Erikd Member Username: Erikd
Post Number: 823 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 1:30 am: | |
There is a thread that sort of touched on this topic, but I wanted to start a specific thread about it. ----------- I think this address had a very different focus and tone than the previous addresses by Kwame. There was less talk on plans and projects, and more focus on the core social issues that are at the heart of the city's problems. This address was more of a call for Detroit residents to stand up and join the fight for change. I thought that KK made some very good points, and delivered a very different and interesting speech. |
Supersport Member Username: Supersport
Post Number: 11412 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 2:26 am: | |
I agree, KK gets more inspirational with each and every speech he gives. I think under his leadership the city is heading in the right direction. The question is, can he bring jobs into the city to keep what momentum it has going? The economic situation of this state is slowly creeping into Detroit, one would think that eventually Detroit will get hit as hard as most of the surrounding region, where new development has come to a screeching hault. I liked the jabs (even if they were soft blows) at the girl in Lansing too, as they were well deserved. |
1953 Member Username: 1953
Post Number: 1326 Registered: 12-2004
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 7:11 am: | |
I liked this address. |
Defendbrooklyn Member Username: Defendbrooklyn
Post Number: 29 Registered: 11-2005
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 7:16 am: | |
It was delivered in an effective manner...I hate to be so negative but all the state of the city addresses has lead Detroit to this point. They always sound so good but what we "want" to happen and what "really" happens are two different stories. |
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul
Post Number: 681 Registered: 10-2006
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 8:27 am: | |
For those that were outta the Detroit area, does the city have like a video version link on their web site or something, or possibly a transcript? |
Gannon Member Username: Gannon
Post Number: 8524 Registered: 12-2003
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 8:54 am: | |
Go to the WDET.org website, here is the page for his speech's .mp3 link. I need to listen to it before I hear any commentary, even Erikd's usually spot-on excellent analysis! I cannot believe I missed this, I got into an incredible conversation at the dinner table of a client in Grosse Point...and only realized it was already seven o'clock when the wife exclaimed something about 'that asshole criminal' on the TeeVee. They asked me what I thought of 'my' mayor, I sincerely said that I considered him to be growing up and into his britches, finally...but it would be tough for him to transcend his early training from his oh-so-political mother and father, and the lingering lag of the McNamara machine dirty tricks revenge squad. I reminded them that this is certainly NOT the only corrupt administration in the history of politics, and that they would be less harsh on his dark side IF he showed progress with the people, city and extended area. Yanno, if he became a leader. I am eager to see this big silver-spooned boy continue to grow into a man. Let him reacquire the moniker, The Big Diamond, yet this time wear it with deep personal pride in his accomplishments, not just his minor political positional victories. |
Supersport Member Username: Supersport
Post Number: 11413 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 8:56 am: | |
Video of the address. http://www.clickondetroit.com/ video/11246364/index.html |
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1
Post Number: 8515 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 9:14 am: | |
I thought the fact that KK called out citizens of Detroit in regards to education, policing neighborhoods, cleaning neighborhoods was great. The people of this city need to step up. I also didn't see anything that could be construed as an us vs. them attitude (I did miss part of the beginning) which is a step in the right direction. |
Gsgeorge Member Username: Gsgeorge
Post Number: 108 Registered: 08-2006
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 9:22 am: | |
Overall I was pleased. "THIS IS US, KILLING US." Whoa. he mentioned very little about mass transit. We need it!! |
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1
Post Number: 8518 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 9:27 am: | |
While I agree that we need mass transit we all need to fix our city. Mass transit can't be done on a city level but helping our neighborhoods, our children and ourselves certainly can be done on a city level. |
Buzzman0077 Member Username: Buzzman0077
Post Number: 26 Registered: 11-2006
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 9:27 am: | |
This was the first time since KK took office that I have actually felt some pride and optimism well up inside of be. Well spoken KK, I hope we can follow through on your vision. |
Danny Member Username: Danny
Post Number: 5620 Registered: 02-2004
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 9:29 am: | |
The Black KING hath made his royal address to save Detroit from thine own destruction. KING KWAME hath finally grow up. |
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott
Post Number: 256 Registered: 12-2006
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 10:18 am: | |
