 
Mind_field
Member
Username: Mind_field
Post Number: 509
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 209.240.205.61
| | Posted on Friday, March 10, 2006 - 12:25 pm: |    |
Well not really conventions, but large events that attract a lot of people. I'm talking about the recent Monster Truck Rally at Ford Field, as well as the Motorcross that is coming to Ford Field later this month. Then there is the Home and Garden show this weekend at Ford Field. Or is it the Detroit Kennel Club show that is this weekend? Anyway, didn't events like the motorcross and monster truck rally always used to be held at the Silverdome?
I do know that that damn Rock Financial showplace in god forsaken Novi stole one convention from Cobo, the festival of trees....LOL. My grandma went to that show last December and I do remember it used to be down at Cobo. Hopefully Rock doesn't take away any more conventions from Cobo. Does anyone know if any other conventions have moved from Cobo to the new Rock Financial Showplace? |
Fiesty1
Member
Username: Fiesty1
Post Number: 5
Registered: 03-2006
Posted From: 64.141.144.2
| | Posted on Friday, March 10, 2006 - 12:38 pm: | |
The DKC is at Cobo. Didn't know about the Monster Truck Rally until I met people at Proof who had come from it. Weird.
The Festival of Trees moved? We'd better be careful. Noir Leather might move its annual fete to Northville next. |
Erikd
Member
Username: Erikd
Post Number: 546
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.242.214.106
| | Posted on Friday, March 10, 2006 - 1:08 pm: | |
The annual motorcycle show and at least one other show (I forget which one) have moved from Cobo to Novi. |
Motorcitymayor2026
Member
Username: Motorcitymayor2026
Post Number: 561
Registered: 10-2005
Posted From: 70.236.189.72
| | Posted on Friday, March 10, 2006 - 5:34 pm: | |
Cobo sure has been pretty busy lately...
Auto Show, NFL Experience, Detroit Boat Show, Autorama, Dog Show in a couple of weeks. Hopefully it can continue to book up one event after another like this |
Jt1
Member
Username: Jt1
Post Number: 6967
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 198.208.251.24
| | Posted on Friday, March 10, 2006 - 5:37 pm: | |
Some may be spill over from the Silverdome shutting down. I highly down the Monster truck thing would have been at FF is the Silverdome was still up and running.
Of course I will give FF management some credit for getting out and bringing in the conventions/shows. |
Southwestmap
Member
Username: Southwestmap
Post Number: 419
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 64.79.90.206
| | Posted on Friday, March 10, 2006 - 5:43 pm: | |
yes, but most of those events do nothing to fill up hotel rooms - and visitors are what bring money to Detroit. |
Jt1
Member
Username: Jt1
Post Number: 6968
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 198.208.251.24
| | Posted on Friday, March 10, 2006 - 5:45 pm: | |
Don't fill hotel rooms but they get food and drink and maybe the occasionla retail purchase.
Every dollar spent in the city helps. It is easier to save $1 MM one time than save $1 a million times. In the end they both get to the same result and the city and businesses need every $ possible. |
Southwestmap
Member
Username: Southwestmap
Post Number: 420
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 64.79.90.206
| | Posted on Friday, March 10, 2006 - 5:49 pm: | |
True, but the very fact that those events are using Cobo might mean that a convention that uses hotel rooms and food and beverage and transportation services, etc. isn't booked into the city. |
Jams
Member
Username: Jams
Post Number: 2882
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 70.137.106.107
| | Posted on Friday, March 10, 2006 - 5:54 pm: | |
So would you prefer events choose the new Rock Financial Showplace in Novi? |
Motorcitymayor2026
Member
Username: Motorcitymayor2026
Post Number: 562
Registered: 10-2005
Posted From: 70.236.189.72
| | Posted on Friday, March 10, 2006 - 6:12 pm: | |
And I am sure there are some that stay in the hotels for all of those conventions/events. Each $$ helps |
56packman
Member
Username: 56packman
Post Number: 90
Registered: 12-2005
Posted From: 129.9.163.106
| | Posted on Friday, March 10, 2006 - 6:23 pm: | |
the labor situation at Cobo is as much to blame for Novi-Rock "taking shows away" from Cobo, all other factors aside. Just ask any small business who has tried to exhibit at Cobo. |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 3271
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 67.160.138.107
| | Posted on Friday, March 10, 2006 - 7:55 pm: | |
56packman, explain your beef with Cobo Hall.
