God, I love this City

June 28, 2006

Its things like this that make me really bemoan the proposal on the table with the City of Detroit and its Rackham Golf course, in Huntington Woods. The City, which received the property as a gift, 80+ years ago from Horace & Mary Rackham, owned the property subject to a deed restriction with right of reverter to the Rackham family if it ever ceased being used as a public course. Yesterday, the Detroit city council voted to approve the sale to the developer, who is offering an additional million probably as a result of Huntington Woods counteroffer. WDIV in Detroit reported this AM that the Rackham heirs had signed off on the deal, so my previous concerns and any legal restrictions are kaput.

The residents of HW, understandably, like the golf course, and don’t want to see the scenery defiled by a few hundred cookie-cutter mcmansions. Of course the City of Detroit wants to sell: they have no incentive to worry about the property value, no backlash from the neighborhood, etc. And this is the problem with “municipal corporations” owning property within another municipality. Detroit, plagued by years of corruption, like the incumbent mayor rolling around in a $24,999 one-year lease Lincoln Navigator. The list goes on…

So today’s report is of $1M of mismanaged funds. That represents a fifth of the revenue the city will earn from the sale of the property. This million should’ve been used for the city’s horrid public schools system, nearly half of which was given on a no-bid contract to a convicted felon for the purpose of distributing flyers and pamphlets.

Among other findings: Five flat-screen TVs — at a total cost of $5,758 — were bought but aren’t in the classrooms at Redford High School. At the same school, a contractor was paid $63,000 to give unapproved anger-management classes that never occurred. And the money was never returned

Hmmmm, a million in misspent funds? What about the nearly $210,000 charged to the mayors credit card during his current tenure? more here, via Kip.

Well, its a shame if the sale goes through, and it appears that it will. There is no doubt in my mind that it will have a negligible effect on the City’s finances, and quite apparently does nothing to cure the chronic ailment of corruption that has plagued the city since Coleman Young’s 30-year reign of terror…


Posted in: Potpourri

Comments

2 Comments so far

  1. KipEsquire June 28, 2006 8:54 am

    Now you have me racking my brain trying to remember whether reverter is an alienable interest than can be reunited with a possessory interest to recreate a fee simple absolute.

    And it’s giving me a headache!

    ;-)

  2. doinkicarus June 28, 2006 10:54 am

    http://www.michbar.org/realproperty/articles/article27-1a.html

Leave a Comment

If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

Comments

Archives

Categories