Summary
The renovation and expansion of Cobo Center is critical to the future of the city of Detroit and the entire region. That's really not debatable, considering that more than 16,000 jobs and nearly $600 million a year in economic impact are tied to Cobo. This expansion is necessary to keep the North American International Auto Show in Detroit and attract other convention business. Let's consider some facts about Cobo, the plan, and the region:
* The Cobo financial records are not in a condition to be audited, making it difficult to ascertain the depth of the financial losses. We do know that the city spends at least $15 million a year out of its general fund for Cobo operations. Under the Cobo proposal, that money would not have to be spent and could be directed to other critical functions such as police and fire.Again, looking to the Fiscal Analyst report of Feb. 10, 2009, the entire Cobo expansion proposal would be worth a total of $489 million to the City of Detroit between now and 2015. This is even more significant when one considers that the city's current budget deficit is reported to be approximately $300 million. The existing taxes to support Cobo Hall were set to expire in 2015. There was no political will in Lansing to extend those taxes without fundamentally changing the governance structure related to Cobo Hall. Without an extension to those taxes, the City of Detroit would have been left with an outdated facility that runs an excessive annual operating deficit and no source of outside revenue to address the needed capital repair costs.Before bidding out the management of the facility, the annual operating budget was $19 million. Since the Hines Group has taken over the management of the building, the operating budget has saved $4 million annually.See the full content of this document
Extract
Straight Talk On Cobo Hall
The renovation and expansion of Cobo Center is critical to the future of the city of Detroit and the entire region. That's really not debatable, considering that more than 16,000 jobs and nearly $600 million a year in economic impact are tied to Cobo. This expansion is necessary to keep the North American International Auto Show in Detroit and attract other convention business. Let's consid...
See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
