Question about the Cobo deal

[R8RBOB]

I know this has been talked about for the longest but I have a question. First, here a link to a story about the Cobo deal and a hearing that Brenda Jones called for.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/19928205/detail.html

During the meeting a resident was quoted as saying: “It is absolutely lousy. It is of no benefit to the residents of the city of Detroit.”

So here is the question. As a city resident or a non-resident who pay Detroit taxes, how has Cobo benefitted you in the past?

As a resident of Detroit, I don't ever recall getting a check for all the business that Cobo was able to generate each year. For any event that was held at Cobo, I don't recall getting in free though I am a Detroit resident. If I wanted to host an event, would I get the hometown discount?

Where do these headcases come from? The city is broke and they are still trying to derail a deal that will rehab Cobo. Where are the logical people out there? It seems like only the nuts keep showing up.

[Crumbled_pavement]

The nuts are just more vocal, not the majority.

[preserve]

Anyone notice how Joann Watson reacts to the people who
are for the Cobo Hall deal. Very transparent. I just don't
get why people are against a deal that will improve and maintain the "jewel". I haven't been to Cobo in at least 15
years and probably only about 4 times in the years I've been
a resident. I wonder how many events all of these people have
attended that they are so vocal or are they coerced into coming to the City Council meetings by council members?

[gazhekwe]

They don't see the benefits of a viable Cobo because they are thinking only of their own purse. Myopic me-first and only me viewpoint. They most certainly benefit if the City is more prosperous due to convention, sports and entertainment traffic which will also increase business investment. More business, retail and hotel trade downtown = more tax revenue to be spent to make the City work better. More tax revenues will eventually reduce the responsibility placed upon the individual tax-paying residents/employees. Remember when Ford was the major taxpayer in Dearborn, so resident taxes could be low?

[rjlj]

Slow down gazhekwe, you make too much sense. What bothers me most is that the ones who are against the deal never propose and better solution. The only solution I heard was to use stimulous money. I guess that is the short term solution for everything these days. The nuts keep showing up becuase they don't have jobs and nothing better to do. The ones who are loundest are not always right.

[Stosh]

Anyone notice how Joann Watson reacts to the people who
are for the Cobo Hall deal. Very transparent. I just don't
get why people are against a deal that will improve and maintain the "jewel". I haven't been to Cobo in at least 15
years and probably only about 4 times in the years I've been
a resident. I wonder how many events all of these people have
attended that they are so vocal or are they coerced into coming to the City Council meetings by council members?

Joann is just Monica without the hysteria. She sees it as some sort of "jewel" as well. It may be a jewel, but without help, and a cleansing of corruption surrounding the operation of the place, they may as well just board it up.

At some point the residents of Detroit need to realize that the cash just isn't there to maintain the building, and that nobody in their right mind will pour boxcars of money into Cobo without a substantial change in the method of operation.

Otherwise, Joann might get her African market. It might have to be a very short lived market once the recievership starts.

[R8RBOB]

They don't see the benefits of a viable Cobo because they are thinking only of their own purse. Myopic me-first and only me viewpoint. They most certainly benefit if the City is more prosperous due to convention, sports and entertainment traffic which will also increase business investment. More business, retail and hotel trade downtown = more tax revenue to be spent to make the City work better. More tax revenues will eventually reduce the responsibility placed upon the individual tax-paying residents/employees. Remember when Ford was the major taxpayer in Dearborn, so resident taxes could be low?

The problem with people opposed to Cobo is that they are very much clueless about business. If business A is losing money and business B come in with a infusion of capital in exchange to merge the two business, the shareholders who know they will end up with 100% of nothing will agree to it because in the long run they know the company will die without help.

Some Detroiters would rather live with 100% of nothing than to share. This 20th century way of thinking needs to end. Detroit is running on empty and rather to agree to share Cobo, they would rather stonewall the resolution to create a regional group to manage it. Ask them how do the city get the money to rehab Cobo and they will just strug their shoulders and say, "I dunno"

[heedus]

Ask them how do the city get the money to rehab Cobo and they will just strug their shoulders and say, "I dunno"

They might also say "give us some of that stimulus money [[or internet ma-nay for you Southpark fans)."