What's the "labor situation" other than city workers under contract who insist on a real wage package and that they do the work instead of a bunch of day laborers off of the street?
jjaba. |
Broken_main
Member
Username: Broken_main
Post Number: 902
Registered: 06-2005
Posted From: 69.222.11.226
| | Posted on Saturday, March 11, 2006 - 11:34 am: | |
I wonder what would happen if Rock Financial were to build an HQ in Detroit. Would it open up a conflict of interest, of sorts??
I think the labor issue is a strong point. As we all know the attitude in the burbs is to get the job done. My coworker had a house built in Macomb and was very adamant about union bricklayers doing his brickwork. He drove by the site one day and realized that his union bricklayer had hired 7 guys to do the work while he sat back and watched. Needless to say, the bricklayer was let go. These workers didn't even have American citizenship.
This is the norm in construction today...and it's one of the reasons the region is suffering. |
56packman
Member
Username: 56packman
Post Number: 92
Registered: 12-2005
Posted From: 69.47.25.143
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 5:07 pm: | |
jjaba, the labor situation I speak of is a shake-down culture where the cost of exhibiting a small, struggling company's wares is driven up astronomically by a raft of different "organizations" who are more concerned about what of your own property you may and may not touch in their presence than actually coming in, doing their thing in a reasonable amount of time, the way you (the customer) want it, and leaving. It's worse at McCormack in Chicago, way worse. Not every trade show has booths throwing around Ford, GM, DCX kind of money. Some smaller, leaner companies like to have options. Places like the Rock give them that. |
Southwestmap
Member
Username: Southwestmap
Post Number: 423
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 64.79.90.206
| | Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 4:05 pm: | |
Well, the actual situation is less about union wages (which approximate the same wages in other big cities), than it is about Detroit-specific "work rules", which mandate how the work is performed (how many union members on an electrical job, for example) and which tend to drive up costs. The biggest issue, however, is that the City has given exclusive concessions to a comapny called Metro Services and Metro Services has a huge mark-up of its own over the labor rates. So, cleaning, electrical, catering, - all of these services must be performed by metro services companies and they are more pricey than anywhere in the country.
And who is the owner of Metro Services? A pal of the Mayor.
Bottom Line: its not the unions. See the recent series of Detroit News articles on this topic (Cobo) by John Wisely for more detailed information. |
Bob
Member
Username: Bob
Post Number: 805
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 64.12.116.204
| | Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 4:11 pm: | |
I was out at the Rock Novi place thing a couple weekends ago and I was not impressed. The parking situation stunk, and it is really not that nice on the inside. Cobo is way better in terms of a convention center. |
Gistok
Member
Username: Gistok
Post Number: 1867
Registered: 08-2004
Posted From: 4.229.72.84
| | Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 4:37 pm: | |
Yes Bob, $18 million (the cost of the building) doesn't buy a lot of anemities! |
Motorcitymayor2026
Member
Username: Motorcitymayor2026
Post Number: 571
Registered: 10-2005
Posted From: 69.218.156.61
| | Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 5:18 pm: | |
Parking at the Novi place is HORRIBLE. I dont mind parking far out and walking, but i much prefer walking through the streets of downtown Detroit with the buildings/shops/people/etc than I do walking through a sea of parking lots like Novi |
56packman
Member
Username: 56packman
Post Number: 97
Registered: 12-2005
Posted From: 129.9.163.233
| | Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 6:13 pm: | |
please note that in no circumstance (the above two posts) did I invoke or say anything about unions. I merely stated that the parties who CONTROL what happens at a booth at Cobo (or McCormack)were out of touch with the realities of a small businesses needs or budgets, and I still stand by that. I'm not a big union hater, I think there is an understood truth somewhere between the horror/glory stories of the strugle of the early 20th century and the tales of excess that have appeared on other threads. |