Detroit thread. Post Kwame, Monica, and $1 houses here.

[Berkut]

He must have some serious shit on people to be able to get all those "loans".

[Tonitrus]

500 bucks on chick-fil-a in a year? delicious.

That's probably only about 1 trip a week.

[Ed Anger]

500 bucks on chick-fil-a in a year? delicious.

That's probably only about 1 trip a week.

[Caliga]

500 bucks on chick-fil-a in a year? delicious.

fahdiz loves this guy now. 

[Savonarola]

Occasionally the system does work, even in Detroit:

Judge: Kilpatrick at fault, he must pay $320,000
Groner says ex-mayor's big spending, bad behavior led to the ruling
BY JIM SCHAEFER and M.L. ELRICK
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS


Grilled for six days on the witness stand -- his integrity questioned by prosecutors who said that if they couldn't send him to jail, they'd settle for $225,000 -- Kilpatrick's restitution hearing ended after four months Wednesday with a judge calling him a liar and demanding he cut a check for far more than even prosecutors expected.

.

"You have not been credible in this courtroom and you, again, have not been honest to the City of Detroit," Wayne County Circuit Judge David Groner told Kilpatrick, who sat stone-faced. "The court finds the defendant's conduct in this matter reprehensible."

Compounding the former mayor's woes was news that broke just as he arrived at court: His longtime friend and ex-mayoral aide, DeDan Milton, had been indicted on federal bribery and extortion charges, another indication the feds are tightening focus on Kilpatrick.

Milton drove Kilpatrick to court, but did not come to the courtroom to see his friend sit silently while Groner ordered him to come up with nearly $320,000 within 90 days or face a return to jail.

Afterward, Kilpatrick declined to comment while the news media converged on Milton, who drove off in an SUV.

Order speeds repayment schedule
If Kilpatrick hadn't claimed he could only spare $6 a month, he wouldn't be on the hook for $320,000.

His $240,000 loan from four prominent Detroit businessmen would still be their secret.

His wife's plastic surgery -- still held within the family.

His $50,000 present from Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel (Matty) Moroun -- still just between them.

That's what Groner noted on Wednesday in his ruling, which dramatically speeds up the time the deposed former mayor has to pay his $1-million tab to the city.

Groner pointed to Kilpatrick's own behavior, and the motion filed by his lawyer Michael Alan Schwartz last March, in explaining the genesis of an extraordinary restitution hearing that played out during the last four months. Groner said Wednesday it was Kilpatrick's own hand -- and own large-as-Texas lifestyle that forced prosecutors to dig deeply into his bank accounts, turning up the loans, the surgery, the gifts and much more. Kilpatrick's own behavior landed him in the witness box, at times fumbling to explain his finances, and why certain income was never disclosed to the court.

"This court wonders if the public would have ever been put on notice of the enormous financial windfall if defendant had not asked for a reduction of restitution to $6 per month -- at the same time he moved into a mansion," Groner said, referring to the Kilpatrick's leased home in suburban Dallas, which dwarf's Detroit's Manoogian Mansion.

Schwartz, Kilpatrick's lawyer, said late Wednesday he has been an attorney long enough not to take shots like Groner's personally.

Plus, "I don't believe that for a moment," Schwartz said.

Schwartz said Wayne County Prosecutor Kim Worthy had been looking to tighten the screws on Kilpatrick "since the original sentence. I think she's been getting all kinds of criticism from people saying you didn't go after him hard enough."

Worthy and her assistant prosecutors have said they were simply trying to hold Kilpatrick accountable to the terms of his plea agreement.

As part of his 2008 deal with Worthy's office after perjuring himself in the text message scandal, Kilpatrick agreed to plead guilty to two felony counts of obstruction of justice, serve 120 days in jail and repay $1 million over his five years of probation.

During the extended restitution hearing, however, prosecutors convinced Groner that Kilpatrick concealed hundreds of thousands of dollars during the past year, moving funds into his wife's account and making large purchases, like paying more than $70,000 up front to lease their new home for a year.

Worthy, in a statement, said she was pleased with Groner's decision -- which went beyond even what prosecutors had requested.

"I think the judge's orders were most appropriate," she said. Referring to Kilpatrick, she added, "I'll be surprised if he has any problem coming up with money."

Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Gary Brown, the former deputy Detroit police chief whose whistle-blower case led to Kilpatrick's conviction, learned about Groner's ruling from Internet headlines.

"Under the circumstances, it's fair for the judge to insure that it's paid," Brown said of the restitution.

Councilman Kwame Kenyatta said Groner's ruling was appropriate, but added that he doesn't want to see Kilpatrick go to jail on a probation violation.

"It would not help the city if he was locked up and couldn't make any money," he said. "Instead of appealing, he should do what he agreed to do in the first place."

Spokesmen for Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and Compuware, which owns Kilpatrick's employer, Covisint, declined comment.

