Mayor Kilpatrick Scandal

[RustTown]

I'm not enoying this, at all. Kilpatrick is taking up multiple news cycles in multiple Michigan papers, and the media is more than happy to report on every minute and irrelevant detail. *ugh*

[Veloise]

Our long local, regional, and statewide nightmare is finally over.

[d8alterego]

This irked me:

"The resolution is a bittersweet ending for the people of Detroit. When Kilpatrick, the former minority leader in the Michigan House of Representatives, was elected in 2001 as the city's youngest mayor, the charismatic African-American politician brought energy to the economically decimated city. In the years since, thanks largely to the construction of both a baseball park and an NFL stadium downtown, the city has slowly begun to rebuild. Small but growing numbers of young professionals have moved in from the suburbs to live in newly constructed loft apartments, finally reversing an exodus that had slashed Detroit's population in half since the middle of the 20th century." Yet the article continues by saying, "But the cost to Detroit taxpayers for Kilpatrick's abuse of power has been high

[Veloise]

This irked me:

... The same sum could put several hundred new police officers on the streets of the country's most violent city. Or knock down more than a thousand of the abandoned buildings that dot Detroit's streets and breed crime."

This article is from Time magazine.

That's right, bulldoze it down. I guess then there wouldn't be anything left of the city for a mayor to have a scandal in.

[d8alterego]

I see the reality of the situation Veloise and I agree with you. I've been to Detroit plenty of times when I lived in Michigan, but I still feel a bit upset that that is the only response, by a national paper, to the city's situation. When image is everything (to the point that during the superbowl they painted and hid abandoned buildings from tourists), it's disappointing to hear continuing mayoral and urban news down here in Florida. It just reinforces that negative perception to those that have never visited downtown Detroit. I'm curious though, is Detroit the only major US city that is still continuing this practice of bulldozing down whole communities because of blight? Does this still happen in NYC and Chicago? We should probably discuss this in another topic so as not to go , but as far as I know, it only happens in Detroit. A proud Michiganian and Dtown supporter would love to know.

[Veloise]

I see the reality of the situation Veloise and I agree with you. I've been to Detroit plenty of times when I lived in Michigan, but I still feel a bit upset that that is the only response, by a national paper, to the city's situation. When image is everything (to the point that during the superbowl they painted and hid abandoned buildings from tourists), it's disappointing to hear continuing mayoral and urban news down here in Florida. It just reinforces that negative perception to those that have never visited downtown Detroit. I'm curious though, is Detroit the only major US city that is still continuing this practice of bulldozing down whole communities because of blight? Does this still happen in NYC and Chicago? We should probably discuss this in another topic so as not to go , but as far as I know, it only happens in Detroit. A proud Michiganian and Dtown supporter would love to know.