George Jackson, the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation's CEO, talks
about the DEGC's track record after criticism received from the
Lafayette Building debate.
Excerpt:
Following weeks of
criticism after a Downtown Development Authority decision to raze the
long-abandoned Lafayette Building, a petition drive and a pledge by
Detroit Mayor Ken Cockrel Jr. to re-evaluate the demolition decision,
the Detroit Economic Growth Corp.'s CEO has issued a fiery statement
defending the DEGC’s historic preservation track record.
“Compare
our scorecard to the ‘successes’ of these self-described
‘preservationists’ and it becomes very clear who is actually saving
buildings, and who is simply generating noise,” Jackson wrote.
The
DEGC has worked to preserve and protect 54 historic buildings, he
wrote, including the Detroit Opera House, the Fort Shelby Hotel, the
Kales Building and the Westin Book Cadillac, and has demolished two
long-vacant city-owned buildings and part of Tiger Stadium in the last
four years, while funding the demolition of 11 privately owned,
blighted structures.
Read the entire article
here.
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