  Stosh Member Username: Stosh Post Number: 138 Registered: 01-2009 |
Stimulus money could be used to renovate Cobo, says U.S. Rep. John Conyers By DAN CORTEZ • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • March 14, 2009 U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Det., said that there is a chance that federal stimulus money could possibly be used to renovate and expand Cobo Center, an issue that has left state and local officials debating the future of the convention center. “Where there is a will there’s a way,’’ Conyers told the Free Press after a rally today in support of a new deal for Cobo Center at Triumph Church in Detroit. Detroit City Council rejected state approved legislation that would create a five member regional authority and pump $288 millions into Cobo Center for expansion and renovation. Mayor Ken Cockrel vetoed the council’s rejection. The council has sued in circuit court. Several hundred people turned out to hear council President Monica Conyers, Council Pro-Tem JoAnn Watson and radio personality Mildred Gaddis at the rally. Monica Conyers, the congressman’s wife, has consistently contended that stimulus money could be used for the project. Gov. Jennifer Granholm and others have said that the project would not qualify for those federal dollars that President Obama recently approved. http://www.freep.com/article/2 0090314/NEWS01/90314046/Stimul us+money+could+be+used+to+reno vate+Cobo++says+U.S.+Rep.+John +Conyers | ||
Detroit313 Member Username: Detroit313 Post Number: 796 Registered: 02-2006 |
Why not? Errr...Earmark! <313> | ||
Dcmorrison12 Member Username: Dcmorrison12 Post Number: 103 Registered: 02-2009 |
what is 3 more days? | ||
Wallins Member Username: Wallins Post Number: 20 Registered: 06-2008 |
Where were Talabi, Collins and Reeves? It looks as if Monica and JoAnn didn't need them for the rally or they surely would have been summons to appear. If you will notice, John Conyers said, stimulus money "Could Possibly Be Used", he did not say, can be used. He would probably say anything to avoid the wrath of Monica. Maybe, Ken Cockrel should use the words of Monica and tell John to "Control Yo House". Did Monica and JoAnn hire picket to attend the meeting? | ||
Stosh Member Username: Stosh Post Number: 140 Registered: 01-2009 |
DC three more days is just in reference to a post obviously removed. Three more days till the new forum. And new features. | ||
Daddeeo Member Username: Daddeeo Post Number: 576 Registered: 09-2008 |
Man, some guys will do anything to keep the peace in the family. John, don't drink the kool aid. | ||
Cinderpath Member Username: Cinderpath Post Number: 955 Registered: 05-2006 |
Why should they use stimulus money at this at this point? They were ungrateful for the first plan, I am so sick of it now, let it rot. Give stimulus money to people who would be grateful, minus the drama. My attitude has changed after this latest saga. | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 4286 Registered: 10-2003 |
Wait a minute. What's all of this talk of grateful and ungratefullness as if the Cobo deal was some charity case that everyone should have been acquiesed to without further imput and question? Is the Cobo deal really a deal of consensus as it's being sold, or something impossed like so many that oppose the regional authority seem to believe? I'm really starting to get bad vibes from fellow supporters of the idea of an authority. Cinderpath, folks like you really aren't helping in the rest of us making a case for a regional board for this center, and questions I once never had to ask I'm finding myself having to ask. It's that kind of view posted right above mine that kind of make you wonder if who we call the paranoid aren't right in their skepticism. | ||
Mzsuzuki Member Username: Mzsuzuki Post Number: 4 Registered: 03-2009 |
One of the Senators for Texas earmarked $500 million for her convention centers and we are paying for it so why not? Where is Debbie Stabenow? | ||
Angry_dad Member Username: Angry_dad Post Number: 345 Registered: 02-2006 |
"Where is Debbie Stabenow?" In Washington. Better question is "why?" | ||
Cinderpath Member Username: Cinderpath Post Number: 956 Registered: 05-2006 |
