Free Republic

The Alfred Fisher Mansion,the largest residential listing in Detroit, has sold for $1.6 Million in deal that closed in late August. Designed by architect Richard Marr and built in 1926, the mansion contains 15 bedrooms, 17 bathrooms, a ballroom, sun room, and a billiards room. There is also an indoor pool. These listing photos don't do the interior justice (there's a strange party situation in the basement) but the grounds are looking lovely. When the mansion first came on the market the ask was a mere $1.2M...."

Detroit has recorded its biggest home sale in a long, long time. The historic and still-beautiful Alfred J. Fisher mansion sold to an anonymous all-cash buyer for $1.6 million, more than any Detroit home in recent memory, according to the Detroit Free Press. That might not sound like much, but this is a city where thousands of homes have been razed because they couldn’t be sold for anything. Detroit hasn't seen a sale price like that for at least a decade. The home has 15 bedrooms, 17 bathrooms, an indoor pool, a ballroom and 2 acres of landscaped grounds in...

In the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2014, the city of Detroit projected it would bring in $55 million in property taxes. Instead, it collected just $6.7 million, about $48.3 million short of what it expected. The city revealed the shortfall in its most recent filing with the Michigan Department of Treasury by Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr. “It's a combination of many factors,” said Bill Nowling, spokesman for Orr. “Clearly, collections is an issue, but so it is the assessment process itself. In many cases, the city is carrying assessments for properties that are blighted or abandoned and those...

Detroit's Under-Funded Fire Departments Use a Soda Can For a Fire Alarm Where absent money leaves gaps, ingenuity fills in. Nowhere is that more true than in Detroit's fire departments, where, as Detroit Free Press reporter Tresa Baldas shows us, a soda can full of jangling coins and screws alerts the Motor City's long-suffering heroes when there's an emergency. The system is brilliantly simple: A soda can full of rattling metal is balanced on top of the fire department's printer at the end of the tray. When the printer spits out an emergency alert, the paper knocks over the can....

"MCDonalds Mcdonalds, can't you see...Seven-forty is not for me..." The chant, recited through a megaphone, was being led by a man identifed as a Christian Pastor ("Reverend Charles" we'll call him), near a McDonalds restaurant in Detroit last week. Dozens of people in the parking lot uttered the chant with him, as the crowd sought to malign McDonalds restaurants while at the same time demanding a $15.00 per hour wage. "They want fifteen, they want a union, they want to be organized" Pastor Charles told the tv news crews. "The McDonalds corporation should allow that to happen immediately." The illogic...

The argument against liberals ever being in charge of our lives can be reduced to a single word: Detroit. Detroit has fallen from its position as one of the greatest cities in America at the beginning of the 1950s to a perfect reminder of what liberal Democrats will do when given enough power and enough time to show who they really are. “The Motor City” had an unbroken succession of liberal Democrat mayors for more than 40 years and each of these men has contributed to the steady decline of their city. Acting in concert with greedy unions these mayors...

Lawyers for Detroit will attempt to convince a federal judge at the city’s bankruptcy trial that its plans to wipe out billions of dollars in debt should be approved. After some delays, the start of the trial Tuesday in U.S. District Court comes just over 13 months after Detroit became the largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy. Detroit expects to cut $12 billion in unsecured debt to about $5 billion, which is “more manageable,” according to Bill Nowling, a spokesman for emergency manager Kevyn Orr. …

<p>DETROIT (WJBK) - Several hundred people, mostly union workers, crowded old Tiger Stadium to hear vice president Joe Biden speak Monday morning ahead of the organized labor's annual parade.</p> <p>The vice president's speech helped kick off the start of the Detroit Labor Day parade. This is the second time Biden has been in Detroit on Labor Day in the past three years.</p>

Federal Judge Steven Rhodes will begin hearings Tuesday to determine whether Detroit's readjustment plan fulfills the legal and fiscal requirements to exit Chapter 9 bankruptcy. The trial may provide investors a lesson, instructive but painful, in how politics can override law in municipal bankruptcies. Since declaring bankruptcy in July 2013, Detroit has cut deals with nearly all of its major creditors. Workers, retirees and most bondholders this summer voted to accept the plan. Yet Judge Rhodes must still validate that the plan is "fair and equitable" and was proposed in good faith, among other standards of Chapter 9.

In the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2014, the city of Detroit projected it would bring in $55 million in property taxes. Instead, it collected just $6.7 million, about $48.3 million short of what it expected. The city revealed the shortfall in its most recent filing with the Michigan Department of Treasury by Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr. “It's a combination of many factors,” said Bill Nowling, spokesman for Orr. “Clearly, collections is an issue, but so it is the assessment process itself. In many cases, the city is carrying assessments for properties that are blighted or abandoned and those...