In court Wednesday, Kilpatrick wearing a dark suit, sat stone-faced as Groner ripped into him in a 12-minute ruling from the bench.

"Not only did the defendant misrepresent his ability to pay restitution, he lied in his March 24, 2009 affidavit in that he could only afford $6 per month for restitution," Groner said. "The court finds defendant's conduct in this matter reprehensible. Defendant has not only continued to flout the orders of this court but has continued his disregard and contempt for the people of the City of Detroit."

Groner didn't spare his contempt for Kilpatrick's behavior, at various times referring to him in vivid adjectives and nouns, saying he lied, acted reprehensibly, and used deceit in an effort to minimize the payments he owes to the city he once ran.

Outside court afterward, flanked by the high-profile and flamboyant Florida attorney Willie Gary, who represents Kilpatrick in a civil lawsuit, the former mayor, uncharacteristically, had little to say.

"We're here to comply with the judge's orders," Gary said.

but could this be the RUIN OF CHICK-FIL-A? 

[Savonarola]

And as one trial ends another begins; it's the circle of life, Detroit style:

Lawyer: Charges against Kilpatrick buddy DeDan Milton is no surprise
But Culpepper says it's too early to talk about cooperation with investigators
BY BEN SCHMITT, JOE SWICKARD and JENNIFER DIXON
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

DeDan Milton is under the federal hammer, but he says he won't be talking about his childhood buddy, ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

On the day Kilpatrick went to Wayne County Circuit Court to get slapped with a huge restitution bill in connection with the text message scandal, federal authorities unsealed a five-count criminal indictment against Milton as part of the ongoing city hall corruption investigation.

Few people have been as close to Kilpatrick during the last eight years as Milton. For much of Kilpatrick's tenure as mayor, Milton was his personal aide, accompanying him on business trips and shadowing him around Detroit.

Now, Milton, 37, faces charges that he took bribes and kickbacks involving the sale of various city-owned properties. His brother, Kandia Milton, another Kilpatrick confidant, already pleaded guilty in relation to the investigation.

While cooperation has been the key to many of the charges federal officials have brought in the wide-ranging investigation, DeDan Milton said he is standing strong for Kilpatrick.

Milton said Wednesday that he would "potentially" talk to the FBI, but said: "I will not be talking to the FBI about Mayor Kilpatrick."

Milton brothers are accused of bribery
U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade declined to comment in detail about the indictment -- the first in the city hall investigation since she took office this month.

"The indictment speaks for itself, and this office continues to take public corruption very seriously," McQuade said.

Milton's brother, former Detroit Deputy Mayor Kandia Milton, who recently pleaded guilty to a bribery charge in connection with a real estate deal involving the sale of a 160-acre plot of city-owned land in Livingston County -- known as Camp Brighton -- to the Chaldean Catholic Church. Kandia Milton, 38, recommended the sale to the Detroit City Council, which approved it in 2007.

The Milton brothers are accused of splitting $50,000 in bribe money, along with another childhood friend, Jerry Rivers, a former Detroit cop who worked as a mayoral bodyguard and in the department's liquor licensing bureau.

Rivers, 39, of Taylor also pleaded guilty last month to bribery in U.S. District Court in Detroit in connection with the Camp Brighton deal.

Rivers told Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen that a representative of the church, Eddie Bacall, approached him in 2006 seeking help in getting the council to approve the sale. Camp Brighton was owned by Detroit and had been used as a summer camp before it closed in 1995.

Bacall of Bacall Development in Farmington Hills repeated Wednesday that he did nothing wrong. He has not been charged.

DeDan Milton's lawyer, W. Otis Culpepper, said the indictment was not unexpected but that he had not yet seen the specific allegations.

"This is fresh to me," Culpepper said. "I've been in a homicide trial all week, and I just heard of this. I'll call my client and the U.S. attorney to discuss arraignment for my client's surrender."

Any discussion of cooperation is premature, Culpepper said. "It's too early to make those kinds of decisions," he said. "But all avenues are open to consideration."

However, Culpepper declined to say whether the potential avenues would lead to Kilpatrick.

Meanwhile, Kandia Milton's lawyer, Elliott Hall, said his client has been cooperative with federal officials, but: "Kandia's not going to testify against his brother. I don't think so."

Hall said his client has been helping on a lot of fronts, but not on this one.

Kandia Milton pleaded guilty last month to corruption charges and at the time, Hall said he hoped Milton's cooperation would reduce -- and possibly eliminate -- any prison time. After his plea, Hall characterized Milton's cooperation as "ongoing for a period of time, and the U.S. Attorney's Office and FBI has been very pleased."

Besides the Camp Brighton deal, Wednesday's indictment alleges DeDan Milton and Rivers received $25,000 in bribe money to help two unnamed real estate developers buy the former 8th Precinct Police building on Grand River and McNichols in 2006. The indictment said one unnamed developer offered the $25,000 to Rivers to help another developer buy the building.

