Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick spent a night in jail. For Jim Street, a 26-year-old resident of suburban Riverview, it's another chapter in a saga that has gone on for too long.
"His time is over, man,'' Street said as he queued up for food at a Detroit Lions exhibition game against the National Football League New York Giants Aug. 7. "If he would have resigned awhile ago, it all could have been avoided.''
Kilpatrick, a Democrat first elected in 2001, was jailed for violating terms of his bond in a perjury case by making an unauthorized business trip to Canada. The 38-year-old mayor and his former chief of staff were charged with perjury and related crimes in March for allegedly lying under oath when they denied having an affair. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Kilpatrick left prison yesterday and addressed his staff at city hall, said mayor's office spokesman James Canning. The mayor "thanked us for our support and told us to continue with our duties for the city,'' Canning said.
A judge yesterday ordered Kilpatrick not to leave the state and to wear a device that monitors his movements. Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox also charged Kwame with two felony counts for "assaulting or obstructing a police officer'' trying to serve a subpoena on a friend of the mayor.
"The mayor is now rendered an absolute impotent leader of the city,'' said L. Brooks Patterson, the top executive of suburban Oakland County. "He cannot manage, lead, or govern, and for the good of the region he should step aside.''
'Horrible for City'
The incarceration came two days after Forbes magazine ranked Detroit among the fastest-dying American cities. Its unemployment rate in June was 9.7 percent, the highest of 49 major U.S. metropolitan areas tracked by the U.S. Labor Department. One of every 66 homes in the Detroit area was in foreclosure in the second quarter, according to Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac Inc.
"I think it's horrible for the city,'' said Grosse Pointe Farms resident Chris Scinta, 40, an associate creative director at Interpublic Group of Cos. advertising agency Campbell-Ewald. "One day Forbes names it one of the 10 fastest-dying cities and the next day this happens.''
Judge Ronald Giles of the Michigan's 36th District ordered Kilpatrick's jailing two days ago. Kilpatrick admitted in court he had violated his bond by traveling to Windsor, Ontario, without notifying the court. He said he made the trip to help revive a $65 million deal to sell the city's share of the Detroit-Windsor tunnel and avert the loss of 2,000 city jobs in September.
Alleged Assault
Wayne County Circuit Judge Thomas Jackson upheld the ruling yesterday. The judge reset the mayor's bond to $50,000 in cash and imposed the travel restrictions. Kilpatrick had to post an additional $2,500 bond related to the assault charge, said Wayne County Sheriff's spokesman Joan Roach.
In the felony charge, the attorney general said the mayor shoved a Wayne County sheriff's deputy who was attempting to serve a subpoena on July 24. The deputy, Brian White, testified at a July 25 hearing that Kilpatrick also used racist slurs during the confrontation.
The mayor's lawyers denied at that hearing that the mayor assaulted White.
"This is paralyzing the city and the region,'' Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano said in an e-mailed statement. "If the mayor refuses to resign, he should at least take a leave of absence until his legal issues are resolved.'' Detroit is in Wayne County.
Talk of the Town
Canning of the mayor's office said the city is running as usual and that the "mayor is still the mayor.''
"It's outrageous -- our first mayor to go to prison,'' said Detroit resident Janelle Taylor, 22, a Wayne State University student who was shopping in a Food Price supermarket in the city's midtown area.
Kwame's alleged affair has roiled city politics and become a staple of the press and radio talk shows since it was reported by the Detroit Free Press in January.
"He shouldn't have done it if he knew he wasn't supposed to,'' city resident Adrienne Wells, 30, said in a parking lot on her way to dinner at a city restaurant.
"He did certain things and then got up and lied, so I wouldn't want to put him back in office,'' said Wells, who declined to give her occupation. "If you do the crime, you've got to take the time is what it comes down to.''
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