Discuss Detroit » Archives - January 2008 » Council rejects tunnel deal « Previous Next »
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Jams
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Username: Jams

Post Number: 8834
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Friday, May 23, 2008 - 8:51 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

quote:

DETROIT -- The City Council rejected plans to lease the city's portion of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel for roughly $65 million Thursday, dealing a huge blow to Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's plan to eliminate the city's budget deficit.

Council members have said they were given the plan too late and with too little information to make an informed decision. The council could reconsider the lease later.

"I've always liked the plan, but all the information wasn't there, and we got it too late," council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr. said. "That's the standard operating procedure with the administration ... I don't know why."

The mayor has similarly been criticized for bringing to council "much needed" land sales that needed to be approved in a few weeks but without giving members time to do a thorough review.

Council rejected the latest plan on a voice vote.



more;
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.d ll/article?AID=/20080523/METRO /805230358/1410/METRO01
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Topflight
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Username: Topflight

Post Number: 5
Registered: 04-2008
Posted on Friday, May 23, 2008 - 10:20 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Heaven Help Them!
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Paulmcall
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Username: Paulmcall

Post Number: 1050
Registered: 05-2004
Posted on Friday, May 23, 2008 - 11:17 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Good luck balancing the budget now. They'll have to borrow more money. How long can this go on?
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Detroitnerd
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Username: Detroitnerd

Post Number: 2346
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Friday, May 23, 2008 - 11:29 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The budget hasn't been "balanced" in years. I don't know why this ongoing fiction is allowed to continue without Lansing putting Detroit in receivership.

What's more, if receivership got results like what happened in Hamtramck, I wouldn't be totally against it, at least in theory.
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Zrx_doug
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Username: Zrx_doug

Post Number: 131
Registered: 03-2008
Posted on Friday, May 23, 2008 - 12:20 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

How does a one-time profit from selling a productive cash cow (or a golden goose, pick your critter) make more sense for the future than keeping the proceeds from long-term milk (or egg) sales available?
Assuming we went thru with this crack-brained scheme, what do we plan to sell NEXT year when we need to make ends meet? Eventually the house will be empty, the tenants will be broke, and the pawnbroker will be laughing all the way to the bank..this is NOT the way to save a city.
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Aiw
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Username: Aiw

Post Number: 6634
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Friday, May 23, 2008 - 12:49 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thank god. This would have been a nightmare for Windsor taxpayers. Talk about a dumb plan for us (good for Detroit).
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Jasoncw
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Username: Jasoncw

Post Number: 503
Registered: 07-2005
Posted on Friday, May 23, 2008 - 1:31 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'm glad they rejected it. I agree that they would be selling something valuable for the long term, for something in the short term. Sometimes you need to do that, but 65 million isn't enough money to be worth it.
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Retroit
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Username: Retroit

Post Number: 110
Registered: 04-2008
Posted on Friday, May 23, 2008 - 11:02 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Sounds convoluted (or maybe I'm just dumb): Detroit would sell ("lease" - I don't get it) the tunnel to Windsor for $65 million, but it will be owned by appointees of Detroit and Windsor and be managed by an Authority appointed by the mayor and council? Let me guess, Monica Conyers would get a car out of the deal, and the mayor's high school buddies will be the "appointees"?

How about they sell it to a private enterprise and Detroit & Windsor get a certain % of the fare revenue?
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Jt1
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Username: Jt1

Post Number: 11837
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Friday, May 23, 2008 - 11:13 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

quote:

Good luck balancing the budget now. They'll have to borrow more money. How long can this go on?



I wish they had the financial know how of a mail man. That would certainly make life easier.

I know that if the pinnacle of my career was to give someone a letter I would certainly feel qualified to give financial advice.

Paul _ Can you give me some financial advice beyond 'insert letter here'?
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Paulmcall
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Username: Paulmcall

Post Number: 1063
Registered: 05-2004
Posted on Monday, May 26, 2008 - 7:17 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yeah Jt1, don't spend more than you have.
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 6012
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Monday, May 26, 2008 - 7:34 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

What do they mean by they got the plan too late with too little information? Hasn't this deal been put forth before them, before? I don't think it was formally, but I was pretty sure the mayor had given them information on this last year or the year before. As for the merits, that's another debate, but it seems pretty clear this had nothing to do with timing and everything to do with the fact that they don't like the plan or the mayor. Why not be honest about it (the mayor and the plan)?
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Charlottepaul
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Username: Charlottepaul

Post Number: 2543
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 4:35 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"...but 65 million isn't enough money to be worth it."

How much is the tunnel worth?

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