The writer is the author of "Sh*tshow!: The Country’s Collapsing . . . And the Ratings Are Great," coming May 22 from Penguin Press.
The Detroit incinerator (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
By Charlie LeDuff
When it's all said and done, when more than $1 billion has been spent, the citizens of Wayne County will enjoy their new public court house built directly next to a garbage dump and belching smokestack of burning trash.
It's true. They don't even pull stuff like that in Gary, Indiana.
One wonders if this deal is in the interest of the people. In his rush to get his new justice complex deal done, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans neglected to commission a health impact study of placing the public square squarely next to the largest trash incinerator in the country, according to county commissioners who complain they've been shut out of the process.
Evans is holding information on the new courthouse and jail deal as a closely guarded state secret and has not responded to multiple questions on the deal or requests for an interview.
Remember, judges and prosecutors and sheriff's deputies will work next to the smokestack and dump. Citizens from Detroit, Grosse Pointe, Livonia, Dearborn, Plymouth, Taylor will seek their justice there. Two thousand inmates -- both guilty and innocent will be housed there -- including juvenile delinquents -- also known as kids.
"These are all human beings," said Mark Fanchar, a lawyer with the Detroit chapter of the ACLU. "I don't think they'd put a zoo next to something like that."
Fanchar makes a good point. Imagine the outrage if Chip and Kongo, the silver back gorilla brothers from the Detroit Zoo, were relocated to an exhibit next the garbage incinerator.
Operators of the waste management campus -- located at the elbow of the I-94/I-75 interchange -- settled a class action lawsuit with neighbors two years ago over air pollution and it has been cited 40 times since 2015 for the rancid stench of garbage and the emission of carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide above acceptable levels.
Nothing gives a citizen more faith in the American jurisprudence system than a succulent whiff of maggots and rot in mid-July.
The county commissioners and their financial advisors complain about the lack of information from Evans, who is personally pushing the $533 million no-bid plan with mortgage mogul Dan Gilbert's Rock Ventures; a deal that includes a land swap of prime downtown real estate. That land includes the 3rd Circuit courthouse and county jail.
"The numbers aren't adding up, and this is no way to do government," says County Commissioner Raymond Basham. "There's more unknowns than knowns."
It appears that land has been undervalued. Evan's hand-picked real estate agent miscalculated the size of the prime downtown properties to be turned over to Gilbert. The total footprint is 15.5 acres, commissioners say, not 13 acres, as the agent wrote. Details. What's a few tens of million dollars in the scheme of things?
Something Isn't Right
Next week, the commission is going to vote to sell the site of the failed jail to Gilbert. That's a full month before Gilbert plans commit to building the justice complex next to the dump. How is the county protected, should Rock Ventures decide to bail on the project after acquiring the property?
Unfinished Wayne County Jail (Deadline Detroit photo)
Gilbert -- according to documents -- will personally guarantee to pay for any cost overruns that exceed the settled upon budget. But according to the fine print, Gilbert would only pay for overruns caused by his construction people. The county will be on the hook for the overruns it causes. That's what lead to the Bob Ficano's fail-jail failing in the first place.
That deal ended with finger-pointing, lawsuits, and the county left holding the bag. In the end, Evans has decided to bulldoze it. That's $400 million taxpayer dollars thrown down a dark hole.
The federal government is angry I'm told. Why did nobody from the county bother to consult with the Federal Reserve Bank, which has a sprawling facility that would stand directly south of the new justice complex. You can see their point. Millions of dollars a year move in an out of the building.
Imagine a thousand hardened criminals with nothing but time on their hands staring out the cellblock windows plotting a heist.
Another thing? How did Kwame Kilpatrick's former Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams get a contract on this deal?
What is it for exactly? Was it even competitively bid?
And why did Evans appoint one of his campaign contributors to the Wayne County Building Authority, which will have some oversight in the matter? The man has no experience in construction, but he does have a rap sheet for stealing cars.
The more you look, the more you get the sinking feeling that it ain't just the garbage that stinks in this deal.
