Tallmanok2's Blog

Windsor holding off on Detroit tunnel deal, citing scandals

Santiago Esparza and Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- Windsor is putting negotiations to sell its share of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel on ice amid separate criminal investigations of Detroit officials, a lawyer for the Ontario city said Friday.

Cliff Sutts, the lead negotiator for Windsor, said the deal to purchase the Detroit half of the tunnel for $75 million is uncertain because of worries about Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's ongoing felony case and an FBI bribery probe of City Council members and other city officials.

"I am sure it is (a distraction)," Sutts said Friday of the investigations.  

It is perhaps the first -- and most certainly, the highest-profile -- project to be jeopardized because of the series of scandals involving City Hall. Both Kilpatrick and Council President Kenneth V. Cockrel have promised "business as usual."

And if it falls through, the implications could be big: Kilpatrick is warning of mass layoffs if both cities can't reach an accord.

Sutts said Windsor officials are still eager to pull off the deal that would sell both cities' share of the span to an authority appointed by members from each municipality.

But he cautioned that Windsor council members are worried that Kilpatrick and the Detroit council appear to be at odds.

Kilpatrick has urged its sale for months, but a majority of council members have been reluctant to follow his lead. After twice voting down the creation of an authority to allow the plan to proceed, council members switched course over 24 hours last week and gave it the go-ahead.

But at least one member who switched her vote -- Barbara-Rose Collins -- said she still is dubious about the sale and believes a majority of members on the panel are as well.

"We are saying get on the same page and we will start dealing," Sutts said. "Windsor wants to make a deal."

Detroit's deputy mayor, Anthony Adams, told council members Friday the city has received no official word from Windsor. Adams said Kilpatrick and Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis spoke just last week, and Francis was "excited" about the Detroit council's vote.

"Mayor Francis said the deal was a go," Adams said of that conversation.

But Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel is skeptical, saying she wants to see Francis' commitment in writing.

"There is ... more uncertainty thrown into the situation, which is tenuous at best," Cockrel said.

Sutts said a proposal is in Detroit's hands and Windsor officials are waiting for the council to move on it. He added that Windsor isn't "married" to any proposal and is willing to negotiate a deal that would be approved by the Detroit council.

"It most certainly is on the table," he said. "It is in Detroit's hands. ... We are acting in good faith."

The deal is a crucial to Kilpatrick's plan to balance the city's $3.1 billion budget. The council wants to borrow money to plug holes, but Kilpatrick has warned that would hurt the city's ability to borrow money.

Adams reiterated Friday that the mayor's office is planning for possible layoffs if the deal collapses. Officials are talking to union leaders and researching when the city would send notices of job reductions, Adams said.

He declined to cite a number, but told council members that 1,200 layoffs "would be impossible to achieve."

Earlier, he had threatened 1,300 workers.

The city has about 13,000 total.

 

Since Windsor and Detroit are selling I really am concerned who's getting the sweetheart deal here?