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TMCNet: Detroit Free Press Rochelle Riley column: Teens question City Council candidates

[September 22, 2009]

Detroit Free Press Rochelle Riley column: Teens question City Council candidates

Sep 22, 2009 (Detroit Free Press - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The setting was the same as numerous forums before: Detroit City Council candidates lined up at a long table facing a panel of questioners who could make or break them.

But this forum was different: The average age of this panel was 15.

And the questions asked by teens from the Neighborhood Service Organization's Youth Initiatives Project -- and others in the audience that neared 100 people -- were as powerful as any the candidates said they had heard before: "How will you guys help to lower the trafficking of drugs?" "What can you do to get kids home safely?" "How are you going to stop the gangbangers, robbers and other violence?" "I live in this neighborhood, and I'm tired of hearing gunshots. What are you going to do about it? The teens wanted to know what the council candidates were up to when they were the panelists' ages and how they showed leadership then. And the teens wanted to know whether the candidates supported electing council members by district because they all want their own council member.

But mostly, the children wanted to know how to feel safe.

The first-time forum was symbolic of so much more than the changing of the guard at City Hall. It is one of several instances citywide of children and parents stepping up and demanding more from their government.

Entertainer and activist Bill Cosby drew crowds the week before to a rally organized by city schools Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb for the I'm In campaign to recruit parents and students to the city schools. DPS spokesman Steve Wasko said that Bobb has only anecdotal evidence of success because he has just uncovered "a host of counting and scanning issues" that prevents the district from getting preliminary attendance figures." But anecdotally, Wasko said, some parents are coming back.

The next event happens Wednesday. The Detroit Parent Network has urged hundreds of parents to attend a rally at Finney High School, where it is to present to Mayor Dave Bing the Agenda for Detroit Kids, based on a survey of 2,000 parents.

The network also is to outline the commitments parents have pledged to make to help improve life for their children.

'Putting our kids first' The survey was done because "a lot of people in the city of Detroit had lost hope because of our previous administration," said Sharlonda Buckman, executive director of the parent network.

"It was a way to engage citizens again and let them know that they can hold their government accountable," she said.

Buckman said the network plans to work closely with the mayor because, "regardless of the deficit and other challenges, the most important thing is putting our kids first.

"I believe Detroit will be great again when we do right by our children," she said. "That means safe schools, good schools and opportunities for them to be engaged after school and have safe places to play on the weekends." The Detroit Parent Network rally with Mayor Dave Bing is to begin at 3 p.m. Wednesday at Finney High School, 4180 Marlborough St. For information, call 313-832-0617.

For more information, visit www.detroitparentnetwork.org.

Contact ROCHELLE RILEY: rriley99@freepress.com To see more of the Detroit Free Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.freep.com Copyright (c) 2009, Detroit Free Press Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

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