CPR-Detroit

Mission Statement of the Committee for the Political Resurrection of Detroit

CPR-Detroit Mission and Activities

POB 44474/Detroit MI 48244

CPR-Detroit seeks to build a people's movement in the community that will create positive alternatives to present government and economic structures, putting people first, and that will improve the quality of life for all residents.

CPR will take electoral politics beyond personality and big spending contests, to a higher level that will empower the communities to make decisions about the life of the city.

CPR will work with neighborhood, justice and faith groups to develop policies and programs to create grassroots youth leadership.

We will organize for a clean, healthy and safe environment, people's control of a professional police department, efficient, dependable and affordable public services such as fire department, trash pick up and a clean water system.

• We call for a moratorium on privatization of all city agencies and services.
• We demand Living Wages for all that receive benefits or contracts from the City Government.
• CPR seeks to reshape the identity of Detroiters as people with a sense of environmental responsibility, love of community and each other, and supporters of active grassroots involvement in all government proceedings.

PROGRAM

ART, Joy and Community:
CPRdetroit will work to include art and artists, humor, music, theater, dance and physical fitness in all of our activities in order to enliven and deepen our work in and with our neighborhoods.

Communications/Education:
CPR resolves that we engage in voter education program so that we learn more about making new politics that will build better neighborhoods and a better city. We will develop an education program that will include:

• How a city works and the potential for improvement,
• The history of Detroit political and economic struggles and how they have impacted our lives.
• Public health and environmental justice.
• How neighborhoods can empower themselves in harmony with other community organizations.

Elections:
We will engage in electoral politics in ways that promotes the movement of social justice and fundamental change.

We will work for district voting and election monitoring, and work to limit campaign financing of elections. As an alternative, we will work to organize publicly financed and governed debates between candidates.

We will sponsor and support community forums and town halls for all elections to provide residents the opportunity and criteria by which to evaluate the candidates. We will launch petitions for ballot initiatives to achieve some policy goals.

CPR will not run candidates who accept corporate campaign funds.

Community Building: We will place special emphasis on developing youth leadership from K-12 in the rebuilding of our communities.

We support community control of neighborhood development and land use and long range planning to re-build the city from the ground up.

We call for a moratorium on the destruction of housing and place emphasis on renovation, in-fill housing construction, and neighborhood preservation.

CPR will develop a relationship with urban farmers, elders, youth and middlers, and promote the practice and benefits of urban agriculture as a means of expressing freedom, humanity and good nutrition.

In recognition of conflicts among the people and within our organizations, we make available Conflict Resolution procedures and resources.

Issues: We demand that residents in Graimark, Brush Park who desire to remain in their homes be allowed to stay, and we oppose the relocation of any or all casinos to the Riverfront.

We will study the possibility of calling for a vote to stop all rent increases and condominium conversions.

We will work for the realization of a guaranteed income for every person.

Transportation:
We will work for the improvement of the bus system and labor conditions of the workers. We want hundreds of new busses that meet high environmental standards and that can be used by the physically challenged. In order to benefit Detroit residents, our Transportation emphasis will be on mass transportation rather than widening of or building new highways. We support the constant repair of our streets.

Seniors and Housing:
We will struggle for city and county legislation that provides a special extended payment plan for seniors to pay city and county taxes. We also demand that seniors be given an extra year beyond the current period, before their properties may be taken for non-payment.

With the exception of vacant lands adjacent to residential property, we demand that the sale of any city property or resources be conducted by the competitive bidding process.

CPR demands that the City government rehabilitate and preserve all city-owned senior apartment complexes and that they be used to house current and future low and middle income seniors.

We call for the preservation of all remaining public housing, and that they be rehabilitated for the exclusive rental or low and middle income residents. The city should not plan to build affluent housing on those sites.

We call for the building of low-income, quality, affordable housing to meet the needs of the residents.

• We will work with other community groups to study legislation to mandate revisions in the uses of the City Employee Pension funds.

• We call for the elimination of Time-Limitation and Re-Authorization for recipients of funds from the Michigan Family Independence Agency.

• We call for the support of the Fresh Start Program.

• We demand that childcare providers be paid a Living Wage.

• We will demand immediate official audits of all city departments for performance and financial procedures, as required by the Charter.