Time for more action, less talk, Mayor Bing

Build a team. Get some wins. Patch up relations.

Those are the three imperatives on which Detroit Mayor Dave Bing needs to focus now if he wants to extricate his administration from the scandal engulfing his former communications chief, Karen Dumas, and dispel the growing sense that his two years in office have been long on talk and short on measurable progress for the city he leads.

Here's what the mayor should do:
Build a crackerjack staff

One of Bing's biggest problems has been the lack of a strong manager and leader to run day-to-day operations, recruit and retain talented executives, and make sure that managers in key positions are delivering results. Ultimately, that's what's spinning the revolving door of talent in and out of his office.

Getting rid of Dumas -- who had assumed that role without much expertise or relevant experience -- was a start, as was rehiring Kirk Lewis, the former chief of governmental and corporate affairs who comes back as chief of staff.

But the mayor also needs a stronger team now. Some 32 high-level officials have come and gone since he became mayor, and he needs to bring in more high-caliber leadership to help Lewis build the staff Bing needs.

Here are some suggestions:

• Sheila Cockrel: The former city councilwoman knows City Hall as well as anyone, and she is a tough-as-nails administrator. She can be brusque (which was one of Dumas' problems), but she backs it up with competence and expertise that even her critics recognize and respect. She could both help the mayor navigate the politics in City Hall and help Lewis structure a realistic agenda for getting things done.

• Darrell Burks: A CPA and partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Burks has developed a reputation as someone with a keen, stabilizing influence and a sharp mind for turnarounds. He was considered to lead Detroit Public Schools when the state first took over in 1999. He led a committee designed to find streamlining opportunities in city government for former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. His name has also been mentioned quietly as a possible candidate to be emergency manager, if the state had to name one to oversee Detroit.

• Samuel (Buzz) Thomas: A former state senator and small businessman, Thomas is one of Detroit's bright young political lights, with good contacts in Lansing and a reputation for levelheaded action. Adding him to Bing's executive team could enhance the administration's relationships with the Detroit delegation in the Legislature and help attract others with legislative experience to the executive staff.
Get some wins

After two years in office, Bing's list of formidable accomplishments -- things that really move the city forward and impact the lives of Detroiters -- is pretty thin.

He has given a lot of "I'm gonna" speeches. But he hasn't been able to claim a lot of "I did" victories.

Indeed, in his State of the City address this year, the biggest accomplishment Bing touted was the restructuring of the Detroit Water Board -- something that wasn't his idea and was done mostly by a federal judge.

Time for the mayor to get going.

He could green-light a large-scale urban farming initiative, like the one businessman John Hantz has had on the table for years. He could work with the Ambassador Bridge company to dramatically alter the status of the old train depot (tear it down or get a developer going on it). Make visible progress on the construction of the new Detroit police headquarters. Get a regional authority together to manage a proposed light-rail line.

Or he could rescind his decision to kick his Detroit Works Project into 2012, identify the neighborhoods where he wants to concentrate resources and redevelopment efforts, and get moving on enticing people and businesses to move into them.

Bing suffers from the comparison to Gov. Rick Snyder, who in six months has enacted major pieces of his agenda. But he's also running out of time, and he has other things distracting attention from his work.

Nothing will fix that better than racking up some small successes. They'll almost certainly build into bigger ones, but the mayor has to start somewhere.a

PM put GB economy in jeopardy

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham’s decision not to renew the work permit of former Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) Chairman Hannes Babak at the end of 2009 placed Freeport’s economy in “jeopardy” and possibly stalled several major projects planned for Grand Bahama, claimed a classified diplomatic cable obtained by The Nassau Guardian through WikiLeaks.

Babak’s work permit was not renewed after it expired on December 31, 2009.

Ingraham publicly announced the decision about Babak’s work permit earlier that December.

According to the cable, which was classified on December 18, 2009, Babak asked the U.S. Embassy to help change the prime minister’s mind about the work permit.

The embassy official Babak reportedly spoke to remained “noncommittal”, according to the cable.

The GBPA was the subject of a bitter, protracted ownership dispute between Sir Jack Hayward and the family of the late Edward St. George.

In December 2009, Babak was in negotiations to sell Sir Jack’s significant stake in the GBPA to Mid-Atlantic Projects (a U.S. company).

The cable stated that the embassy felt that Babak's ultimate departure, “…could result in further delays in Grand Bahama's development just as the expected sale to Mid-Atlantic had sought to jump-start progress.”

The Mid-Atlantic deal fell apart in April 2010.

The embassy official claimed that the refusal to allow Babak to continue to legally work in the country was, “likely made out of anger at Babak's move not to obtain Ingraham's blessing before moving forward with the Mid-Atlantic deal as well as a not-so-discreet desire to increase Chinese involvement in Grand Bahama's development plans through Hutchison-Whampoa (a Chinese company with major business interests in Freeport).”

During the time Babak was seeking renewal of his work permit, he was in the midst of brokering several deals with major U.S. companies intended to help alleviate Grand Bahama’s economic woes.

The embassy official said Babak’s removal, “(put) into jeopardy ongoing negotiations with major U.S. firms to bring liquid natural gas (LNG) re-gasification facilities and other badly needed commercial ventures to the country's second largest city, which suffers from nearly 15 percent unemployment.”

There were also several other deals reportedly in the works with U.S. entities — including energy and medical care companies — that Babak was overseeing at the time.

One deal under negotiation involved the establishment of an offshore, ship-based Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) re-gasification plant and on-shore LNG storage facilities operated by Texas-based Excelerate Energy and Virginia-based AES, the cable noted.

“The arrangement would enable electricity delivery services via underwater cable to Florida Light and Power as well as Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC),” justified the cable, which also cited possible savings for BEC if the deal was to go through.

The status of that deal is unclear.

The cable further stated that Babak was negotiating with a U.S. hospital construction company to build a facility in Grand Bahama that could have been worth up to $100 million.

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