Bacall said Wednesday that he had planned to buy the property, but changed his mind and could not recall who the other developer was. He said he did not pay out any money.

After the sale in 2007, Rivers and the Miltons split the money, the indictment states.

A quit claim deed indicates a company, Grand River & Six Mile LLC, paid $324,000 for the precinct building, which has yet to be developed. The company's registered agent did not return a call Wednesday.

The indictment also alleges that DeDan Milton set Rivers up with an unnamed city official in 2003 to help change the zoning of a Detroit property, near Grand River and Wyoming.

The indictment states that the unnamed real estate developer, who was involved in the 8th Precinct deal, paid $5,000 for the zoning request. DeDan Milton and Rivers split the money, according to the indictment.

Bacall said he believes he owns the property in question and he may have had some dealings with Rivers in making sure it was approved to be a shopping center.

But, he added: "I have committed no crimes." Bacall has not been charged with a crime.

Rivers' attorney, Sheldon Halpern, said he wasn't surprised by Milton's indictment, and he wasn't concerned about the new implications against his client, given the guilty plea.

"My clear expectation is that he would not be indicted in that regard," he said.

Rivers is scheduled to be sentenced March 11 in U.S. District Court. Kandia Milton is scheduled to be sentenced March 18.

DeDan Milton could appear as soon as today for arraignment. Each extortion count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and each bribery charge is punishable by up to 10 years.

Detroit City Councilman Kwame Kenyatta, an outspoken critic of the Camp Brighton sale when it was introduced to the council in 2007, called Milton's indictment uneventful since he was named as a coconspirator when Kandia Milton pleaded guilty to bribery in the case last year.

But Kenyatta said a trial for DeDan Milton "may be a good thing for the City of Detroit," instead of entering a plea agreement. A trial, he said, would allow Detroiters to learn more about further corruption in the Kilpatrick administration.

"I welcome the opportunity for him to go to court," Kenyatta said of Milton.

And the federal probe into city hall continues.

"Public corruption is a top criminal priority of the FBI and will not be tolerated," Detroit FBI Special Agent in Charge Andrew Arena said Wednesday. "This investigation demonstrates the FBI's commitment in investigating public corruption on every level and bringing those who betray the public's trust to justice."

Contact BEN SCHMITT: 313-223-4296 or [email protected]. Staff writer Naomi R. Patton contributed to this report.

[Savonarola]

This is going to be a great trial:

Riddle on wiretapped call: Monica Conyers 'crazy'
By BEN SCHMITT
FREE PRES STAFF WRITER

Federal prosecutors today began playing political consultant Sam Riddle's wiretapped phone calls in which he revealed his disdain for his ex-boss Monica Conyers, calling her "irrational" and "crazy."

"This bitch is a trip," Riddle said. "We're not dealing with a normal person."

The recordings, mainly from the summer of 2007, were played to highlight Riddle's dealings with Reggie Barnett, president of Wireless Resources, a company that was seeking a multimillion-dollar investment from a city pension board on which Conyers sat.

Prosecutors allege Riddle and Conyers shook down Barnett for a total of $20,000 in four installments of $5,000 in return for her support and advocacy of the investment.

The allegations stem from the period in which Conyers served on city council and a local pension board and Riddle worked as her chief of staff. She took office in January 2006.

Many of the calls played today in U.S. District Court in Detroit centered on Riddle trying to get a fourth payment from Barnett.

"We got you on a track that very few people even know exists," Riddle told Barnett. "Work on the, uh, five thing so I can keep her chilled out."

At one point, prosecutors played a few phone calls between Riddle and Derrick Miller, a former high-ranking aide to ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.


Riddle explained to Miller in an Aug. 29, 2007, call that Wireless Technologies was friendly with Conyers, adding the company "might be a resource for you guys."

Miller responded: "We got to get together soon, Sam."

Riddle's attorney, John Minock, told jurors in his opening statement that Riddle has a long, respected career in politics and was a legitimate consultant.

"There's more to one side of this story," Minock said.

Minock said Barnett and Riddle grew up together and Barnett merely paid him for consulting work.

Minock also cautioned not to hold the consistent spewing of four-letter words on the wiretapped calls against Riddle.

"You can't convict him because he has used bad language," he said.

Earlier today, federal prosecutors highlighted what they called a criminal partnership between Riddle and Conyers.

In his opening statement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Cares showed jurors transcripts of various phone calls among Riddle, Conyers and others that he said will back up seven felony charges against Riddle, including extortion and bribery.

"They were driven by two things, greed and their motto was 'pay to play,' " Cares said. "Monica Conyers is on the take and Sam Riddle is... helping her obtain public money."


In one July 2007 phone call, Riddle told a friend: "I would have pimped but I don't like the night air. When you're running these political women it's really the same ... thing."

Cares told the jury that the FBI obtained a wiretap for Riddle's cellular phone in June 2007 and that they will hear his voice working various deals for bribe money.