On Monday, The Toledo Blade reported that former President Jimmy Carter, the same President who accused Israel of practicing apartheid and called for the U.S to "legitimize" Hamas, will be giving the keynote speech at the 51st annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) held in Detroit this Friday, September 1st. The speech will be held at a luncheon August 30th.

The Islamic Society of North America or ISNA, the nation's largest Muslim group, will hold its 51st annual convention in Detroit's Cobo Center Friday through Sept. 1, and will feature former President Jimmy Carter as the keynote speaker. ... A “secret special guest” is also on the bill. The convention‘‍s opening session Friday will include words from Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, the national leader of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the first Muslim member of Congress,

Continued violence in Ferguson, Missouri, brings back memories of the urban riots of the 1960s. As it happens, I had a front-row seat back then, as an intern in the office of Detroit Mayor Jerome Cavanagh during the six-day riot in July 1967. At one point I was alone in the so-called command center with Cavanagh and Michigan Gov. George Romney. Forty-three people died in that riot. Many were bystanders who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. One was a deaf man who did not heed a policeman's command, which he couldn't hear. Sadly, nearly...

A gunfight erupted in Detroit as a neighbor interrupted the theft of the catalytic converter from a minivan.   The neighbor came out with a long gun, which appeared to be a Mossberg single shot bolt action shotgun, based on the shape of the trigger guard and bolt.  The underside of the long gun showed the lack of a magazine.     From clickondetroit.com: A man spotted two crooks stealing the catalytic converter from his neighbor's Chevrolet Venture. He came out armed with a gun, hoping to scare them away. Police say the men took off toward their car, fired shots...

Detroit police chief James Craig – nicknamed “Hollywood” for his years spent in the LAPD and his seeming love of being in front of the camera – has repeatedly called on “good” and “law-abiding” Detroiters to arm themselves against criminals in the city. His words have not fallen on deaf ears. Patricia Champion, a 63-year-old lifelong Detroiter, a grandmother and retired educator, decided to get her concealed pistol license - a CPL - two years ago after her son said he was increasingly worried for her safety. Champion, a resident of northwest Detroit, mostly keeps her gun, a 9mm Glock...

Were Copper Thieves to Blame For Detroit’s Massive Highway Floods? On Monday, as storms rolled across Southeastern Michigan, highways throughout the Detroit area became so flooded that over 1,000 cars were abandoned as their owners fled for higher ground. At least two people died, and it could be several more days before all the highways reopen. The possible cause of this unprecedented disaster? Copper thieves, says CBS Detroit.

I’m assuming that, like me, you’re already kinda’ bored with the Wons bike ridin’. And have seen all you want of our DIC (Dweeb-In-Chief): Are those white anklets!?! What a dweeb! So I say we move on to an entirely different kind of Ride. Now I know, we just did this a week or so ago, butt seriously: can you ever have too many posts about classic cars? And while there are thousands of “classic car cruise nights” all across America, the biggest and the bestest takes place on the third Saturday of August in metropolitan Detroit, home of the...

Despite having no horses, the water and sewerage department for the city of Detroit employs a horseshoer. Yet even with a department so bloated that it has a horseshoer and no horses, the local union president said it is "not possible" to eliminate positions. Union rules have turned the department into a government jobs program, some critics say. The horseshoer’s job description is "to shoe horses and to do general blacksmith work … and to perform related work as required." The description was last updated in 1967. The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) has a large debt, rising water...

A white suburban Detroit homeowner was found guilty on Thursday of second-degree murder in the shooting of an unarmed black teen on his porch in a case that set off protests and fanned racial tensions. Theodore Wafer, 55, sat stone-faced, staring straight ahead as the jury delivered its verdict after less than two full days of deliberations. He was also convicted of involuntary manslaughter and firearms charges. [The shotgun] is a dangerous weapon and the way he handled it - he handled it like a toy, and as a result a 19-year-old is dead. - Wayne County assistant prosecuting attorney...

As a hardcore baseball guy, I often wonder why people needlessly waste their time on all those other, lesser sports. But I suppose everyone has a right to their insane opinions. In any case, football fans may want to keep an eye on this development: The NFL announced this week that it will be using RFID tracking chips on players during select games in the 2014 season. The high-tech chips — RFID stands for radio-frequency identification — will generate precise positioning data on each player on every play. Football Uniforms Throughout History For the initial rollout, the RFID system will...