Themax Member Username: Themax
Post Number: 827 Registered: 09-2005
| Posted on Monday, February 16, 2009 - 11:00 am: | |
This in the Freep Conyer's Attempt To Stop Cobo Expansion Stalls http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29 123229/ So half the City Council would rather not see Cobo expanded, which would mark the end of the Auto Show, because they would lose control of the property? Have they looked around them? What do they control now? Sometimes I think the movie "Idiocracy" was based on Detroit. |
French777 Member Username: French777
Post Number: 687 Registered: 10-2006
| Posted on Monday, February 16, 2009 - 7:14 pm: | |
bump |
Rjlj Member Username: Rjlj
Post Number: 785 Registered: 11-2003
| Posted on Monday, February 16, 2009 - 7:18 pm: | |
"Idiocracy" was said to be inspired by present day Detroit. |
Detroit313 Member Username: Detroit313
Post Number: 780 Registered: 02-2006
| Posted on Monday, February 16, 2009 - 8:24 pm: | |
LMAO I love that film- If that is true, I totally agree! <313> |
Waltbaby01 Member Username: Waltbaby01
Post Number: 17 Registered: 06-2007
| Posted on Monday, February 16, 2009 - 10:45 pm: | |
so, just continue the fire sale? |
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan
Post Number: 4131 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Monday, February 16, 2009 - 10:48 pm: | |
Why is there another thread on this? |
Trainman Member Username: Trainman
Post Number: 753 Registered: 04-2006
| Posted on Monday, February 16, 2009 - 11:03 pm: | |
A NEW County Sales tax could be used to build and a new much larger Cobo that is the biggest in the World and also a World Class mass transit system. If we can afford to pay our state 6 percent, then why can't we pay our county 2 percent for a total of just 8 percent. If it means jobs, keeping the auto show and getting 3 dollars in return for every dollar spent on mass transit taxes then why not? I think the new Cobo center should be renamed the Kwame Kilpatrick center to honor his commitment to legislation that created the DARTA and all his good works that benefited the city of Detroit and southeast Michigan. |
Buckster1986 Member Username: Buckster1986
Post Number: 12 Registered: 08-2007
| Posted on Monday, February 16, 2009 - 11:04 pm: | |
I went to the Chicago Auto Show this past weekend for the first time. I wanted to really see the difference between theirs and ours. Well I can honestly say our days are numbered. The sheer amount of space they have attracts more models, more interactive displays and what seems like more people. Anyone else ever been? |
Rjlj Member Username: Rjlj
Post Number: 786 Registered: 11-2003
| Posted on Monday, February 16, 2009 - 11:25 pm: | |
Do you think any of the city council members have been to any of these other auto shows such as L.A. or Chicago? From the way half are acting it does not seem that way. They prefer to attend value added meetings in Israel, London and Florida. Wake up people, the world is passing Detroit by. (Message edited by rjlj on February 16, 2009) |
Gistok Member Username: Gistok
Post Number: 6155 Registered: 08-2004
| Posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 - 2:29 am: | |
I have a question about the Chicago Show... is it all housed in just one of the 3 buildings that make up McCormick Place? Or is it spread out into more than 1 building? And Trainman... after just reading your post in disbelief... I think you should just leave the "T" out of your name.... |
Buckster1986 Member Username: Buckster1986
Post Number: 13 Registered: 08-2007
| Posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 - 11:20 am: | |
The Main Floor is housed in both the North and South portions of the building. The South Hall has 840,000 sq. ft. and the north hall has 369,000 sq. ft. The Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge display had its own test track in its part of the floor. |
Dcmorrison12 Member Username: Dcmorrison12
Post Number: 37 Registered: 02-2009
| Posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 - 11:20 am: | |
WEll, train man got it wrong with the Kwame name idea.. but he's got it spot on with the new taxes. If Detroit/Southeastern michigan wants to succeed in the future, then we're going to have to pony up some pennies so that there's MONEY to invest in our future. Mass transit is a MUST HAVE in the City of Detroit's future. A larger and better Cobo hall is almost as equally important. It's time to quit complaining about a little tax increase. Train man exaggerated the cost of the tax increase. Honestly, all that they would need to add would be a mil increase (I believe a penny on every 10 dollars - correct me if I'm wrong) But I do know it doesn't have to be a whole percentage point, but if so, then why not? Will that make or break you? Honestly, everyone would see the improvements which would come along from that tax increase - your money isn't just dissappearing into the abyss (or highway system). |
