Giving Back to the Community

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s legal defense fund will return $4,500 to two contributors. In one case $1,500 is being returned to Livonia-based Advanced Air Services. The Reason? Company President Ross Bates had been told the money would go to a youth group, not Kilpatrick, whom he does not support. have any other funds been misappropriated?

The remaining $3,000 is being returned to S.A. Restaurants Inc. . S.A. Restaurants is the location of the Penthouse Club in Detroit. In 2001 the location housed another strip club called City Heat. One of its operators, the son of a reputed organized crime figure, was gunned down in the middle of 8 Mile Road.

On another note,the defense fund's IRS filing noted that Donald Davis, president of First Independence National Bank, donated $50,000. He claims that he has only donated $25,000 and has no further involvement in the fund. Kilpatrick wants First Independence to be an investment manager for his proposed stimulus bond sale. Davis also stands to make $4.5 million over 5 years by leasing computer software to the city through another company he runs if a separate contract is approved.

Is this an example of shoddy bookkeeping by the defense fund or are they trying to shield $25,000 worth of contributions from other sources? Will all of this sloppy accounting draw the attention of the IRS? We can only hope.

Is the Well Running Dry?

Today's Detroit Free Press is reporting that almost all of the $185,600 raised since Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s legal defense fund was formed in April has been spent.

Click here to see the filings with the IRS. It contains the list of contributers as well expenditures.

Postponed

The 100th running the Gold Cup has been postponed until 2009 due to high winds. During the first elimination heat for the Unlimited Hydroplane Class, Mike Allen in the flipped his boat. No further completion took place.

Homer, Michigan

I made a visit to Homer Michigan this past spring to attend a book signing. Homer's High School baseball team set a national record for consecutive wins at 75. This one stoplight town is near Marshall.

State Establishes Web Page to Host Documents on Removal Proceedings

http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-23442_50699---,00.html

Kilpatrick Clan Involved in Belle Isle Land Grab

Mayor Kilpatrick's aunt State Rep. Marsha Cheeks and his cousin Patricia Peoples are spearheading a plan to privatize a swath land on Belle Isle's north shore to build a Maritime Academy.

This charter school would be a residential high school open to past-risk students across the state. Under the plan, land from the Detroit Boat Club to Inselruhe Rd. would be used for a multi-acre complex of classrooms, dormitories, gymnasium, pool and other facilities. A parking lot would be created in the interior of the island for hundreds of cars, paving over additional green space.

The plan calls for the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority to help finance construction by issuing bonds for the school. The foundation already has received a $160,000 grant from the state to help develop the complex, which would open in 2010.

The cookie the mayor's family is giving us is a restored Boat House that would be used as marina and restaurant as an additional source of money for the school. As an added bonus, the school's gymnasium, swimming pool and other facilities could be open to the public during the summer and the dormitories might be used as rooms for visitors during the Grand Prix or other events.

We have already lost 10 acres of green space to the Grand Prix paddock. How much more development can the Belle Isle take? Would this project open Belle Isle to more development in the future? Should public parkland be given to a private entity? If you oppose this development please let the Detroit City Council know your feelings. Also, contact the Friends of Belle Isle and lend your support.

THE FRIENDS OF BELLE ISLE
8109 East Jefferson
Detroit, MI 48214
Phone: (313) 331-7760 Fax: (313) 331-1500
lighthouselori49@hotmail.com
cbrent@comcast.net

The Mayor of Booville

Watermark Treading Water *UPDATE*

Dave Bing's $60 million condominium project recently received a $700,000 loan from the city's Economic Development Corporation. The development is struggling due to the downturn in the housing market. Lenders have imposed a 65% pre-sale requirement on the 112 unit project before releasing construction funds. To date Watermark has only sold 22 units, with another 12 units in the pipeline.

*UPDATE*

Plans have been revised by Dave Bing for his Watermark condominium project. In the new plan a row of homes facing Atwater have been eliminated because they failed attract any buyers. The number of penthouse units have been increased in the nine story tower and the number of town houses have been decreased in number, but increased in size.

The new Watermark will contain 98 units instead of 112. It is hoped that these changes will help the development meet the sales benchmark established by the banks. Bing must pre-sell two-thirds of the units before the banks will release construction money.

Detroit - Red Bull Air Race 2008

Peter Besenyei

Nigel Lamb

The Maddness of King Kwame

First Mayor Kilpatrick claimed that the City Council violated the city charter by asking Governor Granholm to remove him from office without first submitting the resolution to him for his approval or veto. Then, he went on to veto the resolution after council's attorney William Goodman had already delivered the request to the Governor. Now, in his latest act of lunacy, the mayor has vetoed the city council's earmark of $250,000 to pay for lawyer fees to oust him.

The council should have no problem overriding this veto as it did when the mayor attempted to scuttle the resolution sent forth to the Governor. However, this yet another example of the Mayor's desperate strategy to remain in office: delay, deny, lie, litigate, repeat!

While Kilpatrick continues to exhibit his arrogance and lack of concern for the citizens of Detroit, the city is subjected to further ridicule in this farcical melodrama. The end of this maddness cannot come soon enough.

Detroit Light Rail Project Has Major Backers

A plan by billionaires Dan Gilbert and Roger Penske to construct a privately funded $103 million light rail loop on Woodward Avenue is being supported by Sen. Majority Leader Mike Bishop and House Speaker Andy Dillon. This could signal bipartisan support from the Legislature, eliminating a potential hurdle for a wider transportation network in metro Detroit.

During a pannel discussion on Mackinac Island today, the House and Senate leaders acknowledged publicly for the first time that Gilbert and Penske were involved in the project. Previously, details had been kept secret about the proposal, especially the identities of its backers.

The Woodward Transit Catalyst Project would be a street-level loop 3.4 miles long along Woodward that would run between Hart Plaza and Grand Boulevard. It would include about a dozen stops at high-traffic areas that include major businesses, theaters, ballparks, museums and hospitals. The line would potentially be the first stage of a larger, regional transit system.