Some of the allegations include Conyers' vote on the controversial $1.2-billion Synagro Technologies sludge contract with the city; payments of $20,000 from Greektown entrepreneur Jim Papas for a letter from Conyers' husband, U.S. Rep. John Conyers, supporting a Papas-operated injection well in Romulus, and $20,000 from Barnett which sought the multimillion-dollar investment from the pension board Monica Conyers sat on.

Monica Conyers pleaded guilty to a count of bribery last summer and is scheduled to be sentenced in March. She is not expected to testify.

Minock countered that every charge has an explanation, pointing out, for example, that Papas paid Riddle to be a consultant and nothing more.

In the Synagro case, Minock said, Riddle collected money from Detroit businessman Rayford Jackson for previous consulting work. Jackson, who worked for Synagro, had owed Riddle money for helping with a visit to the city from Louis Farrakhan.

"There will be many reasons to have doubts in this case," Minock said.

[MadImmortalMan]

In one July 2007 phone call, Riddle told a friend: "I would have pimped but I don't like the night air. When you're running these political women it's really the same ... thing."

I'm sure the ... replaced some expletives. 

[Savonarola]

Naturally the comment I highlighted yesterday raised some ire:

Laura Berman
In Sam Riddle's view, women to blame

A jury could take a month to decide if Sam Riddle is guilty of bribery. Some observers in the courtroom Monday needed only minutes to convict him of attitudes and conduct toward women that might otherwise be presumed extinct.

The garrulous Riddle, whose love of the telephone enabled the FBI to tape 2,000 hours of Riddle chat over six months in 2007, is braving a jury trial to defend his wheeling-and-dealing as legal business practices associated with political consulting. He's charged with seven counts of bribery, extortion and conspiring with Monica Conyers, the former city councilwoman. She opted out of the spectacle of a public trial by pleading guilty.

But tapes of Riddle unplugged and aired in U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn's courtroom provide a rare public service: a firsthand look at a man-about-town's willingness to throw the women he works for under the bus.

Job compared to street life
Elmore Leonard would be hard-pressed to write more provocative dialogue for one of his hustlers than what Riddle dishes up naturally.

"Did I ever tell you I would have pimped -- but I didn't like the night air? But when you're running these political women, it's really close to the same thing."

Over decades in the murky world of Detroit political consulting, Riddle has worked with a surprising number of women, perhaps because his gravelly voice, wit and air of calm are appealing qualities.

Few partners benefited

Conyers isn't testifying and took a plea bargain.

But it's his love-hate relationships with women that have been his undoing -- and theirs. In retrospect, few of those he's represented -- from former state Rep. Mary Waters (he managed her losing campaign for Congress) to Kay Everett, the now-deceased former councilwoman -- have benefited. Everett was indicted on 27 counts of extortion and bribery while he was working for her.

In various conversations, Riddle -- who worked as Conyers' chief of staff -- calls her "irrational" "unreal," "beyond medication," and says: "We're not dealing with a normal person."

"Me and her, we're on very tenuous ground" and "she's just an undeserving b----. But I mean, I'm hooked up to her and she has access to a lot of s---."

Even Robert Cares, the federal prosecutor trying the case, made the Conyers/Riddle relationship sound like a bad marriage -- one in which the partners break up, then come together again out of mutual need.

And during her campaign for council, Riddle used a two-sided business card -- Monica Conyers' campaign information on one side, and his Meridian Management Systems logo on the other.

"It's rough. You have no idea," he complains on a tapped call to Reggie Barnett, president of Wireless Resources, who prosecutors say was told he had to pay to play for a loan from the pension board.

But Barnett calls his bluff.

"You're the man for it. There's always a man for the situation," he says.

Sam's characterization of Monica isn't kind but based on the numerous news articles about her it seems accurate.  I don't think we can fault him for that.

[Savonarola]

And the trial continues:

At Riddle trial, calls show Conyers blamed ex-mayor
BY BEN SCHMITT
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers was livid.

It was Sept. 5, 2007 and a city pension board she sat on had just rescinded support for a multimillion-dollar loan she was pushing for a friend of her chief of staff Sam Riddle.

In the case at hand, Wireless Resources Inc. was seeking a loan from the pension board. Its owner, Reggie Barnett, testified that Riddle brought up the idea of a loan during a March 2007 meeting at Fishbone's restaurant in Greektown. Barnett paid Riddle $20,000 in what prosecutors describe as bribe payments for the loan to go through the pension board.

When it didn't happen Conyers blamed ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and pension board member Jeff Beasley, whom Conyers and Riddle said was in the mayor's corner and wanted to stop the deal.

"I really want to f--- the mayor and Beasley up," she told Riddle.

"You have to fight fire with fire," Riddle told her.

"I was going to text the mayor," Conyers replied.

The conversations, which were recorded through a wiretap on riddle's phone, were played to a jury today in U.S. District Court in Detroit during Day 2 of a bribery and extortion trial against Riddle.


