Monday, September 15, 2008
Future of Detroit's Manoogian Mansion stirs debate
As Kilpatrick moves out, critics say the costly home should be used to benefit the public, not city's mayors.
David Josar / The Detroit News
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.
"If it were up to me, I'd see it being used as an orphanage or something for young people," said Councilman Kwame Kenyatta, who has been frustrated at his attempts to get an accounting of the mayor's expenditures, including at the Manoogian.
The 15-room riverfront mansion -- a gift to the city -- has become a symbol of Detroit since the family of immigrant tycoon Alex Manoogian donated it in 1966. But under Kilpatrick, the Spanish colonial revival home with expansive lawns and around-the-clock security became synonymous with opulence in one of the poorest cities in the nation.
These days, the stone mansion dominated by windows is known almost as much as the site of an infamous, but never-proven, party in 2002 as for its physical beauty. 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.
"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.
A moving van loaded with belongings from the Manoogian pulled into a storage facility Saturday evening in Oakland County, according to Detroit News reporting partner WXYZ-TV (Channel 7). Earlier in the day, movers placed boxes into a moving truck outside the mansion. A blue-and-white North American moving truck was sitting in the driveway at 1:30 p.m. with an entourage of black vehicles, including an SUV, parked nearby.
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. Other potential mayoral candidates, including former Detroit Pistons great Dave Bing and former Police Chief Benny Napoleon, echoed the sentiment.
"It's not a place I want to live in," said Bing, an industrialist.
Napoleon, who oversees homeland security for Wayne County, said, "I'm more concerned about the things Detroiters are living with every day."
Before anything can happen, Kilpatrick, his wife and three sons must leave. Spokesman James Canning said they are in the process of doing so, but refused to say where they are moving. Canning said taxpayers will pay for the move, just as they did for Mayor Dennis Archer after his term ended in 2001.
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. Public records show the only home the Kilpatricks own is a vacation property in Tallahassee, Fla., that is for sale.
And the outgoing mayor won't have to worry about making sure the kitchen and bathrooms are clean for the next tenant.
Canning said a cleaning firm remains under contract until the end of the year. 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.
The mansion is also a money pit. Since 1994, the city has spent $1.5 million on upkeep.
In the past three years, some repair bills have been $50,000 to fix the front porch and $10,000 for exterior lighting upgrades.
Other repairs for the outdoor pool, such as replacing tile and plumbing fixes, have been delayed.
Repairs to the building are covered in bond issues, but other items come from taxpayer dollars earmarked for the home.
The Kilpatricks used those dollars for some sprucing up, like $4,600 for a custom-designed fountain and $4,900 for Christmas decorations.
"I don't know if anyone will really be happy that he is going," said Dawn Hertz, who lives in the Berry subdivision, which is also home to the mayor's general counsel, Sharon McPhail. "But I'll be glad to see the barricades down and the entourage gone."
Donations unaccounted for
Kilpatrick became one of the city's best cheerleaders for touting what the city has to offer from the viewpoints of a business center, an entertainment hub and a place to raise a family. He hosted low-key gatherings of employees such as postal workers.
But he 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.
The group has not filed any IRS disclosure since 2004, when they reported $20,916 in cash.
Canning said he does not know what happened to the money and that the group, once headed by Andrea Carroll, the first lady's former assistant, is now defunct. Carroll stopped working for the city about a year ago, Canning said.
Another perk of the Kilpatrick administration is bound to disappear: free use of a Cadillac Escalade. The lease expires Oct. 1, according to a spokesman for General Motors Corp.
The mansion was built for $300,000, but the owner got rid of it during the Depression.
In 1939, Masco Co. founder Alex Manoogian purchased the 4,000-square-foot home that boasts a large living room, library, kitchen, two dining rooms, four bedrooms, three full baths and two half-baths.
Terry Campbell, whose house is kitty-corner from the mansion, said she's endured a glut of TV crews, so Kilpatrick's departure can't come soon enough.
"It's a wonderful building, and the city should keep it to highlight the good things of the city," said Campbell. "And it should be used by our top officials to show our respect. But Kwame hasn't done a very good job the last few months."
News Staff Writer Leonard N. Fleming contributed to this report. You can reach David Josar at (313) 222-2073 or djosar@detnews.com.
