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I agree with this, and I appreciate the sentiment you're espousing. But there have been a lot of very costly "This will REVITALIZE the city projects" that haven
by nooron 9y ago
I agree with this, and I appreciate the sentiment you're espousing. But there have been a lot of very costly "This will REVITALIZE the city projects" that haven't panned out. And much of what happens in the city's core -- like the new Illitch stadium -- is funded via questionable means and produces dubious economic returns. I don't want to sound like a negative person or a bear on the city. I am generally positive, and am excited about its growth. I don't think asking tough questions about how we're trying to build Detroit should diminish our enthusiasm for the task, but we should ask them.
- jerf 9y agoYeah. I'd love it if there was some way to somehow ban politicians from "prestige" projects. It's impossible, since they would be the ones that would do the banning, and they won't and can't. The last thing Detroit needs right now is flashy silver bullets to bring prestige to its politicians; it needs sustained organic growth and the conditions that encourage that.
- bilbo0s 9y agoThe problem is... Rebuilding Detroit is, itself, a "prestige" project in the eyes of many. Or, put more directly... your definition of "prestige" project may not line up with another's definition of "prestige" project. Which are to be funded? Which are not to be funded? You'll get into never ending debates if you go down that rabbit hole.
- jerf 9y agoI don't play the "I can't draw a mathematically-perfect line precisely separating the universe into two parts therefore you can't draw a line at all" game. That's just sophomoric philosophy masquerading as wisdom. I have absolutely no problem at all living with the idea that I know prestige projects when I see them, and that there may sometimes be borderline cases.