Sell Belle Isle?

[canuck]

What a dumb idea.

[Zacha341]

Thank you. This salient fact does seem and needs to emerge amongst the, eh-hmm, 'great' ideas!

The majority of people in the city are decent, hard working people trying to get through tough times. Lumping them all in as criminals is complete garbage...

[gnome]

I don't know where to start. There are so many places in which to begin. The failure of education seems a good place.

Poor Darko.

He is convinced he knows something about stuff. That truth has been told and retold to him since Junior High or before. It was told to him by high scores on every paper and test he took. It was told to him by his folks on alternate weekends. It was told to him by the testing companies who determine futures like the Fates did with yarn. be they teacher or parent or coach or Fate, they all sang as if in a Greek Chorus,

"You are a smart young man Darko, with a bright future, you have boundless potential, limitless opportunities are yours if you go to Ann Arbor."

Poor Darko.

He went to A2 and felt kinda cool when he found out that A Squared was what the cool kids called Ann Arbor. He liked being a cool kid surrounded by other like-minded cool kids. It was like being Cool Squared, which is cool and bad too.

Poor Darko.

In that bucolic coolness he learned again he was special all over again. Men with elbow patches on their sleeves told him that, and his buddies agreed. He went abroad and took in the great cultures, smelled the old smells and knew he was unlike everyone else because he had smelled those smells and seen those sights. His Flickr stream attests to those things.

Poor Darko.

At every coffee house confab, every frat party convo, every lecture participated in our Newbie learned he was not like everyone else, he learned he was special and his thoughts were special. He was told by people that Detroit needed him. That his talents were indispensable to the survival of a City and Region. He was told a special light was inside him and that his touch, his presence could transmute a place of steel and brick from poor to prosperous. The alchemy of touch.

poor Darko.

He learns here -maybe for the first time- not all his thoughts are special. That his special nuggets are horse apples. He learns here his education has been a failure. An F.

Heartless you are. Mean. Cold.

[oladub]

I'm confused, why would the gated community have to be on Belle Isle? Why not all the vacant land that is available?

Shollin [[post #10) is right. Belle Isle has the potential of being a world class park once again. Why mess it up like Bois Blanc with housing when there are so many other places in Detroit that could be made into huge gated communities? I'm not sure why the emphasis on grad students but if its their own money, why not? After all, Chinese interests have just purchased 200 acres a half hour from Ann Arbor for $1.9M for a Chinese community.

[mwilbert]

It is just people not understanding that securing a building against criminals is at least as easy as securing an island, despite the advantages an island might have against an infantry attack. You probably would want some space around the building, but you don't need a Belle Isle sized space.

As everyone knows, it isn't as if there weren't any place to put gated developments of arbitrary size within the city, if anyone wanted to. Of course, you might have some trouble getting permission from the City...

[corktownyuppie]

I am a junior at Michigan in Ann Arbor, and I'd say 98% of my friends have zero interest in staying in Michigan post graduation. This Belle Isle controversy got me thinking; I can't see a viable development where established families want to build and live on Belle Isle, but what about the young college educated crowd, the city and state so desperately want to retain? A gated Belle Isle would have the potential to be crime free, which is a huge reason most of my peers don't want to live anywhere near the D. And only a 5 min commute to work [[dtown).

It reminds me of Mount Adams in Cincinnati, a secluded area overlooking dtown Cincinnati, where many 22-32 yo professionals live. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Adams,_Cincinnati

I think using it as a public park, at tax payers' expense, is extremely shortsighted of the revenue this property could potentially deliver to the Detroit economy. A project like this could transform the city.

While I disagree with Darko's conclusion, I think it be critical to listen to where he's coming from. Are you all listening? All but a tiny, tiny, fraction of Michigan grads have no desire to stay in Michigan because of Detroit...both for its unfair depiction as well as its ugly realities.

I have zero interest in an Rand-ian vision of the island. But if you want to keep Belle Isle free, then you need to generate tax revenue somewhere else.

We need to recognize and accept that decisions which will be good for Detroit's financial situation will bad for some of the citizens of Detroit.

