 
Gambling_man
Member
Username: Gambling_man
Post Number: 709
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 199.178.193.5
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 3:17 pm: |    |
Jams, admittedly, Greektown has changed since the casino came here. ALOT of the merchants on the street will tell you that without the casino, they would not exist today. I think you will see that the powers that be at the casino are working hard to keep Greektown working as a district, giving a "village" feel. It will be good not just for Greektown, but for the entirety of downtown. |
Gmich99
Member
Username: Gmich99
Post Number: 85
Registered: 11-2005
Posted From: 24.208.240.225
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 3:22 pm: | |
Greek Town looks more like the slums now than before the casino. More bums are on the streets than I ever saw before the arival of the casino. |
Llyn
Member
Username: Llyn
Post Number: 1512
Registered: 06-2004
Posted From: 68.61.197.206
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 3:32 pm: | |
Is it just greektown, or all of downtown?
You want to point the finger, a good place to start would be to point it at our previous governor Mr Engler who thought it would be a wonderful idea to close the mental hospitals and dump all those people on the streets. |
Gmich99
Member
Username: Gmich99
Post Number: 86
Registered: 11-2005
Posted From: 24.208.240.225
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 3:38 pm: | |
Detroit, Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, etc they all have bum problems. Of course Engler's closing of the mental hispitals and the releasing of the mentally ill onto the streets has had an effect on the bum population, but Greek Town was a sucessful enclave within Detroit before the Casino and has not improved with the addition of the casino. |
Lmichigan
Member
Username: Lmichigan
Post Number: 3594
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.172.95.197
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 6:50 pm: | |
Has the casino damaged the district, though? Hardly. At worst, it's a neutral anchor tenant for Greektown, and at best, it's kept businesses in the neighborhood that would have otherwise closed. The casino isn't the issue, the shape of the city and state is the issue. |
Gmich99
Member
Username: Gmich99
Post Number: 87
Registered: 11-2005
Posted From: 24.208.240.225
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 7:08 pm: | |
Greek Town was not on the verge of collapse at the time the casino was built. It was a sucessful enclave with a distint feel. Now with the city showing signs of recovery, why now would Greek Town businesses otherwise be closed if it were not for the casino?
Further, the casino in this district is not at worst neutral. The Greek owners in Greek Town were largely able to keep the problems of the city out of their neighborhood. The casino has reversed that situation as is evident by the hood rich customers that flock to the casino and the bums who hastle them from the parking lots to the door.
In sum, Greek Town was not saved by the casino. It was one of a limited niches in the city that suburban money still frequented. The casino has enabled the slums to show themselves to a greater degree in Greek Town.
I am not opposed to casinos in Detroit, but they do not contribute much when positioned in already sucessful areas of the city. |
Motorcitymayor2026
Member
Username: Motorcitymayor2026
Post Number: 750
Registered: 10-2005
Posted From: 24.231.189.137
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 7:25 pm: | |
your complaining that rich people are frequenting downtown??? |
Eric
Member
Username: Eric
Post Number: 434
Registered: 11-2004
Posted From: 35.11.210.161
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 7:30 pm: | |
He said hood rich
http://www.urbandictionary.com /define.php?term=hood+rich |
Motorcitymayor2026
Member
Username: Motorcitymayor2026
Post Number: 752
Registered: 10-2005
Posted From: 24.231.189.137
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 7:31 pm: | |
got it. |
Lmichigan
Member
Username: Lmichigan
Post Number: 3595
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.172.95.197
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 8:35 pm: | |
Gmich, that is why I said AT BEST it's kept business there that may have closed or moved on. At best, if it even needs explaination, is the best case scenario. The casino lies somewhere in between, obviously. Again, it has not hurt business in Greektown, if even it hasn't helped it. It would be different if people could actually point how Greektown Casino has been such an undesirable tenant, and bane to the community. All I see are people that don't like the idea of casinos to start, and will blame any troubles in Greektown on the casino whether the problems were in the district before the casino or not. "More bums" is not a valid problem. |
Gmich99
Member
Username: Gmich99
Post Number: 88
Registered: 11-2005
Posted From: 24.208.240.225
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 9:00 pm: | |
Eric-
great guide.
