Industrial Parks in Detroit?
With an intensive acquisition process ahead — about 130 privately owned parcels remain at the site — an EDC board member is asking for a course change, suggesting that the 1999 plan to assemble an industrial park may be outdated in 2010 Detroit.
“We ought to begin to recognize that some of our best ideas are 10 years old and reassess them,” EDC board member Conrad Mallett Jr., president of DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital, told fellow board members and Detroit Economic Growth Corp. officials at a meeting last week. “It's time to throw in the towel and say, "It was a hell of an idea, but it's not working out.' “
The Crain’s article talks about the exceptionally difficult situation of assembling land for an I-94 industrial park. The area is a mess. It is the perfect reason for supporting Mayor Bing’s proposal to “downsize” the City.
The underlying problem with the original economic park notion is that it probably was not legal. Hathcock reversed Poletown, because the later decision barred acquisitions for economic benefit or tax improvements. There is something distinctly different in trying to provide public services such as police, fire and utilities to an underutilized area and taking land so the tax base will improve in the community.
The reality of the I-94 industrial park is that the area was and is so blighted that the community could have moved forward under the Blight Rehabilitation provisions.
