September 17, 2009
"Last" Fair Attendance Up; 50,000 Sign Petition to Stop
Closing
"Last" Michigan State Fair closed with an increase in
attendance of 23% over last year. Some might have attended because it
is suppose to be the last Michigan State Fair after 160 years. The
Fair was the first state fair the country. Also, the weather was near
perfect this year.
During the Fair, ICARE II circulated a petition urging that the
Fair and Fairgrounds not be closed. Other groups began circulating
this petition as well. Counting signatures collected before Fair, over
50,000 people signed.
Hazel Park Days Hotel to Close
The Days Hotel in Hazel Park will close on January 11, 2009 if
some agreement is not reached between the current management and the
owner. The owner want to clear the hotel out to accommodate a deal
with CVS Drugstores to demolish that nine story structure and
replace it with a CVS drugstore and a Tim Horton coffee shop.
"DIFT" Threatens Ferndale, Fairgrounds
The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is considering putting a
Detroit Intermodal Freight Terminal (DIFT) at the Michigan State Fairgrounds
and/or expanding the yard in Ferndale. A DIFT is a transfer yard where 55
ton containers are taken off truck trailers and loaded onto trains or taken off
trains and loaded onto trucks. Every time one of these 50 foot long metal
containers is dropped onto a truck or train, it reverberates like a 50' metal
drum. This operation would go on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
In addition, DIFT may take 120 acres of the Fairgrounds to expand the railroad
tracks. They do not have to pay for this public land - the railroad can
just condemn it. They do not have to pay taxes to the City or the State. More
on the DIFT. MDOT's
meeting notice.
May 8, 2003
Metro Park Authority May Take Over the Fairgrounds
In a move that may relieve the State budget and please the
Fairgrounds neighbors, the Huron Clinton Metro Park Authority may
take over the operation of the the Fairgrounds during the 11 months
of the year when there is no Michigan State Fair. See the Free
Press story. and the Detroit
News story. See our petition
in support of this. Download the petition in
PDF format and circulate it. The petition is also in Microsoft
Word format (rightclick and use "Save Target As" to
download).
October 17, 2002
Fairgrounds Owes for Water
The state owes the city $235,900 in overdue water bills for the
State Fairgrounds. It's the fifth largest balance on a newly
compiled list of Detroit's highest unpaid water bills -- and the
city plans to shut off water service at the fairgrounds. See the
full story at the Detroit
News.
September 22, 2002
State Fair Loses Money, May be Sold
Attendance was down for this year's State Fair, triggering new
talk of the State Fairgrounds being sold. Read the Detroit
News story.
August 24, 2002
Nederlander, State Settle.
Nederlander gets land, out at Fairgrounds
The State and Nederlander have settled their lawsuits over the
fairgrounds. (Not the lawsuit brought by ICARE and others.) Is this
a good deal for the taxpayers? Read the Detroit
News story and decided for yourself.
April 16, 2002
State Vacates Fairgrounds Lease, Serves Nederlander
With Eviction Notice
The State has announced that it is evicting Nederlander's group
from the Fairgrounds and vacating his lease. Nederlander says he has
put money into the project and will fight the eviction. What does
this mean? Who knows, but going by Lansing's track record, it
probably means there is another no-bid, secret deal on the table
somewhere that will be grandly announced as a "done deal."
Read what we know now in the Detroit
News and the Detroit
Free Press. Stay tuned for more info as we get it, and read our latest
email to Lansing.
March 19, 2002
Sale of Fairgrounds Proposed
Sen. Leon Stille, R-Spring Lake, has put before the Senate a
proposal to sell the Fairgrounds and put the money into state land
elsewhere. He proposes holding the fair in Lansing. This is far from
a done deal. Read the Detroit
News story and Pete
Waldmeir's column, and our email
to the legislature.
November 15, 2001
Metro Times Reports Background on the Fairground Deal
Read Metro Times
Background Article
Curt Guyette of the Metro Times has produced an excellent background
article on how the deal evolved.
November 5, 2001
CART Pulls the Plug in Detroit, Hertel Still Plugs Racing at
Fairgrounds.
Racing at the Fairgrounds is still a goal for Fair manager John
Hertel, even though CART has removed Detroit from its 2002 schedule.
See story at The
Detroit News
October 22, 2001
Candidates, Court Support ICARE Positions on Track
The candidates for council and mayor in Detroit and Ferndale
generally support ICARE's position on State Fairground questions
according to a survey taken by ICARE and released today in The
Muffler, the ICARE newsletter.
