Originally Posted by
royce
^Hazmat might be the case for the lack of development, TIMT, but the the question I want answered is, "How deep down in the soil do you have to go to clean a former industrial site on the Detroit River?" They supposedly cleaned up the Uniroyal Plant site, right? So, what's the delay in getting a residential development put on it? The DNR now owns the Bing site and a site east of the parking lot at Rivard/Cullen Plaza. Someone agreed that it wasn't a good idea to put residential in those spots, yet the Department of Natural Resources [[DNR) has not put forward a plan regarding what they are going to do with those sites. Why is that? Are these sites contaminated sites and the DNR taking it over makes it look like government is being responsible once it's revealed that the sites are contaminated?
Again, the reason I created this thread was to find out what's holding up development along the riverfront. If it's Hazmat issues, then I understand why development is slow, but city and state governments should be figuring out how to clean up contaminated areas and set aside money in their budgets to handle it.
Now, if the issue is not a Hazmat issue, then is it a political issue? For example, are there some city officials who want only "their people" to be involved in redevelopment, meaning that they only want to see their friends and/or family get government contracts to redevelop the riverfront? Or are city officials afraid that if you build up the riverfront, then the people who live in the nicer areas of Detroit will leave those areas for the riverfront, causing those areas to become run down, as people with lesser means start moving into those areas?
In addition, if the issue is not a Hazmat issue, then is it about holding on to the land to make a profit in other easier ways than residential development? GM has sat on the properties east of the GM/RenCen complex for years and now that the Grand Prix is back downtown, GM can now charge the Grand Prix people a nice fee for using that vacant land. Will they give any of it up now?
Finally, if the issue, lack of riverfront development, is not a Hazmat issue, then is it due to the officials in power not having the vision or imagination to make something happen? In other words, are the "right" people in those positions to make the "right" decisions? I question that often when it concerns the develoment of Detroit's riverfront.