Free read, Feb. 10-14: City mourns car deaths, libraries missing millions, Big Meech cancels big show
Here's what happened this week
Good afternoon, subscribers. It’s a bittersweet Valentine’s Day.
The city is still mourning the deaths of two children who died in a car inside Greektown’s parking structure Monday.
Local leaders expressed sadness in posts to social media while promising to work on solutions to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Some public commenters during Tuesday’s Detroit City Council session slammed council members and city leaders for not doing more to address the city’s housing crisis.
City Council president and mayoral candidate Mary Sheffield said “the system failed” Tateona Williams, the mother of the two children who died.
“Like many of you all, I am still grieving and trying to figure out what more we can do,” Sheffield said in a video posted to social media.
Detroit police said the children, a 2-year-old and 9-year-old, were pronounced dead at the hospital after freezing to death. However, in an emotional interview with Local 4, Williams said she was told carbon monoxide poisoning killed her babies.
“I called everybody. I called out-of-state, I called different cities,” Williams said in the interview. “Every time I call they say there’s no shelter, no beds. I thought I was doing the right thing, I was just trying to keep them warm at night.”
“Nobody helped me,” Williams said. “It took me to lose two of my kids to get this help. I don’t feel good about it.”
More than 740 people have donated over $37,000 to a GoFundMe for Williams. Funeral arrangements for the children are being finalized.
Officials confirmed Williams had in the past made contact with homeless services made available by the city, which never resulted in shelter. Mayor Mike Duggan has called for a review of the city’s homeless services.
“No one should die from being unsheltered and un-helped,” says Bernice King, the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and CEO of The King Center. The national advocate shared the story to more than a million people on Twitter and Instagram.
“Two children are dead…and they should be alive. So many people just need compassion, understanding, and a hand to lift them up.”
New road funding plan drops
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is hoping the third time’s the charm to convince lawmakers to back a new road funding plan to fix the damn roads.
A spokesperson for Whitmer said in a statement the governor is asking Big Tech and large corporations like Amazon, Twitter, Facebook and TikTok, “led by the nation’s wealthiest individuals,” to pay their fair share to do business in Michigan and use the state’s roadways.
The plans would raise $3 billion: $1.6 billion from taxing large corporations, $1.2 from gas taxes paid from motorists and $500 million from “cutting costs.”
It’s unclear what that would look like, as details have not been made public.
Past proposals to increase the gas tax to 45-cents-per-gallon or tax large trucks for every mile they drove to fund road repairs have been unsuccessful.
Hamtramck mayor floats potential Trump appointment
Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib believes the Trump administration could appoint him to a position within the federal government.
The mayor addressed concerns he may soon leave Hamtramck City Council earlier this week.
“If it’s flexible, I’ll continue to serve as the mayor, if I can go back and forth,” Ghalib said. “If it requires me to relocate then that’s a different issue.”
City Council removed Abu Musa as Mayor Pro Tem three weeks ago amid concerns about his ability to lead the city if Ghalib were to resign as mayor, Kayleigh Lickliter reports. Khalil Refai was voted in as his replacement to take over as Hamtramck’s mayor if Ghalib resigns.
Ghalib doesn’t regret voting for Trump, he says on Facebook, despite the president threatening to remove Palestinians in Gaza. He was a strong critic of former President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ relationship with Israel amid the war in Gaza.
Ghalib defended his endorsement, but said he disagrees with the president “on the idea of evacuating the indigenous people of Gaza from their homeland…”
Last week, Tudor Dixon, a media personality and the GOP gubernatorial runner-up in 2022, met with Ghalib, House Speaker Matt Hall and Detroit Democrat Karen Whitsett.
“The Speaker is not forgetting about voters,” Whitsett told me. “He goes above and beyond to see and understand our diverse communities and how we are more alike than different. I am proud to be apart of how he thinks outside the box.”
Whitmer, Senate Dems stall minimum wage increase
The Michigan Senate approved a bill Thursday that pushes back the court-ordered minimum wage increase ahead of the new law set to take effect next week.
The bipartisan legislation will gradually increase the state’s minimum wage and maintain a lower wage for tipped workers.
Republicans and the state’s restaurant industry have argued for months that wage increases will cripple small businesses not making enough to pay workers $15/hour.
