This isn't the most shameful thing ever to happen in the City of Detroit, in my opinion. When the auto companies bought up and destroyed the trolley companies at the start of the assembly line age, lives were taken keeping the details of that buyout and destruction a secret, and auto company logos pristine.
When GM pretended to be interested in electric auto, only to repeat the same buy-and-kill technique, and to later shrug out a confused look as to why it was such a failure ...
...that to me is more shameful.
And now that someone is apparently buying out the pioneers of one of the most forward looking, and aggressive moves toward new electric auto technology, the cynic in me can only assume that we're seeing the fire tamped down again in the same way.
There have been many events leading to this moment in Detroit's history that have left us in the poorest, most uncivil and corrupt time in our history.
But this is, no doubt, a moment of shame - and at the same time - a moment of hope for the Jewel of the Great Lakes.
Watch the hearings here. This is an unusual case, an unusual kind of hearing, and unusual outcome desired for a hearing.
This is not, according to Governer Jennifer Granholm, a civil or criminal trial where life, liberty or property can be lost. The ONLY thing at stake in this proceeding, which parties say should take two or three days to hear, is the office of the Mayor of the City of Detroit.
It is a proceeding that will likely be swiss cheesed by appeals and objections merely because it's so new to us. Much of the simple administrative policy, the nuts and bolts of whether there can be objections, who can subpoenae and so forth, seem to be decided upon moment by moment, although there is legal precedent which is being used.
There have been myriad alleged crimes, most of which are still being investigated, some of which have produced charges, including multiple felony counts. Those cases still hang in the balance.
One is the original felony counts filed by Wayne County Prosecutor, Kym Worthy. They involve perjury and other charges. The other involves whether or not Mayor Kilpatrick assaulted a simple officer of the court who was merely serving papers to a relative of his. That case is being handled by State Attorney General, Mike Cox.
The details of the history of what Kwami Kilpatrick has done to our city, to himself, and to the Democratic Party in the Great Lakes has been well chronicled at the Detroit Free Press. They are to be commended for archiving and articulating so beautifully this time in our history. At times they might have even been accused of brow-beating the Mayor. Those people are the same who whince at good oversight and journalistic account in other political corruption cases. A couple come to mind.
There is no division among party lines in this matter. A-G Cox is a republican, Governor Granholm is a lifelong Dem in the order of Hillary Clinton. But there seems to be a consensus among the popular opinion, especially among the outlying areas that Kwami Kilpatrick and his administration is an organized thug personified - organized crime visited upon the city of Detroit not seen since the darkest days of her sister city, Chicago.
Kwami must go in order for Detroit to move into her next age, to recover from the flight of auto as we knew it, and to recreate her splendor to attract a new tax base and make her once again the lovely city on the lake she once was.
Many things are on hold that could catapult our city into a new age that are on hold almost exclusively because of Kwami Kilpatrick, his pugnacious relationship with the outer counties, and his self serving interests to the exclusion of the good of the city.
One of the largest projects that Kilpatrick has hampered has been the installation of a light rail proposed to run between the city of Pontiac and the city of Detroit, running down Woodward Avenue, through the towns of Birmingham, Royal Oak and Ferndale. This inter-city connection would supplement (and hopefully one day make superfluous) the S.M.A.R.T. bus system. That dirty, inefficient bus line has been the smog-puffing, traffic jamming bane of the city for decades. But the Big 3 was loathe to permit anything in the city that didn't use oil, that didn't use them. A light rail would be electric, and would no doubt beckon back to the days when Detroit was free from the Big 3's drug pusher grip on the city.
The refurbishing of Cobo Hall is another project put on the back burner because of Kilpatrick's arrogance. Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson (a republican) has tried to work with Kilpatrick to get this done, and it can't be done without money from the outlying counties. If Cobo Hall isn't brought up to date the North American International Auto Show will also be taken away and sent to some locale more befitting such a giant even. And in the face of a newly reborn transportation age, it's one event the city simply cannot afford to forfeit.
Watch the hearing if you wish. Most of us here in the city are watching every moment. Keep us in your thoughts, and hope for a new day for the City of Detroit. As we go, so goes the economy of the United States of America.
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