BillyBBrew
Just curious Cliffy, What are you doing to curb/eliminate blight in Detroit? Are you paying taxes on otherwise vacant land? Even if you aren't doing that, are you a resident paying city/property/utility taxes to the city? I don't always agree with John Hantz, but he lives in the city, has invested in the city (for many years), continues to invest and tries to be part of the solution, not the problem. Hantz tried to do a much more involved farming project that involved crops and orchards and all kinds of things, but he was blocked from doing it and the "tree farm" was the compromise. Perhaps he is waiting to cash in, so what? Are you buying the land and building houses or factories? In the meantime, we have clean, mowed lots that are attended to and some sort of taxes are being paid on them, whereas they weren't before. Not perfect, but I'm sure not complaining.
Ah, the old, what-are-you-doing parry. But, with a kicker! He has to be paying other taxes, too! (As if Hantz is paying those taxes.) This comes from a guy who had plans to walk away from his house so that he could glom on to another one in another part of the city. BBrew needs to prove he didn't create blight.
He got one part right. Hantz is an investor; labor should be paid.
corktownyuppie
Funny you mention that. Out here on my side of town, you've got the area just north of I-75 from Cass through Woodward where the new hockey arena and adjoining development will be built.
But you've got a handful (or more) landowners in the area that are holding on to decrepit, blighted buildings that are unsafe inside and out. They're ugly to look at, attract unsavory characters, and all but eliminate "walkability" between downtown/brush park and midtown.
They've been holding onto those properties for a decade or more. And, frankly, if someone was willing to tear them all down and plant trees, I think we all would have been better off.
I tire of hearing of "land grabs". You know what the 2nd most worthless thing in Detroit is? Vacant land. What's the most worthless? Blighted homes which require demolition to become vacant land.
This one trots out a false analogy with a flawed premise. The only person holding on to the decrepit buildings he describes is Ilitch himself. If Ilitch called for volunteers to tear them down, would corktownyuppie sign up?
And if anyone is holding on to vacant land in the arena area, it's because it's worth something.
