Told you so. (Crooked city officals and Camp Brighton)

Hopefully the city is able to get the property back as the citizens of Detroit deserve better. Also with luck the new council members and Mayor Bing will be able wash more of this dirt out of Detroit.

"Detroit -- A former Detroit police officer is expected to plead guilty today to a bribery conspiracy charge related to the city of Detroit's sale of Camp Brighton in 2007.
Jerry M. Rivers is scheduled to appear before U.S. District Chief Judge Gerald E. Rosen at 3:30 p.m.
Court documents unsealed today allege Rivers arranged for the non-profit entity that bought the 320-acre Camp Brighton to pay $50,000 to a middle man. That money was disbursed to Rivers and two city officials, the court documents allege"

http://www.detnews.com/article/20091...414/1409/METRO

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A short excerpt from my posts on the old forum.

http://atdetroit.net/cgi-bin/foroum/...11&page=105828
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Johnnny5
Member
Username: Johnnny5

Post Number: 532
Registered: 06-2005
Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - 3:13 pm: http://atdetroit.net/forum/icons/tree_s.gifhttp://atdetroit.net/forum/icons/delmsg.gif http://atdetroit.net/forum/icons/movemsg.gif^^^ The guys getting $300,000 per year to maintain a vacant campground were probably slacking on their "obligations" to King Kwame. IMO the citizens of Detroit are getting shafted accepting such a small amount for Camp Brighton. Someone's definitely getting some kickbacks when such a prime piece of undeveloped land sells for barely half of it's appraised value.

Wish they could find a way to get Rogell/Redford back.
Real slick. Publicize a sale of Rackham to get all sorts of media attention
Get under the radar,t hen stonewall a quiet sale of another golf course for much less than its value, to a non-profit. Yeah, its a church, but still....
And very few complained about that sale.

As crooked as Kwame's men were, this only happened because a majority on Council voted for it. It also was pushed by the Detroit News editorial page.

"Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick targeted the property for sale as part of his strategy to balance the city's budget and eliminate the city's deficit.

Voting for the sale were council members Sheila Cockrel, Barbara Rose Collins, Martha Reeves, Alberta, Tinsley Talabi and Kenneth V. Cockrel Jr. Opposing the sale were Brenda Jones, Kwame Kenyatta, JoAnn Watson and Monica Conyers.

The sale passed by a single vote."

Portion of Detroit News editorial

"The council's other abdication of responsibility last week came when it rejected on a 7-2 vote [[this time Sheila Cockrel was joined by Ken Cockrel Jr.) the sale of city-owned Camp Brighton in Livingston County.

When Detroit was a grand and prosperous city, Camp Brighton was a nice perk to offer residents looking to escape urban life for a day of woods and water.

But Detroit no longer can afford such luxuries. The camp has been closed for years for all but special events. The Chaldean Catholic Church offered the city $3.5 million for the 160-acre camp , which includes a 40-acre lake. It appears to be a good deal."

In retrospect when the Silverdome just went for $580,000 and you can put a 4 bedroom on your credit card, maybe $3.5 million was a good deal; however, unless you have info that the DetNews was in on the dirty deal I don't think it's fair to blame the News for City Council's vote.

The thing we'll never know is how many others tried to bid on the property but had their paperwork lost. How many times they wanted to view the property but were denied entry, how many phone calls were never returned. Sounds like this was an inside deal from front to back and the KK Clan were more than happy to make them happy.

Johnny5, you get the nod for calling it. A guess? or insider info?

OK. Seems to be four individuals involved.
1. The Cop
2. Kandia
3. Middleman, could it be Kwame Daddy?
4. Other City official. ??

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Homer

OK. Seems to be four individuals involved.
1. The Cop
2. Kandia
3. Middleman, could it be Kwame Daddy?
4. Other City official. ??

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If #4 is a sitting council member, they need to resign now and allow the 10th place finisher have a seat at the table.

WOW a Canadian group bought the dome right. Perhaps little kk has his hands in that deal too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gnome

I

Johnny5, you get the nod for calling it. A guess? or insider info?

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A little of both. :cool:

$580,000??!!

That's a three bedroom house!!

2 city officials, both of the executive branch of government. That leaves out the council, so far. The count against Rivers says officials C and D, and others. Ooooh. :p

I guess these are C and D?
http://www.detnews.com/article/20091...414/1409/METRO

I have been hearing Dedan's name as the other official.

The fact that more corruption was discovered with the Kilpatrick administration unfortunately isn't all that surprising. I just wonder how much more dirt is going to be uncovered and when it's going to finally take down Ma & Pa Kilpatrick. How long will it take for us citizens to get so pissed off that we run the whole Kilpatrick clan out of town with pitchforks and torches?

Here's a copy of Kwame Kenyata's statement regarding the Camp Brighton deal: http://freep.com/article/20091204/NEWS01/91204067/1318/. I agree with Kenyata that the whole thing needs to be reviewed by the Law Dept. and/or a special commission to get to the bottom of it. If any legal action can be taken to get the camp back and/or compensation from the Chaldean Church it should be done.

Here's an intersesting official statement from the Chaldean Church at the Freep:

"The Rev. Manuel Boji, the Chaldean Church spokesman in Southfield, said today he's not concerned about the charges. 'The church did not pay any bribes for sure,' Boji said today. 'We bought it officially.'

http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...te=fullarticle

I wonder how long that statement will stand when the Feds start putting the pressure down? The Feds don't allow their convicts to make willy nilly statements with no backing at their plea agreement hearing. I can only imagine what's going to transpire over the next several months/years.

