The closing Kwame didn't give

By John Bebow | Published: March 13, 2008

Detroit’s bigger-than-life mayor was on a roll Tuesday night, espousing the kind of vision and values residents statewide have amplified through the Michigan’s Defining Moment Public Engagement Campaign:

“We have to save ourselves,” Kwame Kilpatrick said, then fired off several more great lines you may have missed in the daily press coverage:

  • “For the past 18 months this administration has been very carefully constructing a public works/economic stimulus package that is the first of its kind in the City’s history. We have carefully identified infrastructure needs that must be met if Detroit is to be competitive in the world economy of the 21st Century. And we have developed an affordable way to meet those needs… Our criteria were very direct and simple the plan had to meet the need to upgrade the city’s infrastructure. It had to involve capital projects that would endure long into the future. It had to create long-term cost savings for the city. It had to invest in our neighborhoods and our people. It had to be affordable. And it could not require any new taxes.”
  • “Detroit truly is in a period of transformation. Our responsibility is to keep focused on that transformation, to keep it alive, no matter what distractions may arise.”
  • “No one thought we could challenge existing labor contracts, but we did. No one thought we could change the health care plans for our city, but we did. No one thought we could be successful in 312 binding arbitration, but we were. No one thought we could host a successful Super Bowl, but we did. No one thought we could plow snow in this town, but we do. No one thought we could mow parks regularly, but we do. No one thought we could build new housing, but we have. Not only that, we have led the region in new housing.”

    • As a crescendo, he could have worked himself right into a truly transformational message of regionalism. Four points of regionalism: 1) Cobo; 2) Airport City; 3) Transit; 4) Regional cooperation (or at least an end to the decades of warfare) on the water system.

    Instead, with the advice of out-of-town crisis managers who no doubt know nothing of Metro Detroit’s history, division, idiosyncracy, and desperate need for regional coopration, Kilpatrick played the race card, echoed Marion Berry, and pretty much cut away any last thread of credibility he had left.

    No, instead of regionalism, he closed with a bunker rant…

    “This unethical, illegal lynch mob mentality has to stop.”

    To borrow from a sadly famous text message: “LOL.”

    This entry was posted in Fresh Thoughts, The Center at Work. Bookmark the permalink. Trackbacks are closed, but you can post a comment.

    2 Comments

    1. Rich
      Posted March 15, 2008 at 6:27 am | Permalink

      J.B. You article started out on track, and fell off way to short of making it point. What happened here? Run out of space? Run out of time? Either start out and do it as it should be, or set it aside. I think you missed the mark by a long shot on this one. Rich

    2. Tom Christoffel
      Posted March 15, 2008 at 5:08 pm | Permalink

      A link to this post will be in the March 19, 2008 issue of Regional Community Development News. It will be on-line March 20 at http://regional-communities.blogspot.com/ Please visit, check the tools and consider a link. Tom

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