-Let me go on the record saying like the idea of a regional center. As an asset of the city of Detroit it is a Joke. The City does not have the money to pay for it, maintain it or expand it. As it currently sits, it is a nothing but a liability especially as larger venues want to pull the plug on it. Regardless of what Mrs Cuckoo Conyers thinks, the only way I support this is with a regional plan. When I was regarding ungratefulness, it is pointed solely at her faction. She has in the simple matter of turning this into a race issue simply leaves a lot of moderate, pragmatic regional supporters in the cold, to the point where many of us are so turned off now, we feel like throwing up our hands, walking away, and saying have it your way, you're on your own. Her ilk is simply toxic to the city, region and state. | ||
Lodgedodger Member Username: Lodgedodger Post Number: 1674 Registered: 05-2008 |
Regional is the way to go. | ||
Lodgedodger Member Username: Lodgedodger Post Number: 1675 Registered: 05-2008 |
>>"We don't need a regional authority," Council President Monica Conyers said. "If you want to help us, just give us the money."<< Pathetic. | ||
Sumas Member Username: Sumas Post Number: 807 Registered: 01-2008 |
Regional mgmt is a very decent solution. Cobo in its current shape is an embarassment. | ||
Detroit_expat Member Username: Detroit_expat Post Number: 93 Registered: 10-2003 |
How about using some stimulus money to build a new, state-of-the-art convention center near Metro Airport? Plenty of land, most infrastructure is in place, and best of all, no drama. Plus, it would spare the region of the inevitable, annual articles from visiting journalists about what a hell hole Detroit is. But best of all, Monica, et al. would be able to keep the White Devil's hands off one of Detroit's many, many jewels - Cobo Center. | ||
Cinderpath Member Username: Cinderpath Post Number: 957 Registered: 05-2006 |
Angry_Dad writes:"Where is Debbie Stabenow?" In Washington. Better question is "why?" Why? Because if any of the amnesiacs remember back 9 years, in the 2000 election the Republican incumbent was Spencer Abraham "Special Interest Spence" ran against her. This was the guy who lobbied for years about doing away with the Dept of Energy, as a senator, then when he lost, he took the cabinet position for you guessed it: Dept of Energy. I don't think there was a bigger Bush shill than Spence; he deserved to loose on principle alone. Abraham is now a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, an influential conservative think tank. (This is shorthand for he can't get a job in the real economy, and is living off the taxpayer feed trough of cushy retirement, for all his years of "service".) I can't think of a more fitting place than the HOOVER institution, he should join Bush and Cheney, and Rice and other cronies there, so they can talk about their success in re-creating Hoover policies which have led to the second Depression. The Hoover Institution gets funding from such notable companies as: The Hoover Institution receives much of its funding from private charitable foundations, including many attached to large corporations. Its recent donors include * Archer Daniels Midland Foundation * ARCO Foundation * Boeing-McDonnell Foundation * Chrysler Corporation Fund * Dean Witter Foundation [13] * Exxon Educational Foundation [14] * Ford Motor Company Fund * General Motors Foundation * J.P. Morgan Charitable Trust * Merrill Lynch & Company Foundation * Procter & Gamble Fund * Rockwell International Corporation Trust * Transamerica Foundation [13] Do you see a pattern here-like bailout recipiants, and business tanking or that have greatly profitied under the last 8 years. History is indeed interesting. | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 3857 Registered: 04-2006 |
John Conyers is actually paying attention to something happening in Detroit?! Change really has come to America! | ||
Buyamerican Member Username: Buyamerican Post Number: 935 Registered: 02-2007 |
"just give us the money" a quote from Monica Conyers that says it all. I'm sure, after all the corruption in Detroit government lately, that the State would just hand over the money to a bunch of idiots who are only looking to line their own pockets. My God, she has dipped into any fund available and feels that it's "her right". Every one of the officials in Detroit (excluding a very few) have had their hand in the till. Monica has her own idea of earmarks, her own, to benefit her and no one else. 20/20 needs to do a segment on Detroit politics, it would be very interesting and informative. | ||