Prosecutors contend Riddle and Conyers partnered to shake down people who wanted to do business with the Detroit City Council or the General Retirement Services pension board.

In Barnett's case, he explained that his company installs wireless infrastructures for hospitals and retail stores across the country. They recently tried to get a deal for the new Pittsburgh Penguins arena but didn't have enough capital to make it happen, he said.

"We're a small company and you need capital to buy the hardware," he said.

The phone calls between Riddle and Conyers indicate she believed Kilpatrick was trying to sabotage the loan to Barnett through pension board members Beasley, DeDan Milton and Rev. Wendell Anthony.

"I'm really mad at them people," Conyers told Riddle.

"He controls Wendell, DeDan and Beasley," Riddle said.

Riddle called Barnett that same day and reassured him: "I think the councilwoman is going to have to dig in real deep with the mayor on this."

Prosecutors also played phone calls between Riddle and former Kilpatrick aide Derrick Miller.

"Wireless Resources was a priority," Riddle told Miller.

Miller responded: "Sam, we'll get together."

The discussions went back and forth and sometimes went off subject.

During one conversation on Sept. 7, 2007, Riddle told Barnett he was with Conyers at Somerset mall as she shopped for bras.

"Now she wants to start her own bra company, which isn't a bad idea," Riddle told Barnett.

In November, as the deal discussions continued, Riddle complained of a city council heated fight between Sheila Cockrel and Conyers that received news coverage.

"I need to be getting battlefield pay," Riddle told Barnett.

He joked that the fight would probably boost Conyers' approval rating in the city.

"Detroit is a backwards, country-ass town," he told Barnett.

In the end, the loan to Barnett's company never got approved by the pension board. Trustees voted it down in July 2008.

Barnett testified that he had hired Riddle for consulting work in the past and he believed Riddle could get him the loan.

As part of their agreement, which was verbal, Riddle would receive $25,000 and 3% interest in Wireless Resources. The payments were to be made in increments of $5,000.

"Sam wanted some equity in the company," Barnett said.

Riddle's lawyers have argued that Riddle merely performed legitimate consulting work.

When pressed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Cares, Barnett acknowledged he believed some amounts of the $5,000 payments to Riddle were going to Conyers.

"I believe some of it could have been," when asked whether the money was going to Conyers. "But I have no factual knowledge of that."

Under cross examination by Riddle's lawyer John Minock, Barnett said: I was hoping I was paying for Sam's expertise."

Minock asked: "You thought he knew how to get things done, right?"

Barnett answered: "Correct."

After he finished testifying, Barnett told the Free Press that he hasn't spoke to Riddle in a couple years.

But he didn't exactly endorse the feds' criminal case against Riddle.

"It's hard to shake somebody down that you've been knowing for 40 years," he said of the allegations against Riddle involving Barnett. "It's a tough case."

Barnett also testified he also had a separate consulting agreement with Derrick Miller to receive a loan for Wireless Resources that would have paid Miller more money than Riddle.

He said he had a signed contract with Miller that occurred after Miller left the mayor's office and worked as a consultant downtown. But, he said, Miller never got him the loan and he never paid Miller.


"I got smarter," he said, after testifying, explaining that he realized that he would pay only a consulting fee if a loan was successful.

Testimony continues this afternoon.

[Savonarola]

Another Travel with Charlie

Belle Isle a neglected gem waiting for political will
Charlie LeDuff / The Detroit News
Detroit --Whenever I feel troubled or penned-in, one of my favorite places is Belle Isle, where I can sit on the bank of the river and let my mind run. But when I went to Belle the other morning, I got a clear and unobstructed view of its 982 acres.

There is no other way to say it: The island, like the city, is plagued by neglect.

Take the Belle Isle Zoo.

It was closed by disgraced former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in 2002 for budget reasons.

He promised to reopen it, but never did. In the meantime, the zoo has given over to climbing vines and wild dogs.

As the zoo was closed, a million dollars was found to build a holding pen for a few dozen European deer that used to roam the island freely. That contract was awarded to Bobby Ferguson, the mayor's friend who got a lot of contracts during the Kilpatrick years.

Today, the holding pen is being dug up and the deer shoved to one corner, since rotting sewer pipes weren't replaced before erecting the pen.

And then there is the Belle Isle Aquarium, a 10,000-square-foot gem with an eight-sided dome that opened in 1904 as the entrance to the botanical conservatory.

Kilpatrick closed the aquarium in 2005, saying the $300,000 a year it cost the city to run the place was better used toward things like tearing down abandoned buildings. In the end, he only succeeded in creating another.

The aquarium is still in a good state of repair. Unlike much of Detroit, vandals and nature have yet to ravage it.

Designed by Albert Kahn as part of the "City Beautiful Movement," the ceilings are still covered in green glass tiles, the viewing tanks are still lined in chromium and the steam heat still operates. The roof needs work.

It is Michigan's only and America's oldest aquarium and the Friends of the Belle Isle Aquarium are trying to raise $1 million to reopen it.

