Another game of guess the political party for the former mayor and the current mayor.
Via Freep
A top federal judge and Michigan’s Congressional delegation celebrated Thursday the awarding of $30 million toward repairs and renovation of the Theodore Levin U.S. Courthouse in Detroit and $40 million more proposed in President Barack Obama’s 2014-15 budget.
Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen said the money will modernize and preserve the historic downtown courthouse that is the flagship of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and has been the hub of federal justice in metro Detroit for 80 years.
Rosen noted that much of the building’s plumbing and electrical systems are original to the Depression-era court that’s hosted some of metro Detroit’s most historic trials, including the corruption case against former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and the nation’s largest-ever municipal bankruptcy.
Aging has meant problems for the courthouse, including “almost Biblical” flooding from burst pipes, fires from the outdated electrical system and elevator outages that Rosen said will be rectified with infrastructure upgrades long overdue.
Rosen was joined by video link by Michigan Democratic U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, a nephew of the former chief judge who is the court’s namesake, and, by phone, U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., a Detroit Democrat. Rep. Candice Miller, a Harrison Township Republican, sent a congratulatory video.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, whose father, Patrick Duggan, is a longtime federal judge, said the overhaul of the courthouse means the city will modernize a historic building instead of tear it down as happens to too many buildings in the city.