Quote Originally Posted by kraig View Post
The plans for the Riverwalk had been in place and dormant for decades. It was the corporate citizenry of General Motors, with its big corporate campus on the riverfront, and Detroit Renaissance that finally got the ball rolling. How dare they?
Aaaaaaaand the only reason it actually got off the ground is that the casinos gifted the land that had been condemend for them - so the City got the land for free - and made a contribution of $50 million towards the Riverwalk.

For all the sturm und drang about how nice the east Riverfront area could have been until the big bad casinos wrecked it - the only reason you have any activity over there is precisely because of the casinos.