GSGeorge, the Mayor seems to be keeping his transit effort quiet for now, for some reason. There is one. I think the tone of this address was excellent, and I agree with everyone who has said here that the Mayor is becoming more inspirational and more effective as a leader. And he is still quite young! He may be able to accomplish some great things. It appears that the community and the media have put the foibles of his first term behind them, which is a good thing. It also appears he is able to inspire Detroiters without having to resort to suburb bashing, which is the one beef I had with the late, great Coleman Young. All in all, the address left me feeling quite positive about the direction the Mayor wants to take the City. |
Dds Member Username: Dds
Post Number: 165 Registered: 10-2006
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 10:21 am: | |
Transcript |
Detroitbill Member Username: Detroitbill
Post Number: 179 Registered: 09-2006
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 10:45 am: | |
Kwame is usually not my favorite person by any means but I have to admit, I was very impressed by this speech last night.. He seems to have matured. Maybe he is finally getting it,,, |
Granmontrules Member Username: Granmontrules
Post Number: 45 Registered: 01-2007
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 11:35 am: | |
My wife and I were very fortunate to have scored tickets at the last minute through her work. We were very impressed at the speach, the diversity of Detroiters in the audience and the great feeling afterwards. We walked out feeling VERY proud to be Detroiters. We both agreed the mayor is on the right path. The feeling in that room was amazing last night. |
Goat Member Username: Goat
Post Number: 9286 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 11:37 am: | |
Saying something is easy, doing it is the hard part. Does anyone here believe that KK can achieve what he stated? Thoughts on the matter? |
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1
Post Number: 8527 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 11:40 am: | |
I think he has some things in place to address some of his points but there is no way that it can all be achieved. What I took away as being important is the fact that he stated that he, nor the city can do everything. He acknowledged that all citizens need to step up and help. I think there is one very important thing to address. DPD can't do everything but you will not have great cooperation from the citizens if they don't believe that they will get a response from the cops. Improve response time and you will see an increase in community involvement. Just my opinion. |
Goat Member Username: Goat
Post Number: 9287 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 11:44 am: | |
I agree jt1. I believe that most people don't have any faith in the DPD and feel that they are much better on their own. Which may be why many people are loathe to help the DPD in their investigations. Once the police have left it is these citizens who will have to dfend themselves from possible retribution. |
Harpernottingham Member Username: Harpernottingham
Post Number: 142 Registered: 04-2006
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 12:02 pm: | |
The content of the speech was very impressive, but the delivery less so. He and Gov. Granholm would love to be actors, but the only roles they could land would be in B or even C movies. It's a shame that the mayor speaks of education so much, but pronounces his "th's" like Keef Richards. And that's the troof. |
Mrsjdaniels Member Username: Mrsjdaniels
Post Number: 219 Registered: 08-2005
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 12:28 pm: | |
(harper - ITA) he does have a problem with some words... |
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed
Post Number: 501 Registered: 04-2006
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 12:40 pm: | |
"It's a shame that the mayor speaks of education so much, but pronounces his "th's" like Keef Richards." What does that have to do with being educated? |
Soulsauce Member Username: Soulsauce
Post Number: 191 Registered: 05-2004
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 1:59 pm: | |
quote:What does that have to do with being educated? I suppose some people have very little tolerance for shoddy pronunciation. Bad grammar grates on my nerves more than lazy pronunciation. I happen to think that the mayor sometimes mispronounces things on purpose. Other times I think it's just a Detroit accent. For example, "still" always sounds like "steel" around here. |
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 250 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 2:00 pm: | |
All I can say is I better not hear any Bush supporters criticizing Kwame for his pronunciation or grammar. If you do criticize, expect me to be keeping my eye out for you on other threads where Bush comes up. (Message edited by johnlodge on March 14, 2007) |
Ewo Member Username: Ewo
Post Number: 16 Registered: 05-2006
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 2:10 pm: | |
Rudy Giuliani talks a little funny too, didn't seem to hurt NYC much. In fact I think KK is following his pattern for turning the city around, making controlling crime a very high priority. |
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed
Post Number: 505 Registered: 04-2006
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 2:16 pm: | |
"I suppose some people have very little tolerance for shoddy pronunciation. Bad grammar grates on my nerves more than lazy pronunciation." I understand pet peeves about enunciation, but my question is what does that have to do with his level of education? or education period other than a speech class? |