Lmichigan-
How are more bums not a problem? If there were less in the area and more now I would call that a problem not to mention the "hood rich" patrons that are now the regular patrons in the area who are there not for the food but for the slots. |
Gumby
Member
Username: Gumby
Post Number: 1123
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 68.60.143.186
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 9:14 pm: | |
bums go where the people are. |
Deputy_mayor_2026
Member
Username: Deputy_mayor_2026
Post Number: 16
Registered: 04-2006
Posted From: 64.12.116.204
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 9:58 pm: | |
Bums are attracted to anywhere tourists arrive and have money that they plan to spend. Based upon that basic formula: anything that brings in suburbanites or other wealthy patrons will also cause an increased amount of homeless infestation. This does not mean that we should call off lucrative spots in Detroit. If you disagree, look at the CoPa or Ford Field or the Joe. Should we get rid of those because of the bums who hang around them? |
Eric
Member
Username: Eric
Post Number: 435
Registered: 11-2004
Posted From: 35.11.210.161
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 11:27 pm: | |
There may few more bums, but otherwise Greektown is the same. Most of the people I see walking around don't look hood rich.
BTW has there been any word on what the official height of the new casino will be?
(Message edited by eric on April 24, 2006) |
Chow
Member
Username: Chow
Post Number: 287
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.136.148.83
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 11:47 pm: | |
gambling man,
has there been any thought about how to treat the underside of the casino on westbound lafeyette? If done up all glitzy like, it could become an attraction of its own. |
Lowell
Board Administrator
Username: Lowell
Post Number: 2530
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 66.167.210.27
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 12:21 pm: | |
First off, a tip of the hat to Gambling man for all his great insights to the forum on the Greektown casino and gaming industry over the years. You certainly do not deserve this diss:
"Gambling_man, you and the Greetown casino are some selfish individuals... are pissed off with the fact that you don't make more than MGM and Motorcity. Every damn idea that you folks have come up with has been lame." <-- Totally uncalled for and wrong.
IMO, Greektown is the last casino toward which animus should be directed and certainly none of it toward Gambling man who is working for his company. While the spinoff might not be what one might have hoped for, the casino has energized the Greektown area that, lest you forget, was between dying and dead before.
The fact that it spills out into the Trapper's Alley area and hence onto Monroe makes it unique nad interesting. Try walking of out MGM or Motorcity - pure bleakness will greet you. Other that the drab Carl's Chop house for MC, there is nothing. I am not a gambler, but when I take out of towners who are interested, Greektown is my destination. At least you have some interesting and sophisticated dining options right there.
Last night the Mrs. and I ate at the MGM buffet as we had two freebies. There was a huge selection but most of it was bland and had been sitting out too long. The dining area was dim and windowless with the all charm of a prison mess hall. The paying price would have been $21, a clear rip off compared to a meal served by a classy waiter at the Hellas.
Another point I like about Greektown is it's Chippewa ownership share. I like the idea of the Chippewa tribe benefitting rather than all of the money going into solely the pockets of Mr. Chip Bigbucks or Mrs. Denise you know who. Ditto for Casino Windsor and its money going into the Provincial coffers and the Michigan State Lottery. |
Downtown_dave
Member
Username: Downtown_dave
Post Number: 68
Registered: 07-2005
Posted From: 63.77.247.130
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 1:21 pm: | |
Agree with Lowell. The casino saved an interesting building after the Trappers Alley Festival Marketplace failed. Yes, Greektown has always been a popular corner of Detroit, but the casino has provided a stable anchor for the area, and brought new people to adjacent merchants and restaurants. As for being the poor cousin to the other two casinos, Greektown bested MGM and Motorcity for March revenues, according to Crain's: http://www.crainsdetroit.com/a pps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2006 0412/REG/60412009&SearchID=732 42643722113. Not a gambler here, but I think the new hotel/garage plan and casino expansion will further benefit Greektown and the city. |
Gistok
Member
Username: Gistok
Post Number: 2018
Registered: 08-2004
Posted From: 4.229.24.203
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 3:55 pm: | |
Downtown_dave, you better go back and reread that article....
March 2006 Revenues:
Greektown: $32.2 million
MotorCity: $40.9 million
MGM: $41.5 million |
Trufan
Member
Username: Trufan
Post Number: 3
Registered: 04-2006
Posted From: 138.28.212.237
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 4:10 pm: | |
Maybe he was talking about the growth, Greektown's revenuew grew almost 15 percent, while the other two grew less than 2 percent |
Downtown_dave
Member
Username: Downtown_dave
Post Number: 69
Registered: 07-2005
Posted From: 63.77.247.130
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 4:19 pm: | |
Thanks Gistok and Trufan - I did misread. Too much rooting for the underdog, I guess. |
Restoretheroar
Member
Username: Restoretheroar
Post Number: 686
Registered: 07-2004
Posted From: 192.193.221.141
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 6:26 pm: | |
Gambling man- do you have any updates since the city sold the garage to Greektown? Was the final design approved? |
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