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Showing Original Post only (View all)Developer pitches $1B commonwealth for Belle Isle (Detroit's special PUBLIC park island) [View all]
Source: Detroit News
January 12, 2013 at 3:15 pm
Developer pitches $1B commonwealth for Belle Isle
By Louis Aguilar
This futuristic rendering of Belle Isle is one where it is a commonwealth separate from the U.S. with a unique governing tax system. (Artist's rendering)
Detroit As the broken city thinks big and radically about its future, a developer is stepping forward with a revolutionary idea: Sell the city's Belle Isle park for $1 billion to private investors who will transform it into a free-market utopia.
The 982-acre island would then be developed into a U.S. commonwealth or city-state of 35,000 people with its own laws, customs and currency.
City officials are likely to reject the plan. But on Jan. 21, supporters including Mackinac Center for Public Policy senior economist David Littmann, retired Chrysler President Al Sperlich and Clark Durant, co-founder of Detroit's Cornerstone Schools, will present the Commonwealth of Belle Isle plan to a select group of movers and shakers at the tony Detroit Athletic Club.
Among the confirmed reservations of about 50 people who will hear the pitch are Sandy Baruah, president and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber, and Beth Chappell, president and CEO of the Detroit Economic Club, organizers say. It's not clear if they know what's in store.
Read more: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130112/BIZ/301120319#ixzz2HprUs7xg
Is there anybody who didn't see this coming?