Gmich99 Member Username: Gmich99
Post Number: 250 Registered: 11-2005
| Posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 - 12:30 pm: | |
Clearly the Detroit cannot afford to continue to increasingly lose national and international significance. For better or worse Detroit depends on what remains of the Big 3. The Metro and City alike must contribute the necessary resources to provide a world-class facility to host the auto show. The cost of building a world-class facility is much less inexpensive of lacking a world-class facility entirely. And a band-aid plan to tack on a little more space will not change the fact that COBO is an outdated facility occupying what could be valuable commercial space. |
Buckster1986 Member Username: Buckster1986
Post Number: 14 Registered: 08-2007
| Posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 - 2:01 pm: | |
It needs to be expanded now. They have to at least add another 500,000 sq. ft. LA and Chicago have become the better place to go. If the red Wings move it would be easy to add the square feet in the rear while cleaning up that area with better parking and tunnels. It's a mad house with roads and freeways there and would be great if that happened. |
Bobby_wobby Member Username: Bobby_wobby
Post Number: 4 Registered: 02-2009
| Posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 - 8:35 pm: | |
wHEN IT COMES TO DETROITS COMEN COUNCIL,ITS ALL ABOUT EGO NOT WHATS BEST FOR DETROIT IF THEY BLOCK THIS COBO DEAL,THEN I DON'T KNOW WHAT, |
Bobby_wobby Member Username: Bobby_wobby
Post Number: 5 Registered: 02-2009
| Posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 - 8:37 pm: | |
wHEN IT COMES TO DETROITS COMMON COUNCIL,ITS ALL ABOUT EGO NOT WHATS BEST FOR DETROIT IF THEY BLOCK THIS COBO DEAL,THEN I DON'T KNOW WHAT, |
Lodgedodger Member Username: Lodgedodger
Post Number: 1488 Registered: 05-2008
| Posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 - 8:46 pm: | |
Bobby_wobby: CAPS LOCK, Dude. |
Themax Member Username: Themax
Post Number: 829 Registered: 09-2005
| Posted on Wednesday, February 18, 2009 - 2:24 pm: | |
So are the mayoral candidates saying anything about this? Isn't anyone telling the common council that they are putting the final nail into Detroit's coffin? Or putting them on the spot and asking them what they intend to do to replace Cobo? I don't live in the city, and I'm riled up. |
Rhymeswithrawk Member Username: Rhymeswithrawk
Post Number: 1741 Registered: 11-2005
| Posted on Wednesday, February 18, 2009 - 9:37 pm: | |
Tear that schitt down. |
Busterwmu Member Username: Busterwmu
Post Number: 519 Registered: 09-2004
| Posted on Wednesday, February 18, 2009 - 10:11 pm: | |
If transit and a bigger Cobo are the things we think we need to improve this join we call the D, than why have we not incorporated a plan to merge the two together and just get on with it already? Cobo is located on the exact spot more or less where the old riverfront railroad stations and yards used to be. Detroit never had a smack-in-the-middle of downtown station, the closest examples were Michigan Central's old 3rd St. depot, Fort Street Union Station (at Fort and Third), and Brush Street Station under the RenCen. How much more downtown could you get a passenger rail station than at Cobo Hall? I still advocate for the portion of the building facing Washington Blvd and Congress to be turned into a stub ended railroad station, which the new commuter line from AA could utilize to get people DIRECTLY into downtown, not to New Center for a fun bus ride into the city. There is already dedicated right-of-way in place for about 75% of the distance from the Detroit MC River tunnel to Cobo, because it sits on an old railroad alignment from decades ago. |
Waymooreland Member Username: Waymooreland
Post Number: 117 Registered: 11-2007
| Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 9:47 am: | |
Monica Conyers explains her opposition to the Cobo deal in today's Freep: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs .dll/article?AID=2009902190443 What a buffoon. She completely disregards the urgency of this situation. She never mentions the economic impact of the Auto Show on Detroit businesses, just the direct impact on the city's budget. And she is taking a stand AGAINST regional cooperation. Honestly, with the relaxed tone of her comments, you would think she had written this piece 5 years ago, as opposed to today when the idea of the Auto Show leaving the city is a very realistic possibility. Is she really arrogant enough to think that this discussion can keep going on for months or even years longer and the show will still stay? This debate has gone on far too long already. And the idea of using economic stimulus money for this project? She must be joking! Let the whole region pay for and co-manage this asset that affects us all and use that stimulus money to work on Detroit's core needs. They need to get this done quickly or else, in all seriousness, they might as well just tear that schitt down! |
