DETROIT | Proposal to turn Belle Isle park into a city

[iheartthed]

The nonsensical proposal to turn Belle Isle into a separate, tax-free city has resurfaced.

"Our plan is to maintain it as a park, but to take the underutilized portions and bring people in to live on the island; build a community of up to 50,000 residents. It's beautifully located. This would really be ideal to establish a community there," he said.

https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/met...veils-bold-vision-build-city-belle-isle/

Beyond the many other reasons why this is bad idea (taking away public space, taking away green land, lack of infrastructure), there are just so many other places in Detroit to put 50,000 people that I don't know why anyone thinks this should be on a todo list for Detroit.

[Steely Dan]

This kind of abject lunacy has to be a non-starter.

It's some of the most valuable greenspace of the CITY of Detroit.

Why the hell would the city wave goodbye to that?

I mean, it's not like the rest of the city is completely out of room for 50K new people.

[Steely Dan]

Lockwood's vision includes a walkable city with a monorail, restaurants, homes, office and retail space, and much more.

[The North One]

This stupidity is from 2013. Why is local media suddenly bringing attention to this again now.

Safe to say Belle Isle will never become some weird libertarian version of Hong Kong. Sorry.

[wanderer34]

First, the partial demolition of the Renaissance Center, and now this!!! Seriously, who's running the planning of this city???

[Velvet_Highground]

Monorail! monorail! I was just thinking the other day how absurd and skeezy it was back in the day that people proposed it. I don’t think it really requires discussion why it’s a terrible idea in just about every aspect imaginable.

If the new economy didn’t result in the loss of job benefits, investments by companies in local schools, housing, healthcare and sometimes transit/transportation and or cultural institutions. With massive offshoring of well paying union jobs and the service industry with its famously even handed management of its employees and crushing all attempts at unionization in response to a non-living wage. Some people are dissatisfied with the way things are though it’s not like we are a commercial maritime power with a ship building industry on life support.

In an effort to maximize profits on the stock market which in many cases aren’t taxed we have lost a lot of the key aspects national security significance while getting massively into debt. I don’t know how creating a domestic tax haven helps anyone especially Detroit and Michigan it certainly takes away a crown jewel of the state park system located in the heart of SE MI. Hippy Beach will never belong to the man as long as I have a say, lol.

[Velvet_Highground]

Originally Posted by wanderer34

First, the partial demolition of the Renaissance Center, and now this!!! Seriously, who's running the planning of this city???

This has nothing to do with the city or anyone in Michigan this is Mr Lockwood trying to sell us a monorail for the low low cost of giving up Bell Isle to him.