The Daily Eyesore

02/27/2015

HEAR HAWKE FRACASSA on NewsTalk 1200 WCHB http://wchbnewsdetroit.newsone.com/listen-live/ 1200 AM and 99.1 FM Saturday morning from 9-10 with host Horace Sheffield. Hawke will discuss all issues Warren and how bad things happen when good men and women do nothing. Hawke is a candidate for mayor of Warren. Here's the link if you'd like to listen or call in. Call 313-568-1200.

NEW WARREN. NEW VISION. NEW MAYOR. Hawke Fracassa.

Visit the post for more.

02/24/2015

Novelist Harry Anderson Jr., a fellow Wayne State graduate from Detroit, has two book signings coming up. So proud of my longtime friend, who has written three novels. Please support this Detroit author. Reach him at [email protected] or call him at 1-313-957-8051.

Harry's titles are The GTO Kid, Paul & Rosa and Sandra's Saga/Matthew's World. Sandra is the newest book. Books can be purchased at the signings or at Authorhouse.com or Amazon.com.

From Harry: "My first one will be on March 28 at Back From The Past on Inkster Road in Redford/Livonia. My second book signing, at a coffee house, will be May 2 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at Always Brewing on Grand River near Outer Drive in Detroit."

02/02/2015

If anyone needs their driveway and sidewalk cleared for $20, my friend Robert Randazzo is available to do it. Robert helped dig out my driveway and two sidewalks today and cleared my Ford Escape of snow. It was hard work and he did it at my home in Warren without complaint with his shovel and snowblower. He is an unemployed mason and looking for opportunities to make money to take care of his family during the winter. When he finished, Robert told me: "My wife thanks you." Nice guy and a hard worker. Call him today if you need help digging out: 586-876-5470. Mention my name when you call. --- HAWKE FRACASSA

01/14/2015

It's official. I have filed to run for mayor of Warren. I will begin assembling my team right away and that starts with applications for department heads. If you're qualified to run a city department and want to join the Fracassa for Mayor team, get in touch or have your friends get in touch. The process begins now. Current department heads under the administration of incumbent Mayor James Fouts will be considered, but as of today those jobs are all fair game. Apply in confidence. I will field the strongest team I can collect when I become mayor. Thank you to the 24,000 people who voted for me for senator --- including 11,000 of you from Warren. Because so many of you supported me for senate, I feel the next step is to become mayor. It is time for Warren to thrive, not just survive.

Thank you.
HAWKE FRACASSA for mayor of Warren
[email protected]

12/11/2014

As we sit in the comfort of our living rooms in America this Christmas season, with cold refrigerators because we have electricity, laptops and cars because we can afford them and big-screen TVs because we simply want them, people in the Philippines are suffering from the effects of typhoon Ruby's devastation. My girlfriend Ro's best friend Marian posted this photo this morning of a damaged home where she is. Now, where will this little boy live? And how will he live? What kind of Christmas will he have? Marian's photo is a reminder to us that but for the grace of God there go I. We are fortunate. Today, that little boy and his family are not.
-- Hawke Fracassa

05/17/2014

We now have a donations button for our Fracassa for Senate campaign. Please help us spread our anti-blight, anti-eyesore message with a contribution in any amount to support the campaign. http://fracassa4senate.wix.com/2014 #!donate/cnwq

Donate

05/04/2014

As the stomach turns ...

Warren Mayor Jim Fouts has called me two times now to ask me to to stop talking about blight and eyesores in my campaign.

The former "neighborhood councilman" who always complained about eyesores and exposed them before he became mayor is sensitive that my campaign has exposed so many eyesores in Warren on The Daily Eyesore and on my Fracassa for Senate website.

Mayor Fouts says he's asking me to stop exposing blight on my site because Steve Bieda, the Democrat state senator, saw the pictures of how Warren has deteriorated on his watch on my campaign website. When he saw the pictures, Mr. Bieda called the mayor and asked him to make me stop it.

Let's set the record straight: I'm not beholden to Steve Bieda or Mayor Fouts. I'm here to do the people's work.

If I say fighting blight is part of my job as a new senator, then it is. I will continue to publicly embarrass lazy do-nothing officials who are apologists for blight.

The pictures stay up.

My advice to Mr. Bieda and Mayor Fouts: Instead of trying to beat me up for bringing it up, make blight a nonissue --- get rid of it instead of making excuses for allowing it.