Novine Member Username: Novine
Post Number: 1104 Registered: 07-2007
| Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 10:17 am: | |
" There is already dedicated right-of-way in place for about 75% of the distance from the Detroit MC River tunnel to Cobo, because it sits on an old railroad alignment from decades ago." Where is this alignment? |
Spartacus Member Username: Spartacus
Post Number: 299 Registered: 07-2005
| Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 10:32 am: | |
Do you think she had any hand in writing that? It sure didn't sound like her "voice". I have no reason to believe that she is smart enough to put together two sentences-- and I'm pretty sure she doesn't use the word "myriad" much in her day to day life. I'm not an expert on the intricacies on COBO, but haven't Oakland County businesses been paying taxes to pay for the last expansion of COBO for several decades. She makes it sound like Detroit taxpayers have footed the entire bill for COBO. Won't Detroit save millions of dollars in annual maintenance costs a year with this proposal? She talks about providing fire and police protection, but doesn't Detroit get the most benefit (as opposed to the suburbs) out of the COBO? Weren't there two people (I'm assuming that they're city employees) recently convicted of felonies for taking kickbacks on COBO contracts? Essentially you are getting funding from outside of the City to benefit the region as a whole. All the people outside of the City ask is that they have a say in the management of the place and that contracts go to the lowest bidder. Really, is that too much to ask? L. Brooks gets a lot of grief on this website for not thinking "regionally" (much of it earned). I think, however, that this dispute puts into focus what he is dealing with on some of these "regional" issues. |
Rjlj Member Username: Rjlj
Post Number: 790 Registered: 11-2003
| Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 10:49 am: | |
She brings nothing to the table in terms of proposals for making this a better deal. She only complains and proposes that "send our lawmakers, county leaders and our mayor back to the drawing board to come up with a plan that would be more acceptable to the citizens of Detroit." And this B.S. "Meanwhile, we could have Detroit's Convention and Visitors' Bureau actively solicit some of the 69 traveling conventions that could be housed in Cobo Hall at its current square footage to help cut down the facility's operating debt." This is just being thought of now? Why havenlt these conventions been coming to COBO for the past 20 years? Maybe the fact is that these conventions have rejected COBO due to the state that is in. |
Digitalvision Member Username: Digitalvision
Post Number: 1369 Registered: 11-2003
| Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 10:49 am: | |
If the city council and administration wasn't so irrational, L. Brooks would be a lot more for regionalism. It's not that he's against regionalism; he just doesn't trust that the city of Detroit knows how to manage itself or spend money. And he's right. The city government doesn't and is unwilling to make the leadership decisions (selected cuts, getting rid of duplicate services, managing employees better) necessary. L. Brooks' biggest concern as I understand it is that the money Oakland County taxpayers pay goes into the equivalent of Bobby Ferguson's pocket. And consistently, unfortunately, he's been proven correct time and time again. I can't blame him for that (and the residents of Detroit are voting with their feet en masse to move to his county). With the poll I saw yesterday, that over 80% of Detroiters are unhappy with Council, I hope there are some changes this next election. |
Registeredguest Member Username: Registeredguest
Post Number: 136 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 11:40 am: | |
Maybe y'all should head to the next council meeting and share your support for the project, as opposed to complain on here? Last meeting, 12 Detroiter's stated their opposition to the plan. Those for the plan were few and far between, and were mainly from the Mayor's Office, Gov's Office or DEGC. Maybe the inclusion of some concerned citizens supporting the deal would help sway those on the fence? |
Digitalvision Member Username: Digitalvision
