Just attended what should have been a joyous occasion for our 4th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ceremony. Instead Mark Hackel and friends attempted to hijack this ceremony by releasing more vile, vitriolic, phony tapes against me. This was timed so that they came out just before our noon ceremony. This distracted from my major announcement of the appointment of Greg Murray to be the new diversity coordinator. His first effort will be toward helping our special needs popul...ation regarding accessibility, employment and understanding. Transportation will also be a focus. And I have a stated goal of including the rights of the special needs community into the U.S. Civil Rights Act. They deserve to have their rights protected by federal legislation, that way the special needs individuals can achieve the status that all Americans have, which is full protection of all their rights! This effort at negative tapes is designed to distract from my efforts of inclusion for all. The media as usual bombarded me with questions all at once and allowed an agitator to shout over me! This tactic dishonors the memory of Martin Luther King a man of peace.
Just as a reminder I made great efforts at inclusion including:
1)Appointment of the first African American Dept head
2)Appointment of the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth African American members to the Planning Commission
3)Jocelyn Howard my appointment is currently the chair person of the Planning Commission. She is an African American.
4)Currently a majority of the Planning Commission are non-white. This includes a Moslem that I appointed.
5)I appointed the first African American Fire Commissioner and I believe the only African American Fire Commissioner in Macomb County.
6. I sponsored an annual Dr. Martin Luther Day ceremony at Warren City Hall.
7)I also sponsored having a large photo of Martin Luther King at the entrance of the Civic Center Library.
8)Today I appointed Greg Murray to be the first diversity coordinator in Macomb County and Warren. He is also African American.
9)I changed the image from "Fortress Warren" promoted by the previous administration to a more inclusive Warren.
10)We also have more employees at city hall that are African
American.
11)I came up with the idea of diversity coordinator last summer with the idea of having a more diverse workforce in Warren.
12) Also appointed Greg Jackson to the DDA. He became the first African American to sit on the DDA.. This is a very prestigious board.
Finally just like the previous tape this is a phony manufactured tape
to distract from my outstanding record as Mayor.
Not only was I stampeded on by the media but they also trampled on the musical instruments of the Renaissance High School Quintet and may have done some damage. This was a media stampede trampling over musical instruments! Shame on them and shame on Mark Hackel for this transparent attempt at character assassination.