Detroit’s comeback is for real. Workers, businesses and residents have all worked hard to turn around Detroit since the recession hit several years ago. For years, we suffered through double-digit unemployment. Now our unemployment rate is 6 percent. We now have 15,000 more Detroiters who have found full-time jobs since just three years ago.
Within the last two years, the city of Detroit has attracted new companies like American Lightweight Materials Manufacturing Innovation Institute, Sakthi Automotive and Flex-N-Gate. That’s added more than 1,400 new manufacturing jobs, the most in decades.
And we’ve seen a growth in minority-owned businesses, which are the lifeblood of our city’s economic comeback, giving neighbors jobs and improving neighborhoods for everyone.
Now is the time to keep the momentum going. We need to make sure that businesses continue to invest in Detroit and more of our neighborhoods. We need to make sure that more Detroiters go back to work.
That’s why we don’t need Proposal A, the so-called community benefits agreement ordinance on the ballot on Nov. 8. The Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights is proud to be part of a broad coalition that oppose this measure, including Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Detroit Police Officers Association, SEIU, Detroit Federation of Teachers, the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, and the Firefighters Associations in the City.
Proposal A may sound nice, but don’t believe the hype. In reality, it would do nothing to help the community. It doesn’t benefit Detroit residents, neighborhoods, workers and businesses.
This is a jobs killer. Proposal A will send jobs and investment north of 8 Mile.
That’s because the proposal would create a maze of rules for businesses in Detroit. There are no set timelines or time frames for community benefits negotiations, which means many businesses will just walk away and invest elsewhere.
If it passes, no city in America would make it so hard to invest in and bring jobs to their community. There’s no way companies will want to jump through all of its confusing hoops. It will send a terrible message to many homegrown, minority-owned businesses.
Proposal A also has big issues with transparency and accountability. It troublingly does nothing to address conflicts of interest in community benefits negotiations, meaning people with ulterior motives could decide whether a business is allowed to locate in Detroit or not.
And the proposal is written so poorly that those living outside Detroit could take over the process. Proposal A requires businesses seeking to invest in the city to meet with a complex “committee,” but fails to define who sits on this board, how they are selected or how long the process would take. In fact, it is so poorly defined that it would allow suburbanites near the Detroit border to serve on the committee –– giving them a voice in Detroit’s future.
That’s just not right. Detroit’s future must be determined by Detroiters, the people who live, work and raise their families here. Voters should not give suburbanites veto power over Detroit’s future or turn decision making over to unelected and unaccountable “committee members.”
Let’s keep moving Detroit forward and say no to roadblocks in our way. Please join me in voting no on Proposal A.
Mike Jackson is the executive secretary-treasurer for the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights.
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