"Once it is lost, it is lost," said Vance Patrick, president of the organization who gave me a tour. "I took my kids there. I went there as a kid. Generations have grown up going to the Belle Isle Aquarium. There is no other opportunity to visit aquatic life in the Great Lakes state."

Two ideas for saving Belle Isle and its venue have been floating around for at least 15 years, but there seems to be no political will or energy to seize upon then.

The first is a conservancy, a public-private partnership that oversees maintenance and improvements to the park. Such an arrangement means funding would come from fundraising, grants and user fees. New York's Central Park has been operating like this since 1980, when joggers feared for their lives and junkies inhabited bathroom stalls.

It should be noted that both Central Park and Belle Isle were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the founder of landscape architecture. In my opinion, Belle Isle is the more beautiful.

The conservancy arrangement is not unprecedented in Detroit: the Institute of Arts, Zoo, Science Center and Historical Museum all operate as such. And Belle Isle has no lack of supporters who do much conservation work anyway including: the Friends of Belle Isle, the Belle Isle Botanical Society and the Belle Isle Women's Committee.

The second idea is a user fee, like those used at the Huron-Clinton Metroparks.

Belle Isle now has no budget specifically for itself, said Keith Flournoy, the park manager, since its budget is folded into the greater parks and recreation budget. The budget for all the parks in the city is $25 million, half of what it was when the aquarium was closed.

"If they don't do something soon, all we will pass our children is a pile of rubble," said Ernest Burkeen, the director of Detroit Parks and Recreation under Mayor Dennis Archer and currently the director of Parks and Recreation for the city of Miami.

"Unfortunately, race is always a bogey man. We're giving it away to the suburbs, the argument goes," Burkeen said. "Secondly, there is a political culture in Detroit where you have a bunch of people who are against everything. They can't give you a better way. They simply say no."

Mayor Dave Bing said earlier this year he is considering funding options to resurrect the forlorn island. Residents wait.

If you wish to tour the shuttered aquarium, it will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 6 as part of the annual Shiver on the River celebration of Belle Isle.

The event will feature live entertainment and the opening of the island's other venues including the casino and conservatory. Donations are welcome.

Belle Isle has historically served the same function for Detroit as Central Park for New York.  There were stables, beaches, a casino and an ice skating rink there.  That's all gone, but now they have drag racing after dark.

[Savonarola]

I'm glad Riddle didn't cut a deal; this is far more entertaining:

Riddle trial: Conyers got cash for travel and shopping, developer says
Paul Egan / The Detroit News

Detroit -- A real estate developer testified today that he gave former Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers thousands of dollars in cash for travel, shopping trips and tuition for one of her children, and Conyers once reached into his pocket at a restaurant and took hundreds of dollars from him.

Melvin Washington, president of the Phoenix Group of companies, said he at first gave Conyers the cash because he considered her a friend but eventually felt pressured and taken advantage of because he had a request for $15 million in financing before a city pension board, on which Conyers sat as a trustee.

"I knew that she could be very explosive and derail my projects," Washington testified.


He said he also paid Conyers $1,200 a month for several months in 2007 for her to provide battered women to clean his offices, he testified.

Washington was "really shocked" when Conyers reached into his pocket one night at Mosaic restaurant and removed hundreds of dollars in cash "in front of everybody."

The testimony came during the corruption trial of political consultant Sam Riddle as it entered its sixth day of evidence today.

Riddle, 63, is charged in a seven-count indictment with charges that include conspiracy, extortion and making a false statement to the FBI.

The charges stem from Riddle's time as a top aide to Conyers, who pleaded guilty to bribery in June and awaits sentencing March 10.

Prosecutors allege Riddle and Conyers teamed up to extort money from businesspeople with matters before the Detroit City Council or the General Retirement System, on which Conyers sat as a trustee.

Jurors earlier heard evidence about alleged shakedowns involving a technology company, a strip club and the $1.2 billion Synagro sludge contract.

[Savonarola]

Still just a pawn in the game of life:

Mongo says Kilpatrick's legacy pushes him to D.C.

Hard-charging adviser wants to leave 'minor leagues'

Charlie LeDuff / The Detroit News
Detroit -- Adolph Mongo -- the hard-charging, hard-drinking political consultant -- was taking lunch the other afternoon at Roma Cafe, the power players' joint in the Eastern Market.

Mongo was having his usual meal: double vodka on the rocks and a tall glass of water. Judge David Groner walked past the bar and waved. Ted Gatzaros, the casino hotelier, stopped to whisper in his ear.

Above the right shoulder of Mongo's Italian suit were televised images of a haggard-looking Sam Riddle, another noted Detroit political consultant, shambling into federal court for yet another day of his corruption trial.


"Dumb a--," Mongo sneered into his drink. "He ain't the reason. Make sure you put that in your story. Riddle and these other clowns ain't the reason I'm moving my office to D.C."

