There's no cheering in bankruptcy. That doesn't mean all is bleak and gloomy either, as some civic and business leaders point out.
It's not reflexive cheerleading -- well, not entirely -- because private sector plans under way before Thursday's turning point aren't necessarily affected by the coming court battles among creditors and the emergency manager over financial haircuts (or should we say buzz cuts?)
The $650-million arena planned for the Red Wings, for instance, still can become a reality, according to Brian Holdwick, an executive vice president for the Detroit Economic Growth Corp. "There's a lot of reasons why the city should be supportive," he tells Noah Trister of AP in a report posted by WXYZ.
Funding would come from tax increment revenues that can't be used by Detroit's general fund -- money for the arena would go back to the state if not used for development downtown. The project may come before Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes, however, because some of the development would be on city-owned land -- which could mean he has to OK its use, Michael Martinez writes in The Detroit News.
John Gallagher of the Free Press hears an upbeat chorus from executive suites:
Local business leaders Friday portrayed Detroit’s bankruptcy as a painful but necessary, and ultimately positive, step toward positioning the city for new growth. . . .
“We need to fix the fundamental problem,” Sandy Baruah, president and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber, said Friday at chamber headquarters in downtown Detroit.
Over at the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau, top guy Larry Alexander describes the situation as regrettable, but not disastrous for the local business climate. "It’s going to help this city become stronger, move forward, provide more services and betters services to our residents and visitors,” the bureau's president and CEO tells Gallagher.
That echoed a statement issued late Thursday by Quicken Loans founder and Chairman Dan Gilbert, whose recent moves in downtown Detroit have brought thousands of new employees to the city.
Gilbert’s statement read, in part: “Bankruptcy will be painful for many individuals and organizations but together we will get through it and come out stronger on the other side."
Prominent entrepreneur Josh Linkner, CEO and managing partner of Detroit Venture Partners, also has a sun-will-come-out-tomorrow perspective.
Bankruptcy "is the exact lifeline we need to unshackle our town from the mismanagement, corruption and incompetence of the past in order to get on with the real work of rebuilding Detroit," he says in a Free Press guest column. "Over time this important step will enable our city to exit the penalty box and seize our full potential."
Similar optimism flows from the Detroit Lions organization. "We remain confident in the city of Detroit and in its future," says a Friday statement. "We do not anticipate that yesterday's announcement will have any impact on Lions home games or our many other events at Ford Field."
The photo above is posted here at Reddit's Detroit discussions area with two others of Friday's rainbow by a user with the screen name FreeridStylee.