Stosh Member Username: Stosh Post Number: 144 Registered: 01-2009 |
A segment on 20/20 wouldn't cut it. It would have to be a mini-series at least. Maybe a regular series! Maybe Real World: Detroit? | ||
Angry_dad Member Username: Angry_dad Post Number: 346 Registered: 02-2006 |
Don't care about your Republican fixation, instead of railing against Abraham, exactly what has Stabenow done except pose next to a "Dangerously Incompetent" sign? Try nothing but propose nonsense legislation that gets shot down. Reality is, it doesn't matter which party, they both suck. If you depend on one over the other, get a grip, they both prey on us. | ||
Detroitchef Member Username: Detroitchef Post Number: 147 Registered: 09-2008 |
The script writers for the 'reality' shows could not, in their wildest dreams, come up with shit as crazy as Detroit Politics. | ||
Stosh Member Username: Stosh Post Number: 145 Registered: 01-2009 |
All so much the better. Unscripted is the way to go. A reality show just on the REAL elections after this short term mayor thing is past, would be priceless. And worth it's weight in gold. Couple that with the FBI probe possibly weighing in during the same time period, you are talking Emmy material here, or maybe a Peabody. | ||
Trainman Member Username: Trainman Post Number: 778 Registered: 04-2006 |
A Regional Authority will likely mean a three county tax that we all pay. Just like the recently passed tax for the zoo where the average homeowner now pays $10. per year for ten years. Is this what we want for COBO? We saved the Zoo, so why not COBO? (Message edited by Trainman on March 15, 2009) | ||
Heedus Member Username: Heedus Post Number: 15 Registered: 06-2008 |
Lmichigan, let's see, Cobo is rotting, is a drain on the City's general fund, and has a lot of tri-county taxpayer money already invested in it. Also, the last two directors have been indicted on federal corruption charges. Moreover, there are numerous other projects in the city that are in need of federal stimulus money. So, yes, the city should be grateful that local, state, and regional authorities were able to come to an agreement that would provide $20 million to pay down debt, $15 million annually off of the city's general fund, and $288 million for expansion and renovation. BUT, Cobo also plays host to the NAIAS and many smaller conventions that benefit the tri-county area. So, suburban residents should be grateful that there has been a large-scale convention center like Cobo in the City over the past half-decade. I believe they showed their gratitude by agreeing to extend the hotel tax out to the middle of 21st century to provide the proposed Cobo authority with more than a half-billion dollars over that time period. | ||
Locke09 Member Username: Locke09 Post Number: 93 Registered: 02-2009 |
quote: No, they acted in the economic interests of their respective counties, which is fine, but it's not gratitude. And I just wonder, do the counties really want to completely eliminate the hotel/liquor tax? After all, they each receive a distribution from the excess tax each year. Except for the year(s) when the State used the excess to reduce its own budget deficit. Everybody is benefitting from the tax. No one needs to be "grateful" to anyone else. | ||
Novine Member Username: Novine Post Number: 1242 Registered: 07-2007 |
"And I just wonder, do the counties really want to completely eliminate the hotel/liquor tax? " No but who said that's the only option? There's no reason those dollars couldn't come back to the respective counties. | ||
Heedus Member Username: Heedus Post Number: 16 Registered: 06-2008 |
Locke, you're right. Sorry, I basically was trying to equate gratitude with acting in one's own best economic interests. Maybe, I should have put quotes around "gratitude." I meant to convey that IMO, the city should be grateful and needs to be grateful here (i.e., act with its best economic interests in mind). I think that there's an innate sense of gratitude underlying rational choice theory. That's all. | ||
Locke09 Member Username: Locke09 Post Number: 94 Registered: 02-2009 |