Also in The Muffler, Judge Drain rules against the State's
latest motion and in favor of ICARE. Read about these development in
the October issue of The Muffler.
September 6, 2001
School Land Deal Fails
Nederlander has failed to close the 38 acre land deal at the
Fairgrounds. Originally this purchase was part of the lease agreement
package that gave Nederlander control of the Fairgrounds except during
the two weeks of the State Fair. Nederlander's development group
subsequently agreed to sell it to another group who agreed to sell it
to the Detroit School system for about 11 million dollars more than
the State would have received.
Nederlander says he'll sue the State. Get the full story from the
Detroit News article State
fair land deal dead - 09-06-01
September 4, 2001
Candidates Night
The 12 Precinct Neighborhood Coalition presented a night with
the Detroit mayoral candidates. Candidate who attended were supportive
of the idea that residents surrounding the Fair Grounds should have a
say in the uses to which the Fairgrounds are put...especially when
they impact the neighborhoods.
July 23, 2001
Freedom Hill Riles Macomb Neighborhood
Residents surrounding Freedom Hill Park are fighting a 3000
amphitheater/concert venue that threatens their peace and quiet. The
park is a Macomb County facility that has been leased to a promoter.
Check the links to news articles on our research
page for more.
]June 8, 2001
DMB May Halt Land Sale
The Department of Management and Budget finally gets it and is
moving to halt the land deal involving Nederlander's development group
and the Detroit School system. See stories at the Detroit
News, Free
Press, and Metro
Times.
June 4, 2001
ICAREII Pickets
ICAREII picketed the Fairgrounds to remind John Hertel that we
still oppose racing at the Fairgrounds including the Grand Prix. (See
our press release, story in Oakland
Press)
June 4, 2001
John Hertel Strikes Again
John Hertel strikes again, suggesting that the Belle Isle Grand
Prix race be moved to the Fairgrounds.
"It's sort of like saying, 'Well, you've got to get your arm
cut off. Instead of the whole arm, we're going to cut it off at the
wrist.' ," Palmer Woods resident Norman Silk is quoted as saying
in a Free Press article. Read for the whole story at the Free
Press Website.
February 28, 2001
A New Racetrack Proposal Surfaces
A plan for a restoration of an eight-mile stretch of the Rouge
River includes a proposal to build a 1.5-mile Detroit Motor Speedway
on the site of a former racetrack along the Detroit River.
Detroit's Mayor Dennis Archer said he would support the track if
neighboring residents and businesses embraced the project.
"It depends on what the community wants, but if
they can find the right synergy, I would be very enthusiastic about
(the track)," Archer said. "The people living in and around
that area need to be consulted in the same way that people were not
consulted near the fairgrounds." See the whole story at the Detroit
News site.
February 7, 2001
School District Agrees to Pay 17 million for Woodward and 8
Mile land
The Detroit School District now has a deal with developer who
bought the 38 acres of land north West of the fairground to pay 17
million for the land upon which the District plans to build a high
school. Nederland bought this land from the State Land Trust for 6.1
million. It looks like the tax payers will drop nearly 11 million into
the pockets of private developers for land owned by taxpayers less
than a year ago. That's enough money to finance State Fair operation
short falls for at least a decade. See who got what and why the
District thinks it's a good deal. Read the two, somewhat conflicting,
stories in the Detroit
News story and the Free
Press. Find links to more stories on the research
page.
January 23, 2001
Shopping Center Proposed for Northwest Corner of Fairgrounds Area
The 38 acre portion of the Fairgrounds area that abuts Woodward
and Eight mile road has been optioned to a developer who plans retail
development there. This land was acquired by the State of Michigan for
an urban park or campground but was sold to Nederlander outright as a
side deal to leasing the Fairgrounds. At various times, there were
indications that this land would be used for hotels or expanded
parking for the Fairgrounds. Although the retail shopping idea is
still in the earliest stages, there has been a public announcement
of it. (See
Detroit News story.)
Counterclaim Dropped
The 40 million dollar counterclaim filed against the plaintiffs
in the racetrack lawsuit has been dismissed by stipulation with
prejudice. The counterclaim is dead and can not be refiled. The
plaintiff's attorney, Eugene Driker, indicated he thought the claim
was dropped as a gesture of goodwill and because it had little chance
of success.
Driker also confirmed at the Sunday, January 21th I.C.A.R.E.
meeting, that the Nederalnder group is seeking a language change in
their lease with the State which would eliminate the requirement to
build a racetrack. The new language would not prohibit the building of
a track either, but Nederlander has said that he is no longer
interested in building the track.