Soulsauce Member Username: Soulsauce
Post Number: 192 Registered: 05-2004
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 2:53 pm: | |
I<3thed I agree with you. One does not necessarily correlate with the other. As someone pointed out, Bush has tons of education and it didn't make a damn bit of difference. |
Soulsauce Member Username: Soulsauce
Post Number: 193 Registered: 05-2004
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 3:00 pm: | |
quote:All I can say is I better not hear any Bush supporters criticizing Kwame for his pronunciation or grammar. Heh. Compared to Bush, Kilpatrick possesseth (or possessef according to some) the speaking skills of a Shakespearean thespian. |
Rhymeswithrawk Member Username: Rhymeswithrawk
Post Number: 398 Registered: 11-2005
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 3:20 pm: | |
A great, great speech. Some, surprisingly, great, great ideas. Getting my neighbors to help our city? Not likely. The people who heard the speech are already those most likely to help (or are already helping). The drug dealers, (gypsies, tramps) and thieves and the others who were supposed to "hit 8 Mile" probably weren't paying attention. "Oh, yeah, man, I have some of that primo black tar I could sell you, but I already promised I'd go help clean up Scripps Park." Uh huh. But still, I remain optimistic. Too many good things are going on right now despite the region's pathetic economy. The fact that he has obviously matured leads me to believe he'll spend less time buying Navigators and at D.C. spas and more time trying to fix 40 years of neglect at the hands of the people of this state. |
Diehard Member Username: Diehard
Post Number: 35 Registered: 03-2005
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 5:19 pm: | |
True dat. I found myself thinking the same thing - the drug dealers and knuckleheads who need to hear that message weren't listening, they were busy stealing cars and shooting up houses. It was eye-opening to hear the part about "20 criminals probably committed over 450 crimes." Good speech, but those (relatively few) criminals out there destroying the city leave a lot of cleaning up to do. |
Blort Member Username: Blort
Post Number: 74 Registered: 02-2007
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 5:35 pm: | |
Has anyone figured out exactly why he needs all these body guards yet? |
Terryh Member Username: Terryh
Post Number: 222 Registered: 11-2006
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 7:39 pm: | |
How is adding two hundred more cops to the beat going to help when there is already trust, corruption and misconduct issues with the police department? It is basically throwing authoritarianism at individuals who are already angry anti-social etc. |
Ravine Member Username: Ravine
Post Number: 756 Registered: 01-2006
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 7:45 pm: | |
I have never much liked Kilpatrick, but I am starting to think that he might just be the right guy for the job, after all. Keep your minds open and your fingers crossed. |
Yelloweyes Member Username: Yelloweyes
Post Number: 99 Registered: 02-2007
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 8:20 pm: | |
How about last years speech? I can't remember all the details but has he lived up to any of those promises? What happened to the insurance red lining Mcphale was working on? I don't mean to be negative, but in a year or two is when we can really evaluate his speech. |
Eastside_charlie Member Username: Eastside_charlie
Post Number: 28 Registered: 02-2007
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 9:27 pm: | |
Fabulous speech! (not too bad in front of an crowd) Take responsibility for actions...Brilliant There is no (white) conspiracy... Awesome Put cops once removed back on ... Right on Finance 1 Billion in tax subsidized bonds..priceless |
Mjb3 Member Username: Mjb3
Post Number: 147 Registered: 11-2004
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 9:31 pm: | |
He is a great speaker and inspirational. I feel better about the city's chances but it's still such a quagmire financially. The Apr 12 budget will be key. How do you hire 200 officers, cut taxes and tear down the abandoned bldgs. He hasn't mentioned any cuts, the city still has close to 17k employees and they probably need to get that down to 12-13k. It's a thankless job. I think he knows what has to be done(gut 3-4k city employees, cut taxes, tear down bldgs and package parcels for developers) none of these things are popular. And he has to deal with the Clowncil. |
Granmontrules Member Username: Granmontrules
Post Number: 46 Registered: 01-2007
| Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 11:17 pm: | |
Mjb3 - There are 13,500 city employees the mayor has cut it down from a high under Archer of 21,000 (my wife works in Finance for the city she has the numbers) through attrition and about 5,000 lay offs. |
Rolen Member Username: Rolen
Post Number: 20 Registered: 01-2004
| Posted on Thursday, March 15, 2007 - 10:50 pm: | |
Compared to Bush, Kilpatrick possesseth (or possessef according to some) the speaking skills of a Shakespearean thespian. BA-HAHA, HA HA, HO, HO HO - NOW THAT IS THE BIGGEST LAUGH I'VE HAD IN MANY MOON. COMPARING THE BACK ALLEY MAYOR TO SHAKESPEAR. What a crock. |
Rhymeswithrawk Member Username: Rhymeswithrawk
Post Number: 414 Registered: 11-2005
| Posted on Thursday, March 15, 2007 - 10:55 pm: | |
Finance 1 Billion in tax subsidized bonds..priceless Oh, there's a price, all right. |