New Cobo plan would raise Detroit's stake
The plan would first give Detroit another $15 million to sweeten the deal and 2 spots on the committee and Wayne County 2, leaving Oakland County, Macomb and the State with only 1. You can see the problem with that right? Have the suburbs and State kick in the money and then never get any accountability for it. What could possibly go wrong?
Oh yeah, the two state representatives, Reps. Shanelle Jackson and Rashida Tlaib are both (D-Detroit), now why didn't the Detroit Free press point out that little conflict of interest?
Oakland County's Executive L. Brooks Patterson is no fool and isn't falling for it (He's one of the main reasons why Oakland County, while facing a lot of challenges, isn't a total mess while Wayne and Detroit are (also one reason I don't want him running for governor, he's needed here, and needed badly):
The Detroit News:
It's a compromise Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said Friday night he won't go along with.
"There's no way in hell we're going back to that plan (the seven-member board). That plan calls for two (representatives) for Wayne and two for Detroit. We're out-voted for the rest of my life," he said. "It's not going to happen. We had a deal. I don't want to return to the bargaining table after five years. I'm not sure others want to come back and renegotiate this deal (either)."
Quite simply if Detroit doesn't want to get bailed out and refuses to allow for any accountability, let them keep Cobo to themselves. Have Oakland and Macomb quit paying the hotel and liquor taxes towards that failure and direct them to the building of a new convention center. Build this new convention center outside of Detroit and away from its special costs and special interests, and closer to the Detroit/Wayne County Airport where there's room for a large world class facility on land that's pretty cheap right now and would be convenient for visitors to access, park and travel around safely. I bet it will cost less to build new and bigger than renovate Cobo, and there will be far more accountability and far less slippage than if the money is thrown at renovating Cobo.
1 comment:
Excellent catch! I saw Patterson speak at our NOCR and he indicated that the 2 votes for Det, 2 foe Wayne was the original discussion which got canned. He basically said "bye" to the whole deal (that was about 3 weeks ago).
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