For those that wanted the Kilpatrick restitution hearings and Synagro and Kilpatrick himself to just go away, fat chance now. KK and his administration's legal problems may last longer than the Bing administration at this rate of corruption being revealed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BVos

The fact that more corruption was discovered with the Kilpatrick administration unfortunately isn't all that surprising. I just wonder how much more dirt is going to be uncovered and when it's going to finally take down Ma & Pa Kilpatrick. How long will it take for us citizens to get so pissed off that we run the whole Kilpatrick clan out of town with pitchforks and torches?

Here's a copy of Kwame Kenyata's statement regarding the Camp Brighton deal: http://freep.com/article/20091204/NEWS01/91204067/1318/. I agree with Kenyata that the whole thing needs to be reviewed by the Law Dept. and/or a special commission to get to the bottom of it. If any legal action can be taken to get the camp back and/or compensation from the Chaldean Church it should be done.

Here's an intersesting official statement from the Chaldean Church at the Freep:

"The Rev. Manuel Boji, the Chaldean Church spokesman in Southfield, said today he's not concerned about the charges. 'The church did not pay any bribes for sure,' Boji said today. 'We bought it officially.'

http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...te=fullarticle

I wonder how long that statement will stand when the Feds start putting the pressure down? The Feds don't allow their convicts to make willy nilly statements with no backing at their plea agreement hearing. I can only imagine what's going to transpire over the next several months/years.

For those that wanted the Kilpatrick restitution hearings and Synagro and Kilpatrick himself to just go away, fat chance now. KK and his administration's legal problems may last longer than the Bing administration at this rate of corruption being revealed.

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Geez I couldn't agree with you more about KK [[and Admin) just going away. It may be taking a long time for some of the corruption to be coming out, and I am keeping my finger crossed about the KK clan, but doesn't it seem that every deal we hear about gets just a little bit closer to the big thug himself. And now with this Camp Brighton case we have a few more names involved. [[Not that we didn't already know most were involved in some kind of corruption).
BTW aren't those restitution hearings supposed to continue on Mon 12-7

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Just Amazed

Geez I couldn't agree with you more about KK [[and Admin) just going away. It may be taking a long time for some of the corruption to be coming out, and I am keeping my finger crossed about the KK clan, but doesn't it seem that every deal we hear about gets just a little bit closer to the big thug himself. And now with this Camp Brighton case we have a few more names involved. [[Not that we didn't already know most were involved in some kind of corruption).
BTW aren't those restitution hearings supposed to continue on Mon 12-7

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I think so. And there bound to be some questions regarding this as well. I don't think that the tone of the questioning of Kwame during that hearing was a convienient coincidence, do you?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gnome

In retrospect when the Silverdome just went for $580,000 and you can put a 4 bedroom on your credit card, maybe $3.5 million was a good deal; however, unless you have info that the DetNews was in on the dirty deal I don't think it's fair to blame the News for City Council's vote.

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I don't see anyone blaming the News for the council's vote. I do however find it worth noting, as did Novine, that the News has egg on its face because of its habitual and self-inflicted near-sightedness. They are so willy-nilly in support of just about every sell-off that one begins to realize they don't have a BS meter. You can't say the News was tricked, as other people were able to pick up on this deals fishiness from the get-go. They just have such an agenda that they very often can't see past their own nose, and thus miss a lot of sh%t when it comes to making informed, thoughtful endorsements.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stosh

I think so. And there bound to be some questions regarding this as well. I don't think that the tone of the questioning of Kwame during that hearing was a convienient coincidence, do you?

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No I don't think that was a convenient coincident, I think something is being staged here. The Feds have obviously been working with the prosecutors office, and vice versa. I also think some of this goes back to the original Text messages that the prosecutors office received [[according to KK was done illegally), not all of those have been public. There has been so much go on and such a length of time, we have forgotten many things that were said and done. Including Kim Worthy stating there would be more charges to come.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Just Amazed

No I don't think that was a convenient coincident, I think something is being staged here. The Feds have obviously been working with the prosecutors office, and vice versa. I also think some of this goes back to the original Text messages that the prosecutors office received [[according to KK was done illegally), not all of those have been public. There has been so much go on and such a length of time, we have forgotten many things that were said and done. Including Kim Worthy stating there would be more charges to come.

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That's just how all this appeared to me as well. Everything is leading down to the same path, through multiple side routes. Eatablishing the case before it gets to it's conclusion.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stosh

That's just how all this appeared to me as well. Everything is leading down to the same path, through multiple side routes. Eatablishing the case before it gets to it's conclusion.

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Just wish the conclusion came much quicker, put me out of my misery over waiting for them to get these crooks, put them out of their misery thinking they have gotten away with the cr@p they did.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Just Amazed

Just wish the conclusion came much quicker, put me out of my misery over waiting for them to get these crooks, put them out of their misery thinking they have gotten away with the cr@p they did.

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I take the opposite opinion. I enjoy the twists and turns of the case. I like seeing Kwame sweat on the stand, as they dance around him sticking him with pins. Enough pinpricks, then kaboom.

So,

Can the city get the property back if it can be proven that the sale was tainted?

Personally, the church should lose that land and any invesment made into the property for colluding with Detroit officials. This city has enough calamities ripping it apart without the help of public servants who deteriorate the city for their personal gain.

and somebody should be shot over this.

Quote:

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Bishop Ibrahim N. Ibrahim of the Chaldean Catholic Church said today he was not directly involved in the purchase but was aware of the investigation because he was visited by FBI agents about three months ago.


"We had no intention to do anything wrong," Ibrahim said. "We didn't know what happened to the [[$50,000) check. We gave it to someone well-known and with a decent name."

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Wait a minute? Did the bishop just blatantly admit that his church paid $50,000 bribe ontop of the purchase price? Am I missing something? He seems to think that since he passed it to "someone well-known and with a decent name" that that makes it any less of a bribe? Really?

More updates.

http://www.freep.com/article/2009120...029/1001/rss01