HBO report on Ilitches' District Detroit is hard to watch

[Deleted member 198]

Because the reality is, Detroit taxpayers forked over $324 million in tax dollars meant in part to fund Detroit's struggling schools to a family that routinely appears on the Forbes 400 in exchange for jobs for Detroiters that didn't materialize, housing that doesn't exist, and the remediation of blight caused by the billionaire family itself.

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Six years later, there's an arena.

As for the rest? The Ilitches had promised that Detroiters would be 50 percent of the arena construction crews. Didn't happen. Property records show that the area around the arena was blighted in part because the family's companies purchased property and allowed it to rot in order to drive prices down and to discourage other developments in their planned arena's footprint.

And about that housing?

"In all, how many residential units have been built?" HBO's Scott asks Detroiter Francis Grunow, a member of the Neighborhood Advisory Council charged with the thankless task of holding the Ilitches to their promises.

"None," Grunow says. "They have developed none. Zero."

"Zero as in none?" Scott says.

"Zero as in none," Grunow replies.

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Scott asked Walsh if conceding revenue from the arena — back at the Joe, the city and the Ilitches split revenue — to the Ilitches alone had been wise (he's fine with that), and whether he was aware of the mounting body of research that shows public subsidies for sports stadiums just don't work.

Walsh said he'd done his homework.

"I'm known as a data-driven person," Walsh told Scott. "... At some point you have to have a level of faith in a project. You have to believe in a vision."

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https://www.freep.com/story/opinion...4/district-detroit-little-caesars/3558044002/

Fuck these people, and also stop eating Little Ceasers y'all

 

[Allforce]

But Mike Ilitch paid Rosa Parks' rent for decades and never told anyone!

 

[Illithid Dude]

But Mike Ilitch paid Rosa Parks' rent for decades and never told anyone!

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And Gilbert supports Trump yet has done tenfold as much as the Ilitches to support the city. What a zany timeline.

 

[Deleted member 5359]

Was in Detroit for a week about a year ago. It's a dump. The roads look like the surface of the moon.

 

[TheMan]

stadiums are a scam. I was glad when kroenke took the Rams away, I don't want my taxes funding a fucking billionaire's real estate project.

 

[Azuran]

Stop giving billionares moneys for dumb stupid sport arenas. I rather lose teams than fucking over our local schools.

I'm not paying taxes so these selfish motherfuckers can have their vanity projects.

 

[NihonTiger]

And Gilbert supports Trump yet has done tenfold as much as the Ilitches to support the city. What a zany timeline.

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He's going to end up with the Pistons in the future and I loathe that day.

There were a lot of questions about the project that the Ilitches never answered and still haven't. They clearly knew Joe Louis Arena was approaching or at the end of its useful life (opened in 1979 and was in need of substantial repairs) and was in a pretty bad spot for a venue of its size (wedged between a busy freeway, Cobo Center and the riverfront with no room for expansion) and were able to use Detroit's bankruptcy to get what they wanted.

The only threat they really had was moving to the now-closed Palace of Auburn Hills, which is essentially a nonstarter.

 

[Stay Up Be Easy]

It's insane.

There's redevelopment literally EVERYWHERE around the Ilitch properties except for what they own.