Martha Reeves wants tax break

[Just Amazed]

Reeves seeks tax break for housing project

Ex-councilwoman to ask for tax break for $1.3M neighborhood

Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News

Detroit -- Martha Reeves has gone from Motown diva to politician and now may add housing developer to her resume.
She's partnering with a Highland Park businessman on a $1.3 million project -- called "Martha Reeves Estates" -- and first pushed for a tax break for the plan while she was a City Council member in 2008. She put the request aside after her colleagues raised questions about the deal to build 13 homes and rehab 20 others.
"I was told it was something she was pushing when she was here before," said Councilwoman Saunteel Jenkins, who was elected this year and whose committee will hold a hearing next week on the tax break. "Some of her colleagues pushed back and [[Reeves and the developer) dropped it."

But a month before Reeves left City Hall in 2009, Reeves and developer Rogers Carter again pursued the Neighborhood Enterprise Zone tax break from city officials for the project on McDougall Street at the Davison Freeway in Detroit.

In a letter to an official with the Planning & Development Department, Reeves asked to meet to discuss the tax break application after the Nov. 20, 2009, council meeting, noting her term ended in December.
Reeves owns one vacant lot within the project's boundaries, at 13151 McDougall, and said Tuesday she is trying to do something good for the neighborhood. She also said she owns 18 lots in the area.
"I feel like I am being a good investor in the city of Detroit. The development is an act of God," Reeves said. "It is a favor for being a good investor in the city of Detroit.
"A lot of people appreciate me for the work I do."
When asked whether she should have pushed the project as a councilwoman, she said: "I haven't got any tax break."
A public hearing on the tax break, which needs council approval, will be held July 1.
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From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100623/...#ixzz0rg5k0kOx

**************************************************How in the world did she acquire 18 lots in this area???????
And really who is going to pay $150,000 for a house in Highland Park when the surrounding houses go for $30,000.