Mayor Bing interviewed on C-SPAN

Hat Tip: Detroit Yes.

Restoring Detroit from the bottom up

Certainly, there is a committed corps of bright, dedicated business people who wear themselves out trying to fix Detroit's problems. But they're too few in number, and too few of them can be called giants. The erosion of Detroit's industrial base has left it without the concentration of wealth and power that produces world-class leadership ... But leadership of the Ford/Fisher caliber is what it will take to save Detroit.

- Nolan Finley, Editorial Page Editor of the Detroit News

In his column published yesterday, Finley laments the diminished power of Detroit's business titans. Once upon a time, he writes, big names like Henry Ford II and Max Fisher had the clout to raise millions of dollars and build city-saving institutions like the Renaissance Center. Without leaders like those today -- super rich and super powerful -- the city will never turn around.

What he ignores, of course, is that the city fell apart on their watch. Since the 1950s, one "city-saving" project after another has been pushed by the region's business elite. Highways, museums, stadiums, hotels, casinos, the Renaissance Center -- each new project was heralded as the key to the city's revival. And each one, in its way, failed. Even as downtown has improved, the neighborhoods have kept declining, rapidly. And even downtown the pace of demolition has exceeded the pace of development. And go figure. With a few praiseworthy exceptions, the movers and shakers Finley expects to save the city have almost uniformly abandoned it. They might bankroll the cultural institutions (and deserve gratitude for that), but most of them long ago moved their own homes, their offices, and their factories outside the city's borders, draining it of the one resource it needs most: jobs.

So pardon me if I don't sit around waiting for a handful of wealthy patrons to save the city. They have a role to play, certainly. The new light rail line being built from downtown to New Center is a great example of what private philanthropy can do, and there are some pretty big names behind all the region's major foundations, which have funded great, publicly-oriented projects like the RiverFront and the expansion of the DIA. But if the city's neighborhoods ever turn around, it'll be thanks to the small businesses, non-profits, and community activists that are planting trees, building community gardens, opening businesses, restoring historic buildings, fighting government corruption, and otherwise committing themselves to the city's restoration on a day-to-day basis. A few business titans, acting alone, can't save us. A community can.

Monica Conyers pleads guilty

Monica Conyers pleaded guilty this morning to conspiring to commit bribery. No word yet on her sentence (she could get up to five years), but if there's any justice in this world, she'll go to prison for a long time and never return to public office. Thanks to the hard work of the local media and the FBI, the Kwame Kilpatrick era of corruption -- in City Hall, in the school system, and on the Council -- may finally be ending. We have a new, principled mayor. We have a responsible and driven fiscal manager cleaning house at DPS. And now we need a new council, elected by district, operating on a rewritten city charter.

Thoughts on Bing

So Bing is the new mayor. Now that Cockrel's trial-run is up, Bing gets his own six-month shot at the job. I greet this news with cautious optimism. Bing is confident and competent, and he seems to get that revitalizing Detroit requires both a big vision and a business-like focus on all the basics. Almost better yet, Cockrel is back at the helm of City Council, meaning Monica Conyers loses her soapbox and both sides of government are run by competent, serious people.

Yet I have my doubts. He's a member of the business elite and plans to govern like it. With any luck, that will translate into streamlined government and new investment. But it might also mean yet more emphasis on big downtown projects -- like stadiums and casinos -- at the expense of neighborhood revitalization. I'm also unconvinced he gets what urban life is all about. He lived his adult life in the suburbs (gated ones at that!), has little to say on preservation, and has called for suburban-style "cities within the city".

Does he get what Detroit is all about? Is he in touch with community groups and the concerns of ordinary residents? I sure hope so.

Paging the Joshua Generation

In November, the New Yorker published a terrific article on race and the presidential campaign, calling President Barack Obama the foremost member of "The Joshua Generation" -- a new wave of black leaders, like Cory Booker in Newark and Patrick Deval in Massachusetts, whose appeal transcends race. The Breakthrough, Gwen Ifill's new book, has a similar argument, pointing to black leaders who "rely more on pragmatic political coalitions than on racial solidarity."

I think it's time the Joshua Generation makes itself heard in Detroit. The last two weeks have proven, yet again, that politicians across the region suffer from 1967 syndrome -- the delusion that nothing has changed in forty years. Detroit's City Council almost seems to take it as a badge of pride.

