Donald Barden getting kicked when he's down

**Lowell** · January-12-11, 03:20 PM

Poor Don Barden.

Suffering from lung cancer that has spread to his brain, and with his gambling ventures facing bankruptcy, he now faces another fight -- with his wife, Bella Marshall, 'who filed papers last week in Wayne County Circuit Court asking he be declared incompetent.

She also requested a legal state called "separate maintenance," in which the assets are split up but the two remain legally married.'

Link to Crain's Article - "Cancer isn't Barden's only battle"

The vultures may be swarming but he's fighting back.

"Don Barden's court response to wife: I want a divorce, change of venue"

**downtownguy** · January-12-11, 04:45 PM

That's too bad. I always thought Barden was a class act. He got a lot of grief for selling Barden Cablevision to Comcast in the 90s, but why shouldn't a black man also be able to bask in the rewards of success after building a business? In the early 80s, Barden lived in Trolley Plaza and had HQ for Barden Cablevision next door in the Book Building. I also lived at Trolley and on the several occasions riding the elevator with him, he was very friendly. After a few years, I had heard he was moving out and coincidentally ran into him on the elevator shortly afterward. Cable was new in Detroit at that time, and according to the plan it was supposed to be rolled out in phases, with downtown the last area to be wired. "Why are you moving?" I asked Barden when I saw him on the elevator. He replied, "I need to move somewhere where I can get cable!"

I would run into him occasionally in the years after that, and he would always greet me with a friendly smile and a kind greeting. A class act.

**daddeeo** · January-12-11, 09:37 PM

I'd watch out she doesn't go for any gold fillings he may have.
I've heard of wanting to move on with your life but she's pretty cold.

**REL** · January-12-11, 11:15 PM

I guess "in sickness and in health" has no meaning to some people.

**CLAUDE G** · January-12-11, 11:33 PM

If I was Don Bardon, I would probably divorce my wife also over this.

**Lowell** · January-12-11, 11:38 PM

Originally Posted by downtownguy

"Why are you moving?" I asked Barden when I saw him on the elevator. He replied, "I need to move somewhere where I can get cable!".

Too funny^. Terrific elevator stories downtownguy. It reveals an insight one does not get in regular media.

**1KielsonDrive** · January-13-11, 12:52 AM

Originally Posted by downtownguy

That's too bad. I always thought Barden was a class act. He got a lot of grief for selling Barden Cablevision to Comcast in the 90s, but why shouldn't a black man also be able to bask in the rewards of success after building a business? In the early 80s, Barden lived in Trolley Plaza and had HQ for Barden Cablevision next door in the Book Building. I also lived at Trolley and on the several occasions riding the elevator with him, he was very friendly. After a few years, I had heard he was moving out and coincidentally ran into him on the elevator shortly afterward. Cable was new in Detroit at that time, and according to the plan it was supposed to be rolled out in phases, with downtown the last area to be wired. "Why are you moving?" I asked Barden when I saw him on the elevator. He replied, "I need to move somewhere where I can get cable!"

I would run into him occasionally in the years after that, and he would always greet me with a friendly smile and a kind greeting. A class act.

I'm in agreement with your sentiments. I knew Barden in those days in the Trolley and the Book and also ran into him occasionally in the ensuing years. He was always friendly, engaging and a gentleman.

**Gistok** · January-13-11, 01:46 AM

I hope Barden the best of health and the best of luck legal wise...

But I've never gotten quite past his crusade/recall attempt against Mayor Archer back in the 1990s. Since he's in ill health, I'll just leave it at that.... and I hope he recovers....

**Carey** · January-13-11, 09:33 AM

I wish Barden the best. I agree with the sentiments above about his class and friendly nature. No one's perfect, but he's a local success story, and it's too bad there aren't more Don Bardens living in Detroit, whether black, white, brown, pink, green, whatever.

**downtownguy** · January-13-11, 12:49 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

But I've never gotten quite past his crusade/recall attempt against Mayor Archer back in the 1990s.

Archer passed over Barden by not giving him one of the casino franchises. Barden had already established successful casinos outside of Michigan, and was far more qualified than Pappas and Gatzaros to run one [[a conclusion the state gaming commission ultimately came to agree with -- albeit over issues of character -- when they forced the Greeks to sell).