quote: It would be enlightening to actually look at the legislation currently in place for the use of hotel/liquor tax and also review reports on how much of each has been collected. You will find that the hotel tax collection is higher in the 3 counties than liquor tax collection. It is the reverse in Detroit. One would think that hotel tax would be primarily paid by visitors, while liquor tax would be primarily paid by residents. If this is true, then Detroit "taxpayers" and visitors are actually paying the bulk of the tax. Not minimizing the contribution of the counties, just asserting that no one needs to fall on their knees and feel "grateful". | ||
Stosh Member Username: Stosh Post Number: 151 Registered: 01-2009 |
Yes, but they won't be "grateful". And they are not, for all the support that the Metro region has poured into Cobo over the years. All that money, and it's been put to what use? 2 Cobo directors charged with what? It's all about economic self-interest, that's true. I don't blame the counties for wanting some sort of veto power. | ||
Locke09 Member Username: Locke09 Post Number: 95 Registered: 02-2009 |
Heedus, I'm not offended, and I don't intend to offend. I'm just trying to suggest other ways to view things. | ||
Locke09 Member Username: Locke09 Post Number: 96 Registered: 02-2009 |
Novine, You are right that the money could go back to the counties. I guess I was thinking about a comment LBP made on radio (WCHB) when he called in on his own and said he was dragged kicking and screaming into this Cobol expansion deal and would prefer that the tax not be extended. When Freman Hendrix expressed disbelief at the statement, LBP said the hotel owners in his region could lower their rates without the tax. | ||
Stosh Member Username: Stosh Post Number: 152 Registered: 01-2009 |
Here's the breakdown on how this tax works: Revenues Deposited into Fund 1. State-wide 4% Liquor Excise Tax. 2. Tri-county Accommodations Tax (Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties) with a rate of 1.5% (3% in Detroit) on hotels with 81 to 160 rooms and a rate of 5% (6% in Detroit) on hotels with more than 160 rooms. | ||
Locke09 Member Username: Locke09 Post Number: 97 Registered: 02-2009 |
quote: According to reports, that I don't believe have been disputed, it has been put to use generating almost $600 million each year in economic benefit for the region. 40% of that benefit has been enjoyed by Oakland and Macomb Counties, while they contribute annually to 20-30% (depending on how you look at it) of the cost. Yes, it is about economic interests and no one should be mad at anyone who is looking out for their interests. | ||
Locke09 Member Username: Locke09 Post Number: 98 Registered: 02-2009 |
The hotel tax is used first, and the liquor tax is used if the hotel tax doesn't cover the bond payment. This results in excess liquor tax that is redistributed to the counties. Even though the tax on liquor is higher than the tax on hotel rooms, the hotel room tax generates more money in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb than the liquor tax does. And that's probably a good thing  | ||
Detroit313 Member Username: Detroit313 Post Number: 797 Registered: 02-2006 |
Detroit is already viewed by the nation as a political mess. Do you wsnt the GOP to attack the region more? The authority is the best answer for Detroit. Use the stimulas money to rebuild the neighborhoods! <313> | ||
Bob Member Username: Bob Post Number: 1319 Registered: 11-2003 |
The Free Press made a good point a week back when this mess surfaced. Why do we want to waste stimulus money on Cobo when the City of Detroit has so many other needs in terms of neighborhoods and infastructure? There are much better uses of Detroit's share of the stimulus money than Cobo, of course MonCon does not care about anything but herself. Can the feds just take care of her for us? | ||
Heedus Member Username: Heedus Post Number: 17 Registered: 06-2008 |
"2 Cobo directors charged with what?" Glenn Blanton, former Cobo director, pled guilty to obstruction of justice in 2008. Also in 2008, former Cobo director Lou Pavledes pled guilty to financial structuring (making numerous deposits of $10,000 so as to avoid certain disclosures to the FDIC). In addition, contractor Karl Kado was charged with making false statements on income tax returns. And we wonder why the counties want to have some mouth where their money is. (Message edited by heedus on March 16, 2009) |
