Quote Originally Posted by detourdetroit View Post
if it's steve tobocman, he is a former state rep. not sure if you're speaking of someone else. also, not sure how much he had to do with the earmark. the community had been talking about it for years and have been making inroads for a long time, so am not sure how relevant that is. if projected differences in budgets are any measure of being inexperienced, then nothing would ever get built. i've heard "final numbers" for the book ranging from $177-$200 million....hmmm...that's a lot of money.

from the onset the city had little to no intention of handing over the property and they [[with countless projects) and other private for profits development projects have a long and storied history of being over budget... so that's kind of a red herring that you're driving at, as has been suggested elsewhere.

the OTSC does not yet have the development dollars in place for the project [[like many many many other projects all over the country right now), but it doesn't mean there aren't experienced people involved...lawyers, architects, succesful business owners, people with non-profit development experience, including real estate development, etc. etc.

i think the real point is NOBODY has had experience with a project like this...in the whole country...it would be one of a kind unique, which is the glaring, ugly travesty. knocking down this structure [[without a higher better use in place) only underscores with a dripping, irony laden black mark that the city and its leadership are woefully inadequate to the task at hand and have no vision to see an alternative, progressive vision for the city.

Yes, I'm referring to Steve Tobocman, and up until January 1st of this year he was a State Rep. He's also a Board Member and was one while he was a State Rep. In today's environment of politicians hooking up politicians added to the fact that the OTSC isn't returning any of the money they're receiving that could be extremely relevant. If you were to take this exact same situation and replace the names of Tobocman and Levin and replace them with Kilpatrick and Kilpatrick this would be a completely different conversation and we all know it. The difference in the numbers is not the indication of inexperience, it's the not knowing to keep your mouth shut until you have the property in your hand that's the tell-tell sign of their inexperience. The casinos never said anything about not moving to the riverfront until they had their temporary casinos up and running. Do you see the difference?

As far as timelines and red herrings. Have there been any timelines that the OTSC didn't agree to or suggest themselves? They never put themselves in a position were they had any type of leverage. Those other projects you're looking at probably did have leverage and that makes all of the difference in the world. It's not the point of having business experience with a project like this, it's about having business experience period. The Conservancy is made up of some extremely talented people, but trust me on this, THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR EXPERIENCE. There is not a succesful group of people in any field that is going to argue against that.