The proposal increases the state’s min. wage from $10.56 to $12.48, increasing a little more than a dollar each year until hitting $15 in 2027. The tipped minimum wage would remain at 38% of the minimum wage, then increase to 50% by 2031.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called on lawmakers to reach a solution earlier this week.
"The voices of real working people across our state, from Marquette to Monroe and everywhere in between, overturned the efforts of an out-of-state activist group powered by millions in dark money which sought to impose a system that no one here asked for or wanted,” John Sellek of Save MI Tips said in a statement Thursday night.
While Republicans celebrated, Democrats expressed frustration at the delay, arguing workers have been waiting for the minimum wage increase since residents voted for it in 2018.
State Rep. Dylan Wegela, D-Garden City, said in a statement he’s disappointed in Whitmer who is “caving to the business class.”
He echoed the sentiment from One Fair Wage, the group advocating for wage increases, which said the Senate bill was a blatant pay cut.
There were 11 Senate Democrats who voted no, while eight of them joined 12 Republicans who voted to pass the bill, which still needs House approval and a signature from the governor.
Big Meech cancels welcome back concert
Big Meech’s welcome back concert in Florida was canceled Thursday hours before big-name rappers were expected to take the stage.
“Due to unforeseen circumstances tonight's show has been canceled,” officials from the Amerant Bank Arena said in a statement.
Headliners included 21 Savage, Boosie, Lil Baby, and Rick Ross, for what was supposed to be Big Meech’s first public appearance since his release from prison last year.
BMF producer 50 Cent trolled the concert’s cancelation on social media. He’s been on a weeks long internet crusade against Big Meech and his son, Demetrius “Lil Meech” Flenory Jr, who played his dad in 50 Cent’s Showtime series.
It’s unclear what caused the rift between the former business partners. While 50 has cast doubt on a potential new season of the popular Showtime series, season four of the Detroit and Atlanta based “BMF” is expected to be released later this year.
County libraries missed out on millions in fines
The Detroit Public Library missed out on nearly $2 million dollars in penal fines due to miscalculations from Wayne County treasurer, according to a state report on the matter.
Penal fines are paid to the state from residents paying for criminal and civil violations. Those funds are sent to county treasurers who are tasked with dispersing those funds to public libraries.
The report from the state’s Library of Michigan, An Overview of the Wayne County Penal Fine Miscalculations from 2014-2023, outlines the issues that resulted in 18 public libraries across the county to receiving less funds than they should have.
Wayne County libraries were underpaid about $3.6 million in total, the Library of Michigan said.
“While the State Library is tasked with communicating to the county and the libraries the anticipated amounts of disbursements, we acknowledge an ongoing miscalculation of the formula for disbursing penal fines that rests with our office,” a spokesperson for the Wayne County treasurer Eric Sabree told me in a statement.
Wayne County never replaced an employee tasked with calculated fines, according to the report. Once the county treasurer determined the error, the office contacted the State Library to assist with a solution, the spokesperson said.
“By law, the Treasurer’s office has the authority to immediately withhold funds from any future penal fines payments from those overpaid libraries and to transfer those funds to the underpaid libraries. This would substantially shorten the time for repayment and recoupment. However, we are actively working with all parties to explore other solutions to mitigate any potential budgetary issues this option could create.”
Read more from Nushrat Rahman: Accounting errors have cost Wayne County libraries millions
Is Drake’s Valentine in Michigan?
The Boy references the Great Lakes state a bunch of times on his new collaborative album with Canadian singer PartyNextDoor.
“Poppin' out in Saginaw, poppin' out in Salt Lake,” the rapper says on “Small Town Fame.”
It’s well documented (by me) Drizzy likes spending time in Detroit. In 2023, he used a sample from Detroit's Thomas Whitfield and The Thomas Whitfield Company, whose name appears in the song credits on, “Amen (ft. Teezo Touchdown).”
For those who would like to continue speculating why the Toronto native keeps referencing Michigan, read the replies to this tweet.
Pitchfork globetrots Detroit
I ran into Pitchfork’s Alphonse Pierre last month at the Masonic Temple for Rio Da Yung Og’s homecoming show. He came here on Condé Nast’s dime to provide an update on what’s been happening with Michigan rap.
On Friday, Pitchfork published his dispatches from the city, featuring stories from the show, inside the Ford F-150 of Bruiser Brigade’s J.U.S. and Shaudy Kash’s bedroom.
It’s the best writing you’ll read this week.
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