**Gistok** · January-13-11, 01:50 PM

The Greektown team [[including the Indian tribe), and the Atwater Group [[MotorCity) were the ones to place the issue on the ballot "the way they saw fit".... which was to give them preferences in getting a casino license [[sort of what Ohio did for the 4 casinos in Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati... where Dan Gilbert got dibs on 2 of the 4).

Barden used the race card when he failed to get a casino. Here's a man who already made a hundred million off of selling the city cable company... and he wanted more....

So he secretly funded the Call 'em Out Coalition to recall Archer.

A class act... or greed.... people can judge for themselves...

**downtownguy** · January-13-11, 01:59 PM

The whole process was corrupt. Three [[or was it four?) votes against casinos, and finally one for them, and Dennis "I was against them before I was for them" Archer declares the voters have spoken! Giving preferential treatment to anyone because they get an issue on the ballot is absurd! Once they succeeded in getting [[another) vote, it should have been a level playing field.

**Gistok** · January-13-11, 02:02 PM

I don't deny that the process was flawed from the get-go.... but it was a "constitutional amendment" type ballot issue... so to stray from the wording was problematic at best.

**DetroitPlanner** · January-13-11, 02:41 PM

Even with a level playin field to not give it to the only guy that actually lived in the City AND owned several other casinos seems fishy. Why not look out for your taxpayers? Barden could have easily afforded to live anywhere in the metro.

**1KielsonDrive** · January-13-11, 03:15 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

The Greektown team [[including the Indian tribe), and the Atwater Group [[MotorCity) were the ones to place the issue on the ballot "the way they saw fit".... which was to give them preferences in getting a casino license [[sort of what Ohio did for the 4 casinos in Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati... where Dan Gilbert got dibs on 2 of the 4).

Barden used the race card when he failed to get a casino. Here's a man who already made a hundred million off of selling the city cable company... and he wanted more....

So he secretly funded the Call 'em Out Coalition to recall Archer.

A class act... or greed.... people can judge for themselves...

It wasn't much of a secret. Barden wasn't the first one to use the 'race' card. And many who used it before him used it for much more pernicious purposes. Archer wasn't a saint, by any means. He put a good face on Detroit after Coleman departed, but he certainly wasn't a brilliant mayor. The casinos alone prove that. It's all politics, and the 'Greeks' won those rounds only to be booted later.

**1KielsonDrive** · January-13-11, 03:17 PM

And, it's only after [[hindsight = 20/20) a decade of KK that we tend to look back so glowingly on Archer's administration.

**Gistok** · January-13-11, 03:36 PM

No.... Barden made it personal and nasty.

As for people looking glowingly on Archer... yes the riverfront was a fiasco... but a lot of very greed speculators and landowners did their best to ruin that deal.

1KielsonDrive, I understand your perspective about Archer in respect to what mayors we had before and after him..... it's just like Presidents..... Obama is 10 times better than Bush..... [[don't you agree???.... LOL....)

**Greektowndave** · January-16-11, 09:36 AM

Unless someone here knows something the rest of Detroit does not, there is no evidence that Bella Marshall has been anything but a faithful wife to Don Barden and devoted public servant to Wayne County, so the suggestion she is a "vulture", or is "kicking" Don Barden while he is "down", is wholly without merit.
If common sense abounds, ask yourself what would cause a devoted wife, who had just arranged home-nursing care for her husband, to suddenly turn against him and seek a legal separation when he failed to return home to her from a hospital stay. The answer is it was more likely not a rash decision at
all, but rather the final straw for a woman who knows better than any of us the so-called "class" and character of the man in question.
Everyone here will recall that in the Summer of 2008, Bella Marshall announced she would be entering the mayor's race to fill the vacancy left by Kwame Kilpatrick. Then in late October, without public explanation, she suddenly and quietly withdrew her name from contention. The reason for her swift departure may have escaped the query of the average citizen, but it's cause is well known to everyone who worked at Barden Companies then, as well as the officers of the Michigan State Police and Detective Kilpacki of the Ann Arbor Police Department who investigated it.
So now, two short years later, it is not surprising to anyone with knowledge of the details of that investigation to see Bella Marshall react in the LEGAL manner in which she did following yet another
of her husband's disrespectful courses of action. Those of us who's familiarity with DonBarden extends beyond the occasional shared elevator ride are aware that when referring to his persona, one should know where to place the emphasis in describing him as a "class ACT".