Exhibit A: The Cobo Veto. Not only did the Monica Conyers-led Council veto the region's best hope for fixing Cobo and saving the Auto Show, they did it singing "Onward Christian Soldiers" to the region's permanent embarrassment.



Exhibit B: The Leno "Snub". Today, Jay Leno announced a free show at the Palace for anyone unemployed in Michigan. I'm not a fan of his, but it's a great gesture, and I'm glad he's doing it. Not Councilmember Martha Reeves. No, no, no. If it's not in the city limits, she doesn't want it at all. Here she is making an ass of herself on WDIV. Note the refrain: "Auburn Hills isn't Detroit." I got news for you: Yes, it is. No one outside of Southeast Michigan gives a damn whether you're from the city or the suburbs. We're just Detroit. Get some pride and let it rest.

There's an election, I guess

Prediction: More Detroiters will buy paczkis on Tuesday than vote. For those who do both, Mary Kramer of Crain's Detroit has a thoughtful post on the candidates and the issues. I, too, wish someone would run on her five-point platform:

1. End corruption.

2. Fix the schools.

3. Elect council members by district.

4. Offers primers on business and public policy to city officials.

5. Build regional mass transit.

Bad or worse choices

I don't envy Ken Cockrel's job. Today the News lists his options for balancing the budget. Observers expect 1) the closure of city parks and recreation centers, 2) the selling of remaining city assets at bargain prices, 3) at least 1,000 layoffs, and 4) a new deal to sell the city's rights to the Detroit-Windsor tunnel.

Is he sure he wants to run for a full term? His old job sure is popular. As of Friday, nearly 330 people had taken out petitions to run for City Council's nine open seats -- and the deadline isn't until May 12! Each applicant needs 458 signatures to make the ballot, so they won't all qualify, but a couple hundred might. Good luck standing out in that list. Better hope your last name begins with an A or a B.

Never get too optimistic

So the year's off to a bad start. Standard and Poors lowered the city's credit rating to junk bond status, requiring the city to pay its creditors $400 million dollars to prove the city's solvency. Bear in mind the city was already projecting a $300 million budget shortfall. This year's budget cuts will be brutal.

Over at the Metrotimes, Jack Lessenberry has a devastating column on Detroit Public Schools. "Detroit's only hope lies in fixing the schools," he writes. "It's as simple -- and as maddeningly difficult -- as that." Mass transit, urban gardens, downtown lofts -- those are all great developments, but without functioning public schools, the city is doomed. DPS is not functional.

Wishful thinking

Wow. City Council today endorsed a resolution requesting a $10 billion bailout for the city of Detroit. Audacious, no? Hopeless, too.

The thing to remember -- after you've laughed -- is that the city actually needs every penny of it. If fiscal stimulus is the correct response to a recession, then Detroit is the premier pump to be primed. After all, it's economy has been declining for decades. The reason the proposal sounds so absurd isn't the sum being asked for but the body that's asking for it. Who on this earth would trust City Council to administer it?

DPS superintendent criticized

The Detroit News questions DPS Superintendent Connie Calloway's competence:

Superintendent Connie Calloway is drawing criticism for a series of recent communication missteps that have community leaders and even supporters concerned that she may be losing buy-in for initiatives that are essential to rehabilitating the 106,000-student school system.

Calloway's plan to overhaul five low-performing schools nearly collapsed before getting off the ground as frustrated parents and board members blasted her administration for its lack of information on the concept. She has been absent for meetings on the school overhaul initiative and for a press conference on the district's $45 million budget deficit.

"Either she is passionately disrespectful or just inept, but at $280,000 a year, neither is acceptable," said radio talk show host Mildred Gaddis.

Perhaps saving DPS is too great a task for anyone to handle.

Privatization of City Airport sought

Like every mayor before him, Kwame has a plan to revive City Airport. This time, the News reports, it's runway expansion and privatization along the lines of the Detroit Zoo or Eastern market: the city would retain ownership of the airport but a private group would manage it.

Any plan would improve upon the present strategy. The city began buying out local property owners 13 years ago to create a "safety zone" around the airport and prepare for a possible expansion. The expansion never happened, the buyouts were never completed, and the neighborhood has been needlessly decimated. It's long past time for the city to follow through on its plans and make something of the airport or restore the surrounding community.