Post Number: 1370 Registered: 11-2003
| Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 12:02 pm: | |
Problem is with council meetings during the day is that people have jobs, RG. I think that it skews the view of what the "people" think; it's REALLY hard to justify taking a day off, and they're rarely on time. The council would get much different feedback if they had their meetings in the evening where people who had jobs could go. I've heard that complaint from a lot of residents. |
Registeredguest Member Username: Registeredguest
Post Number: 137 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 12:15 pm: | |
Send a letter or an email then; write a letter in the paper - there are other ways of outreach. |
Novine Member Username: Novine
Post Number: 1107 Registered: 07-2007
| Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 12:21 pm: | |
"L. Brooks' biggest concern as I understand it is that the money Oakland County taxpayers pay goes into the equivalent of Bobby Ferguson's pocket." The funding comes mainly from hotel taxes, which I doubt many OC residents pay (insert your own jokes about various notorious flings around town). LBP has waved the flag on some real problems at Coho but the tax issue is a red herring. |
Digitalvision Member Username: Digitalvision
Post Number: 1371 Registered: 11-2003
| Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 12:36 pm: | |
I wasn't necessarily talking about Cobo per se, but regionalism in general. He's in tune to the business community, and I know as to Cobo the hotels and bars in OC feel like they pay these taxes (or pass them on to their customers) and get almost nothing for it, and even less now that the hotel rooms are up in Detroit. Much of this "feeling" is mostly "feeling" and not fact; but that's how people are - they rarely let logic get in the way of what they want to believe. RG - the only council person who ever answered or paid attention to a letter or email is now in the mayor's office. However, I do sometimes catch JoAnn or Martha on occasion, and JoAnn is very nice, Martha is cold as ice. Now them listening? I doubt it. |
Waymooreland Member Username: Waymooreland
Post Number: 118 Registered: 11-2007
| Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 12:50 pm: | |
Good point, RG -- I did send Conyers and the other council members e-mails earlier this week. Don't know how much difference it'll make, but at least I can say I tried. I suggest that others do the same... |
Bobby_wobby Member Username: Bobby_wobby
Post Number: 6 Registered: 02-2009
| Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 1:16 pm: | |
Their is no hope ,Detroit has the misfortune of being located in Detroit.Uneducated Fools in Detroit will keep electing Conyers (receiving the most votes) and the others on the council who will take us back to the dark ages if they could,Perhaps if the City went bankrupt and a receiver came ,The deal for cobo could happen. And as far as the citizens of Detroit built Cobo ,give me a brake,Most of the citizens who built Cobo ,back in the late fifty's and early sixty's now live in the burbs,shouldn't they have a say?or at least some hope? |
Registeredguest Member Username: Registeredguest
Post Number: 138 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 6:34 pm: | |
Here's a perplexing twist. Now the suburbs former wunderkind is proclaiming Cobo to be bad for Detroiters, too. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pb cs.dll/article?AID=/20090219/M ETRO/902190474 All of a sudden, when polls are down, Hendrix decides to get all us vs them. What a pandering wind bag. Thanks for making my mayoral candidate selection process easier, Helmut. If you were so concerned with jobs for Detroiters, maybe you should have opened your failure of a business venture "Mulligans" in Detroit, as opposed to Northern Oakland county. |
Bearinabox Member Username: Bearinabox
Post Number: 1250 Registered: 04-2006
| Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 6:46 pm: | |
quote:Thanks for making my mayoral candidate selection process easier, Helmut. My thoughts exactly, minus the "Helmut." I've got enough German in me to be a little sensitive on that point. |
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan
Post Number: 4148 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 10:07 pm: | |
I'd held a fair level of respect for Hendrix up until, today. I think he was cheated in 2005. But, this move was so incredibly see-through it's not even funny. It's insulting to even his supporters intelligence and sensibilities because it's so obviously a political ploy. Hendrix was beginning to poll better and he thought this would be a slam dunk? |
Waymooreland Member Username: Waymooreland
Post Number: 121 Registered: 11-2007
