Thank You, Mayor, For Saving Us From Chaos

Because chaos would be oh, so much worse than this.

Guess what, another city council meeting on Thursday was raucous, disruptive, confrontational, and accusatory, but certainly fell short of chaotic. Voices became raised, a mother-in-law was insulted, a deputy mayor was booted, charges of impropriety were traded, an anonymous letter alleging corruption was made public, and two pieces of important city business were left unresolved. Again.

When the meeting had cleared there were two clear losers--Detroit citizens and Detroit business. Every one on the council and the mayor's staff will proudly receive their paychecks and benefits as usual, thank you very much, Citizens! Cha-ching!

Later in the day, Kilpatrick and Ken Cockrel tried to reassure residents that city business will continue despite the day's incendiary nature.

"Sometimes we disagree verbally, loudly, violently," Cockrel said. "But at the end of the day, city government is going to continue to move forward."

Kilpatrick said what happened Thursday is no different than the legendary fights that have taken place at City Hall for decades.

"City councils and mayors of this town have been fighting for years. Kwame Kilpatrick and council, we've had our back and forth, the notorious skirmishes between the late Maryann Mahaffey and the late Coleman Young. There's always been a tension there. At the end of the day, every council and mayor, including this council and this mayor, have been able to deal with the city's business no matter what was going on," the mayor said.

"Moving forward" and "deal[ing] with the city's business no matter what is going on" are not two of the first thoughts that cross my mind when I'm reading articles like this in the Freep and looking at replays of the dispute.

The fact is, now that a thick cloud of corruption is blanketing the city, everyone and everything is suspect, so much so that an anonymous letter alleging corruption now has the power to disrupt city business and perhaps scuttle a deal that could bring investment, jobs, and added positive activity to Detroit.

This is why the mayor was asked to resign by so many--for the betterment of the city. Kwame Kilpatrick publicly said he would not do so because the city would be subjected to chaos in his absence. Now, with Kilpatrick still holding the reins, every potential piece of business the city must address runs the risk of being sidelined by the merest hint of impropriety.

At least it isn't chaos.