Gilbert Tweets @Council "Belle Isle...What is so hard?"

[Goose]

I got an idea. Take away 6 million of his tax subsidies and give it to Belle Isle. Problem solved.

sure, because pulling 6 million from him won't affect ANY of his investments in the city at all, anywhere, just pull the money from him, he's rich, he will absorb it... no way would he pull out of investing in Detroit or scale back any current developments... would never happen....

[Shollin]

sure, because pulling 6 million from him won't affect ANY of his investments in the city at all, anywhere, just pull the money from him, he's rich, he will absorb it... no way would he pull out of investing in Detroit or scale back any current developments... would never happen....

It's kind of ironic all the bitching about the suburbs getting subsidies and the mere mention of taking away 6 million in subsidies from a billionaire is met with such angst. My guess is if Gilbert decided to invest in Livonia people wouldn't be so willing to give him these subsidies and praise.

[TexasT]

It's kind of ironic all the bitching about the suburbs getting subsidies and the mere mention of taking away 6 million in subsidies from a billionaire is met with such angst. My guess is if Gilbert decided to invest in Livonia people wouldn't be so willing to give him these subsidies and praise.

Of course not. A healthy region needs a healthy urban commercial core. It makes sense to want to spur investment in Detroit and not in Livonia. So by allowing him to keep more of his money instead of putting it in city coffers, we are at once enticing him to come and increasing the amount of money he has to invest [[and given his track record, he is investing it in Detroit).

If the city were giving him grants, that's one thing. But allowing him to keep more of his money that we wouldn't be getting anyways if he chose to invest elsewhere doesn't bother me. As long as it remains a net positive for the city and thus the state.

[JBMcB]

The problem is that City Council hasn't had enough time to go over other options. I mean, they've only just heard about the proposal around last June/July. And it's only come up for a vote a few days ago. Six months isn't nearly enough time to consider other options. Seven months, however is plenty of time, so they delayed the vote.

Also, Belle Isle is a distraction for the city council. After talking about voting on it for a few hours, they simply didn't have the time to actually vote on it, so they voted to vote on it later.

[ArmDetroit]

The problem is that City Council hasn't had enough time to go over other options. I mean, they've only just heard about the proposal around last June/July. And it's only come up for a vote a few days ago. Six months isn't nearly enough time to consider other options. Seven months, however is plenty of time, so they delayed the vote.

Also, Belle Isle is a distraction for the city council. After talking about voting on it for a few hours, they simply didn't have the time to actually vote on it, so they voted to vote on it later.

I see what you did there.

[Danny]

I would say to Dan Gilbert.

"It's plantation politics, race cards and monetary issues within the Detroit City Government that prevented the Lansing's lease on Belle Isle. Their mindset is focused on ' I can take of Detroit by ourselves, We don't need Lansing to help us, just bail us out.' This whole political debauchery within Detroit City leaders is that they can't get out its mixture of Coleman A. Young kleptocracy and their personal dark ages."

[coracle]

sure, because pulling 6 million from him won't affect ANY of his investments in the city at all, anywhere, just pull the money from him, he's rich, he will absorb it... no way would he pull out of investing in Detroit or scale back any current developments... would never happen....

Now that's a real clever strategy. Stick it to him. He's got [[our) money. He can't do anything about it now if we take it back. And it will serve as a warning to others who might want to follow his example.