State Roundup

 Detroit

City to expand online auction of vacant houses 
DETROIT (AP) — An online auction of vacant houses in Detroit will be expanded from one east side neighborhood to two others, city officials announced Monday.
Open houses are scheduled Saturday and Sunday in Boston-Edison on the west side and Osborn area in northeast Detroit.
The auction began earlier this month for houses in East English Village. More than 1,000 people toured 12 listed homes in that area two weeks ago. The city has been auctioning off one house per day and five were bought in the program’s first week. Each of the houses had been abandoned at least three years, the city said Monday.
Winning bids ranged from $30,000 to $42,100.
“This confirms what we have said all along,” Mayor Mike Duggan said. “The demand for living in Detroit is not just in downtown or Midtown, it extends into our neighborhoods. The success of this auction and the prices these homes are selling for prove that.”
The auctions are part of Detroit’s strategy to fight blight in its neighborhoods. The city has no accurate count of what is believed to be tens of thousands of vacant and abandoned houses.
A blight-removal task force was preparing a report on the number of structures and vacant parcels in Detroit for city officials. That report could help determine which houses and buildings can be saved and which will be torn down.
“Since we are requiring the purchasers to fix up the home within six months and get them occupied, there soon will be 400 more families living in Detroit’s neighborhoods,” said Brenda Jones, Detroit City Council president. “And we are just getting started.”
Thirteen listings of houses set for auction in Boston-Edison have been added to the www.BuildingDetroit.org website. Ten houses in the Osborn area also have been added. The city’s Land Bank will start auctioning two homes per day beginning May 27.
Nearly 6,000 people have already registered on the auction website to bid on homes.

Detroit
Records: $1M part of legislative fight against 2nd bridge 
DETROIT (AP) — Records show the family of the Ambassador Bridge’s owner has spent more than $1 million since 2009 in a legislative fight against a new government-backed bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.
The Detroit News reports Tuesday donations by the family of Manuel “Matty” Moroun appear to have met legal requirements.
Last week, the GOP-led state Senate approved a ban against state purchases of land for the New International Trade Crossing. The newspaper says the family made donations totaling more than $105,000 in the last five years to 18 of 26 GOP senators backing the ban.
The newspaper used figures from the Michigan Campaign Finance Network watchdog organization.
Canada is supporting construction of the New International Trade Crossing. Moroun wants to build a twin span adjacent to the Ambassador Bridge.
 
Kalamazoo
White officer files discrimination suit against employer 
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — An August trial is planned after a Kalamazoo Public Safety officer sued to say he was passed over for special assignments and promotion because he is white.
The Kalamazoo Gazette reports David Moran, who has been with the department since 2006, in the lawsuit blames “deliberate attempts to tilt the playing field in favor of minority candidates at the expense of well-qualified and experienced white officers.”
The city, in response, denies any wrongdoing.
Moran’s discrimination lawsuit filed last year seeks $25,000. It says Moran was denied a bomb squad assignment in 2011 and promotion to sergeant in 2013.
The city says bomb squad openings were filled by qualified candidates. It also says race played no role in the promotion decision.
A civil jury trial is scheduled for Aug. 20.
 
Traverse City
Superintendent to help repay money spent on his fliers 
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The superintendent of Traverse City Area Public Schools has agreed to repay more than half of $24,800 in taxpayer money that Michigan Secretary of State officials determined was misspent by administrators during a 2012 bond millage campaign.
The Traverse City Record-Eagle reports the state determined that district leaders misspent public funds to print and distribute fliers. Michigan’s Campaign Finance Act prohibits the use of public money to promote or denounce a ballot question.
Cousins says he’s responsible for the use of the word “support” in the literature. He says “it seems right” that he would take responsibility for the district.
The remaining $10,000 will come in the form of campaign finance requirements training for district officials.
 
Saugatuck
Great Lakes route aims to boost the state’s tourism 
SAUGATUCK, Mich. (AP) — Supporters of a proposed international biking, hiking and paddling route around the Great Lakes basin are meeting this week in southwestern Michigan to collaborate on the idea.
The Great Lakes Coastal Trail Conference takes place Thursday and Friday in Saugatuck. The Grand Rapids Press reports the event aims to bring together supporters in the U.S. and Canada to formalize development of roughly 7,000-mile route.
The route would include Great Lakes shoreline and the St. Lawrence River, which connects the lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.
An aim is to draw tourists to the region, which includes eight U.S. states and the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario. It would integrate independent biking and kayaking trail developments. Efforts already are progressing on a four-state Lake Michigan Water Trail.