**mam2009** · January-16-11, 11:03 AM

Originally Posted by Greektowndave

Everyone here will recall that in the Summer of 2008, Bella Marshall announced she would be entering the mayor's race to fill the vacancy left by Kwame Kilpatrick. Then in late October, without public explanation, she suddenly and quietly withdrew her name from contention. The reason for her swift departure may have escaped the query of the average citizen, but it's cause is well known to everyone who worked at Barden Companies then, as well as the officers of the Michigan State Police and Detective Kilpacki of the Ann Arbor Police Department who investigated it.

None of this is widely distributed public information so how do you question the common sense of the posters who are simply describing their fond recollections of a dying local businessman? Its already bad enough that his questionable business decisions are being debated as he fights for his life, but it seems that you are trying to get people to now dig onto his highly personal shortcomings.

I think that most people who heard about Ms. Marshall's legal filings assumed that there was likely much more to the story but were polite enough to let it go. You are just going to feed folks' curiosity further and fan the flames. I'm sure the family is going through a tough enough time right now without being bothered with rumors and half-told stories. You know that media professionals read this board & they're always trying to outscoop one another. Shame on you.

**jcole** · January-16-11, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by mam2009

None of this is widely distributed public information so how do you question the common sense of the posters who are simply describing their fond recollections of a dying local businessman? Its already bad enough that his questionable business decisions are being debated as he fights for his life, but it seems that you are trying to get people to now dig onto his highly personal shortcomings.

I think that most people who heard about Ms. Marshall's legal filings assumed that there was likely much more to the story but were polite enough to let it go. You are just going to feed folks' curiosity further and fan the flames. I'm sure the family is going through a tough enough time right now without being bothered with rumors and half-told stories. You know that media professionals read this board & they're always trying to outscoop one another. Shame on you.

And shame on the people who decided to blacken Mrs. Barden's name with slanderous interpretations[[kicking him when he's down; going for his gold fillings). She chose to take legal action in matters of which most people know nothing, the same way she took legal action previously.

**English** · January-16-11, 11:39 AM

Very sad. I didn't support casinos initially, but when they came in, I didn't think it was fair or right that Barden's proposal wasn't considered. His plan -- I think it was along with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson -- would have included an attraction for kids and families in another part of the complex. One thing that Detroit's downtown lacks is enough for kids to do.

**Gistok** · January-16-11, 03:18 PM

The Michael Jackson addition to Barden's casino bid came MUCH later, after it was starting to appear that Barden's bid would not be accepted... so it was just a last minute grasping at straws... and that's when Mr. Barden started to take off his gloves and get nasty about it.

The city already made him a multi-millionaire with the sweetheart cable franchise from CAY. Then Barden got greedy because he wanted to get even richer.... nothing but sour grapes mixed in with the "race card"...

**Motor City Sam** · January-16-11, 08:59 PM

Originally Posted by English

Very sad. I didn't support casinos initially, but when they came in, I didn't think it was fair or right that Barden's proposal wasn't considered. His plan -- I think it was along with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson -- would have included an attraction for kids and families in another part of the complex. One thing that Detroit's downtown lacks is enough for kids to do.

His proposal was considered, and if I remember correctly it was one of the finalists. I seem to remember there were questions about his finances and capital, compared to the Vegas based outfits. As it has been pointed out, the Greektown group had a preference built into the process.

After struggling for a few years, four out of Barden's five casinos are going through bankruptcy, so maybe there was something to those concerns. Barden's rejection and the aftermath got very ugly and did the City no favors. I wish it would have worked out differently.

**English** · January-16-11, 09:15 PM

Thanks for the updates. I was in my late teens & in undergrad when the Barden deal was going on. Back then I felt that he'd jumped the shark when Stevie and Michael came to town, but of course, the Internet was in its infancy and I was only getting the bits and pieces of information that filtered down South. I was anti-casinos in the 90s and thought that the amusement park with MJ was weird, but that was before there was a new generation of kids in my family.

It's good to get the entire story, and nice to get another perspective. My family's always been down on Barden, and resented that his was the only cable deal in the city in the 1980s. As for me, it was before my time, so I'm agnostic... I just hope and pray for the best for a dying man and his wife.