Does This Pass The Smell Test? Detroit terminates parking deal

[Lowell]

The Free Press has discovered that a prime City of Detroit-owned 130 space parking lot between RenCen and Hart Plaza [roughly where Ford Auditorium once stood] was leased to a Continental Catering and Events of Troy for $750 a month. The deal was not approved by City Council as required. Let's see... $750 / 3900 spaces [130 spaces x 30 days] = 19 cents per space?

The Duggan administration is falling over itself to explain saying it has issued a reprimand to the underling who allegedly made the deal and didn't kick it upstairs - so nobody knew ergo Council was not advised, so they say. It is further complicated because Continental Catering and Events has donated $5000 to Duggan's nonprofit, something that would have been required to be revealed to Council.

And then there is this at the end of the article...

Continental did not pay monthly rent until this week when the Rec Department received a check for $4,300. They said the check was never processed and will be returned to Continental.

Kudos to Joe Guillen of the Detroit Free Press
http://www.freep.com/story/news/loca...ncil/80949616/

Discuss.

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

This is 2016. Every contract- every single one- should need council approval. They should also have to be posted online, in their entirety, for at least 30 days prior to the vote. Detroit city government is not dealing with national security issues. All employment contracts, all city services put out to bid, all vendors should have their contracts easily seen at any time by the public, the press, councilmembers and other government officials. No one should ever get a penny of city money unless the public has had a chance to review it; and the council has had a chance to vote on it.

[Johnnny5]

Wikipedia article below explains why there constantly seems to be parking lot shenanigans downtown.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organized_crime

[Gannon]

With monthly contracts eclipsing the $200 month mark, at least down by the river...within six blocks of the plaza...they could've really turned a profit if they'd kept this on the downlow. Especially after Cobo cancelled the independent/non-corporate monthlies [[and now boast 1,250 available spots on that huge, annoying sign to all they kicked out last month).

Yeah, parking has always been a racket downtown, but the stakes are higher now with the denser occupancy rates...and one aggressive player who seems to want to corner the market, reducing the supply of spaces. That is causing artificial need which increases in rates.

There is definitely a squeeze happening downtown...and perhaps this contract is merely a symptom of it. Every good capitalist finds any way to reduce costs, right?!

[Gannon]

This quote killed me, though. Nobody actually looks out the windows at the CAY?! I find that terribly hard to believe.

Asked how city officials didn’t realize the former Ford Auditorium site — across the street from the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center — was being used as a parking lot, Hollowell said, “I don’t think anyone really noticed it was being used for any particular purpose.”

[archfan]

If I had signed a contract on behalf of any company where I've worked, without getting the proper review, I would have been fired. It wouldn't matter if I was merely ignorant of the proper procedure, or had other reasons. They might hand me a letter of reprimand on the way out the door. If I were mayor, I'd do a full audit of the Department of Recreation, to see what other deals were agreed to.

[Honky Tonk]

The Free Press has discovered that a prime City of Detroit-owned 130 space parking lot between RenCen and Hart Plaza [roughly where Ford Auditorium once stood] was leased to a Continental Catering and Events of Troy for $750 a month. The deal was not approved by City Council as required. Let's see... $750 / 3900 spaces [130 spaces x 30 days] = 19 cents per space?

The Duggan administration is falling over itself to explain saying it has issued a reprimand to the underling who allegedly made the deal and didn't kick it upstairs - so nobody knew ergo Council was not advised, so they say. It is further complicated because Continental Catering and Events has donated $5000 to Duggan's nonprofit, something that would have been required to be revealed to Council.

And then there is this at the end of the article...


Kudos to Joe Guillen of the Detroit Free Press
http://www.freep.com/story/news/loca...ncil/80949616/

Discuss.

Didn't Mayor Kilpatrick also accept donations to his nonprofit? @ least the donations he accepted were a little more sizeable than 5k. I wonder if the gravel they donated was from an environmentally safe zone?

[Wesley Mouch]

Didn't Mayor Kilpatrick also accept donations to his nonprofit? @ least the donations he accepted were a little more sizeable than 5k. I wonder if the gravel they donated was from an environmentally safe zone?

This does stink. Clearly a management failure -- if contracts can be signed that are so dramatically far from industry standards.

Yet we need to be careful, too. The word 'donated' is being tossed around, to suggest a quid pro quo. 1) The amount 'donated' seems too small, and 2) a bad actor might choose to donate to a mayoral charity. Unless there was a request, it may be a bad guy looking for cover.

What frightens me more here is that some bureaucrat in the city can sign lease deals for city property, and there's no appropriate reviews? I'd think these contracts should all be going through a legal counsel and signed at a higher level. Bureaucrats should not be able to sign deals. Period. They should be only approving deals that run along standard lines, and are appropriately reviewed by others for compliance with city goals and standards. [[I cringe as I write that we may have needed MORE bureaucracy here.)

[SyGolden48236]

Continental Catering and Events is owned by James Bardy, a major donor to Democrat public officials such as Duggan, Benny Napoleon and Mark Hackel. Bardy's company also got the sweetheart deal to use the new Port Authority building for weddings and parties.

Seems like business as usual in that city.

http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/bcs_corp...20EVENTS%20LLC

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/new...ship/31681911/

[detroitsgwenivere]

Wikipedia article below explains why there constantly seems to be parking lot shenanigans downtown.

Hilarious. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Is anyone really surprised? There have been a few questionable moves made by the mayor's people that most of us residents turn a blind eye to, myself included. There's funny business going on with the Detroit Land Bank, and there's an ongoing investigation by the fed regarding demo grant funds:

http://conservativeintel.com/2015/12...ls-in-detroit/

Giving a buddy some free parking on our dime? Sucks, but its surely the tip of the iceberg.

[RO_Resident]

Yeah, it must be overflow parking for events at the Port of Detroit building.

Can't say I have ever seen anyone parking there on weekdays except for large events at Hart Plaza.

It's pretty dumb not to disclose the arrangement.

[3WC]

Even though Kwame is in jail, Duggan must have caught whatever corruption virus he had. Or, Duggan just can't shake his McNamara training.

[Wesley Mouch]

Continental Catering and Events is owned by James Bardy, a major donor to Democrat public officials such as Duggan, Benny Napoleon and Mark Hackel. Bardy's company also got the sweetheart deal to use the new Port Authority building for weddings and parties.

Seems like business as usual in that city.

http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/bcs_corp...20EVENTS%20LLC

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/new...ship/31681911/

Sy, all politicians get their money from people [[and from groups of people called corporations). Getting campaign money doesn't mean you've been purchased -- unless you think everyone has been purchased.

We ought to have good disclosure rules of course. If you contribute, then your government contract ought to be granted with complete visibility of any support from that contributor. Sunlight on government dealings is the best policy.

What makes the Port deal a 'sweetheart' deal? Are you suggesting that its not a market rate? That its a favor? If so, then we've got some serious problems with how we grant contracts [[which would be no surprise to me).