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Kudos to Nolan Finley

Discussion pertaining to Detroit, Ann Arbor, Port Huron, and SW Ontario
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MWmetalhead
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Kudos to Nolan Finley

Post by MWmetalhead » Wed May 29, 2019 3:05 pm

Want to recognize him for the excellent column where he factually stated the litany of never started but promised developments from the Ilitch Organization dating back three decades.

The fact of the matter is the Ilitch Family has done much less for downtown Detroit than most of the media depict.

The Ilitches have allowed certain buildings under their ownership to rot. They perhaps have no idea how to develop anything other than special purpose entertainment venues (admittedly, that is a specialty in which they excel).

Their Little Caesars HQ building has been a disaster. Over budget and way behind schedule.

Their land hoarding - which has been aided and abetted by politicians and local officials- has impeded more complete development of a hot corridor.

Nolan's factual column stands in stark contrast to the ass kissing marathon channels 4 and especially 7 bestowed on Mike following his passing.

Nolan doesn't resort to character attacks or name calling, he simply analyzes their track record of broken promises and concepts that never got off the ground.

He is 100 percent right that they should be given zero preferential treatment and that the city should hold them accountable to the full extent possible for their unfulfilled promises.



Daypart
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Re: Kudos to Nolan Finley

Post by Daypart » Wed May 29, 2019 3:06 pm

I agree 100%...the canonization of Mike Ilitch was indeed premature immediately following his death



Deleted User 24

Re: Kudos to Nolan Finley

Post by Deleted User 24 » Wed May 29, 2019 3:39 pm

The Ilitches are the biggest welfare recipients in the state.



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MWmetalhead
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Re: Kudos to Nolan Finley

Post by MWmetalhead » Wed May 29, 2019 3:46 pm

The Big Three are the largest, followed by our largest health systems.

The Ilitches certainly rank right up there, though.



wtfdetroit
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Re: Kudos to Nolan Finley

Post by wtfdetroit » Wed May 29, 2019 4:59 pm

I'm sure another billionaire that wants to develop somewhere where the Illitch family owns abandoned buildings paid off Finley to write that article. A boot licking billionaire fanatic like Nolan doesn't write stuff like that on his own.



Mega Hertz
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Re: Kudos to Nolan Finley

Post by Mega Hertz » Wed May 29, 2019 5:51 pm

I guess bringing a few winning seasons and some championships buys a LOT of looking the other way...


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MWmetalhead
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Re: Kudos to Nolan Finley

Post by MWmetalhead » Wed May 29, 2019 8:44 pm

I wonder how many state and local officials have been gifted suite passes and season tix thru the years?



rizzman87
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Re: Kudos to Nolan Finley

Post by rizzman87 » Wed May 29, 2019 11:29 pm

Why aren't people mad at the city council who GAVE them the money and sweetheart deal? The Illitches have done a lot of good for this city but they look really bad now. Stadium deals are always bad yet the politicians never get blamed it's always keyboard warriors attacking the billionaires. I don't get it.



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MWmetalhead
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Re: Kudos to Nolan Finley

Post by MWmetalhead » Thu May 30, 2019 7:06 am

Don't get me wrong - they are ALL guilty!!! I've blamed the politicians plenty. The politicians who construct these sweetheart deals are either morons, crooked, or a bit of both.

Let's recap the "good" regarding the Ilitches :
- They built (largely with public money) a new baseball stadium that any other owner could've/would've built;
- They built (largely with public money) a new hockey stadium that any other owner could've/would've built;
- After more than a decade straight of terrible performance under Ilitch ownership, the Red Wings got good and stayed good for 15 - 20 years. Brought home four Stanley Cup titles. (OK - I give them high marks here.)
- After many years of outrageously terrible performance under Ilitch ownership, the Tigers got good and stayed good for about eight years. (The bad seasons FAR outnumber the good seasons). The reason the team got good is because the old man opened the pocketbook because he wanted to win a championship before he passed away. The organization has ZERO clue how to successfully rebuild organically.
- They've purchased and successfully redeveloped two whole buildings in downtown Detroit (compared to the dozens that Gilbert has purchased and redeveloped successfully), while knocking down many other buildings and turning the land into gravel or asphalt parking lots. They refuse to sell to developers who could "go vertical" on the land immediately, instead choosing to hoard the land in hopes it'll be used someday for some grandiose vision that likely will never materialize.
- They opened a casino so that Detroiters can piss away their hard earned money.

Sorry - I just don't see what's so great.

Before Dan Gilbert came along, downtown Detroit was a moribund ghost town. The amount of development around "Foxtown" was underwhelming and the rest of downtown was dead.

The Ilitch Family has ZERO clue how to do retail or mid-rise/high-rise residential development. If more of the land near Comerica Park and LCA were owned by other people, we would've seen much more new development in that neighborhood by now.



FET-500
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Re: Kudos to Nolan Finley

Post by FET-500 » Thu May 30, 2019 7:30 am

wtfdetroit wrote:
Wed May 29, 2019 4:59 pm
I'm sure another billionaire that wants to develop somewhere where the Illitch family owns abandoned buildings paid off Finley to write that article. A boot licking billionaire fanatic like Nolan doesn't write stuff like that on his own.
Steve Neavling has been at this for many years. Bootlicking? More like Nolan is late to the table.



JLesinski
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Re: Kudos to Nolan Finley

Post by JLesinski » Thu May 30, 2019 7:31 am

I have to agree. Hindsight is not looking too good for the Ilitch family.
Last edited by JLesinski on Thu May 30, 2019 8:26 am, edited 1 time in total.



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craig11152
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Re: Kudos to Nolan Finley

Post by craig11152 » Thu May 30, 2019 7:54 am

I don't disagree with most of the Ilitch criticism but I do want to toss them a bone and give them kudos for introducing the 5 meat pizza to the lineup. :razz


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MWmetalhead
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Re: Kudos to Nolan Finley

Post by MWmetalhead » Thu May 30, 2019 8:12 am

Their pizza is better than Dominos and the putrid Hungry Howies, but that ain't saying much.

Jets Pizza (at least at most of their locations) is 10x better than Little Caesars. Unfortunately, Jets has come to this realization and has raised its prices aggressively over the past few years.



JLesinski
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Re: Kudos to Nolan Finley

Post by JLesinski » Thu May 30, 2019 8:29 am

MWmetalhead wrote:
Thu May 30, 2019 8:12 am
Their pizza is better than Dominos and the putrid Hungry Howies, but that ain't saying much.

Jets Pizza (at least at most of their locations) is 10x better than Little Caesars. Unfortunately, Jets has come to this realization and has raised its prices aggressively over the past few years.
Agreed. I have found that Jets, while generally the best overall for chains, is VERY location dependent. Its not as consistent as I'm sure they'd like. They aint cheap thats for sure.



FET-500
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Re: Kudos to Nolan Finley

Post by FET-500 » Thu May 30, 2019 8:44 am

MWmetalhead wrote:
Thu May 30, 2019 8:12 am
Their pizza is better than Dominos and the putrid Hungry Howies, but that ain't saying much.

Jets Pizza (at least at most of their locations) is 10x better than Little Caesars. Unfortunately, Jets has come to this realization and has raised its prices aggressively over the past few years.

Jets will make you ill... Anecdotal? Yes but three friends who don't know each other have mentioned this to me. "Every time I eat Jet's, I get sick." Them big thick pies are not cooked thoroughly sometimes.



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