Thursday, March 28, 2024

Detroit's Mayor's mishaps not fair to city, state

When Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick took office in 2002, his appeal to voters was obvious. As the city’s youngest elected mayor, voters put him in office with the expectation that he would improve Detroit. After six years, that has yet to happen.

The mayor’s scandal is the latest in his long list of legal troubles. The Detroit Free Press uncovered a series of sexually explicit text messages in late January between Kilpatrick and Christine Beatty, his chief of staff, from 2002 to 2003, prompting Beatty’s resignation and a criminal investigation for possible perjury. Kilpatrick’s alleged frequent abuse of city resources, from taking his family on vacation on the city’s tab to purchasing a Lincoln Navigator for personal use, puts his focus toward the city of Detroit into question.

These problems have repeatedly hurt the city, with the whistle-blower lawsuit costing the city more than $8.5 million, underscoring his inability to effectively lead the city. His personal problems might not be immediately relevant to his position as mayor, but if they are costing the city and its taxpayers millions that could otherwise go toward improving Detroit, it’s no longer a private issue.

This latest scandal is a huge conflict of interest for Kilpatrick, and since he refuses to take responsibility for it, the city needs to hold him accountable.

What makes Kilpatrick’s continued problems so infuriating for Michiganians — whether a resident of the city or not — is the potential he regularly squanders for the city.

With the text messaging scandal making its rounds on the national news cycle, America again defines Detroit as a city to avoid that’s run by one of the worst mayors in the nation, according to Time Magazine. Given the economic state of Michigan, that’s a message no mayor wants associated with his city.

To Kilpatrick’s credit, he has had his successes in bringing business back to Detroit. The mayor was able to move the headquarters of Quicken Loans into Detroit, bringing 4,000 new jobs to the city and billions have been invested from the planned development of three new casinos.

With an asset like the Detroit Red Wings and the city’s proximity to the Canadian border, as well as its economic improvements, the potential of Detroit is limitless.

What Kilpatrick fails to realize is none of those accomplishments will further the success of the city if he can’t get the people of Detroit and Michigan to trust him as mayor. Without the support of the people, Kilpatrick can’t effectively lead the city because the text messaging scandal, along with a perjury investigation, cast a shadow over his actions in office.

Once the scandal leaves the news cycle, Kilpatrick needs to close this gap and show Michigan that he can make good on his promises.

With the growth the city is undergoing, there’s no time for attention to be pulled away by this scandal or any other personal problems of Kilpatrick’s that have come to the public’s attention. Kilpatrick needs to step up and show Detroit that he will no longer waste the city’s time, money or resources and he will instead help it grow.

Detroit could become the next Chicago, but Kilpatrick needs to step up, clean up his act and show Michigan that he can make good on that potential.

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