Monthly Archives: April 2012


School district consolidation finally on the table, many years too late!

It’s long overdue, but under the threat of being taken over by an emergency financial manager, the Ypsilanti and Willow Run school districts are finally seriously considering consolidating into a single entity. While this absolutely needs to happen, it doesn’t go far enough.  Nearly six years ago, I wrote a post on this blog advocating the idea of combining Ypsi, Willow Run and the Lincoln school districts and the situation has deteriorated dramatically since that time.

A combined Willow Run-Ypsilanti district will have about 5,300 students, less than half the number in neighboring Ann Arbor. At the very least, Lincoln (which covers much of southern Ypsilanti Township) should be part of this blended district and I seriously believe that they should be talking about merging with Ann Arbor as well.

The system in Michigan that allows so many tiny districts as well as separate cities and townships hurts everyone this state. I’m a liberal and a believer that there is a place for government in providing essential services like education, infrastructure and so on. But I’m also a pragmatist that understands that we need efficiency in how we deliver those services.

Administrators tend to have high salaries and if we want great teachers we need to pay them a decent salary.  Having many small districts means we are paying for too many administrators leaving less for the rank and file teachers that have to educate the students. It also makes it much more difficult to offer students a variety of elective educational options.

It’s important for residents to participate at the neighborhood school level, but the reality is they need to be willing to give up a bit of the hyper-local control and take advantage of some “economies of scale” in managing schools.

As long as we’re finally talking consolidation, lets take it a few steps further and at least combine more services at the county level such as busing, food services and others. Hopefully, these first steps will finally get our schools back on a more sound financial footing.


James Treece does an excellent compare and contrast of the impacts of Derrick Kuzak…

James Treece does an excellent compare and contrast of the impacts of Derrick Kuzak and Bob Lutz on +Ford Motor Company and +General Motors and I have my own thoughts on the matter.
#ford #generalmotors #derrickkuzak #boblutz #cars

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On the legacies of Derrick Kuzak and Bob Lutz « Sam's Thoughts
James Treece does an excellent compare and contrast of the impacts of Derrick Kuzak and Bob Lutz on Ford and General Motors in the latest Automotive News. As much as I admire Lutz, if you look back ov…

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On the legacies of Derrick Kuzak and Bob Lutz

James Treece does an excellent compare and contrast of the impacts of Derrick Kuzak and Bob Lutz on Ford and General Motors in the latest Automotive News.

As much as I admire Lutz, if you look back over his history at and then at GM, it seems that products that emerged during his tenures were largely the result of his shear force of will rather than changing the culture of the organization.

Following Lutz’s “retirement” from Chrysler in the wake of the DaimlerChrysler merger, the products quickly returned to a level of mediocrity that drove customers away.  The problem of course was not at the engineering and design levels, but in the upper reaches of management. Without a commitment to product excellence above all else, the product will always devolve to that lowest common denominator level.

Even his tenure at GM was something of a mixed bag, with excellent products like the Cadillac CTS, C6 Corvette and Buick LaCrosse mixed with misses like the two-mode and mild hybrids, Hummer H3 and Solstice/Sky. As much as I loved the idea of the Pontiac Solstice, it was not well executed and probably should not have made it to production.

The soft-spoken Kuzak on the other hand had 100% support from Alan Mulally and Bill Ford in his efforts to focus the Ford product development process. The Focus has recently started to pick up steam in the US market and new Fusion has the potential to be a huge win for Ford. Even the Flex deserves credit. Despite being a weak seller, it was beautifully executed and remains one of my favorite crossovers.

Having spent time at both companies I remain unconvinced that GM’s future products will retain the level of excellence found in the products released in the last few years. Because of the lead times involved, the vehicles coming in the next 2-3 years will still exhibit the Lutz effect but beyond 2015 it’s hard to say.  The engineering and design ranks can obviously execute, but whether they will be allowed to is unclear.

It’s too early to tell about Ford either, but I have a feeling that when 2015 rolls around we won’t be as concerned about Dearborn’s product direction.

#ford #gm #derrickkuzak #boblutz

 

 


Anyone foolish enough to think that real men don't drive station wagons needs… 3

Anyone foolish enough to think that real men don't drive station wagons needs to check out this video starring my friend +Jonny Lieberman. Jonny pits two of the most amazing wagons on the planet against each other with over 1,100 hp between them. Why anyone would opt for something as silly as a BMW X6M
http://www.examiner.com/automotive-in-detroit/review-2010-bmw-x6-m-equal-parts-goodness-and-pointlessness
or even a Porsche Cayenne instead of one of these beasts should have their head examined.
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/06/03/review-2009-cadillac-cts-v-supercar-performance-everyday-driv/
#cadillacctsv #mercedesbenz #cadillac

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There is no reason for Obama (or anyone else for that matter) to be backing any sort… 3

There is no reason for Obama (or anyone else for that matter) to be backing any sort of censorship bill! Express your concerns.

Reshared post from +Manuel Dorne

SOPA est de retour !!!!

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Obama is expressing his support to bring back SOPA! Let's not let SOPA 2.0 get written, Tell him no: #OBAMArevivingSOPA
Obama is calling for another internet censorship bill like SOPA. We won't stand for this. Act now.

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