Yep. Here's some of what Bloomberg Business Week had to say in their article titled "Detroit Billionaires Get Arena Help as Bankrupt City Suffers":
"Meaningless Pursuit
Snyder, who has dubbed Michigan the Comeback State because of auto industry’s post-recession revival, may find that his projections collide with reality.
A 2002 study looking at whether construction jobs rose in St. Louis as a result of downtown arenas for the St. Louis Blues hockey team and Rams football team found they didn’t significantly affect construction employment.
Another study by economics professors Dennis Coates of the University of Maryland in Baltimore and Professor Brad Humphreys of the University of Alberta found that income per capita in metropolitan areas didn’t fall during player strikes, supporting an “emerging consensus” that professional sports don’t have an impact on local economies.
“There’s always a debate about does this really pan out?” Orr, the emergency manager, said in a July 25 interview. “The reality is we are so needy of some economic development, I can’t see how we don’t pursue it because if we don’t, what’s left?”
Tapping Schools
Almost 60 percent of the funds to pay for the arena would come from taxpayers. Bonds would be backed by a combination of about $15 million in annual payments from Detroit’s Downtown Development Authority and $11.5 million from Olympia. Wayne County may also provide support, according to a July 24 memo.
In December, Michigan’s legislature revived the ability of the development authority to take a portion of school-tax revenue generated by property on 615 downtown acres. The money, which had gone toward economic-development bonds, would be used for debt service on a project meeting the characteristics of a new Red Wings arena.
The levy generates about $13 million, said Bob Rossbach, a spokesman for the authority.
The money otherwise would have reverted to public schools and the state’s school-aid fund, according to a legislative analysis. The state will reimburse the district to make up shortfalls, just as did before 2011, said Rossbach.
“It’s not taking money from Detroit Public Schools and putting it into economic development,” Rossbach said.
Bipartisan Scorn
However, the state still must take money from programs to make up for cash benefiting the Iliches, said Shikha Dalmia, a senior analyst for the Los Angeles-based Reason Foundation, which describes itself as a public-policy think tank promoting free-market economics.
“The left should be crying bloody murder,” Dalmia said. “Why are you diverting money that’s meant for Detroit school children to this guy’s pocket? And the right should be crying about crony capitalism. They could easily have passed another state law which allowed this money to go to fighting crime, or a bazillion other things.”"
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...t-city-suffers
I'm sickened by all the ridiculous fantasies we hear from the Ilitch family about the benefits their developments will bring. It's insulting they think we'd believe them. And it's sad if anyone does. If they didn't lay the b.s. on so thick they'd get less of my ire. But the majority would remain due to all the damage they've done destroying the CBD and letting it rot.
In any case I wish this project the best. There's no turning it back.
Just let's learn from our mistakes, please. The mistake was to take the Ilitch family at their word that the spin-off benefits would materialize, and to make it so easy for them to surpass the threshold to collect even more taxpayer money before it happened. They build what's in their financial interest and find a way to avoid absolutely everything else. Yeah, just like Trump. I'll be very happy if they prove me wrong. Here's yet another chance.
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