Future of Detroit's Manoogian Mansion stirs debate

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Future of Detroit's Manoogian Mansion stirs
debate

• David Josar / The Detroit News

http//www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID/
20080915/METRO/809150374 Published Monday,
September 15, 2008

• Mike Sillence ECO 6520 9/17/2008

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As Kilpatrick moves out, critics say the costly
home should be used to benefit the public, not
city's mayors.

• DETROIT -- Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is in the
  process of moving from the Manoogian Mansion this
  week, and debate is raging among Detroiters --
  and potential successors -- about whether he
  should be the last occupant of the lavish perk of
  office.
• Save New York City, Detroit is the only major
  American city that gives its mayor free use of a
  home -- and a few would-be mayors say they have
  little interest in following Kilpatrick into the
  palace once the moving trucks leave.
• "If it were up to me, I'd see it being used as an
  orphanage or something for young people," said
  Councilman Kwame Kenyatta.
• Ken Cockrel has suggested the mansion, for which
  the city budgets 146,000 annually for physical
  upkeep, be used more for the public good as a
  place to host annual events for Detroit's
  children, such as an Easter egg hunt.
• "I have more important things to do than live in
  a mansion," said City Council President Kenneth
  Cockrel Jr., who becomes interim mayor Friday but
  is in no rush to move from his modest home near
  Wayne State University.

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Upkeep is expensive!

• According to records obtained by The Detroit
  News, the city paid Big Dog Moving Co. 4,830 to
  move the mayor into the residence in 2002.
• Under a Freedom of Information Act request, The
  News found taxpayers took care of a cleaning
  service that came to about 1,000 a month.
• Since 1994, the city has spent 1.5 million on
  upkeep.
• The Kilpatricks used those dollars for some
  sprucing up, like 4,600 for a custom-designed
  fountain and 4,900 for Christmas decorations.
• Kwame and his wife, Carlita, also used 744,566
  that people had donated to the Manoogian Mansion
  Restoration Fund, a nonprofit set up under the
  Archer administration, to furnish and decorate
  the mansion.
• A spokesman for the mayor said he does not know
  what happened to the money and that the group is
  now defunct.

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Other Things
Easter Egg Hunts
Should the city get rid of the building, it
would allow the city to re-allocate nearly
150,000 of its annual budget.
This graph also works if they keep the mansion
and use it for the public good instead of as a
house.
Mansions
Mayoral Housing