Mark Maynard | 2015 | September

I got lucky tonight in Ypsilanti

By Mark | September 10, 2015

This evening, after getting home from work, I took my dog for a walk. We were making pretty good time along the route we usually take, until we reached the intersection of Michigan Avenue and South Washington Street, when we were approached by a local business owner who wanted to talk about the upcoming vote on the future of Ypsilanti’s convention and visitors bureau. So, for about five minutes, my dog and I just stood there with this man, on the southeast corner of the intersection, talking about local politics, oblivious to what was going on around us. It was the kind of conversation that could have taken place anywhere. It just so happens, however, that it took place in the exact spot where, a few minutes later, two cars would forcefully collide in what could have easily been a fatal accident. I don’t know how long after I moved off the spot the two cars would come to a stop on the sidewalk where we’d been standing, but it couldn’t have been more than 15 minutes, and it has me thinking a lot about mortality tonight. I suspect it’s true that any of us, had we taken a different turn at some point in our lives, could be dead right now, but it’s not something that I think about often. If I did, I probably wouldn’t leave the house. But, had I been just a few minutes later getting home this evening, or if that business owner had kept me just a few minutes longer, I wonder if I’d be writing to you tonight.

Here are the two cars involved in this evening’s accident, which news crews are still filming right now.

According to a woman who had been sitting in front of the Tap Room at the time of the crash, the police car had been “flying” down Michigan Avenue, with “no lights, no sirens, no nothing,” when the car seen here on the left began turning onto South Washington Street from the westbound lane of Michigan Avenue. She said the police car slammed right into the side of the turning car, causing both vehicles to jump the curb and come to a stop in front of the former bank building. As I didn’t see the accident, I have no idea what actually happened, but I suspect that we’ll know soon enough whether or not this woman’s account was accurate, as the whole thing was captured by a Wireless Ypsi camera pointed at the intersection. In the meantime, though, I’m just glad to have made it to the end of yet another day in Ypsi unscathed.

[Fortunately, the drivers of both vehicles seemed to be in fairly stable condition by the time I arrived back on the scene a few minutes after the crash. If there had been a passenger in the car which had been hit, I think it’s almost certain that he or she would be dead right now. Thankfully, though, the driver was alone.]

update: The police have put out a press release about the incident. Here is their explanation as to what happened.

Posted in Mark's Life, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Tagged bad police work, brushes with death, car accidents, car crushing, crash, death by cop, fear of death, Michigan Avenue, mortality, South Washington Street, speeding, Tap Room, Ypsilanti police department | 7 Comments

Ann Arbor declares itself to be “Compassionate”

By Mark | September 9, 2015

A few months ago, when we were discussing plans in Ann Arbor to hire a small army of so-called “ambassadors” who would be charged with both warmly welcoming visitors and shooing so-called “street people” away from downtown, some of us questioned just how compassionate our neighbors to the west were. Well, apparently it’s no longer debatable. The Ann Arbor City Council voted unanimously last night to declare themselves a “Compassionate Community”. [Thanks to Alex Hamlin for bringing this to my attention by way of Facebook.]

The text of the resolution, which was proposed by Councilman Warpehoski, can be found online, if you’re interested… One thing you won’t find, if you read it, is a clause about how Ann Arborites, in evidence of their overflowing compassion, will work with those surrounding communities to which their poor have been driven. [Let’s not forget that, as more of the poor have been driven from Ann Arbor, ours has become the 8th most economically segregated region in the entire nation.] The following comes by way of the Ann Arbor News.

…In an attempt to make the proposed resolution more palatable, Warpehoski removed a clause that stated the city would be open to working with other regional units of government and nongovernmental groups toward the development and implementation of a program for action to pursue the charter’s goals…

For what it’s worth, I applaud Warpehoski for raising the topic and encouraging his fellow members of the Ann Arbor City Council to join the International Campaign for Compassionate Cities. From what little I know of him, he seems to be a really decent man who genuinely cares about Ann Arbor’s homeless population. And, while largely symbolic, I think this is a positive step in the right direction. Sadly, though, I can’t read something like this without noting the irony that these people would pronounce themselves compassionate, while, for the most part, ignoring the growing disparity which they’re largely responsible for.

