DIA Passes: '"You Can't Put A Price Tag On Spiritual Nourishment'

After a tight race Tuesday, one of Detroit's cultural gems received the regional support officials say it needs to stay open.

In Wayne, Macomb and Oakland County, residents participating in primary elections voted in favor of a 10-year, 0.2-mill property tax that will raise $23 million for the DIA and cost the the owner of a $200,000 home $20 a year. While voters showed strong support for the measure in Wayne and Oakland, the race was neck-and-neck in Macomb, where the millage passed with 50.5 percent support and 1,340 votes.

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Museum officials said that without funding from the public, they would have had to begin cutting hours and staff and eventually close.

While some opposed the millage, citing the DIA's existing endowment, recent costly renovations and what they called an unfair burden to taxpayers, the museum's widely publicized "Save the DIA" campaign brought out vehement supporters of the arts, including public officials like Mayor Dave Bing and City Council President Pro Tem Gary Brown. All across the city of Detroit, shop owners and residents posted blue signs supporting the venerable arts museum, regularly lauded as one of the nation's finest.

The museum held a rally at New Center Park last week to get out the vote, and volunteers handed out literature at the polls Tuesday.

In Oakland County, Southfield resident Carol Izant voted for the millage.

"You can't put a price tag on spiritual nourishment," Izant told The Huffington Post. "That's priceless."

The DIA lost key funding sources in the last several decades, as state support was slashed. According to the Associated Press, the museum cut its budget by more than 25 percent in 2009 to $25 million in 2009 and its staff by 20 percent.

Museum officials have said that counties that pass the millage will have free admission to the museum.

Below, see voters' thoughts on the DIA millage and the other issues that drove them to the polls Tuesday:

• Metro Detroit Voters In The Michigan Primary, August 2012

  "I always vote because I know my ancestors died for the right," said Debra Martin of Lathrup Village, Mich., who cast her ballot at City Hall Tuesday morning for the August primaries. "I'm going to come vote every time those polls open." Martin said she voted for Brenda Lawrence, her friend and former Southfield mayor running for the democratic nomination for the 14th district seat in the U.S. House against Rep. Hansen Clarke, Mary Waters and Rep. Gary Peters, who currently has the lead over his opponents. Martin believes Lawrence had a large commitment to keeping business in Southfield and keeping the crime rate down.

• Metro Detroit Voters In The Michigan Primary, August 2012

  Antonio Carmona, 70, a retired UAW worker who lives in southwest Detroit, voted for Rashida Tlaib to be the Democratic candidate for state Rep. in District 6. "She does good. The woman comes to my house. Helps my kids. Does stuff for the community," he said.

• Metro Detroit Voters In The Michigan Primary, August 2012

  Sarah McCarthy (pictured here with her husband Paul) told The Huffington Post she's basically a conservative voter, but voted for politicans she thought were doing their jobs including state Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy. One issue she was extremely supportive of was a renewal of a millage for the Wayne County jail. "They're turning them loose, aren't they? There's no room. If you don't have more space, you can't lock them up," she said. "We need a big, big jail!"

• Metro Detroit Voters In The Michigan Primary, August 2012

  Isiah Southward, 21, of Detroit showed up at the polls in southwest Detroit to educate people about the candidates chosen by the Fannie Lou Hamer Political Action Committee Slate. "There aren't many people to make a change in the city," he said. "But the people who are should be supported 110 percent."

• Metro Detroit Voters In The Michigan Primary, August 2012

  Jen Rusciano, 24, of southwest Detroit (pictured with Adam Milgrom) told The Huffington Post she was frustrated by the results of redistricting. "There are a lot of good incumbents forced to run against one another. It's a damn shame."

• Metro Detroit Voters In The Michigan Primary, August 2012

  "As an African American ... voting is very important to me," said Southfield voter Charmika Elder. "A lot of our people died, a lot of women marched for our right to vote." Elder voted in favor of the SMART public transit millage, saying there's a lot of peop'e who don't have cars that rely on buses to get to work. She also said it was a shame that turnout for primaries was low, when it matters for November's election. "Everybody always complains afterwards," she said.

• Metro Detroit Voters In The Michigan Primary, August 2012

  Gaston Munoz, 29, of southwest Detroit is a realtor helping out with Maureen Stapelton's campaign near the polling location at Detroit's Most Holy Redeemer Church. State Rep. Stapleton is running for the democratic choice for state rep in the 6th district against colleague Rashida Tlaib. Munoz was critical of Stapleton's opponent. "Rashida Tlaib has been here four years already, and I haven't seen a lot of change," he said.

• Metro Detroit Voters In The Michigan Primary, August 2012

  Blayne Leonard, Lathrup Village resident, voted at City Hall for Republican candidates. In the U.S. Senate race, he voted for Clark Durant, who is challenging Pete Hoekstra to take on incumbent Dem Debbie Stabenow. "He has more straight-line Republican conservative values," Leonard said. He also noted that Hoekstra was "slamming the Democratic candidate," which he received widespread criticism for after his campaign released an ad targeted at Stabenow featuring an Asian woman speaking in broken English about China taking away American jobs.

• Metro Detroit Voters In The Michigan Primary, August 2012

  Ron Cole, 55, a retired Internal Revenue Service worker voted in the primary at The Most Holy Redeemer Church in southwest Detroit. He told The Huffington Post he refused to vote for Stapleton or Tlaib as state representative candidates and also refused to vote for Clarke or Peters as U.S. Congress candidates. He criticized Democrats and Republicans alike for redistricting, saying that Democrats would likely change district lines in their favor ten years from now. One thing he did vote against was the Wayne County jail millage. "I'll be damned if I spend any more money on jails. I'm tired of them using my people as cash crops."

• Southfield voter Carol Izant said she voted for Rep. Hansen Clarke in the 14th Congressional district race. "He's grassroots, approachable, willing to get involved, very much of the people," she said. Izant also voted for to renew the millage for SMART buses. "We need a unified regional transit system," she said. "We need more public transportation, not less." (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

• Metro Detroit Voters In The Michigan Primary, August 2012

  Rashida Tlaib campaigners Mayra Valle, Deb Sumner and Cindy Garcia take a break from their education efforts near The Most Holy Redeemer Church polling site in southwest Detroit to pose for a picture. State Rep. Tlaib is running for the democratic spot on the 6th district state house seat ballot in the Novemebr election. "She's the hardest working state Rep I've known," said Sumner. "I've had the honor to see her at work. She's quite the warrior!"

• Metro Detroit Voters In The Michigan Primary, August 2012

  Maureen Stapleton campaigners including Bernard Burton (left), Jasmine Reyes (third from left) and Ramon Garcia (right) have been working out in the heat to raise awareness about their candidate on primary day near The Most Holy Redeemer Church polling site in southwest Detroit. Reyes, 20, said of 6th district State Rep. candidate Maureen Stapleton: "I think she'll be good for our community, for the hispanic community," she said. She's fighting for the people that are illegal to get back [their driver's] licenses [and] more medical care."

• Metro Detroit Voters In The Michigan Primary, August 2012

  Campaigners for several candidates handed literature to voters as they drove up to Lathrup Village City Hall.

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