Dominic Rushe of The Guardian visits the Comet Bar near the future site of the new Red Wings arena as he examines the controversy about using public funds for billionaire Mike Ilitch's project during Detroit's bankruptcy.
Police have started handing out parking tickets outside The Comet Bar, a cozy if incongruous spot smack in the middle of the blighted deadzone between downtown and midtown Detroit. Not so long ago it was hard enough to get the cops to come for a shooting, says the Comet’s pink-haired barmaid, who goes by the name of Nine.
The ticketing appears to be part of a drive to prepare the area for one of the biggest urban renewal projects Detroit has ever seen. And one that is dividing the community. Soon the contractors will move in to start work on a sports and entertainment district at the centre of which will be a $450m arena for the Detroit Red Wings ice hockey team – funded in large part by this bankrupt city.
The development is getting under way just as Detroit faces a final reckoning with its estimated $18bn in debt. The city declared bankruptcy last year and is about to undergo a painful restructuring which could see retirees' pensions and healthcare benefits slashed.
On Monday the city is expected to file its latest bankruptcy restructuring proposal as its emergency financial manager argues cuts to pensions are essential to solving the city’s crisis.
'All I want is a fair deal'
Rushe notes half the city’s street lights don’t work; nearly a quarter of the city’s high school students dropped out before graduation last year, while the state dropout rate is one in 10. There were protests ahead of the stadium deal, with locals arguing the money would be better spent elsewhere. Three of the city’s nine council members voted against the sale under the current terms.
Rushe quotes Mark Morante, senior vice-president of special projects at the state-funded Michigan Economic Development Corporation, who says opponents have mischaracterised the deal and missed the bigger picture.
“This is a transformational project,” he said. He said the new entertainment area would not only restore a blighted neighbourhood but would also free up the riverside space occupied by the Red Wings' current home, the Joe Louis Arena, for further renovation.
But worryingly for Detroit, Rushe writes, there is a large body of evidence that sports stadiums rarely do anything positive for the local economy. Neil deMause and Joanna Caggan chronicle in painful detail the failed promises of sports stadiums in their book and blog, Field of Schemes.
“The odds that Detroit will make back anywhere close to the amount of money it is spending are astronomically small,” said deMause. “It’s almost impossible to think of a worse way for them to spend the money.