If Ann Arbor truly wants to be a compassionate community, I’d suggest that they start by seriously considering the recommendations of the recent Affordable Housing Needs Assessment commissioned by Washtenaw County, which called on them to both aggressively construct low income housing, in order to decrease the pressure put on surrounding communities like Ypsilanti, and leverage the resources of their well-regarded school district, in order to decrease the growing inequality in our region. And, of course, it also might help if, at least in public, they quit suggesting that poverty is just an Ypsilanti problem.

Posted in Ann Arbor, Rants, Uncategorized | Tagged Ann Arbor City Council, Charter for Compassion, Chuck Warpehoski, compassion, Golden Rule, homelessness, income disparity, inequality, International Campaign for Compassionate Cities, poverty, self-congratulatory, Washtenaw County's Affordable Housing Needs Assessment, wealth inequality | 20 Comments

CivCity’s quest to rescue American democracy, one community at a time

By Mark | September 8, 2015

Earlier this summer, the trustees of the Ann Arbor Awesome Foundation awarded a $1,000 grant to journalist-tuned-local civics champion Mary Morgan for the purposes of creating a how-to kit for those interested in hosting nonpartisan pre-election potlucks. Here, with more on this specific initiative, as well as on the newly formed CivCity non-profit from which it sprang, is my interview with Mary Morgan.

[CivCity founder Mary Morgan (second from right) with Ann Arbor Awesome Foundation trustees Sandra Gergerman, Omari Rush and Johanna Epstein.]

MARK: Let’s start by talking about CivCity. Can you walk us through your decision to close down the Ann Arbor Chronicle and launch a local non-profit dedicated to better informing the local electorate, increasing civic engagement, etc.?

MARY: We closed The Chronicle in large part because we were exhausted. We ran the publication for six years full-tilt, and while we made a modest living – I guess I’d say meager more than modest – we never were able to raise enough revenues to hire staff that would offset our work in a meaningful way. We talked about what we could do to substantially increase revenues, but realized that if we implemented those kinds of changes, it wouldn’t be the kind of publication we’d be proud of. So we decided to shut down while we were still doing our best work, six years to the date after we launched.

Our work at The Chronicle, which focused on covering local government, made it abundantly clear that most residents aren’t informed about how their local government works, and aren’t in a position to participate in the process in an informed way – or aren’t interested in doing so. It’s shocking how many people can’t tell you who represents them on city council or the county board of commissioners, but they’ll be really conversant on national issues. I’ve always been baffled by that, since it’s far easier to influence what happens locally than it is to make changes at the state or national level. Anyway, as we thought about what to do post-Chronicle, we started wondering what it would take to flip that dynamic in this community – to create a culture in which people are more informed and engaged about local issues than they are about what’s happening on the national stage. In a way it’s selfish, because I’d like to have more conversations about the local community with a broader cross-section of people – beyond just general bitching about development or what new restaurant is opening.

I also believe we need to do something to change the toxic, polarized rhetoric we see nationally, and I think the best way to do that is to start in the community where we live. So we’re using Ann Arbor as a proof of concept, with the hope that we’ll be able to develop a strategy that can be used in other communities nationwide. Basically we’re fighting civic apathy and strengthening civic literacy. I want to rescue American democracy, one community at a time.

MARK: I’m curious as to whether or not you’ve identified other civics-based non-profits around the country. And, if so, what you’ve learned from them.

