Detroit welcomes a new mayor, a new era

[Faygo Kid]

Source: Detroit Free Press

Nearly 1,000 people showed up in support of new Detroit Mayor Ken Cockrel Jr. at Wayne State University tonight.

Most guests, elected officials, city workers and Cockrel supporters from around the region began arriving at McGregor Memorial Conference Center around 6 p.m.. Newly appointed Deputy Mayor Saul Green arrived just before 6:30 with a friend, Phil Oppenheim, an Oakland County business consultant.

Oppenheim said he supports Cockrel “avidly, rampantly.” He also has known Green since his days in the U.S. attorney’s office in the mid-1970s. . .

Read more: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080919/NEWS01/80919094

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Godspeed, Mr. Mayor.

My home town deserves better than it got from Kwame Kilpatrick. If it can survive the Detroit Lions, it can survive this.

[muntrv]

1. We do have the 08 Stanley Cup Champs.

[Faygo Kid]

2. Damned right.

Like I said, it's home.

[Pirate Smile]

3. Am I right to think Kilpatrick being gone should help Obama or does it not matter?

I would assume it helps but I have no evidence to back that up. :)

[Nebulous Abstraction]

4. hmm..

I think it's kind of a wash: the GOP'ers (and their demented apologists) have played too many 'guilt by association' cards in this campaign and it has the net effect of desensitizing voters, particularly in light of more pressing issues. Besides, if he can survive the whole Reverend Wright thing intact (despite America's irrational fear of the oft-cited "angry black man") then his 'association' with Kwame should prove inconsequential.

I miss Dennis Archer, by the way...

[ohio2007]

5. That depends if the new boss is the same as the old boss so enjoy the honeymoon.

as it should last a month or so.

Reaction to Cockrel becoming mayor of Detroit


Nate Henderson, 31, Detroit: "Ken Cockrel, he's real down to earth and he's about his business. We should welcome him with open arms, but I don't know why we're wasting $3 million on a special election when the city is already in a big deficit already." (NICK MEYER/ DFP)

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=C4&Date=20080919&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=809190808&Ref=PH&Params=Itemnr=1

Cornell Frye, 53, of Detroit: "The city will survive, but I'm furious that the city council thought the people of Detroit were unintelligent enough to not be able to handle the situation on their own. The city council should not have asked the governor to come in and solve a Detroit problem." (NICK MEYER/ DFP)

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=C4&Date=20080919&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=809190808&Ref=PH&Params=Itemnr=2

Pamela Tooson 49, of West Bloomfield: "I don't like the idea of him becoming mayor. He's too aggressive and I don't think he's a good candidate. I think it would be better to pick someone who doesn't know Kwame or didn't have anything to do with that whole situation." (NICK MEYER/ DFP)
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=C4&Date=20080919&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=809190808&Ref=PH&Params=Itemnr=5

just local politics Barack will stay clear of

[ellie]

6. I love Detroit!

You're right, if anyone can come back from the brink, it's Detroit. And as another poster said, we ARE the Stanley Cup Champions!