Lou Mlecko is a former Detroit News reporter and former head of the Detroit Newspaper Guild. He initially wrote this on Facebook in response to Rochelle Riley's column in Sunday's Detroit Free Press that reported that Michelle Hodges, president of the Belle Isle Conservancy, wants to explore growth on the island including the possibility of adding a hotel and other amenities.
By Lou Mlecko
The "Vision for new life on Belle Isle" by Rochelle Riley in today's Sunday Free Press is more like a nightmare that awaits the 982-acre park. It champions the idea of building a hotel, restaurants and other commercial endeavors to "draw more tourists to Detroit's unique culture.
Michelle Hodges, president of the Belle Isle Conservancy, also "imagines" developments like this for Belle Isle.
Whatever happened to preserving and improving Belle Isle for what has been for decades: an island park for swimming, fishing, hiking, picnics, ball games or just enjoying nature away from the urban environment?
The last thing Belle Isle needs is a high-end hotel and restaurants for the elites in our society. Ditto for continuing development of the annual Grand Prix auto race on the west of the island. I visited Belle Isle today and was barred from about one-third of the island by security guards, who were posted alongside cyclone fencing to "protect" the Grand Prix course from the general public.
Photo by Lorraine Mleczko
While the race course area and the bridge have been spruced up for the race in two weeks, the rest of the island shows precious little in upgrades that were promised when the island became a state park.
Roads are still flooded, grass un-mowed, trash floating in the lagoons, only a handful of picnic tables or benches. Where is the state investment in their newest state park?
Ms. Hodges agrees that the island needs about $330 million in infrastructure improvements, but is it the intention of Gov. Snyder and his Department of Natural Resources to turn it into a playground for the well-heeled crowd?
For one weekend of racing, Belle Isle's west end is a jumble of ugliness: empty grandstands, porta toilets, concrete barrier walls and cyclone fencing that remains on the island for several months. This is a bold-faced attempt to steal this beautiful island from its rightful owners.