| Posted on Friday, February 20, 2009 - 10:32 am: | |
I had already gotten turned off by Bing, now Hendrix goes and sides with Monica? Thanks for making my primary vote easier, guys -- Cockrel, it is! |
Gnome Member Username: Gnome
Post Number: 2393 Registered: 08-2007
| Posted on Friday, February 20, 2009 - 11:37 am: | |
Can someone explain to me why one would want to expand Cobo before the fate of Joe Louis Arena has been determined? As far as I remember, the Ilitch lease was up in July of 08 and has not been resolved. Now maybe I missed something, but the scuttlebutt around here has had the new arena being built anywhere from behind the Fox, to across 375 on Woodward, to north of the Masonic to the site of the demoed Jefferies Project at MLK and the Lodge. I'm all in favor of the current agreed upon plan, with a joint operating Board as it has been proven that Cobo is a fetid hole of featherbedding, corruption and cronism; however, the central problem with Cobo has been its serial improvements. Cobo is a rabbit warren of strange corridors, useless rooms, a completely f-ed up loading process all due to the pillar-to-post rehabs of the place. One of the strangest things about Cobo is that the People Mover runs through the middle of the main hall. The MonCon/Helmut/Joann Squatson objections pander to the lowest level by reaching into the thread-bare trickbag named loss of control based in the fear of suburbanites scheming to take over the city's jems. True. But. Why are we spending a dime when in a couple of months our domestic auto industry might consist of a single manufacturer? In conclusion, 1, why expand Cobo before the fate of The Joe is settled? 2, why expand Cobo for an auto industry that might just poof away? |
Digitalvision Member Username: Digitalvision
Post Number: 1375 Registered: 11-2003
| Posted on Friday, February 20, 2009 - 12:12 pm: | |
I logically agree with you, Gnome. Politically, it's suicide to publicly admit that one or two of the automakers may be gone. They must keep forward with "business as usual." It's a "fighting spirit" thing while the bureaucrats behind the scenes figure out what the fuck to do if the sky falls. But there's this overhanging belief - much like at Lehman Brothers - that they won't be allowed to fail. And we all know how that worked out, creating a domino effect that froze the credit markets to this day. |
Bobl Member Username: Bobl
Post Number: 535 Registered: 07-2008
| Posted on Friday, February 20, 2009 - 12:30 pm: | |
Jack Lessenberry summed it up this week: "When someone you care about is going through their final illness, there often comes a point when you suddenly realize that they aren't going to make it. That while they may rally briefly, or have a few good moments, they are in fact going to die. That happened for me most recently last week. But this time it wasn't my parents, or my in-laws, but the domestic auto industry." I am no expert, but it is looking more and more like he is correct. I agree with Gnome: "1, why expand Cobo before the fate of The Joe is settled? 2, why expand Cobo for an auto industry that might just poof away?" |
Waymooreland Member Username: Waymooreland
Post Number: 123 Registered: 11-2007
| Posted on Friday, February 20, 2009 - 12:57 pm: | |
Let's say, for the sake of argument, that the Big Three all tank and there is no longer an American auto industry, period. Wouldn't that be all the more reason why Detroit and its surrounding communities need to pull together and cooperate more? To me this is less about Cobo than it is about the same old "us vs. them" nonsense that's been going on for years. Detroit, the suburbs, and the rest of the state are all dependent on one another -- they need to start cooperating now or we're even worse off than we think. |
Rjlj Member Username: Rjlj
Post Number: 792 Registered: 11-2003
| Posted on Friday, February 20, 2009 - 1:08 pm: | |
The auto industry is not going to disappear. The news may have warped your perception as to what is going on but you don't see massive amounts of trains and subways being installed everywhere so cars are not going away. The whole point of expanding COBO now is to be ready when the auto industry rebounds. Build in down times and be able to thrive in better times. Not to mention, the improvements are needed to attract other types of conventions rather than just he Auto Show. If COBO is under construction for 3 or 4 years while the indusrty is making a come back, that is 3 or 4 years lost. You don't buy high and sell low. Don't think short term. |
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott
Post Number: 1818 Registered: 12-2006
| Posted on Friday, February 20, 2009 - 1:46 pm: | |
