Deadbeat Mayor Re-elected

[Jay 02 TA ws6]

So Kwame Kilpatrick will continue his reign of scandal, incompetence, and mismanagement over the city of Detroit.

What a worthless human being he is... I'm so mad about this. I've lived my whole life in the Detroit area, and i want nothing more than for the central city to be a thriving, vibrant, fun, and safe place to live, work and play... currently, it's not any of those things. It seriously has to be the single worst big city in the entire country in terms of places to go... the metro area is beautiful; lakes, hills, trees - thriving town-centers with lots to do. The unfortunate thing is it's all so spread out.

Detroit was moving in the right direction with Dennis Archer. Unfortunately, his time in office was short lived and he was driven from his seat... now his time in office is sandwiched between two of the worst civic leaders of all time. Coleman Young and Kwame Kilpatrick. No one did a better job of ruining a city than Coleman, and now Kwame is doing a great job of ruining all the progress made during the Archer administration.

I can tell you this... the city was over 2 million people in the 1950s. It's now under 900,000. Statistics show 46% of the city's residence would move elsewhere if given the chance. The poverty levels in the city rival those of rural Mississippi - the city itself is on the brink of receivership. Police and fire have been cut. Police have been asked to work off the clock, and if wounded while on duty (but off the clock), their medical expenses won't be covered.

I live 2 blocks north of the actual city limits. Time for me to leave before my property values go right down with the rest of the city. As far as I'm concerned, this election was the straw that will break the camel's back... the bottom has been completely removed from how far down Detroit is going to plummet.

I'm looking at a possible promotion 6-8 months down the road that would allow me to work from any remote location in the country... keep working for my same company but work from home. It can't come soon enough.

First chance I get, I am out of here.

[Dave-S]

I don't know what it is about some of the big northern cities, but it seems the good mayor/bad mayor thing runs in cycles.

I was born and raised in Cleveland Ohio and we had the same thing there. When Dennis Kucinich was mayor he was so anti-business that it was pitifull. I really laughed hard when he was running for President in the last election. And Dennis was just one of a whole slew of poor mayors that Cleveland has had in the past.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

Oh ya'll have no idea what a corrupt Mayer is like until you look at Atlanta. One of our X mayors has had just about his entire staff brought up and convicted on corrupt charges. They ignored the sewer system so long one collapsed and swallowed a dump truck whole. You should have seen the pictures. Everybody felt sorry for the current Mayer who has done a pretty good job down there. They still won't privatize the airport which would make several million dollars for the city. They use the airport to give perks to friends and family. One of Maynard Jackson's relatives owns a restaurant there and there was a story about the rent being a dollar a month.

[Jay 02 TA ws6]

Oh ya'll have no idea what a corrupt Mayer is like until you look at Atlanta. One of our X mayors has had just about his entire staff brought up and convicted on corrupt charges. They ignored the sewer system so long one collapsed and swallowed a dump truck whole. You should have seen the pictures. Everybody felt sorry for the current Mayer who has done a pretty good job down there. They still won't privatize the airport which would make several million dollars for the city. They use the airport to give perks to friends and family. One of Maynard Jackson's relatives owns a restaurant there and there was a story about the rent being a dollar a month.

Hahaha... that's nothing. I wish that was the extent of what Kwame has done - make poor business and operational decisions.

Actually - among other things, he has taken a city that is losing 15 million a month, and gone on vacation to Las Vegas on the city's credit card. He bought his wife a Navigator with city funds. He's spent millions on updating the mayoral mansion. He's tapped in to the 'petty cash' fund and allowed other high ranking officials to pillage it as well. At the top of the list was a ridiculous party in the past few months that he threw at his mansion - again with city funds. At this particular party, there were some strippers and apparently the party became rather lude and orgy-esque... well... now strippers who were at this party are myseteriously turning up dead. Hmmm... I wonder why. One stripper even ran out of town, ironically to Atlanta. They also just recently found her dead down there.

I could go on... but I'm nauseated already.

[Steel2686]

The problem with voting is people just go with a name they've heard. They are afraid of change, even if it's a dire need.

I forgot which news organization ran this poll, but back in the '96 election, a survey was run of people who wanted change. Of the one's surveyed nationaly, it was something like 37 or 39% of those individuals didn't vote.

Just look at Washington D.C. A convivted druggy was re-elected to the mayoral office. Sickening.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

Hey, we have the "honorable" Cynthia McKinney here in my district. I sure am glad she has asked for a congressional investigation to who killed Tupok. She is really after what is important up there in Washington.

[Dave M]

We're lucky here in Harrisburg, PA. Granted, we're a much smaller city than Atlanta or Detroit, but in the early 80's it was in the same situation. People were fleeing the city left and right, it was crime ridden and there were abandoned buildings everywhere, the school district was in shambles, etc...

Then we got Mayor Reed. The city's seen quite a resurgence since then. We've got an active night life, a minor league baseball team, museums, science centers, a science/technical University, abandonded buildings have been bought by the city and razed, tourism is up, the school district was taken over by the city and it's been doing better... I could go on. Yesterday he was reelected to a 7th term. Don't get me wrong, Harrisburg still has it's problems like any other city, and Mayor Reed has his foibles, but he usually runs unopposed in every election, running as both a Democrat and Republican. Hering your stories makes me thankful for what we have here.

[FroSSty]

Ya I saw he was re-elected.....Did you see that Harrison, MI elected an 18 year old for Mayor. Then I saw him on The Late Show. Strange...