A Tale of Two Parks

[thelakelander]

Well Detroit is getting a new mayor.....

Detroit’s Mayor Will Leave Office and Go to Jail



By SUSAN SAULNY and NICK BUNKLEY
Published: September 4, 2008

DETROIT â€" Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to felony charges here on Thursday and agreed to resign from office and serve 120 days in jail, ending eight months of political turmoil but also opening a new era of uncertainty for the city.

After the agreement, Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan suspended her hearing on whether to remove Mr. Kilpatrick for misconduct, relieving her of being in the awkward position of possibly ousting the mayor, a fellow Democrat, from office.

“It is my profound hope that we can now write a new history for this great but embattled city and that the citizens of Detroit begin the healing process to move forward,” she said. But even as the fate of Mr. Kilpatrick became clear on Thursday, a new layer of potential pitfalls came into view.

The City Council that will now try to bring stability to the nation’s 11th largest city is known for its volatility. Its two top leaders, Kenneth V. Cockrel Jr., the council president who will now be interim mayor, and Monica Conyers, who will become president of the Council, were recently involved in a public shouting match that has become a running joke.

And some members of the Council are under federal investigation for possibly taking payoffs before approving a multimillion-dollar sewage contract.

“Moving forward will require all of us to put aside the anger and bitterness of the past few months,” said Mr. Cockrel, 42, “and heal as a community.”

Mr. Cockrel, whose father, a civil rights activist, died in 1989 before he could achieve his own mayoral aspirations and whose stepmother is a current council member, said chief among his responsibilities would be “restoring the credibility of not only the mayor but also of the city of Detroit.”

In an evening address from his office, an upbeat Mr. Kilpatrick took a parting swipe at Ms. Granholm. He also acknowledged what he called his “poor judgment,” asked the city to throw its support behind Mr. Cockrel and gave a litany of his achievements.

“I want to emphasize tonight that I take full responsibility for my own actions,” he said. “I wish with all my heart that we could turn back the hands of time and tell that young man to make better choices. But I can’t. Our challenge now is to put the anguish and turmoil of recent months behind us and join in a common cause to love our city, to love one another and move forward together.”

Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings, a mayoral appointee, announced her retirement immediately after Mr. Kilpatrick’s plea, and a host of other city officials and staff members are expected to leave their jobs. It all adds up to a tremendous amount of tumult for a poverty-stricken city that had been experiencing glimmers of a renaissance after decades of population loss and decline.

“If you drove over the city 10 years ago and now, you’d see many points of evidence that indeed there are good things going on in Detroit,” said Michael Smith, a historian of the city. “The sad thing is, Kwame Kilpatrick was becoming a good mayor and making some progress. He had a brilliant future.”

Much of the new enthusiasm in downtown Detroit is credited to Mr. Kilpatrick, a charismatic leader who brought a high level of energy and expectations to office when he was elected for the first time in 2001 at just 31 years old. With new attractions along a redeveloped riverfront, fresh business investment downtown and new housing in the city core, things seemed to be moving in the right direction.

“I think we can get the momentum back that we had before this happened,” said Doug Rothwell, the president of Detroit Renaissance, a group of business leaders that promotes economic development in the city. “There’s no question that things have been put on pause during these eight months.”

Mr. Kilpatrick’s ordeal also leaves ripple effects in the form of aggravated racial tension between whites and blacks and the city and its suburbs at a time when the region is suffering through a serious economic downturn.

full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/05/us/05detroit.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

[Ocklawaha]

It was a good use of money, having a nice park is priceless. I enjoy the park. Cheers Jax

LOL! I was there today, and for the life of me, I can't figure out what the hell this spot is about... There is absolutely, postively, nothing there. No shade, no water, no features, no equipment, no statues, no markers, no monuments, no kiosks, no picnic shelters, no tables, no chairs, no playground, no gold fish, no ducks, no pond, no gardens, no pavillions, no BBQ pits or stands, no gazebos, no bandstand, no directional signs, no stairs, no way up, no way down... NOTHING, NADA...

"Shirley, everyone can see something needs to be done here...."

Oh, know,

"We all know something has to be done but don't call me SHIRLEY!"

OCKLAWAHA