[leland_palmer]

There was discussion yet again today by Joanne Watson and Barbara Rose Collins about voting on Cobo. Joanne wants to go to Washington this week to beg for bailout money. A decision should be made by the end of the week about the vote. I don't even think a meeting is scheduled for next week.

[R8RBOB]

There was discussion yet again today by Joanne Watson and Barbara Rose Collins about voting on Cobo. Joanne wants to go to Washington this week to beg for bailout money. A decision should be made by the end of the week about the vote. I don't even think a meeting is scheduled for next week.

I suppose JoAnn would go to her former boss asking him to press for funds to rehab Cobo. Some people will not learn anything. Only in Detroit would a Council memeber would go asking for money. Here is an question: would a middle manager go before the board of directors of a corporation and ask for money or is that role of the CFO or the CEO? If anyone is going to ask for money from Washington then it is should be the CEO aka the mayor of Detroit that makes the request. No wonder why Detroit is stuck in the middle ages. The Legislative Branch keep thinking that they should be treated like the Executive Branch and nothing gets done because everyone thinks they are the boss.

[firstandten]

I suppose JoAnn would go to her former boss asking him to press for funds to rehab Cobo. Some people will not learn anything. Only in Detroit would a Council memeber would go asking for money. Here is an question: would a middle manager go before the board of directors of a corporation and ask for money or is that role of the CFO or the CEO? If anyone is going to ask for money from Washington then it is should be the CEO aka the mayor of Detroit that makes the request. No wonder why Detroit is stuck in the middle ages. The Legislative Branch keep thinking that they should be treated like the Executive Branch and nothing gets done because everyone thinks they are the boss.

I believe you get to the heart of the problem. Council has been guilty of overreaching for years. I look at some of the campaign literature of these council candidates and I see the same thing. They don't seem to realize that they are the legislative branch of city government in a strong mayor system. There tasks for the most part are nuts and bolts budget issues, and some testimonial resolutions.
They need to back off and let the mayor carry the water, thats what he gets paid the big bucks for.

[R8RBOB]

I believe you get to the heart of the problem. Council has been guilty of overreaching for years. I look at some of the campaign literature of these council candidates and I see the same thing. They don't seem to realize that they are the legislative branch of city government in a strong mayor system. There tasks for the most part are nuts and bolts budget issues, and some testimonial resolutions.
They need to back off and let the mayor carry the water, thats what he gets paid the big bucks for.

I have to admit that there has been a vacuum in Detroit leadership since the end of the Young era. Speak good or bad about him everyone in southeastern Michigan knew that Coleman Young spoke for Detroit. True, the council were at odds with Young at times, but they knew and he reminded people that he was the HNIC[[my bad, that was TMFIC) in Detroit. You never saw Erma Henderson speaking like she was the second-in-charge like Monica Conyers thought she was during the brief Cockrel era.

I liked Dennis Archer as mayor. I thought he did a good job but Archer was a beginner. He could not come in ruffling the feathers of old-school politicians like Mayor Young did when he was mayor. He had to be flexible and not force his hand on his agenda. The problem with that is that people will take advantage and the City Council did just that. It did not help matters when at the end of Archer's second term you had crusty old Gil Hill as council president. Though Kwame Kilpatrick was flawed, he was a rookie and he went the Archer route and allowed the council to speak its voice.

Because Detroit is a strong-mayor type of government, you should never hear as much as a peep from any council member. The only voice in Detroit should be the mayor and the mayor's alone. To have others speaking policy is counterproductive and you have Detroit....

[punky1]

So where is old man Conyers in this equation? Does he not represent his district? It seems like there is a disconnect here with him. One would think he would be fighting for funds from Washington for his district. I guess no one put a prepared letter in front of him to sign.

[R8RBOB]

So where is old man Conyers in this equation? Does he not represent his district? It seems like there is a disconnect here with him. One would think he would be fighting for funds from Washington for his district. I guess no one put a prepared letter in front of him to sign.