MARY: A lot of organizations nationwide – companies and nonprofits, as well as educational institutions – are doing civics-related work. One example is iCivics, a nonprofit founded by former U.S. Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor. They develop and deploy online games geared toward teaching kids about various civic roles, like being a juror or how to make positive changes in your community. And some communities offer programs like a Citizens Academy, which we’d like to develop for Ann Arbor too, eventually. I’m always on the prowl for ideas we can steal. In Portland, Oregon, they hold Candidates Gone Wild forums around election time. It’s a crazy talent show – one candidate built a picture frame on stage in two minutes. Another read poetry dressed as a beatnik. And my favorite was a guy who made a smoothie with locally-sourced ingredients, which was mixed using a bike-powered blender. The event is meant to draw attention to the local election and candidates, in a creative way. Closer to home, the University of Michigan School of Information is doing interesting work through their Citizen Interaction Design unit, and I’m eager to tap their big brains for CivCity projects.

So there’s a lot going on. But what I haven’t found anywhere else is an organization that takes responsibility for trying to shift the culture of a community in a comprehensive way, with a variety of approaches. We talk about a saturation strategy, and I mean that quite literally. I want people to encounter signs of local civics wherever they go, every day – at coffee shops, bars, schools, their work, places of worship, grocery stores, sporting venues, movie theaters, fitness centers, community centers – everywhere. Banners in the streets! Stenciled chalk messages! Skywriting! Ok, maybe not skywriting. It’s also important to note that elections will be one focus, but not the only focus. We aim to raise the level of local civic literacy year-round, creating a new normal for our community – and hopefully a model for other communities nationwide.

MARK: Assuming you’ve already talked with folks at City Hall about your plans, I’m curious as to what kind of reception you’ve gotten. Are our elected officials offering to assist you, either financially or otherwise? Have they offered you poles downtown for your banners? Have they offered to participate in events?

MARY: My discussions with the city have primarily been with staff, not elected officials. I’ve talked to city administrator Steve Powers about CivCity and he was supportive – he pointed out that civic engagement is one of the staff priorities. But now he’ll likely be leaving soon to take a job in Salem, Oregon. I’ve also had discussions with Wendy Rampson, the planning manager who recently retired, and Matt Naud, the city’s environmental coordinator, and a few others. As an aside, there’s a lot of leadership turnover at the city and county, which will be either really scary or an opportunity. Still too early to tell, but it’s something to watch.

With regard to electeds, I’ve talked with several city councilmembers, county commissioners, library trustees and school board trustees, as well as people who serve on appointed boards and commissions. We’ve also gotten a fair amount of press, so I’m pretty sure that even if I haven’t talked with them directly, elected officials are aware of CivCity. The vast majority of conversations I’ve had reflect support for CivCity’s efforts, although a couple of people have pointed out that if we’re successful at what we do, it will make their jobs (and campaigns for office) more difficult. And a few elected officials have made donations to CivCity.

We haven’t received financial support from any government entity. We haven’t asked, but we likely will seek funding when it makes sense for specific projects. I think it would be totally reasonable for the city, county, library and schools to kick in a bit to support our efforts to promote the 2016 August primary, for example – or at the very least, for the city to waive its fees to hang downtown banners. But I would never want CivCity to be dependent on government funding. That wouldn’t be healthy.

Beyond financial support, people have been willing to participate in other ways. For example, during the library’s Summer Game, we had a CivCity series of badges that players could earn by doing civic-y things, like attending or watching certain public meetings. For each meeting that was broadcast via CTN, we asked someone who served on that public body – city council, county board, park advisory commission, etc. – to read aloud the game code during the meeting, so that people who were watching could get it. There were about 20 meetings where elected or appointed officials read aloud the game code during the meeting. No one turned us down when we asked – it was great! People seemed geeked to do it.

MARK: How did the idea for the potlucks come about?

MARY: This was an idea that videographer Donald Harrison proposed, actually – and I loved it. He’d done this when he lived in San Francisco, and found it really helpful. After he moved to Ann Arbor, he also hosted a potluck a few years ago when the local ballot was really intense. When he described how it worked, I could instantly see the value in it.

MARK: Were you able to test the concept prior to the August 4 elections in Ann Arbor? And, if so, what did you learn from that experience?

