Council passes laws that miss key issues
Ordinances target small problems with unenforceable action
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Council action
Since 1994, the City Council has adopted 274 ordinances. Here’s a breakdown:
* 134 were minor zoning changes requested by city departments;
* 36 complied with state or federal mandates;
* 19 related to casinos or stadiums;
* 16 were standard yearly laws such as Devil’s Night curfews;
* 15 proposed by Archer administration;
* 54 initiated by council members.
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By Cameron McWhirter / The Detroit News
DETROIT— As the legislative arm of the largest municipal government in Michigan, the City Council’s principal job is to pass ordinances, laws intended to help improve the lives of Detroiters.
On Sept. 5, council members didn’t vote on any proposed ordinances, although Wednesdays are usually designated for passing legislation. But this was the first day back after a month-long recess.
A review by The Detroit News of the 274 ordinances approved by the council from 1994 until the summer recess this year found few actions initiated by the council that addressed the city’s serious ills.
At the same time, some important pieces of legislation - some of it mandated by city charter revisions approved by voters — have languished for years.
Of the ordinances passed, 54 of them, spread out across 7 12 years, included a range of unenforceable and imprecise laws from council members:
* An ordinance passed in 1999 that prohibited outdoor advertising of alcohol and tobacco near locations that minors frequent. The imprecise wording of the law — minors frequent most places in the city — effectively nullifies it, since it can’t be enforced.
* The “Living Wage” ordinance, promoted initially by Council President Pro Tem Maryann Mahaffey and passed by city voters in 1998.
The law required all businesses of a certain size doing business with the city to pay employees a base wage higher than the current federal minimum wage.
However, no mechanism was created to monitor or enforce compliance. A year after the ordinance was passed, the council had the authority to revise it and make it workable.
Amid strong business opposition and confusion among themselves, the council has taken no action since.
* Three related ordinances proposed by Councilman Nicholas Hood III and approved in 1997 that were supposed to decriminalize certain misdemeanor violations so that city building inspectors and others could issue citations — not just police. Administration officials, the police and Hood’s office disagree that these ordinances can be enforced, but four years after passage, the civil infractions ordinances are not enforced.
* An ordinance amending the city code, passed in 1996, “to prohibit an owner, occupant, or other person having control over private and public property to allow the presence of weeds that exceed eight inches in height.” However, the council set up no mechanism to ensure that it was enforced.
* A 1997 ordinance proposed by Mahaffey authorizing the city to create a nuisance-abatement pilot program for rehab-to-own homes. The program is about to be scrapped, according to city officials.
In 2000, the Buildings and Safety Engineering Department received 2,000 applications for the program. The department found only six of them met the qualifications, and three of those projects have since fallen through.
Among ordinances that were successfully implemented were these:
* Allowing blind people to bring their guide dogs to Hart Plaza.
* Banning more strip clubs downtown.
* Banning more billboards downtown.
* Eliminating bus fares for senior citizens and students. The initiative was proposed by Council President Gil Hill and passed in 2000. Department of Transportation executives estimated the ordinance would cost the department $2 million annually.
Charter revisions approved in a 1996 referendum authorized the council to set up a “standing committee structure” to delegate tasks and more efficiently oversee city operations.
The council hasn’t acted on that charter provision.
The revisions, which became law in January 1997, also called for the creation of a network of community advisory councils throughout the city. None have been set up.
The revisions also called for the council to revise and impose an ethics ordinance.
A squabble between Mayor Dennis Archer and some council members over who would appoint members to an ethics board delayed the board’s creation until last summer.
Another charter provision called on the council to examine procedures for privatizing certain city services. The provision has sat dormant.
In 1996 and 1997, the council drafted legislation for much stricter regulations on topless bars in the city. The legislation went nowhere.
In 1999, legislation was passed banning new strip clubs from opening in downtown, but it permitted the existing businesses.
Since 1995, gay-rights groups have been working with council members to draft legislation that would grant domestic-partner benefits for gay city workers. The council eventually passed a nonbinding resolution. Archer asked the council to pass a formal ordinance, but it hasn’t acted.
