I got to the protest late. The protesters had already talked to the newspapers, and the one TV station. They were protesting the use of Belle Isle for the annual Chevrolet Grand Prix event, which has taken place on Belle Isle for the past few years.
Joe Guillen did the usual “fair and balanced” act for the Detroit Free Press:
"It's a public park so why do we have a private organization using it 70 to 120 days out the year, depriving the citizens of Detroit ... of its use?" said Sandra Novacek of Detroit.
…
Organizers and backers of the event, mainly Roger Penske, say they have put more than $13 million toward fixing up Belle Isle.
Shawn D. Lewis for the Detroit News also mentions this:
The Grand Prix organizers say it generates over $45 million in total spending annually for the Metro Detroit region. Over 95,000 people attended the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear events in 2007, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016.
Yay, $45 million! Who cares if Belle Isle sinks into the Detroit River under the weight of all the concrete and equipment brought in for the race?
As far as I can tell, no news report mentions this concern. I'm guessing at least one of the protesters said something about this to the reporters, but the reporters thought it too alarmist. That’s my guess. As in 2006 Al Gore alarmist before the increase in freak weather events we’ve experienced this decade.
Michigan Radio’s Sarah Cwiek seems to emphasize almost esoteric environmental concerns, such as Belle Isle being in the path of some migratory birds. That makes it very easy to dismiss the protesters’ concerns. Those birds can just land somewhere else, on either side of the Detroit River, right?
According to one protester I talked to, the reporters from Windsor (the Canadian city south of Detroit) were much more concerned about the noise from the race, which makes it across the river to residents on both sides.
Maybe I missed it, but no one articulated the concern that billionaire Roger Penske always gets his way regardless of the consequences for everyone else. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources will decide next year whether to renew Penske's contract for the Grand Prix in Belle Isle. But to me, that seems like a foregone conclusion, unless something significant and unexpected happens.
Retired teacher Helen Gentry tried suing Roger Penske in 2014. Gentry was at the protest today, I should have asked her about that lawsuit. The judge dismissed the suit before it got too far along.
It didn’t help that Gentry did not have a professional lawyer to handle the technicalities for her, while Penske surely has a top-notch firm, like Dykema Gossett PLLC, on retainer.
Kevyn Orr was Detroit emergency manager at the time the original Grand Prix contract was signed. Now that Belle Isle is under state rather than city control, the decision to renew the contract is to be made by Ron Olson at Natural Resources. The inertia favors the Grand Prix staying at Belle Isle, at least before Belle Isle sinks.
Of course this is one of those “not in my backyard problems.” I very much disliked the drag racing at Roosevelt Park (in front of the Central Train Station ruins) in 2014, an arrogant amateur operation. The Grand Prix is of course a professional production, but there’s still the problems of noise and streets closed off.
The event could be held at the Michigan International Speedway, about 80 miles west of Belle Isle. Problem with that is that Detroit loses out on some revenue. Is the Grand Prix revenue really that important? And is any of that revenue helping the proper maintenance of Belle Isle?