Our geniuses in Detroit

With all of the financial woes, this is still on the table. This June 19, 2013 article at The Detroit News:

$650M hockey arena district moves forward
For more than five years, Metro Detroiters and hockey fans have been asking where, when and how a new arena for the Red Wings would be built. And Wednesday, they got some answers.

Detroit�s downtown development arm approved a plan offered by the Ilitch organization � whose properties include the Wings, Detroit Tigers, Little Caesars Pizza, Fox Theatre and MotorCity Casino � for a $650 million multipurpose arena and entertainment district within easy walking distance of Ford Field and Comerica Park.

A bit more -- the DDA is the city-owned Detroit Downtown Development:

The DDA will own the arena, and Olympia Entertainment, another unit of the Ilitch organization, will manage it under a long-term contract.

The Red Wings will pay $11.5 million annually toward the project, as an arena concession fee. The DDA, a public authority that offers financing for economic development and jobs creation, will pay a projected $12.8 million per year from property taxes collected from within its boundaries.

This revenue stream, which could vary each year depending on the economy, would repay 30-year bonds, issued by the Michigan Strategic Fund, used to finance construction.

So Detroit is on the hook for the building -- maintenance, upgrades, etc... while the Ilitch group collects the money. Everything is funded with a 30-year bond (credit rating? potential for default?) The article claims 8,600 jobs which is suspiciously inflated -- probably 300 for construction and 200 for daily operation and all of these Union with commensurate salaries, benefits and pensions -- all billable to the City of Detroit. The place has not had a Republican in office since the 1960's and know what? It shows! Nothing but bread and circuses...