Detroit planning director's departure raises ethical concerns
Planning director Antoine Bryant was under an ethics probe before leaving the city to join a private firm working on the proposed RenCen redevelopment.
The city’s outgoing planning director is joining a design firm tapped by General Motors and Bedrock’s $1.6 billion for their plan to renovate the Renaissance Center.
The circumstances surrounding his exit give critics more ammo to question the many relationships between Detroit’s private and public sector.
Antoine Bryant, who was appointed to the city in July 2021, will become the co-managing director of Gensler's Detroit office. Bryant is the center of an ongoing ethics investigation over his unilateral approval of hiring non-local artists to paint murals on buildings ahead of the draft.
The mural project was criticized by local artists who told newspapers they were never approached for an opportunity. City council said the agreement was a violation of the city charter and eventually refused to pay the New York company for the already completed work.
“He was engaging in a contract with a company without city approval. All contracts have to go through council. He was basically acting as his own person representing the city,” says Carron Pinkens, a member of the city’s board of ethics when the probe over the mural contracts began.
He tells me Bryant’s departure creates more questions.
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