You give the old man too much credit. He is 80 years old and he has a nutcase for a wife. Can't expect much from him.

[Meddle]

and a cleansing of corruption surrounding the operation of the place, they may as well just board it up.

I can remember vendors who went there for one event and vowed never to return due to the way the unions were allowed to run amok. They would charge $200 or so just to open a port in the floor giving access to utilities. They'd pitch a major hissy fit if you even plugged in an extension cord without having a union electrician on hand.

[Detroitej72]

Some Detroiters would rather live with 100% of nothing than to share. This 20th century way of thinking needs to end. Detroit is running on empty and rather to agree to share Cobo, they would rather stonewall the resolution to create a regional group to manage it.

Some people are just plain stupid. Would you rather have 1/2 of something, or 100% of nothing? This is a no-brainier to intelligent, rational thinking folks, of which there are few on the clown council.

[2blocksaway]

I always thought the main reason some council members wanted Detroit to remain in control of Cobo was because they could choose to hire city residents first.

Without full city control they are afraid that evil suburbanites will take those jobs.

[R8RBOB]

On John Bennett's website, I found this:

Detroit, MI—Mayoral Candidate Jerroll Sanders, joined by other political candidates and community members, will hold a press conference outside the Coleman A. Young Building in front of the Spirit of Detroit on Wednesday July 22, 2009, at 11:15 a.m., to oppose the plan to confer Cobo Hall to a Regional Authority. According to Sanders, the Cobo Hall deal is bad for Detroit future. The deal confers control of Cobo Hall--a revenue-generating entity--to an Authority for 30 years, while requiring Detroiters to fund the $288 million expansion.

Now I suppose someone had to take the baton from Monica Conyers. Informed citizens know that the deal from the state requires existing taxes from the tri-counties to be extended to pay for the expansion of Cobo. The reason why Detroit needs the taxes to be extended is that Detroit doesn't have the tax base to fund an expansion of Cobo and everyone knows that yet this Sanders and to a degree John Bennett is trying to fool Detroiters in believing that the city is going to give up Cobo and pay for the expansion. Crazy, huh!!!

[R8RBOB]

I always thought the main reason some council members wanted Detroit to remain in control of Cobo was because they could choose to hire city residents first.

Without full city control they are afraid that evil suburbanites will take those jobs.

If you are talking about jobs, you must be referring to janitors and shoeshine men because I thought the Cobo site was union. The jobs are controlled by the unions and if you aren't a union member you are getting a job.

[Meddle]

Why does Cobo need to be expanded again? Doesn't most of it sit empty most of the time?

[313WX]

Why does Cobo need to be expanded again? Doesn't most of it sit empty most of the time?

So we can keep the 500 million-dollar revenue generator called the North American International Auto Show.

[cman710]

Why does Cobo need to be expanded again? Doesn't most of it sit empty most of the time?

The short answer is that the North American International Auto Show [[NAIAS) organizers are asking for the space in order to help guarantee that the Detroit show remains the nation's foremost show. In recent years, several auto makers have left the show, though there have been some reports that some may return. The NAIAS brings in an enormous amount of tax revenue to the city and region.

[R8RBOB]

Why does Cobo need to be expanded again? Doesn't most of it sit empty most of the time?

You guys have to think long-term. Metro Detroit need a bigger Cobo to attract other events besides the Auto Show. Yes, the Auto Show is the prize we don't want to lose but the Auto Show is just one event that last I believe 8 days. Detroit need more events so it won't "sit empty most of the time."

[Meddle]

Any time I was ever at the Auto Show, there were large setions of Cobo vacant and unused. If NAIS wants a bigger facility, let them pay for it.

Besides, isn't the auto industry tanking worldwide? 10 years from now, there may not even BE an auto show.

[Detroitej72]

Detroit already looses many larger conventions due to the limited space at Cobo. If expansion will bring even a 20% increase, it will be worth the cost of enlarging the facility.