A little background: The City of Detroit provides a gorgeous riverfront home to its mayor. After Kwame Kilpatrick was forced to resign last month due to a perjury scandal first unearthed by the Detroit Free Press in January, the home is now vacant, and Mayor Ken Cockrel says he has no plans to move in.
The Berry neighborhood, which stretches from the Detroit River to East Jefferson Avenue on Detroit’s east side — is filled with a diverse collection of some of the most powerful people in metro Detroit, including business owners, lawyers, judges, symphony musicians and city workers.
“This neighborhood is full of powerbrokers, people who are committed and interested in the city,” Campbell said.
Among them are Sharon McPhail, who has announced she is running for mayor, and the Rev. Nicholas Hood III, who has indicated he is considering running for mayor.
“We’ve got doctors, lawyers and Indian chiefs, and that sums it up,” said Linda Zaber, who has lived in the neighborhood for 22 years. “People don’t move in and out of this neighborhood. People are here until they retire and can’t maintain the house anymore.”
The Manoogian Mansion is vacant now. Detroit Mayor Ken Cockrel said he won’t move in. And there’s talk about turning the Manoogian into a museum or an orphanage. Campbell said she’s opposed to those ideas.
“This is a single-family residential neighborhood,” Campbell said. “My youngest daughter is adopted. I don’t have a problem with orphanages. That’s not the issue. But I didn’t sign up to live across the street from one.”
Kilpatrick has been accused of using the house for several house parties with strippers, large consumption of alcohol and illegal drug use. I understand the city’s desire to move away from the Manoogian–so how about this: sell it.
Even in this market, the property would fetch well over $2 million once the right buyer comes along. That money can be used to help remedy the $14 million mess left behind by the embattled ex-mayor soon to be getting three squares a day in an orange jumpsuit.
There is no reason for the city to use a multi-million dollar property in the middle of one of the city’s nicest residential neighborhood for something of civic value. Either keep it and keep a close eye on the next elected mayor, or get rid of it and make a few bucks along the way.