MARY: When I applied for the Awesome grant in early May, I anticipated there would be more on the local ballot than just the city council races. But that didn’t happen. The value of the potlucks is the crowdsourcing work, especially on candidates and ballot issues that aren’t unique to a single ward. With only two candidates to research per ward, well, if someone can’t take the time to learn about two candidates on their own, that’s just pathetic. And now for the Nov. 3 election, there’s only one contested local race – Ward 2 city council, between independent incumbent Jane Lumm and Democrat Sally Petersen, who wasn’t challenged in the August primary. So we’re looking ahead to 2016, with plans to develop a toolkit for people to hold potlucks when the local ballot will be incredibly dense – council and mayoral races, county commissioners, sheriff, county clerk and prosecuting attorney, library board, school board, judicial and state races, and probably some local ballot issues too.

MARK: How will the recent grant from the Ann Arbor Awesome Foundation help?

MARY: The most obvious thing is cash flow – we’re a startup, and have been bootstrapping primarily via donations from individuals. Most of those donations are relatively small. We’re running on fumes at the moment, and every bit helps. But more broadly, getting a grant from the Ann Arbor Awesome Foundation is a stamp of legitimacy and endorsement. It helps us as we seek other funding, both from individuals and foundations. It shows that a group of community leaders believes in what we’re doing, and is willing to support us in our work.

MARK: Assuming people want to be involved… either hosting a pre-election potluck, or attending one… how would they go about doing that?

MARK: I’m collecting names of people who are interested in hosting or even in providing input as we develop a toolkit for 2016. Anyone who’s interested can email me at a2marymorgan@gmail.com. I’ll also be starting a more general e-newsletter with CivCity updates – so email me if you’d like to be added to that list too. We hope to overhaul our website sometime soon, and people will eventually be able to sign up there. Right now the site is pretty much just a placeholder. We have ambitious plans for our online presence, but of course, like everything else, it will depend on resources.

MARK: I’m curious as to how you plan to ensure that all viewpoints are considered and that these potlucks don’t just become opportunities for people who are already likeminded to come together and further reinforce their preferences. How, in other words, will you ensure that Trump supporters are included in the process?

MARY: This isn’t a trivial question. I think it’s crucial that each host feels comfortable with the format, so while we’ll be providing guidelines and a suggested approach, each potluck will have its own flavor. Some hosts might be interested in more of a debate format, with guests advocating for a particular side so that each side is represented. Others might just want to be as neutral as possible in their presentations. So there might be potlucks where everyone is more-or-less on the same page, but I would hope they’d assign people to at least play devil’s advocate. One of the things we see too often is the immediate dismissal of an opposing view – that’s especially evident at the national level, but that attitude emerges locally too. It’s easy to just say that someone’s an idiot for supporting a particular candidate or issue. But if we ask why and really try to find an answer to that question, perhaps we can find some common ground. I’d also say that for some local races – like the library board, school board and judicial races – my guess is that most people won’t have any idea who the candidates are, so the main challenge will likely be researching those candidates in order to develop an informed opinion, and there won’t be as much knee-jerk divisiveness. What can I say? At heart I’m an optimist.

MARK: Have you given much thought yet as to what the how-to kit for potluck hosts will consist of? I know you said that each event would likely take on a unique flavor of its own, but I’m wondering if there will be some points of commonality. Will there, for instance, be ground rules? And will tasks be outlined. For instance, it sounds as though it will be required that host and guests will have to perform preliminary research. Will this research follow a worksheet of some kind? Will there be modules that people can pick and choose from? Might there be some kind of game component? Might there be video tutorials?

MARY: These are all great ideas. I hope we can keep it fairly simple, but definitely include some templates the hosts can use for invitations, discussion guidelines, and resources for how to conduct research on candidates and ballot issues. Ideally, we can tailor the toolkits for each election cycle. I imagine the ground rules will be pretty basic, with an underlying directive of “Don’t be an asshole.” And of course, we’ll modify it as we get feedback from hosts and participants.

MARK: Will hosts have an opportunity, perhaps through your website, to share best practices, compare notes, post results?

MARY: That’s the plan. Our current website is really a placeholder. I have very ambitious plans for it and for our online presence in general, but it’s all dependent on resources.

