First Post: What are you thinking?!

First post! Finally did it...

Well I talked about making a blog for a while and here I am (finally), I won't just blog, I plan to also post some of my photography also and whatever else I'm interested in, this thing hasn't really taken on much of a form since its the first post so yeah...right now I'm really enthralled by some of the occurrences in the city which is why I wrote the following yesterday...




Real question for the Detroit Police Department...WHY?

Here's a simple rundown for those who don't know, The City of Detroit is really close to a budget collapse, we're on the brink of bankruptcy and they might end up deep in the red by spring time if nothing is done about it. In order to avoid an emergency financial manager taking over the city and cutting even deeper, the Mayor (Dave Bing) decided to cut all the city workers pay by 10%, those who have had their budget cut once already this year are safe from this from what I've read and heard on the news.

Well it sounds fair enough right? I mean look at the condition of the city, and our economy, let alone DETROIT's economy, we're not in the best of shape as a country, the city is in even worse shape and it makes sense to make a few sacrifices for the betterment of the city. Nothing comes without a price. Everyone in the city needs to realize that, not just the lawmakers and employees but the citizens also, the excess spending that some of the people in power commit (I'm looking at you right now Mr. Ficano), the neglect of city owned properties, it all correlates (duh).

Back to my main point, the Detroit Police Department. They have their hands full, especially with all the bad press and the crazy crimes committed in the city thanks to the bad economy, recently they've been out in full force taking back the streets, and I commend you brave men and women for this work, it's not easy but take it from a citizen, I SEE the work you have been putting in, your work is being noticed by me and other citizens in my area thank you. But the actions by one of your departments recently, (the Northeast Precinct to be exact), really disappointed me. I live within the limits of this precinct and when I heard that nearly a whole shift  decided to have a "sickout" and not show up to work, well as you can see I wasn't too happy about it.

For starters, you are civil servants, the public relies on you, your services are needed and required for a reason. I know money is a HUGE issue but you don't have a protest while on the job, I'm sorry but a 10% cut in your pay does not mean you can just walk off on the job like that because you don't agree with it. Our city is in a fragile state, things like this are very detrimental to the work you and your colleagues and many community leaders have worked so hard to fix. You are not only hurting the citizens that are supposed to be protected but also you endanger yourselves by letting the progress you have made suddenly stop.

In addition to that, wouldn't you rather have a 10% pay cut or would you rather be out of a job altogether in a few months because the city can't pay you?
I have been working since I was a 16 years old in high school. I lost my first job nearly a year later due to budget cuts, I knew since that time that my work life would have to include compromises if I wanted to work in this country, Hell! If the DHC offered me a 10% pay cut I would have took it because the amount of money I'm not making doesn't outweigh the amount I was being paid (which wasn't much anyways).

My current jobs (I hold 2 currently), also included pay cuts, and pay limits, my raises have been cut to 2% at one of them..Seriously..but I realize that the company I work for needs to stay in good health to keep going, yes unfair to me and many of my co-workers who feel underpaid for what we put up with but times are tough and we suck it up and move on.

What I'm saying is the DPD needs to find a better way to fix this and voice its opinion, not by walk outs while ON the job, that's irresponsible and it shows how much care they have for its citizens. Protest it, go to the media, speak out, speak up, get the community behind you, if that all fails find other sources of income, I know a lot of officers do security work on the side, you have other opportunities to make money along with the city job, but don't pull a stunt like this that risks the lives of a whole district that is under your service and protection.

Ok, well I'm done here, kinda sucks that my first post had to be kind of a rant but I really had to get this off my chest since the news here doesn't seem to notice the problem which is why this is unscenedetroit.


Peace