NYT op-ed questions Detroit's oligarch class

[illwill]

There's no question that Dan Gilbert will get a return on his investments. Also, who knows why he bought the properties? Being that Gilbert is EXTREMELY wealthy, he may be buying these properties for tax write-offs, a nest egg, he might have bought these properties to leave to his children. After government tax credits and rock bottom prices, Dan Gilbert practically bought those buildings for free. Detroit WILL come back but it'll be another 50 years. And I'm dead serious when I say 50 years. The city has decades to go before Detroit becomes a destination for economically stable families. But it will come back because Detroit is on international water ways and the infrastructure framing is still there. However, in 50 years, most of Detroit's fabulous architecture will be gone, aside from Gilbert's properties and a few dozen other buildings in the concentrated downtown area.

Finally, I think Gilbert might have been ignorant to the reason why Detroit has not comeback. That reason being City Hall. This is why most billionaires stay away from Detroit. The city government is a broken system and no matter who you are in the city of Detroit, you better get along with City Hall or your goals will be limited or shot down. Notice...Illitch, Penske and Karmonos are on the cities good side so they get rewarded. They're able to do "pretty much" whatever they want. Gilbert is out spoken and in my opinion, if he keeps it up, it's going to be the reason his plans might become stuck in the mud. Name me any big time business tycoon in Detroit that "rolls to the beat of their own drum" without good relations with the city? NONE!! I'm not sure if Gilbert understood that when he started buying in Detroit? Thisain't Cleveland! Maybe if we had Cleveland's City Hall, Detroit might be Chicago or better? If Gilbert has a good relationship with City Hall, then he'll be fine. If not, they'll make his stay in Detroit a miserable one. And for those of you who think a white mayor and majority city council is around the corner, I hate to break it to you but Detroit is still over 80% black. Not saying that people cannot vote outside their race but I think we all know the way things work in America. Especially in Detroit.

[Gistok]

I do, absolutely. How anyone could think otherwise is the question.

For a good example of why this power concentration is bad, you can look at the complete bungling of the M1 rail project by this oligarchy. M1 will fail without a regional system because they would rather have a slow, dangerous curbside employee shuttle than true center running light rail [[ya'know, like the original streetcars!) . The feds literally had to beg M1 to allow it to be extendable past grand blvd.

You could also point to the poor development practices of Ilitch, who, perhaps in a city with stronger gov't and more downtown investors, would not have been allowed to stockpile parking lots behind the Fox or put street parking fronting Woodward at Comerica Park.

Also, the utter amount of Dan Gilbert-fellating that goes on in our region is hilarious. He's making money. He's buying properties because they are so cheap he'd be dumb not to. Just because he got Moosejaw to open doesn't mean he wants a working bus system, or a healthy East Side, or a functioning regional lighting authority. In fact, he probably really wants the rest of the city to continue its decline so he can get more cheap office space and trendy lofs downtown. Downtown can be a glistening beacon of tourism and suburban style shopping and the city would have to do nothing. This would NOT be a net gain for MOST Detroit residents.


There are many citizens in Detroit who do have a problem with the oligarchy- many of them live in the area where Hantz farms will be. Many more of them are sick of their tax dollars buying stadiums and office space when the streetlights are out.


I'm out, I can't really stand this site anymore but it was nice to be back for a day.

It's a shame that you're leaving... since you really didn't have all that much intelligent to say in this thread.

1) You don't like the location of where the M1 corridor is going... so you're no longer going to post here? What the hell??... didn't know Lowell and DYES had all that much say in that matter??

2) Don't like Ilitch's plan for stockpiling a land bank? Blame that on the elimination of Eminent Domain... the State Supreme Court and THE VOTERS quashed that one... so Ilitch has no other recourse than to play games with holdout landowners waiting for their mega-million jackpot [[like they were hoping for the Riverfront Casino's.. or CAYs $42 million purchase of 1 building with rusting equipment inside... just to get 1 auto plant built). Ilitch is smarter than most keyboard commenters on this forum give him credit for when it comes to how to get enough land for a new Arena... so you're not going to stick around to see it come to fruition?

