Detroit — An ancient Buddhist proverb says there are three things that cannot long be hidden: The Sun, The Moon, and The Truth.
In the “new” Detroit there is now a fourth: The Dirt.
The city has quietly put out bid requests to dig up and replace poisoned dirt used by a contractor to fill demolition holes.
That contractor, Brian McKinney, was suspended from city work last month after an independent investigation alleged that his company, Gayanga, used contaminated soil from the old Northland Mall to backfill holes in Detroit neighborhoods where houses once stood.
McKinney, who once served prison time for weapon and drug possession, has also been banished from the city’s wrecking board pending a final report from the city’s Office of Inspector General.
McKinney is appealing his suspension, claiming he got the dirt from a city-approved source. And now the whole sordid affair is starting to unravel.
Michigan Enjoyer has since learned that McKinney and the city’s demolition practices are now the subject of a sprawling organized crime investigation.
We have also learned that the office of Mayor Mike Duggan has ordered the name and likeness of McKinney and his companies not be mentioned or posted on the city’s social media accounts.
That’s a remarkable change by Hizzoner: disappearing the man he once touted at the State of the City address as a model of minority contracting. McKinney donated to politicians, rubbed elbows with Detroit’s high society, and was even appointed to the board of Detroit Institute of Arts. McKinney—a demolition contractor by trade—rose so high in the world of fine art that he was named co-chair of the DIA’s 2024 gala.
In just a few short years under Duggan’s tutelage, McKinney also became fantastically wealthy, winning $64 million in city demolition contracts alone.
He leaves behind a string of angry former employees and subcontractors who claim they’ve been stiffed by McKinney for work provided.
Mckinney did not respond to requests for comment on this story.
How far this goes is anyone’s guess. According to city records, McKinney’s company tore down approximately 2,500 houses in the city. A random sampling of 40 of those sites revealed that 33 (80%) were filled with toxic fill dirt containing arsenic, chromium, lead, mercury, and cadmium among other potential killers.
This isn’t the first instance. Last year, the cost of cleaning up just one poisoned site like this was $60,000. At that price, the city might very well slide back into insolvency.
Even Big Oil thinks McKinney is too toxic to deal with.
On the city’s southwest side, near the Marathon refinery, sits another hellscape created by McKinney’s company. At least a dozen structures were ground up and dumped in their holes. They remain there, covered in plastic, next to lots where children live. It’s so bad, Gayanga got kicked off the job.
“We have hired and onboarded a new demolition contractor,” said Amy Nusbaum, a spokeswoman for Marathon Petroleum Corp. “We are aware that Gayanga Company’s contract was suspended by the City of Detroit.”
That’s of little consolation to residents of Liebold Street, who have battled the company and the city for decades over health concerns.
“All I want to say is they need to clean up all this,” said Mary, an elderly woman whose grandchild was peeking through the plate glass. “Kid’s can’t play. No sidewalk. Nothing.”
“They forgot all about you,” I said.
“I guess so.”
There is no doubt in my mind that the mayor and the city council knew about the grift in the demolition program. How could they not? I’ve been telling them for years. I sat in their offices and walked them through the documents. I wrote dozens of articles. Did a dozen television reports. So did other media outlets. There was a federal grand jury empaneled. A raid of the Land Bank Authority. A yearslong multi-million-dollar Treasury Department investigation. It all disappeared under Joe Biden, Duggan’s close friend.
Now Biden is gone, and Duggan’s moving on. But the people of Detroit are still here and so is the poison. Duggan’s demolition program is quite likely Michigan’s biggest environmental catastrophe of the century.
But just like the sun, the truth is finally coming out.
Charlie LeDuff is a reporter educated in public schools. Follow him on X @Charlieleduff.
