metro >> analysis & opinion

lir

Unfortunately, the may,
imploded by 2008,
a byproduct of
City Hall corruption.

a.

.Pr

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Detroit Jews were gathering to hear what
the first-term mayor had to say. It was a
notable day that would bind the Kilpatrick
administration and the Jewish community
at the political hip — at least for a while.
Kilpatrick spoke in Southfield as part
of a Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit luncheon series. The appear-
ance enabled him to acknowledge the
enthusiastic Jewish support he had in the
November 2001 election against Gil Hill, a
good man with old-school credentials.
Many of Kilpatrick's major donors were
local Jewish professionals who yearned
for Detroit to be the next great urban
turnaround. Municipal challenges had
been festering: blight, crime, drugs, pub-
lic transit, bloated expenses, a declining
tax base, retail flight since the glory days
of Hudson's, a staggered industrial core,
cash-strapped public schools, the nation's
highest school-dropout rate.

Making A Case
In his upbeat talk, Kilpatrick, just 31,
extemporaneously sketched his dream
to educate the city's children and bring
clean, safe, well-lit streets. His words reso-
nated; they still make sense.
Before an engrossed audience that
included many suburbanites who had
grown up in Detroit and had fond memo-
ries of those formative years, Kilpatrick
dreamed of reinvented neighborhoods
and a robust job market, not just a vibrant

8

April 11 • 2013

Jews help rescue the echoing dream
of a disgraced ex-mayor.

entertainment district.
upon which to build their business career
He was on to something.
or their political career:'
"Many of us think of world-class cities
Time To Ponder
that have thriving restaurants, a thriving
retail downtown and huge buildings that
It was an aha moment: The mayor wanted
you can see for miles:' the mayor said.
everyone in the room to be energized by a
"But really global cities, cities
better tomorrow, not feel guilty
that are talked about all over
by decades-past white flight.
the world, are cities where
He was pushing those of us
families feel safe and secure
with a suburban address but
with their children, and which
also a love for the city to not
are clean — and the world
feel like outsiders.
knows it.
"We're going to work togeth-
"When we have that;' he
er;' he insisted. "For us to be
added, "the other things come.
the global community that we
In turnaround situations all
purport to be, it's Detroit and
over this country, it started
the region. We really need to
Rober t Sklar
with some very basic quality-
have that mentality if we want
Contri buting
of-life issues:'
to compete for our children's
Edi for
Kilpatrick stirred the audi-
sake:'
ence when he encouraged a
He was right, of course. The
reconnection "to the com-
problem, sadly, was that he
munity that gave you your start:' He was
didn't know how to achieve that mental-
talking to each of us who could trace our
ity; he was too busy absorbed in self-
humble beginnings to Detroit and who
aggrandizement.
By the time Kilpatrick spoke nearly
parlayed the once-vast opportunities of
three years later at Birmingham Temple in
the public schools into successful lives
Farmington Hills, he was struggling with
and careers.
"That connection;' he said, "is what
a city that had lost 1 million people and
draws everyone back to the central
15,000 businesses over 40 years. Detroit's
responsibility of making sure the next
No. 1 industry had become the public sec-
generation of people has a foundation
tor — certainly no way to rebound. Still,

a.

rc

Kwame Kilpatrick faces members

of the news media as he exits
the federal courthouse in Detroit
following his March 11 conviction.

he wowed the small Birmingham Temple
audience in February 2005 with inspired
talk of diversified industries, a thriving
international port, a campaign to reno-
vate "dinosaur" buildings and, of course,
better-funded schools.
Unfortunately, the mayor imploded by
2008, a byproduct of City Hall corruption.

A Crushing Outcome

The rise and fall of the man who became
known as the "hip-hop" mayor echoes
as he awaits sentencing of up to 20 years
or more in federal prison following his
March 2013 conviction in U.S. District
Court in Detroit on 24 charges, including
racketeering conspiracy.
In January 2008, not long after his
November 2005 come-from-behind
re-election against Freman Hendrix,
Kilpatrick, already dogged by tendencies
toward personal lavishness in a languish-
ing city, drew the notoriety spotlight along
with his former chief of staff, Christine
Beatty, when the Detroit Free Press broke
their text-messaging scandal.
That thrust the Detroit City Council
into focusing on ousting the mayor
instead of nurturing the culture he
envisioned where intellect, not only
athleticism, was championed. Long lost
was Detroit's penchant for progress and