3) Apparently you have NOT learned your history lesson about downtown landowners. Back in the 1980s... land was even cheaper than dirt.... Chuck Forbes, Jim Papas and Ted Gatzaros were purchasing land and buildings in Detroit when it was pennies on the dollar. I believe that Chuck Forbes got the Gem/Century for $5000. And every other piece of property he owns for dirt cheap... and with the countless properties and parcels that he owns and has fixed up...you must really hate Chuck [[as you appear to do Gilbert), huh???

Michigan Opera Theatre got the Grand Circus Theatre for only $300,000, bet you're sorry ass wishes they never got that... they're now monopolizing 2 valuable blocks of downtown.

4) Yes Dan Gilbert has been buying property... AT THE GOING RATE for downtown property... some of which is more expensive than it used to be... and some is cheaper. And how the hell do you come off saying that Dan Gilbert wishes the rest of the city goes to hell so he can buy it cheap. Sounds pretty ignorant to me. The better off the city now becomes... the more his investments are worth.

Granted, no one wants to see all of downtown in the hands of just 2 or 3 people... but guess what... it's better than NO ONE being interested.

Sorry to sound so snarky... but sometimes I hear some less than well thought out comments on this forum... and there are always those that view the glass as half empty... and never half full.

As for the rest of the city... it is in the shitter... no doubt about it... but anyone who thinks that Dan Gilbert wants it to get worse... is not dealing with a full deck...

[j to the jeremy]

Lol M1 is far from a reason I don't visit often anymore but you seemed to exemplify most of my other reasons in your comment.



I'm not saying Gilbert is evil. I went a bit too far maybe. But he is a corporate CEO. Not a mayor or planner or anything else.

[Wesley Mouch]

Why Old Man Potter owned most of Bedford Falls, everyone adored him!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4ne13Zft9Q

I always wanted to visit Potter's Bedford Falls.

[antongast]

2) Don't like Ilitch's plan for stockpiling a land bank? Blame that on the elimination of Eminent Domain... the State Supreme Court and THE VOTERS quashed that one... so Ilitch has no other recourse

Maybe the voters just straight-up don't want their neighborhoods converted to large tax-subsidized for-profit economic development projects to benefit Mike Ilitch. Clearly the restrictions placed on eminent domain weren't enough to keep that from happening, so further restrictions are perhaps warranted. Or maybe we just need to broom out all the rabidly pro-development fuckheads like George Jackson and replace them with some people who know how to critically analyze the costs and benefits of these deals [[ie not you, Gistok).

[antongast]

I do, absolutely. How anyone could think otherwise is the question.

For a good example of why this power concentration is bad, you can look at the complete bungling of the M1 rail project by this oligarchy. M1 will fail without a regional system because they would rather have a slow, dangerous curbside employee shuttle than true center running light rail [[ya'know, like the original streetcars!) . The feds literally had to beg M1 to allow it to be extendable past grand blvd.

You could also point to the poor development practices of Ilitch, who, perhaps in a city with stronger gov't and more downtown investors, would not have been allowed to stockpile parking lots behind the Fox or put street parking fronting Woodward at Comerica Park.

Also, the utter amount of Dan Gilbert-fellating that goes on in our region is hilarious. He's making money. He's buying properties because they are so cheap he'd be dumb not to. Just because he got Moosejaw to open doesn't mean he wants a working bus system, or a healthy East Side, or a functioning regional lighting authority. In fact, he probably really wants the rest of the city to continue its decline so he can get more cheap office space and trendy lofs downtown. Downtown can be a glistening beacon of tourism and suburban style shopping and the city would have to do nothing. This would NOT be a net gain for MOST Detroit residents.


There are many citizens in Detroit who do have a problem with the oligarchy- many of them live in the area where Hantz farms will be. Many more of them are sick of their tax dollars buying stadiums and office space when the streetlights are out.


I'm out, I can't really stand this site anymore but it was nice to be back for a day.

I hear you, this place is a goddamn sea of stupid.

[DetroitPlanner]

I always wanted to visit Potter's Bedford Falls.

Why head over to the Finger Lakes! http://www.therealbedfordfalls.com/

While your there spend a day in Ithaca making fund of the volvo driving hippies.

[Gistok]

I'm not saying Gilbert is evil. I went a bit too far maybe. But he is a corporate CEO. Not a mayor or planner or anything else.

J to the jeremy... I think this must have been a bad week for everyone... didn't mean anything personal against you in my comments. You also got swindled by the Taxi driver... I'd not have been a happy camper either...