Hawke Fracassa

04/15/2014

Blight Fight Takes New Turn in Detroit

DETROIT (WJBK) - Officials have launched a new auction website to help sell Detroit-owned houses as part of an effort to fight blight.

One home will be auctioned each day on the land bank site beginning May 5. Twelve of the homes are located in the city's East English Village.

You can view the homes on www.buildingdetroit.org. FOX 2's M.L. Elrick reports the homes will be open for inspection on April 27.

Bidding for each home starts at $1,000 and will increase in increments of $100 until a winner is declared.

Not just anybody, though, can purchase the home. Mayor Mike Duggan said at a news conference Monday those with a history of losing property or of code violations will not be eligible to bid.

Detroit has been struggling for years with vacant and dangerous buildings, often demolishing them. This new plan is designed to get empty houses into the hands of people who will quickly fix them up.

Duggan said last week that Detroit will post legal notices on empty houses and take court action if needed against owners of blighted properties in one northwest side neighborhood.

03/11/2014

As you well know Detroit's biggest problem is blight, that's why I am starting a crowd funding campaign together with John "Detroit" George and other professionals to fight blight in Detroit. Our goal is to raise at least $250k in order to demolish 50 abandoned houses. The campaign will be available online for 60 days starting April 1st until June 1st. This is a link that allows you to preview the campaign page before it goes public April 1st. https://www.indiegogo.com/project/preview/0d867bb2

Will you be willing to help us spread the word in April and May? We can make a big difference in Detroit with your help.

Thank you so much!

Claudio Fahmy
Save Detroit Project
www.indiegogo.com
This is our chance to demolish as many abandoned houses as possible in Detroit. Help us make Detroit safer.

This is our chance to demolish as many abandoned houses as possible in Detroit. Help us make Detroit safer.

03/05/2014

Update

The home page of the Fracassa4Senate campaign has been updated. See for yourself at http://fracassa4senate.wix.com/2014. The site remains under construction.

Click the Introduction button when you get there.

Links to the campaign's Twitter account are also active now.

Please remember to vote for Hawke Fracassa for Senate on August 5 and to ask your friends for their support if they live in Warren, Center Line, St. Clair Shores, Fraser, Eastpointe or Lake Township in the Grosse Pointes.

03/04/2014

Hawke Fracassa's Twitter account is now up and active. Please feel free to follow the account for campaign updates. Thank you.

02/07/2014

Obama Signs Farm Bill That Trims Food Stamps

By NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press

President Barack Obama on Friday signed into law an agriculture spending bill that will spread benefits to farmers in every region of the country, while trimming the food stamp program that inspired a two-year battle over the legislation.

As he penned his name on the five-year measure at Michigan State University, Obama said the wide-ranging bill "multitasks" by helping boost jobs, innovation, research and conservation. "It's like a Swiss Army knife," he joked.

But not everyone is happy with the legislation and Obama acknowledged its passage was "a very challenging piece of business."

The bill expands federal crop insurance and ends direct government payments that go to farmers whether they produce anything or not. But the bulk of its nearly $100 billion per year cost is for the food stamp program that aids 1 in 7 Americans.

The bill finally passed with support from Democratic and Republican lawmakers from farming states, but the bipartisan spirit didn't extend to the signing ceremony where Obama was flanked by farm equipment, hay bales and Democratic lawmakers. White House press secretary Jay Carney said several Republicans were invited, but all declined to attend.

Conservatives remain unhappy with the bill and its generous new subsidies for interests ranging from Southern peanut growers and Midwest corn farmers to the Northeast maple syrup industry.

They also wanted much larger cuts to food stamps than the $800 million Congress finally approved in a compromise. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters he did not expect the cut of about 1 percent of the food stamp budget to have a significant impact on recipients.

Obama promised in his State of the Union address last week to make 2014 a year of action, using his presidential powers in addition to pushing a Congress that usually is reluctant to go along with his ideas. In that spirit, he's coupling the signing of the farm bill with a new administration initiative called "Made in Rural America" to connect rural businesses with federal resources that can help sell their products and services abroad.

Obama's trip was a reward for Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., who as chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee helped broker the hard-fought farm bill compromise after years of setbacks. Michigan State, a leading agricultural research school, is Stabenow's alma mater.

Obama also squeezed into his three-hour visit to Michigan a lunch with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. Duggan took office last month as the city is going through the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

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Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/nedrapickler