Detroit approves $650 million hockey arena despite being bankrupt...

Originally posted by Thorneblood
See.

Detroit is the perfect opportunity to remake an american city in Corporate America's image. None of that regulation and order nonsense, no rule of law just the law of profits.

Cheap building space at rock bottom prices + development opportunities = Billions.

It would only be fair, since Liberalism made Detroit what it is today.

If US cities were cars, this is Detroit. It is going to take some work to bring it back.

reply to post by roadgravel

awww heck, that's not too bad! Just a coat of good 'ol rustoleum spray paint from Walmart. 4 jalopy tires... A set of windows... New lights... Upholstery... Probably a new engine and transmission.. and.. Oh.. well? I guess I see what you mean after all.

Well, there is always what one person suggested. Escape From New York could be applied as a concept to Detroit! The largest prison in the world. Once in, you never come out and all are left to make their own world with no guards inside the outer walls for any reason.

Declaring Bankruptcy does not mean you are flat broke.

Declaring Bankruptcy does not mean you can't continue to make investments.

Declaring Bankruptcy does not mean there is no coming back.


In order to come back, Detroit needs to make improvements to it's city...this is an improvement to the city.

And for someone in this thread to suggest that someone would get mugged, stripped and beaten just because they are in "Detroit" is a shockingly ignorant claim that does nothing to help.

Detroit has been in this position for a long time and real solutions aren't being seen. Rebuilding would requires jobs and people spending money there with a local government that isn't corrupt. That's not the current US plan for almost any city.

I'd be less upset about the arena and more upset about the reality of the accounting that is making this bankruptcy happen.

Did you know the reason they are bankrupt is NOT a too little income versus expenses issue?

Did you know the bankruptcy is coming due to a little know common accounting practice: Detroit cannot pay the next 50 years of obligations TODAY given the income, so we're bankrupting. Get that, they can't pay all of their FUTURE, FUTURE, obligations TODAY, so they have to go bankrupt.

Some think the crime isn't helping the situation.

But the answer to Detroit’s problems won’t be found in new business ventures or in how the city restructures its debt, say two Detroit women with stakes in the city’s future. Rather, they say, it’s in bringing crime under control and making neighborhoods livable again.

The two women are Kym Worthy, the Wayne County, Mich., prosecutor, and state Rep. Rashida Tlaib. Both women are pushing hard for the city to focus its resources on fighting Detroit’s violent crime problem, which, in 2012, was five times the national average.

Detroit last year had the highest rate of violent crime of any U.S. city with a population over 200,000. Its murder clearance rate was just 11.3 percent in 2011. For comparison, Cleveland and St. Louis’ clearance rates were 35.1 percent and 66.4 percent, respectively.

“You can have all the urban development you want and attract all the business people you want, but if the city’s not safe, they aren’t going to come,” says Worthy. “And if they come, they aren’t going to stay.”

www.governing.com...

reply to post by AlienScience


Detroit doesn't need a sports center. They need a forced replacement of every member of their city administration and government. Surely the people of detroit can find enough pitchforks and torches to make a good 'old fashioned show of American outrage in a protest to make our forerunners proud?

Detroit City Statistics - Official 'Dashboard' for Detroit

Now that is what the city itself, as it's best and most optimistic efforts can compile for show to the public. Given the side any benefit of the doubt went to in forming a sheet like that, on top of the expected spin anything similar always gets? WOW.... Detroit is in dire need of help. Response times alone are enough to make me choke. The Fire Department seems to be the only thing in Detroit that DOES work half way decent .....until you read the stories about the firemen getting shot at and outright attacked on some calls. It's a friggin jungle and they want more games? Ugh........ People ask how it could happen and this is how. In color.