Nobody said the auto industry was going to disappear, Rjlj, just that the American auto industry is disappearing. We used to make television sets in the United States, many years ago. Nobody makes them here anymore, not for a long time. But you can still buy a TV set, and nobody seems to care that there is no American television-set industry. That's where autos are headed. |
Rjlj Member Username: Rjlj
Post Number: 793 Registered: 11-2003
| Posted on Friday, February 20, 2009 - 2:32 pm: | |
So what does the American auto industry and television sets have to do with COBO? |
Bobl Member Username: Bobl
Post Number: 538 Registered: 07-2008
| Posted on Friday, February 20, 2009 - 2:57 pm: | |
W: The "us vs them" attitude must stop. I agree. In fact, it is my opinion that a Metropolitan Detroit is the most viable solution, but things will have to deteriorate more regionally for this to be possible. Too many in the more prosperous areas think that decline "can't happen here". |
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott
Post Number: 1821 Registered: 12-2006
| Posted on Friday, February 20, 2009 - 3:03 pm: | |
Everybody who is in favor of spending hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade Cobo is staking their claim on the idea that we have to make sure the auto show doesn't go away. If we don't have an American auto industry, or if we have one but it's a shell of what we've grown accustomed to, exactly why would we spend this money? Outside the auto show, why does Cobo need to be larger than it is? In fact, outside the auto show, why does Cobo really need to exist at all? My television set comparison was just to make this point: industries disappear from America quite regularly, and it is folly to suggest an industry can't disappear just because we, locally, wish it wouldn't. |
Rjlj Member Username: Rjlj
Post Number: 794 Registered: 11-2003
| Posted on Friday, February 20, 2009 - 3:30 pm: | |
Has anyone here been to conventions in Las Vegas, Chicago or elsewhere? People come from across the world to these conventions, it brings a ton of business and tourism. Every world class city has a world class convention center. You have to start giving people reasons to come to Detroit, they are not going to fly 1000 miles just to eat a coney dog. Besides sports, what else is there? Maybe a new industry can be started where thousands of people can tour our abandoned buildings. How about people traveling to watch a 100 year old building be demolished by the city. How about we fly people in to watch our corrupt politicians on trial live. How does this city expect the new hotels downtown to survive without attracting people? |
Gnome Member Username: Gnome
Post Number: 2394 Registered: 08-2007
| Posted on Friday, February 20, 2009 - 3:40 pm: | |
http://www.coboformichigan.com There is no date on this website, but Kwame is featured, so is ancient in political terms, but the thrust of the site is: "we need to expand Cobo to keep the Auto Show." I googled "cobo expansion plan" in hopes of finding an artist rendering of the plan. No such plan could be found. A lot of words, no pix. According to those words, the newest plan calls for expanding south. To me that means demo-ing Cobo Arena and the smaller meeting rooms that run along the river. Does it make any sense to build another building on the river that doesn't have windows? Like The Joe, Ford Auditorium, the Free Press Printing plant ... historically we've built windowless structures on the river and for some reason this Cobo Plan repeats those same crimes. Haven't we learned anything? And what about The Joe? When Ilitch and Company pull up stakes who is going to take that POS down? It's owned by the City and leased by Olympia when the RedWings go how will that affect Cobo? The entire notion of expanding Cobo is a Barton-Mallow wet dream a John Rakolta chubby inducer. We're getting handed a poo sandwich and being told it's goumet dinning. bon appetite |
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott
Post Number: 1822 Registered: 12-2006
| Posted on Friday, February 20, 2009 - 3:43 pm: | |
People go to conventions in Chicago and Las Vegas because people want to be in Chicago and Las Vegas. They need their big convention centers because they host lots of conventions. Do we host any big conventions that aren't directly related to the auto industry? If we want to be a convention city, we have to give people a reason to want to meet here. Once we've done that - once we're a busy convention town - then it makes sense to talk about upgrades to the convention location itself. But that's not where you start. People don't visit Detroit in big numbers, not because Cobo Hall is smallish, but because they don't want to visit Detroit. We need to change that, but the convention facility comes much later. |