City bureaucracy cedes some control

The Free Press's John Gallagher talks about the growing importance of public-private partnerships in the city. Non-profits and public/private partnerships are managing major assets like the Riverwalk, Campus Martius, and Eastern Market, and other important projects, like the Clean Downtown Initiative, arose from the private or non-profit sectors.

Detroit stimulus plan proposed

Kwame Kilpatrick revealed details of a new $300-million economic stimulus plan today (see the Free Press or the News). The plan includes:

• $75 million for a rainy-day fund
• $15 million for business loans
• $10 million to prevent foreclosures
• $200 million for public works projects including "new Eastern District police headquarters; new fire stations for the east and west sides; new fire training complex; streetscape improvements; demolition of 50 abandoned commercial buildings; park upgrades, and dozens of other projects."
  

Now for the caveats.

• The city may need state approval to issue bonds.
• The mayor assumes casino revenue will increase substantially; if it doesn't the city will have to dip into revenue currently earmarked for other projects to pay back those bonds.
• Many on the City Council contend infrastructure can wait -- Detroit needs to rehire firefighters and policemen first.
• The Council is loath to pass anything proposed by the mayor.

So with that said, we'll see if this goes anywhere.

Also in the news

The News describes Kwame's rise and fall in depth and reports on Wayne State's new community-based research program in the School of Social Work, which will work with local agencies to determine best practices for confronting the major social problems in our area.

Crain covers an event urging cooperation with Canada, new tax incentives for urban brownfield development, and the many upgrades being made to hotels in Detroit. Also in Crain's this week: 20 in their 20s, profiles of young leaders in Metro Detroit that prove that not all promising college grads are fleeing, just most.

"Good government in action" - in Detroit!

Lost amidst the mayoral scandal was a Free Press story on the notable success of the City-County Building downtown, which has reduced operating expenses from $15 million annually to $9 million.

Also to be filed under good news: assaults in Detroit Public Schools are on the decline.

Kwame, Beatty charged

The Free Press lists the charges: perjury, conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office. I hope the mayor has the dignity and humility to resign. The city deserves it.

City Council corrects itself

According to the Free Press, a rule that would have denied CDBG funds to 105 Detroit non-profits won't go into effect this year. The council unanimously delayed the implementation of the new rule, which requires non-profits to have a majority of Detroit residents on their boards to receive federal funds, after realizing that major non-profits like Focus: HOPE and Greening of Detroit would be denied funding.

The case is another illustration of the region's dysfunction. The rule should have been phased in and framed as a measure to ensure the community's voice in the allocation of federal funds. Instead it was approved without forethought or discussion and then defended in a needlessly divisive manner. Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins said complaints about the rule were paternalistic and reflected a "slave-master mentality." What nonsense! Race resentment is real--Obama did a great job of confronting that reality this week--but it needn't play a part in every minor policy debate in Metro Detroit.

City Council calls for Kwame's resignation

The vote was 7-1. According to the News, Monica Conyers was the only dissenter on the non-binding resolution. The Council may pursue further action after Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announces her decision regarding whether or not to prosecute Kilpatrick.

105 Detroit non-profits lose federal funding

The Free Press reports that 105 Detroit non-profits will be denied Community Development Block Grants because of a new residency requirement passed by the Detroit City Council in July. To be eligible for federal funding, at least half of an organization's board members must now be residents of the city. That means dozens of non-profits are currently ineligible. Focus: HOPE, for example, will lose $205,000 in CDBG funds; Greening of Detroit will lose $125,000.

This is a disaster. The City Council had good intentions -- city residents should control city funding -- but the rule is too demanding and gave no time for non-profits to react. Charities can't overturn their boards overnight. Hopefully the Council will find a way to amend the rule or delay its onset. In the meantime, smaller, community-based non-profits may rejoice -- with most major non-profits ineligible, the pool of CDBG funds leftover for everyone else just grew immensely.

Can Kwame just go?

This isn't getting any better. The Free Press has the scoop.

To be fair, though, this doesn't really compare to the original scandal. Everyone who works with city government has a friend on the inside. This contractor is just lucky that his friends are Christine Beatty and Kwame Kilpatrick. And Kwame's right about one thing: this report is indeed a "fishing expedition." And the Free Press will keep on fishing until they find a keeper. Maybe a few.