Amerika

Prior = 2nd Quarter 2013
Current = 3rd Quarter 2013
Target = Fiscal Year Goal

Police Response Time (mins) prior 39.81 Target 43.83

That seems quite bad.

reply to post by roadgravel


I like your analogy...pretty good assessment of what happened. IMHO.
You buy a car and drive it....you never do scheduled maintenance....and you keep it parked out in the elements.
No oil changes, no flushing the radiator, no vacuuming the interior or washing the windows.
No new tires. No new brakes. No new front springs. Nothing but gas...which gets more and more expensive.
Eventually, it stops....and gets rusty and what is left gets stripped.

Detroit has been in declined since the 50s, but it's been more obvious since the 70s.
As far back as the 70s, Detroit received federal $$ for unemployment....lots of them...and more than a few times. In a lot of the cases, the money was used to keep those who wer already on the city payroll working.

Detroit has let many of its jewels tarnish and rust: the Detroit Public Library, Belle Isle, the many beautiful building downtown which could never be replaced.

Detroit has a long history of thinking they had fix all their problems on their own, without outside help. Obviously that plan didn't work out too well.

Detroit borrowed money it could never really hope to pay back...and in a most vile manner, borrowed money it couldn't pay back to its pensioners.

Detroit had a most corrupt batch of politicians lately....picking off the bones of what was left of Detroit.

The many good Detroiters left and the retirees who put in their time deserve better.

Detroit has no money to fix itself.....Michigan and the Fed cannot afford to fix it either.
The only hope for revitalizing Detroit is private business.....let them do what they can.

reply to post by roadgravel


Indeed. 40 minutes.... Don't send a cop, send a coroner and CSI team. One or the other of the parties with the problem will have needed them long before the cops get around to rolling up and asking what the problem HAD been. lol....

Of course...that is when they'll even bother showing up at all. Things like a stolen gun are of no concern, apparently.

Detroit woman calls 911 to report stolen gun, told to call back later!

To be fair here, I don't blame the cops either. I'm sure the ones still there are just as trapped and stuck as every citizen in the city while they do the best they can with whatever they have left to work with. It's that City Government where I'd say the problems really start.

But if they DON'T build it, where will the government continue its "BREAD & CIRCUSES"???

Brought to you by "YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID!"

Detroit had a most corrupt batch of politicians lately....picking off the bones of what was left of Detroit.

That is what has been reported. Those left at the top working to get what is left. Pretty much torpedos fixing the place.

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe

I tend to think of that when something is left with no proper oversight. Just like leaving a car out on some street. You came back to find it up on blocks, no wheels and anything useful stripped. What's left, vandalized. It's what many people tend to do even to cities and businesses.

reply to post by roadgravel


The former Detroit mayor is in prison awaiting sentencing, actually.
A former council person recently got out and I think just recently got out of her final federal confinement......this person also sat on one of the Pension Boards...go figure
Then we have these fine citizens :shk:
www.detroitnews.com...

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One thing I'd also like to mention:
The arena the Red Wings currently use, on top of being old, is also a city building...so no tax revenues exist for it.
A new building would have taxes on it...and income taxes of those buidling it...as Detroit has a city income tax.

And since the Red Wings make big bucks...it would behoove the city to keep them working in the city.

Bread and circuses.

When the land is failing, they give the people bread and circuses. It's what Rome did.

Which translates to welfare checks and hockey arena today.

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe


Those points on the arena make sense for the city. Maybe that was hashed over in the decision. It would be great if it started a turn around but it will take much more.

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe

I appreciate the added context about the tax base the current facility does not provide. That is a bit of detail I hadn't caught and makes quite a difference. So... We have a sports center now which does nothing to help or support the city's tax base vs. some outlay upfront for an endless revenue/tax stream going into the future. Well, for a city in Detroit's condition? I suppose the initial outlay for the long term revenue stream makes a whole lot more sense than it did before knowing that factor.

reply to post by roadgravel


The arena investors aren't alone.
There's one or two other developers with deep pockets around.
Dan Gilbert is one.

I really see private concerns as the only hope for getting money into Detroit.
Even if every Detroiter got a job yesterday....well, they likely aren't going to be high end jobs....and they may not be within the city limits.