I am pro-gated communities if that will limit crime. At minimum, it will allow police to focus their resources on the specific non-gated communities which need it the most.

[GUSHI]

They do realize there is land for sale inDetroit,

Shollin [[post #10) is right. Belle Isle has the potential of being a world class park once again. Why mess it up like Bois Blanc with housing when there are so many other places in Detroit that could be made into huge gated communities? I'm not sure why the emphasis on grad students but if its their own money, why not? After all, Chinese interests have just purchased 200 acres a half hour from Ann Arbor for $1.9M for a Chinese community.

[Honky Tonk]

While I disagree with Darko's conclusion, I think it be critical to listen to where he's coming from. Are you all listening? All but a tiny, tiny, fraction of Michigan grads have no desire to stay in Michigan because of Detroit...both for its unfair depiction as well as its ugly realities.

I have zero interest in an Rand-ian vision of the island. But if you want to keep Belle Isle free, then you need to generate tax revenue somewhere else.

We need to recognize and accept that decisions which will be good for Detroit's financial situation will bad for some of the citizens of Detroit.

I am pro-gated communities if that will limit crime. At minimum, it will allow police to focus their resources on the specific non-gated communities which need it the most.

Yuppie, There's BOATLOADS of vacant land in Detroit. A good amount of it already near or on the water, some of it already developed, gated, and waiting for residents. While this "Look I live on an island" vision is quaint, don't forget about the other Detroiters, and even non-residents, that use the island too, and have as much to say about it as the visionaries. I read the former Bob-Lo owners proposal, the elite space people's proposal, and now the U of M graduate's proposal, [[if he doesn't get to live on Belle Isle, he's leaving MI), and I not only consider these pipe dreams, but question what's in the pipe? I haven't scrutinized Snyder's "$6 million a year COD savings", but unless he's pulling these #'s out of his ear, no other proposal generates THAT kind of revenue for the COD with that minimal of an investment. Furthermore, the DNR is experienced in running large parcels of land with minimal environmental impact, and effectively. I don't understand why the COD would turn this down. [[though I DO have a sneaking suspicion). It's nice to brainstorm and explore other options, but you can't seriously get angry @ people like myself who give you a flat out "NO".

[corktownyuppie]

Yuppie, There's BOATLOADS of vacant land in Detroit. A good amount of it already near or on the water, some of it already developed, gated, and waiting for residents. While this "Look I live on an island" vision is quaint, don't forget about the other Detroiters, and even non-residents, that use the island too, and have as much to say about it as the visionaries. I read the former Bob-Lo owners proposal, the elite space people's proposal, and now the U of M graduate's proposal, [[if he doesn't get to live on Belle Isle, he's leaving MI), and I not only consider these pipe dreams, but question what's in the pipe? I haven't scrutinized Snyder's "$6 million a year COD savings", but unless he's pulling these #'s out of his ear, no other proposal generates THAT kind of revenue for the COD with that minimal of an investment. Furthermore, the DNR is experienced in running large parcels of land with minimal environmental impact, and effectively. I don't understand why the COD would turn this down. [[though I DO have a sneaking suspicion). It's nice to brainstorm and explore other options, but you can't seriously get angry @ people like myself who give you a flat out "NO".

Hey, like I said...I disagreed with his conclusion. What I'm pointing to is that the primary political reason for turning down the Belle Isle deal is that "it's not good for Detroiters to let go of control."

Well, my rebuttal is that sometimes what's good for Detroiters is to do the opposite of what Detroiters want.

[EastsideAl]

Well, my rebuttal is that sometimes what's good for Detroiters is to do the opposite of what Detroiters want.

But the majority of Detroiters were in favor of going to state control of Belle Isle, and the overwhelming majority of us who actually use the park. The problem isn't what Detroiters want, the problem is what's in it for certain City Council members...

[townonenorth]

Gentry park is closing, nice waterfront views, and nobody gives a shit.

Mention Belle Isle, alleged "jewel", and the uproar ensues.

All those fools at council are puppets of Watson and Kenyatta. Race baiting tactics worked as well for the Klan as it will for them.