Community Benefits Proposals A and B

[bust]

You have a way with twisting words Wesley. Your edit is reminiscent of an O'Keefe Project Veritas hatchet job. Good thing my actual words are available in their entirety just one post up for context.

I said I'm in favor of CBAs in principle, but I also made it clear they have potential pitfalls. I offered a variety of perspectives, two of which were critical. Assessing the pros and cons of CBAs is complicated, especially when their details vary and so much of depends on their implementation on the ground.

And it should be clear from my prior posts on this forum when I speak of blunting community opposition it's not from a position in favor of it. I did not point to the Barclays Center as a positive example. I'm one of its longstanding local critics. Even with CBA in place the developer has failed to live up to so many of his promises. A CBA alone is not enough.

Without sufficient scrutiny their intent may be subverted. Many of them are not enforceable. If they are, many of those responsible for enforcing them lazily or intentionally don't do the job. In Detroit they are not even government officials and operate with little oversight. It should be the responsibility of local journalists to keep tabs on these things, ask the tough questions, and inform the public so we can try to keep things honest, but Detroit does not have enough of them with the will and the means to do the job. Even in New York, which may be the country's big city best served by local journalists, they mostly drop the ball.

I did not even say whether I supported either of the resolutions on the ballot. First because this issue should be decided by Detroiters. Second because for all the reasons I've already mentioned, CBAs may be a good idea in principle but a CBA resolution alone is far from enough. As I said previously, many other aspects of the system in place to publicly fund urban development need reform.

If I could vote I'm not sure what I'd do. Proposition A seems the much better of the two options and I'd consider voting for it. But it would be at best only a partial solution. Without the other needed reforms and enough honest people diligently paying attention to the often boring, complicated, and confusing details of zoning, taxation, public subsidies, and related law little community benefit may result.

When I said let's hope for ample more opportunities to get it right I meant either in the form of an alternative Proposal, or in the form of Community Benefit Agreements that are written and enforced in a way that truly benefit the community. I don't think I need to provide examples: trusting megaproject developers on their honor to fulfill their promises has generally not proven to serve local communities very well.