OT: Ilitch Holdings hires PR firm to "get Detroiters and the media off their backs"

[Wingsfan 4 life]

Definitely need more specifics here. Illitch Holdings owns/operates practically half of Detroit.

For all anybody knows, the PR firm could just be for the cardboard they pass for Little Caesars pizza.

If its for District Detroit.....well duh. The Illitch's only publicly unveiled their plans not even 6 years ago. It was an overly ambitious project that I don't think anybody(at least, anybody with any sense of logical thinking), actually thought it'd be anywhere near coming to fruition by now.

The initial plan encompassed 50 city blocks, FFS. Red tape, missed deadlines and broken overly optimistic promises were pretty much a guarantee to be happening by now. All of which were going to rub a good chunk of people the wrong way.

 

[The Zermanator]

Statement works the same if you drop Rich out of your statement too...

Regular people don't get access to vast sums of public money.

 

[MBH]

The citizens had no say in the decision. They had a say in who they elected, but there is no guarantee what our elected officials will ultimately sign off on.

Blaming the citizens is a moronic take.

Not only that, most DDA's I've ever seen are appointed by council/mayor. And often these boards run amok and answer to virtually nobody.

 

[MBH]

Definitely need more specifics here. Illitch Holdings owns/operates practically half of Detroit.

For all anybody knows, the PR firm could just be for the cardboard they pass for Little Caesars pizza.

If its for District Detroit.....well duh. The Illitch's only publicly unveiled their plans not even 6 years ago. It was an overly ambitious project that I don't think anybody(at least, anybody with any sense of logical thinking), actually thought it'd be anywhere near coming to fruition by now.

The initial plan encompassed 50 city blocks, FFS. Red tape, missed deadlines and broken overly optimistic promises were pretty much a guarantee to be happening by now. All of which were going to rub a good chunk of people the wrong way.

The only thing they really wanted was government dollars to front the money. For the government to own the arena so they didn't have to pay taxes on it. To have the contract to operate the arena. Because it's free f***ing money.

The city and state front the money.
They own it. Just so the Ilitches don't have to pay taxes.
And they don't even get a god damn cut of the revenue.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

The only thing they really wanted was government dollars to front the money. For the government to own the arena so they didn't have to pay taxes on it. To have the contract to operate the arena. Because it's free ****ing money.

The city and state front the money.
They own it. Just so the Ilitches don't have to pay taxes.
And they don't even get a god damn cut of the revenue.

The last line is what boggles my mind the most. They just threw money at the organization with no control over the process and no cut of the revenue, because they were so desperate to keep the team in the city (as if the Ilitch organization would ever leave).

And I feel the arena isn't even worth what it cost to build in the first place. It's a completely vanilla, boring venue that has hockey and basketball in it.