LEGISLATIVE REPORT

 

STATE FAIRGROUNDS

  

 For years the State Fair and the State Fairgrounds brought joy and economic opportunity to our great city.  Unfortunately, former Governor Jennifer Granholm decided to close the property and eliminate our State Fair.  State Representative Jimmy Womack and I were strongly opposed to this move and fought hard to keep the property open and keep the State Fair in Detroit.

Unfortunately, we are now stuck with another abandoned property that has a lot of potential, but it is slowly falling apart and becoming an eyesore and potential danger.  Therefore, we worked with the current administration and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) to prepare the property for redevelopment.  We believe that the property is suitable for multi-use purposes (housing, retail, commercial, and offices); therefore I introduced Senate Bill (SB) 515 and Rep. Womack introduced House Bill (HB) 4803, which will allow the Department of Technology, Management and Budget (DTMB) to sell the property or move it to the State Land Bank.  The State Land Bank would be the best option because they would be able to quickly clean the property and prepare a request for proposal (RFP) for development of the property.

There are safeguards Representative Womack and I have added to our bills to protect our neighborhoods.  The property cannot be used for a casino, race track, racino, freight yard, or prison.  An advisory committee of neighborhood leaders will help supervise the development of the project if the property is moved to the State Land Bank.

On Monday, April 9, 2012, after months of working on these bills, both bills were signed by the Governor.  Although I was unable to restore the State Fair to our historic corner of Detroit, I hope this development returns jobs, retail, and economic development to our great city.