Quote Originally Posted by nain rouge View Post
Patterson has done a lot of good in Oakland County, but he really messed up with Pontiac. To locate all of those county buildings just outside of the borders of your county capital was stupid. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face. Now Oakland County has a mini-Detroit in the middle of all its glorified affluence, and the blight is spreading.

Not that Patterson was alone in his desire to kill of Pontiac. It amazes me how little Oakland University cares about Pontiac. Can't they see the value in having a good-sized urban community in their backyard? Royal Oak and Birmingham are OK, but don't really have large enough urban district to feel like a city as opposed to a suburb. And all this money is spent in improving Rochester when they had a better city down the road. I'd say I don't understand, but I do - Pontiac has black people, and we know how people like Patterson feel about that.
I think you might be giving LBP too much credit. You are giving him accountability for the fall of Pontiac?
Sounds much like LBP blaming CAY for the decline in Detroit. True, both are over the top men with similar personalities that makes people either love or hate them. But the fall of Detroit was much more linked to the implosion of the auto industry and the movement of people and jobs to the suburbs. I would argue similarly that GM pulling out of Pontiac had way more influence in the city's decline than LBP ever could.