DETROIT Detroit City Council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr., interim Detroit mayor, sat down with Real Times News Service for an exclusive interview on the day that outgoing Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pled guilty to felony charges and announced his resignation. In the interview, the former Detroit City Council president said his first task would be getting a handle on the city’s finances. The following are excerpts from that interview.
RTNS: Where do we go from here?
KC: As I mentioned during my press
conference and what I firmly believe is
there are two things we’ve got to do.
First, there needs to be a period of healing
and a time for healing. Then after that we
really have to go back to work. We have
to come back together as a community.
On a certain level, the events of the past
several months divided the community
and now is the time for us to come together.
Today I know that there are a lot of
people grieving and the mayor (Kwame
Kilpatrick) has a tremendous amount of
support still in the community. I know a
lot of those folks who are very upset and
even the folks I think that are the mayor’s
enemies or opponents on a certain level
are grieving today because this is a sad
day. This is not something anybody wanted
to see happen. Yes, I did along with the
majority of the council push for the
mayor to be removed. But it was nothing
personal. It was all about business and
about what we felt was best for the city.
However, even to see it come down this
way, it is sad for the city and we need to
recognize that and deal with it. But we
also need to be prepared to move the city
forward, try to continue its revitalization
and its rebirth.
RTNS: Do you think the city is ready
to heal?
KC: I believe that the city is ready to
heal. More importantly, we have to heal.
Anything less is not an option. So we
have to be ready to heal, and we actually
have to do it. We have to come back
together as a community. That is the only
way the city of Detroit will survive. That
is the only way that it will move forward.
RTNS: Are you ready for this challenge?
KC: Absolutely I am. I’ve heard that
question raised, but it’s important to
understand that I’ve been in city government
now for 11 years. That means technically
I’ve got more city government
experience than the current mayor has.
Even prior to that I served on the Wayne
County Commission for three years. So I
have quite a bit of experience as an elected
official, quite a bit of experience in
local government, and all of that experience
and all of that knowledge I’m going
to bring into play in terms of how I
approached this position. I’m going to try
to surround myself with the best people.
I’m going to keep good people around
me, bring in new people that are good, and
together we are going to develop an agenda
for moving the city of Detroit forward.
RTNS: What would be your biggest
challenge?
KC: There is no question, it’s the budget.
The city’s financial situation is still
precarious. One of the things I think is
going to be imperative for us to deal with
is to get a better handle on exactly what
the city’s true financial state is. It’s been
tough to do that because of the fact that
the previous administration has not supplied
the comprehensive annual financial
report for the last fiscal year. And it’s that
report which really shows you the true
financial state of the city. With that having
been late and still late, we still don’t
have it. We don’t really have a clear picture.
So one of the things that is important
to me is to undertake the financial review
of the city to find out exactly where we
are.
RTNS: You indicated you will be doing
some cleaning house as incoming mayor.
To what extent will you conduct that?
KC: I’m going to be doing some
degree of house cleaning. But I hesitate
and will not say exactly where and who
because as I mentioned I’m not the mayor
yet. There is a transition period, and I will
not be stepping into that role until Sept.
19. So I think most likely I’m not going to
be making announcements about certain
key post or city key department head
positions until Sept. 19 or sometime
shortly thereafter because again you’ve
still got people doing some of those jobs
and they are doing them under the current
mayor. And I don’t want somebody who’s
already doing their job to read in the
newspaper or hear on the radio they are
being replaced when they are still operating
in that capacity.
RTNS: Would you run for mayor and
are you in favor of a charter revision?
KC: As it relates to mayoral ambition
right now, my only ambition is to try to do
my part to heal the city and to help move
this city forward. In terms of what I’m
going to do politically, whether that
means running in a special election or in
next year’s regularly scheduled election,
that’s not really my focus right now.
Right now my focus is coming in trying
to heal the city, move this city forward
and do what we need to do to get back on
track. There will be a time and place for me to
make an announcement about what my
future political plans may be at a later day.
But today is not really about that. (On charter
revision) I definitely think that there are
some areas of the charter, which could
stand to be rewritten and tweaked a little
bit. One of the things that became apparent
to us even going through this process is if
you look, for example, at some of the language
governing forfeiture was what’s central
to this issue in terms of how council
wanted to proceed in dealing with the
mayor. Some of that language is somewhat
unclear, and there may be need to clarify
some of that. There are other areas
where I think the language could stand to
be rewritten.
The other thing also important to note is
that the current version of the city charter
was approved in 1996. Here we are in
2008. Maybe it’s time to take a look at
making some changes.
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