MARK: What else, outside of the re-election potlucks, should we expect to see from CivCity in the short term?

MARY: We have about a dozen projects in the works, most of them in partnership with other groups. Partnerships will always be key to CivCity’s success, because it allows us to leverage resources in the community to help achieve our goals in ways we wouldn’t otherwise be able to do.

Our first real project was in partnership with the Ann Arbor District Library’s Summer Game, which ran from June through Aug. 31. We had 15 CivCity badges in the game, awarded to players a total of 1,068 times. One of my favorite badges was called Pollcat, which players earned by helping us crowdsource early election results for the Aug. 4 primary.

This summer we also partnered with Donald Harrison to do a series of short videos – called Eat This Election – that highlighted the Aug. 4 primary elections for city council. A ton of volunteers helped us with that, including some very adorable, rambunctious dogs.

We’re working with Washtenaw Literacy on a newsletter for adults who are learning to read, with the goal of reaching residents who don’t typically participate in civic life. It will feature timely, relevant local content – including information about local government. The newsletter will be used by Washtenaw Literacy tutors – and hopefully other groups as well – as they work with low-literacy adults. We hope to finish up a prototype issue this fall.

We’re partnering with the Ann Arbor Art Center to co-host a picnic on Oct. 18 as part of the POP-X festival that’s being organized by Omari Rush. People who come will discuss issues of importance to the community – while having some fun and enjoying the creativity of our city. We’ll have some special guests there as well, including sheriff Jerry Clayton, artist David Zinn, AADL director Josie Parker, Ann Arbor mayor Christopher Taylor, David Shtulman of the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor, and several others.

Also in October, CivCity is partnering with the A2 Game Designers group and GameStart School on a game jam that’s focused on local civics. That’s happening on the weekend of Oct. 23-25.

We hope to be accepted as “clients” this fall for Skyline High School’s magnet program in communication, media and public policy. Possible projects might be to develop videos featuring residents who answer the question “Why I Vote” or “Why I Don’t Vote” – and we’d look at public policy decisions that create or eliminate barriers to voting. Another possibility is to create videos featuring residents who’ve successfully undertaken civic projects – like the skatepark or the Buhr Park Food Forest – and ask them what they learned from the experience.

What else? We’re partnering with the League of Women Voters of the Ann Arbor Area to co-host a workshop in November on how to navigate local government and influence decision-makers. The workshop will be led by Joe Ohren, a political science professor who’s taught similar sessions throughout the state.

We’re partnering with the nonprofit A2Ethics to develop workshops on participatory budgeting next spring, to introduce this concept to the community and explore whether there’s sufficient interest to pursue a pilot project. I view PB as a gateway drug to learning about municipal finance, and I’m hoping we can get some buy-in to at least try it on a small scale.

In terms of an online presence, for the past few months our Twitter feed @A2CivCity has been providing daily alerts about public meetings taking place each day, including agenda highlights & other relevant information.

I know I’m missing a few things, but that should give you an idea. We’re totally under-resourced, so all of this is happening with just one full-time employee – that would be me. Dave Askins is working for CivCity on an extremely limited basis, because we can’t afford to pay him much at this point. He managed the CivCity badges for the library’s Summer Game, and has been working to strengthen the content of LocalWiki, with an eye toward eventually using that as a platform for covering local government in a comprehensive way.

Developing a news & information arm for CivCity is a longer-term and very resource-intensive project, but one that’s crucial to all of our other goals. And, of course, it’s an effort that draws on our background in journalism and experience with The Chronicle. Since we shut down a year ago, I’m a lot more uninformed about what’s happening in our community, and I’d love to figure out a way to rectify that.

[The Ann Arbor Awesome Foundation awards $1,000 cash grants each month to people with awesome ideas in the Ann Arbor – Ypsilanti area. If you have an awesome idea, apply today. This month’s deadline is September 15.]

