Monday, January 28, 2008
Daniel Howes
The Detroti News
Whatever foibles emerged during his six years in office, Kwame Kilpatrick became a driving force behind Detroit's economic redevelopment efforts. His lobbying of would-be investors and strong-arming of city bureaucrats to move deals forward quickened momentum despite a chronically sick state economy.
But is the city's fledgling economic foundation, mostly focused in its downtown core, strong enough to move forward without the mayor in office? Yes and no, business and development insiders tell me privately.
As the scandal intensifies around text messages suggesting Kilpatrick and his chief of staff, Christine Beatty, lied about their affair in testimony for a whistleblower lawsuit brought by two Detroit Police officers, savvy business and community leaders already are mulling a future without Kilpatrick in the Manoogian Mansion because contingency planning is part of their jobs.
Kilpatrick "is the heavy for getting things done," a ranking business leader familiar with deal-making in Detroit tells me. "The problem you have in the city is that unless you can call hard balls and strikes with the unions and get things through the bureaucracy, you can't get things done. If not him, who?"
And how? Only in the past year or so has downtown Detroit begun to reap benefits from the aftershocks of Major League Baseball's All-Star Game and Super Bowl XL, with investor and city deal-makers capitalizing on the combination of positive momentum, clear direction and confidence in Kilpatrick & Co. to deliver as promised.
Reinvestment fragile
Until the sub-prime mortgage crisis essentially killed new-home construction, Detroit led the state in housing starts. MGM Grand and MotorCity Casino finished their permanent casinos in just the past few months. Renovations of the Pick-Fort Shelby and Book-Cadillac hotels got under way. Quicken Loans Inc. said it will move its headquarters from the suburbs.
Private foundations are funding new initiatives in Detroit. Business groups like the Detroit Regional Chamber and Detroit Renaissance are focusing more intensely on economic development, structural change in government and bridging regional barriers to cooperation.
They are partners in the kind of change Kilpatrick had been pushing before a mortal threat to his political viability emerged in the trove of text messages tapped out by him and Beatty on city-owned pagers. But Kilpatrick's career is not the only thing endangered by "Textgate."
The re-engagement in Detroit by foundations, business groups and investors is fragile, limited and dependent on the personalities of a relative few focused along the riverfront, the lower Woodward corridor, the entertainment district and midtown near Wayne State.
Lose a charismatic leader like Kilpatrick -- especially amid a housing recession of historic proportions, as well as chronic problems with schools, public services and population flight -- and the legitimate fear is that Detroit could lose what little momentum it has for projects already not well under way.
Mayor imperils momentum
Maybe. Most of the big projects that are the cornerstones of a "new" downtown Detroit didn't begin with his administration. From General Motors Corp.'s RenCen makeover and the casinos to new stadiums and Compuware Corp.'s headquarters, all were begun under his predecessor, Dennis Archer.
Kilpatrick's first term, until last week more scandal-ridden than his second, was marked by big promises and little delivery. A new police headquarters in the Central Train Depot? Never happened. Several big-ticket rehabs of Cobo Center? Too expensive. A winnowed city payroll? Not until he won re-election without the city's powerful unions.
Outwardly, his second term was marked more by accomplishment on redevelopment, government restructuring and even neighborhood initiatives -- all now endangered because the mayor conducted an illicit affair with a subordinate and lied about it under oath.
A City Hall without Kilpatrick may come sooner than scheduled, should he resign, be recalled or indicted. But it won't come without a cost to the redevelopment of Detroit that depends as much on personality as it does on business to succeed.
Daniel Howes
The Detroti News
Whatever foibles emerged during his six years in office, Kwame Kilpatrick became a driving force behind Detroit's economic redevelopment efforts. His lobbying of would-be investors and strong-arming of city bureaucrats to move deals forward quickened momentum despite a chronically sick state economy.
But is the city's fledgling economic foundation, mostly focused in its downtown core, strong enough to move forward without the mayor in office? Yes and no, business and development insiders tell me privately.
As the scandal intensifies around text messages suggesting Kilpatrick and his chief of staff, Christine Beatty, lied about their affair in testimony for a whistleblower lawsuit brought by two Detroit Police officers, savvy business and community leaders already are mulling a future without Kilpatrick in the Manoogian Mansion because contingency planning is part of their jobs.
Kilpatrick "is the heavy for getting things done," a ranking business leader familiar with deal-making in Detroit tells me. "The problem you have in the city is that unless you can call hard balls and strikes with the unions and get things through the bureaucracy, you can't get things done. If not him, who?"
And how? Only in the past year or so has downtown Detroit begun to reap benefits from the aftershocks of Major League Baseball's All-Star Game and Super Bowl XL, with investor and city deal-makers capitalizing on the combination of positive momentum, clear direction and confidence in Kilpatrick & Co. to deliver as promised.
Reinvestment fragile
Until the sub-prime mortgage crisis essentially killed new-home construction, Detroit led the state in housing starts. MGM Grand and MotorCity Casino finished their permanent casinos in just the past few months. Renovations of the Pick-Fort Shelby and Book-Cadillac hotels got under way. Quicken Loans Inc. said it will move its headquarters from the suburbs.
Private foundations are funding new initiatives in Detroit. Business groups like the Detroit Regional Chamber and Detroit Renaissance are focusing more intensely on economic development, structural change in government and bridging regional barriers to cooperation.
They are partners in the kind of change Kilpatrick had been pushing before a mortal threat to his political viability emerged in the trove of text messages tapped out by him and Beatty on city-owned pagers. But Kilpatrick's career is not the only thing endangered by "Textgate."
The re-engagement in Detroit by foundations, business groups and investors is fragile, limited and dependent on the personalities of a relative few focused along the riverfront, the lower Woodward corridor, the entertainment district and midtown near Wayne State.
Lose a charismatic leader like Kilpatrick -- especially amid a housing recession of historic proportions, as well as chronic problems with schools, public services and population flight -- and the legitimate fear is that Detroit could lose what little momentum it has for projects already not well under way.
Mayor imperils momentum
Maybe. Most of the big projects that are the cornerstones of a "new" downtown Detroit didn't begin with his administration. From General Motors Corp.'s RenCen makeover and the casinos to new stadiums and Compuware Corp.'s headquarters, all were begun under his predecessor, Dennis Archer.
Kilpatrick's first term, until last week more scandal-ridden than his second, was marked by big promises and little delivery. A new police headquarters in the Central Train Depot? Never happened. Several big-ticket rehabs of Cobo Center? Too expensive. A winnowed city payroll? Not until he won re-election without the city's powerful unions.
Outwardly, his second term was marked more by accomplishment on redevelopment, government restructuring and even neighborhood initiatives -- all now endangered because the mayor conducted an illicit affair with a subordinate and lied about it under oath.
A City Hall without Kilpatrick may come sooner than scheduled, should he resign, be recalled or indicted. But it won't come without a cost to the redevelopment of Detroit that depends as much on personality as it does on business to succeed.
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