 59-year-old African American woman facing eviction from her home. Rosemary, who asked that her last name not be used, plans to remain in her house illegally after the March 31 eviction date. In the meantime, she spends her time organizing for tenant’s rights.

“Welcome to the revolution,” Rosemary said, greeting a homeless couple looking for housing.

go to article

What are we waiting for? Let's all do it!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Baltimore Moratorium on Evictions


Council Members Mary Pat Clarke and Bill Henry at City Hall Press Conference(billhughes)

City Council members Mary Pat Clarke and Bill Henry urged support for a law, Council Bill 09-0289, to help Baltimore homeowners avoid foreclosures. Activists Sharon Black and Denise Lowery also spoke at the press conference, in front of City Hall.

Date submitted: 02/24/2009, Baltimore Sun

The Crisis of Credit Visualized


The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Detroit activists stall eviction of Anthony King

Published Feb 25, 2009 2:40 PM

The Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions has launched a struggle to keep Anthony King in his home.


News conference and rally in front of
Anthony King’s home, Feb. 18.
WW photos: Alan Pollock

King, age 42, has lived in his Detroit home for 41 years. Now he faces imminent eviction after his home was foreclosed by Wells Fargo Bank and sold at a sheriff’s sale to U.S. Bancorp. Both banks have received billions of dollars in the taxpayer-funded federal bailout of financial institutions.

On Feb. 16, after receiving a ride home from a coalition meeting, King discovered a dumpster in front of his house. “I knew they were coming the next day, that I was on the edge of being thrown out,” King told Workers World.

On Feb. 17, coalition members along with activists from the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, Call ’Em Out and the Detroit Green Party gathered at King’s home to prevent the bailiff from carrying out the eviction. When the bailiff’s team arrived in the early afternoon, the dumpster was in front of an empty lot several hundred feet from King’s home. Apparently it had not been secured properly and rolled down the street.

While activists challenged the right of the bailiff to evict King, word came in by cell phone that the writ of restitution (court order to evict) was improperly obtained. The bailiff was forced to back off and King’s eviction was temporarily stopped.

A coalition leaflet stated: “In Wayne County, Sheriff Warren Evans recently ordered a halt to the sheriff’s sales of foreclosed homes. Evans cited a federal law, known as TARP, which states that foreclosures must be minimized and families maintained in their homes. He stated, however, that his office does not have the resources to determine if the banks have followed this federal law. Another law, known as HERA, states that loan modifications should consider the value of the home in foreclosure when determining the modified loan principal. We know that the banks are not following this law.”

A rally on Feb. 18 in front of King’s home brought out dozens of people who want to stop this illegal eviction. Among them were people from King’s neighborhood. “I really appreciate the strong support from my neighbors,” said King.

Like so many Detroiters, King has recently gone through periods of unemployment and underemployment. He works part time for minimum wage at a secondhand retail store but needs a full time job.

“I’m doing the best I can to keep this struggle alive and to pay my utility bills,” said King. “I see all the stripped and vacant homes and it brings tears to my eyes that so many people are being foreclosed and losing their homes.”

The bailiff is expected to return soon to King’s home to enforce the eviction. Activists are on high alert and plan to be there in order to stop the eviction by direct resistance.

To get involved in the struggle to save King’s home and to stop all foreclosures, evictions and utility shutoffs, call the Moratorium NOW! Coalition at 313-887-4344 or e-mail moratorium@moratorium-mi.org.

Kris Hamel is an organizer in the Moratorium NOW! Coalition. This article also appeared in Workers World Newspaper.

Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php

Monday, February 23, 2009

Baltimore City Council considers bill to provide 365 days notice of eviction

Bill introduced to Baltimore City Council with, effectively, a 1-year moratorium on evictions

By Gus G. Sentementes and Liz F. Kay | gus.sentementes@baltsun.com and liz.kay@baltsun.com

9:52 PM EST, February 23, 2009


The Baltimore City Council is considering a plan to slow the foreclosure process in hopes of stemming the tide of evictions, which city housing activists have tried to combat recently with protests and, in at least one case, allegedly illegal measures.

As the Obama administration moves on a national plan to tackle the mortgage crisis, City Council members Mary Pat Clarke and Bill Henry, both Democrats, have introduced a plan to extend the time between foreclosure and eviction from 14 days to 365 days to encourage lenders to negotiate with owners who are falling behind on loan payments.

The plan appears to have strong initial support on the council -- 11 of 15 members are listed as co-sponsors. Council President Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake and Mayor Sheila Dixon have yet to take a position.

go to article

March On WALL STREET, April 3 & 4


In Memory of Martin Luther King, Jr: Announcing a NATIONAL

March On WALL STREET

April 3 & 4

Assemble at 1 pm both Friday, April 3 & Saturday, April 4 at the Intersection of Wall & Broad Streets (The Stock Exchange)

Friday APRIL 3 AND Saturday APRIL 4

Bail Out the People
Not the Banks
!

Yes, 2 days starting Friday. More people from around the country will join us Saturday – Watch for assembly locations and times.

March on Wall Street on the Anniversary on the day Martin Luther King gave his life fighting for social and economic justice.

Why? Because we must demand that the needs of the people come before the greed of the super rich. Millions are jobless and homeless, and millions more will be living on the streets if the government continues to waste trillions of dollars on saving wealthy bankers instead of saving people.

Dr. King would have been appalled and opposed to the terrible siege of Gaza as well as the continuing occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

And just as King knew that the struggle for civil rights at home had to also be part of the struggle against war abroad, he understood that no one, regardless of their race would be free until everyone had the right to a decent paying job or an income for those unable to work. Most importantly, King also understood that “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” The time for suffering in silence has come to an end.

Nothing will change unless our desperation and anger is channeled into a mighty movement that unites and fights. It’s time to march on Wall St. Come to the march, and tell everyone you know to come with you.


Read more!