After 20 years in the consulting game, Mongo, 55, has closed his office, also in the Eastern Market, and is taking his hatchet to Capitol Hill.

He is not leaving because the feds have been laying more wire in Detroit than a cable guy, he said. The fact is the FBI has already fingered through Mongo's bank accounts because of his work for disgraced former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

Rather, Mongo insisted he is leaving because of Kilpatrick's legacy: a shattered black political machine that had fed Mongo and other all-stars of Detroit political life for years. Left in Kilpatrick's wreckage, he says, is a hodgepodge of crude nickel-and-dime politicians who don't pay their bills.

"He left this city in shambles," Mongo said of Kilpatrick. "He had the most potential of anybody I ever worked for, and he blew it. What made this town great -- black political power -- has been diluted, sliced up and silenced. Detroit has become the minor leagues."

And so off he goes to K Street, where the drinks are taller, the stakes are higher and the pockets much deeper. Mongo said he will keep his clientele in Detroit but figures they will be better served by his presence in D.C., where Michigan's delegation has been all but neutered by the Obama administration.

"Whether you like it or not, I will be the face of Detroit in Washington," he said.

Top names, long list
Sensitive that some in the power set will view his move as a sign that his career is limping toward irrelevance, Mongo ripped off a list of clients he has represented and others he continues to represent: one governor, one Democratic gubernatorial candidate, five appellate court judges, seven circuit court judges, five district court judges, three mayors, three county prosecutors, two members of Congress, six City Council members and powerbroker Edward McNamara, the late Wayne County executive.

If any proof is needed that politics makes strange bedfellows, then consider Kilpatrick's obstruction of justice hearings nearly two years ago. It was something of a family reunion for Mongo. He had worked on a political campaign for not only Kilpatrick, but also for the presiding district judge, Ronald Giles, and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.

"All were enemies and all were friends," said Mongo, paraphrasing his career by paraphrasing a biblical verse, Romans 5:10. "It was like having my nieces and nephews together."

Mongo ordered another.

His cell phone rang. It was a spy inside City Hall calling with gossip. "The feds ain't the only ones with snitches in City Hall," he cackled.

Mongo took a message, then showed off his contacts list. It was a veritable Who's Who in Detroit politics. So potent is the directory that after his car was stolen a few years ago, a man wandered into the police precinct to return Mongo's cell phone.

"The guy told the cops that he looked through the numbers and figured it was important," he said. "The phone was too hot for him."

Mongo ordered dessert on the rocks.

There is little doubt that many in the metropolitan region will be happy to see him go. A former Marine and newspaperman, Mongo cut his political teeth in the Coleman Young machine.

And like Young, Mongo speaks his mind, and he speaks loudly.

Mongo now takes credit for the infamous back-page "lynching" ad that ran in a special edition of the Michigan Chronicle in 2005 commemorating the life and death of Rosa Parks. The ad compared a photograph of black men hanging from a tree to the media's treatment of Kilpatrick, who was seeking re-election and was far down in the polls.

'My biggest win'

"It was my biggest win and among my finest work," he said. "Of course I take advantage of racial issues. I'm good at it. Isn't that what Lee Atwater did for Daddy Bush with the Willie Horton ad? Do they call him a race-baiter?"

Washington politics is a dirty, brass-knuckle free-for-all, and it is precisely this freedom, he said, that compels Mongo to Washington.

"Winning is the cardinal rule in politics," he said. "When you look at it like that, I'm a choirboy compared to some people in D.C."

[Savonarola]

Assaults, robberies plague new transit center
Security cuts cause problems for riders
BY SUZETTE HACKNEY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER


With great fanfare, the $22.5-million Rosa Parks Transit Center opened in July, promising Detroit bus riders a 24-hour shelter that included rest rooms, a bus fare cashier station, information and security booths, a coffee shop and other retail outlets.


Yet, on any given day or night, riders from around the region are met with "Temporarily Closed" signs posted on the center's doors.

In a memo obtained by the Free Press, Detroit Department of Transportation officials admit that the transit center closes at various times during the week and weekends because of the city's current fiscal constraints -- its inability to maintain appropriate staffing levels because of the layoffs of security personnel.

The city's remedy: A Detroit Police Department mini-station is likely to open inside the center within the next two weeks, said Charles Beckham, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing's group executive for operations.

"We know we have a problem there, and we have not ignored the problem," he said.

Bathing, dealing, sleeping
Within the last three weeks at the Rosa Parks Transit Center, a woman has been caught bathing her cat in a sink, numerous drug deals have gone down and a man who was sleeping in a bathroom stall grew testy when he was awakened by a guard on patrol.

Though there's a need for more security -- not less -- at the transit center at the corner of Michigan and Cass, six of the 16 security guards hired to protect Detroit Department of Transportation properties have been laid off in recent months.

When it becomes evident to DDOT officials that they do not have enough personnel to keep the center open, they close it. The practice has been happening since November, just as temperatures started to drop.