Posted in A2Awesome, Ann Arbor, Politics, Uncategorized | Tagged A2 Game Designers, Ann Arbor Chronicle, Ann Arbor District Library’s Summer Game, apathy, candidate forums, Candidates Gone Wild, Citizen Interaction Design, CivCity, civic engagement, civic involvement of students, civic life, civics, community potlucks, Donald Harrison, GameStart, iCivics, Johanna Epstein, League of Women Voters, local government, LocalWiki, Mary Morgan, Omari Rush, POP-X, Portland, potluck, pre-election potlucks, Sandra Day O’Connor, Sandra Gergerman, uninformed voters, Washtenaw Literacy | 7 Comments

It’s Labor Day again, you beautiful, Socialist sons-of-bitches…

By Mark | September 7, 2015

I know it’s probably cheating, but here’s something that I wrote a couple of years ago on the occasion of Labor Day. If anything, I think it’s even more appropriate today.

As some of you probably know, Labor Day was first celebrated here in the United States in 1882. It wasn’t, however, made a national holiday until 1894, in the wake of a bloody strike by employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company, an Illinois-based manufacturer of luxury rail cars. It all began when the company, after having cut the wages of workers across the board by as much as 25%, refused to reduce the rent charged to these same workers, who lived and worked in the company town of Pullman, Illinois. And, from there, the strike spread throughout the railroad industry… The following extended clip comes from the Kansas Heritage Group:

…The strike went peacefully, but after several weeks the Pullman management had not changed its position and the strikers were desperate for aid. During the strike, the American Railway Union had convened in Chicago because it was the rail center of the United States. The recently formed American Railway Union had 465 local unions and claimed the memberships of 150,000 workers. Since, the Pullman workers were an affiliated union on strike in Chicago the ARU offered to send arbitrators for the Pullman cause. The Pullman workers refused this aid, even so the ARU under the leadership of Eugene Debs decided to stop handling Pullman cars on June 26 if the Pullman Union would not agree to arbitration. The stage was set for the largest strike in the nation’s history.

On June 26, the ARU switchmen started to refuse to switch trains with Pullman cars. In response, the General Managers Association began to fire the switchmen for not handling the cars. The strike and boycott rapidly expanded, paralyzing the Chicago rail yards and most of the twenty-four rail lines in the city.

On July 2 a federal injunction was issued against the leaders of the ARU. This Omnibus Indictment prevented ARU leaders from “…compelling or inducing by threats, intimidation, persuasion, force or violence, railway employees to refuse or fail to perform duties…” This injunction was based on the Sherman anti-trust act and the Interstate commerce act and was issued by federal judges Peter S. Grosscup and William A. Woods under the direction of, Attorney General, Richard Olney. The injunction prevented the ARU leadership from communicating with their subordinates and chaos began to reign.

Governor Altgeld of Illinois had been hesitant to employ the state militia to put down the strike instead relying on the local authorities to handle the situation. However, he said he would use the National Guard to protect property. Above all Governor Altgeld did not want federal troops to intervene. However, the issuing of this federal injunction and the fact that mail-trains might be delayed caused President Grover Cleveland to send in federal troops from Fort Sheridan. On July 3, Federal troops entered Chicago against Governor Altgeld’s repeated protests. Governor Altgeld protested by writing President Cleveland on July 5, saying, “…surely the facts have not been correctly presented to you in this case, or you would not have taken the step, for it seems to me, unjustifiable. Waiving all questions of courtesy I will say that the State of Illinois is not only able to take care of itself, but it stands ready to furnish the Federal Government any assistance it may need else where…” Despite these repeated protests by Governor Altgeld, President Cleveland continued to send in federal troops.

The reaction of the strikers to the appearance of the troops was that of outrage. What had been a basically peaceful strike turned into complete mayhem. The mayhem began on July 4, with mobs of people setting off fireworks and tipping over rail cars. The workers started to tip railcars and build blockades in reaction to the presence of the federal troops. In addition to this, there was additional level of chaos caused by the ARU leaders’ inability to communicate with the strikers because of the federal indictments. The rioting grew and spread then on July 7, a large fire consumed seven buildings at the World’s Colombian Exposition in Jackson Park. This burning and rioting came to a zenith on July 6, when fires caused by some 6,000 rioters destroyed 700 railcars and caused $340,000 of damages in the South Chicago Panhandle yards.

