The Detroit News is reporting that agreement is close for State takeover of Belle Isle via a long-term lease.

Council approval is still required and a previous attempt failed 5-4. However it appears that some sweetening by the state combined with a shortening of the length of the lease could tip that close balance.

Council president Charles Pugh said: "I just want a functioning Belle Isle, because we all love that place and dream about how it used to be when we were kids when there were horses and canoes, and there were places to eat and go to the bathroom.

"… I just would like to figure out how we can get a shorter lease, a way out of this so that we don't bind the next several mayors and the next several councils."

Pugh said he would rather see a lease that is renewable every 10 years, for example, but "I'm not opposed to what they're offering." He would support a 30-year lease only if it included an option for the city to get out of it, he said.

"We can't just bind ourselves for a more than a generation," Pugh said. "Thirty years is a long time. What if after 12 years we decide that we want a different direction, or we want to modify the deal that we've signed? You can't."
I support this effort and think that the reduction in costs to the city budget combined with improved governance that would lead to more attendance and spin-off business for Detroit businesses is a win-win combination.

What do you think?