"It seems like it closes when it's at zero or below zero," said Clifford Grose, 59, who rides the bus daily.

The Detroit Police Department has increased patrols of the transit center, which also serves as a hub for SMART, Transit Windsor, Megabus and the People Mover. Still, city officials say drug trafficking, loitering and even assaults are a daily occurrence.

A DDOT security guard who described himself as a veteran employee and declined to give his name for fear of losing his job, said workers don't feel safe. He said co-workers volunteer to come in to help keep their colleagues safe.

On Tuesday, city officials met with Detroit Police Department leaders to craft a plan. In the works is a mini-station that would house some officers, reserve officers and city security guards. The problems, which also include fights and stolen property, have escalated in recent weeks, said Beckham.

"We're closing it down to protect the riders that come in there, not to deny them a place to stay warm or seek shelter," Beckham said.

A Tim Hortons and Louisiana gumbo restaurant are scheduled to set up shop in a couple weeks, Beckham said, and "the vendors and patrons need to feel safe and secure."

Riders are frustrated by the inconvenience, and have begun lodging complaints with the city. The biggest rub: arbitrary closings. One resident who filed a complaint with the Ombudsman's Office said often seniors and children, who may not be dressed for long waits, are unprepared to be greeted by a shuttered facility.

Dassari Wallace, 14, a Cass Technical High School student, uses the station as a transfer point after school. She said within the last two weeks, the center has been closed when she arrived -- once at 4:30 p.m. and once at 6 p.m.

"We all got off the bus and began running for it because it was freezing cold that day," Dassari said. "When we saw that it was empty, we couldn't believe it. All my little dreams were crushed."

[Savonarola]

Sorry to see this happen, but at least Apple got some free publicity:

Mistrial declared in Riddle public corruption case
BY BEN SCHMITT and JOHN WISELY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS



Emotional and exhausted, a group of jurors in the Sam Riddle political corruption case today blamed one holdout juror for injecting race into discussions and refusing to deliberate with others, leading to a mistrial.

"She shut us down at a lot of levels," said jury foreman Matt Lefevre of Clinton Township. "Her mind was made up before the door shut."

The holdout juror, who is a flight attendant from Auburn Hills, had her mind made up early and wasn't open to persuasion.

The government intends to retry Riddle, said Gina Balaya, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, this afternoon.

"We tried for five days," said juror Margaret Elyakin of Ann Arbor. "We were civil. If you tried to say anything, she would lash out at you."

The holdout, who is African American, declined to give her name and repeatedly said, "It was interesting." and "No comment," as she left the federal courthouse.

"I pray to God that they retry the case and do it with the same energy that they did this time," Lefevre said. "I felt the government did an excellent job."

Riddle certainly seemed to expect another trial.
"The American system of justice worked and we proceed with Round 2," Riddle said before leaving the courthouse.

In declaring a mistrial at 11 a.m., U.S. District Court Judge Avern Cohn advised jurors not to talk to the media. "You would be better off to chalk this up to one of life's experiences and keep your mouths shut," Cohn said.

But several jurors wanted to vent on the courthouse steps.

Jay Gandhi of Lake Orion said the holdout juror accused other jurors of being racist and at one point the juror sarcastically said, "Let's hang the black man."

"I said, 'No, I will not hang 800,000 city of Detroit residents, ' " Gandhi said.

She said 'Y'all just want to hang the black man,'" said juror Judy Sochocki of Southgate. "She implied we were racist."

Lefevre was more blunt.

"She accused us of being prejudiced," Lefevre said. "She accused the FBI of lying."
"If you can't find this man guilty, you can't find anyone guilty," Elyakin said. "Unfortunately, it came down to race."

Juror Sue Persichni of Chesterfield Township started crying when describing deliberations.
"It was a long case and we worked very hard," she said. "Because of one juror we couldn't accomplish anything. You just feel bad."

Persichini said the lone holdout juror sometimes refused to talk or vote when discussing the charges. However, at one point, Persichini said, the juror agreed to consider the charge involving the scandal surrounding the Synagro sludge-hauling contract with the city of Detroit.
"The next day, she changed her mind," Persichini said.

Riddle's defense lawyers had expressed concern that the pool of 100 prospective jurors did not represent the 22% black population in the U.S. District Court's Eastern District because only nine of them were nonwhite.

Originally, two black women jurors were selected but one was randomly chosen as an alternate and sent home during deliberations.

Prosecutors charged that Riddle and his former boss, ex-Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers, shook down people who wanted to do business with the City Council or a city pension board where Conyers sat as a trustee.

Riddle is charged in a seven-count indictment alleging extortion-related crimes stemming from his time working for Conyers, who pleaded guilty to bribery last summer and awaits sentencing March 10. He worked as Conyers' chief of staff.

As Riddle walked from the federal courthouse to his vehicle, he was asked what he planned to do the rest of the day. He said: "I'm taking my iPhone back and getting an upgrade."