This change of heart on the track doesn't mean and end to
potential noise from the fairgrounds development. Nederlander still
wants to build an outdoor amphitheater of some kind. Many feel that
such a facility will produce even more problems than a reacetrack. Read
the ICARE II press release for more.
Janurary 8, 2001
I.C.A.R.E Analyses Study, Recommends Changes
An I.C.A.R.E. team has analyzed SEMCOG's study of the Fairgrounds
proposal (see below) and produced a response recommending changes and
additions. While team found much in the study data that vindicates
I.C.A.R.E. position against the building of a race track or
amphitheater at the Fairgrounds, the team felt that study didn't cover
"quality if life", issues adequately. Read the text
of the team's response.
December 12, 2000
Immediate Response Committee Comments on SEMCOG Study
The draft release of SEMCOG's
study of the State Fairgrounds project is out and has drawn
initial comment from the I.C.A.R.E. Immediate Response Committee.
I.C.A.R.E. plans to study the SEMCOG report carefully and submit
comments to SEMCOG. For some initial comments and food for thought,
read the initial comments. The
study is available in PDF format at the SEMCOG
Website
December 3, 2000
SEMGOC Study Confirms ICARE Fears About Plans for Fairgrounds
A draft release of a study of the potential effects of the
Nederlander/Hertel plan to develop the Fairgrounds into a racetrack
and mega entertainment venue confirms that the neighborhoods
surrounding the fairgrounds would suffer noise and traffic problems up
to a mile away. For the full story, see the Daily
Tribune article. The report is available from SEMCOG.
November 20, 2000
Nederlander Halloween Event Causes Traffic, Parking Problems at
Fairgrounds
The I.C.A.R.E. Immediate Response Committee has written Detroit
Police Chief Nepoliean pointing out the traffic tie-ups and
parking problems caused by a free Halloween event sponsored by Joe
Nederlander at the Fairgrounds. Read the
full text of the letter.
October 26, 2000
I.C.A.R.E Holds Mass Meeting - Updates Public
Residents of the fairgrounds area heard the latest news on the
lawsuit opposing the proposed race track and amphitheater development
at the State Fairgrounds and other news about the continuing battle
for local input into Fairground plans that are likely to affect the
neighborhoods and cities surrounding the Fairgrounds. The meeting was
held at St. John the Baptist Church. Several hundred attended.
October 12, 2000
Nederland Announces Work on Fairgrounds to Begin Soon
In a Daily
Tribune article, Joe Nederlander announced that his lease
agreement to develop the Fairgrounds went into effect Oct 1 and that
first phases of development will begin in about a month. (Full
Article from Tribune)
Plans for the track are on hold, according to Nederlander, because,
"we have been enjoined by the court to prevent us from building a
track."
He called the I.C.A.R.E suit "frivolous."
I.C.A.R.E and other opponents of the track maintain the track is a
nuisance, violates Detroit zoning laws, and would cause irreparable
damage to the area around the Fairgraounds.
Big Meeting Scheduled
I.C.A.R.E. has scheduled a public
meeting to bring the community up to date on the fight to save the
area from high profit nuisance business promoted by the State at local
residences expense.
Come to St. John's Baptist Church October 26 at 7:00 pm to hear the
whole story and find out what you can do.
September 20, 2000
I.C.A.R.E gets "Spirit of Detroit" Award
Detroit City Councilwoman Maryann Mahaffey presented the
"Spirit of Detroit" award to ICARE at the regular meeting of
the Detroit City Council on Wednesday, September 20. "ICARE is
grateful for this award," said Dave Marquardt, ICARE Co-Chair.
"This kind of public recognition acknowledges our past work
and our determination to go forward until our goal has been
accomplished."
Nederlander Counter Sues I.C.A.R.E, Citizen groups for 40 Million
In what is clearly an attempt to intimidate I.C.A.R.E and other
plaintiffs involved in the lawsuit asking for a ruling against the
proposed track based on Detroit zoning, the develop group headed by
Nederlander has filed a counter suit alleging interference with his
contract with the State, loss of his civil rights, and denial of due
process.
"We're not intimidated by this counterclaim," said Dave
Marquardt, ICARE Co-Chair, "But we are confused, due to so many
inconsistencies, as to just what Mr. Nederlander's intentions
are."
Previous to filing the counterclaim, Nederlander had been trying to
meet with the plaintiff to discuss a resolution to the issues in
question. That meeting was canceled in the light of the counterclaim. |