At this time in the Chicago vicinity, there were 6,000 federal and state troops, 3,100 police, and 5,000 deputy marshals. However, all this manpower could not prevent the violence from peaking when on July 7, national guardsmen after being assaulted, fired into the crowd killing at least four (possibly up to thirty) and wounding at least twenty. The killing continued when two more people were killed by troops in Spring Valley, Illinois. All this violence started to cause the strike to ebb and on that same day Eugene Debs and four other ARU leaders were arrested for violating the indictment. These officers were later realized on $10,000 bond. The strike was failing rapidly, so the ARU tried to enlist the aid of the AFL in the form of sympathetic strikes. When this was refused the ARU attempted to abandon the strike, on the grounds that workers would be rehired without prejudice except were convicted of crimes however, this offer was refused by the General Managers’ Association. The strike continued to dwindle, and trains began to move with increased frequency. The strike became untenable for the workers and on August 2 the Pullman works reopened.

This strike was truly monumental if some of the figures for lost revenues are looked at. The railroads alone lost an estimated $685,308 in expenses incurred during the strike. However, the railroads lost even more in revenue an estimated $4,672,916. In addition, 100,000 striking employees lost wages of an estimated $1,389,143. These costs are just the localized effects of the paralyzation of the nation’s rail center and do not include the far ranging financial effects. The manpower used to break the strike was also immense. The total forces of the strikebreakers both government and private were: 1,936 federal troops, 4,000 national guardsmen, about 5,000 extra deputy marshals, 250 extra deputy sheriffs, and the 3,000 policemen in Chicago for a total of 14,186 strikebreakers. In addition to these figures there were also twelve people shot and killed, and 71 people who were arrested and sentenced on the federal indictment. This strike had other far ranging consequences. The federal government took an unprecedented step in using indictments to make any form of a strike essentially illegal and supported this action by deploying federal troops against the will of the states.

The results of the Pullman Strike were both enormous and inconsequential. They were enormous because the strike showed the power of unified national unions. At the same time the strike showed the willingness of the federal government to intervene and support the capitalists against unified labor. The results were inconsequential because for all of the unified effort of the unions the workers did not get their rents lowered.

So, several men in Chicago lost their lives, labor had been struck a tremendous blow, and President Grover Cleveland, fearing an even greater worker revolt, pushed the national holiday through Congress in order to appease the masses. And, now, we celebrate the day by grilling out and taking one last dip in the pool.

Here’s to all the men and women who died so that we might enjoy the 40 hour work week, safe working conditions, and all the rest of it… Let’s enjoy the fruits of their labor while we can, because God knows we’ll see kids working in coal mines again in our lifetimes. To do otherwise, after all, would be Socialism.

update: A link to the following graph was just left in the comments section. I thought that it deserved to be up here, where it had a greater likelihood of catching your attention.

Posted in Civil Liberties, Corporate Crime | Tagged American Railway Union, Chicago, Grover Cleveland, Illinois, Labor Day, Pullman, Pullman Palace Car Company, Pullman strike, Sherman anti-trust act, Socialism, unions | 5 Comments

Jay Parks: Itinerant In-Truck Classic Rock Karaoke Drummer

By Mark | September 6, 2015

If you’ve wandered around Ypsi over the past few weeks, you may have come across a fellow from Missouri by the name of Jay Parks, beating on an elaborate little drum kit that he’s built into the back of his truck. My most recent encounter with him was yesterday, when I was walking my dogs down Pearl Street. Parks, who had set up shop across from the bus station, was jamming along with Supertramp. After having passed by a few times, I introduced myself through his window, and we talked for a while… The following video was shot about five minutes into our conversation about hernias, pipe organs, religion, classic rock and how bad Michigan’s roads are on in-vehicle drum kits. I hope you enjoy it.