A casino doesn’t bring that….look across the river to Sarnia….

And in Detroit, the casino’s aren’t the ones bringing high-growth start-ups. Those are coming through partnerships with universities such as Wayne State.

http://www.techtownwsu.org/

In this, the 150th year since the incorporation of the city, Port Huron finds itself in a difficult and hopeless position.
Our local economy is relatively stagnant with unemployment extremely high, a fact underscored by the fact that municipal income tax revenues have declined since 1999. WE NEED support in transformation of Port Huron’s dying tourism industry, particularly by providing opportunities to new business participation; and to facilitate implementation a of tourism development / investment programs.
To undertake focused research promoting tourism development and transformation of our dying community.
One which supports niche export markets; implements projects to improve sector competitiveness, and be the first point of contact for tourism businesses to access the local opportunities and offerings.
Residents continue to migrate away from the city and the population is falling, now estimated to be below 32,000 people.

The retail sector has been almost entirely wiped out by a similar migration of merchants.

Port Huron’s municipal situation has been studied to death by public and private agencies for more than 70 years. The first such study was done in 1937 by a team of Cranbrook School designers, who laid down plans for the day when Port Huron would grow to a city of 250,000 people. The multitude of studies done since that time have been just about as useless.
These endless reviews are almost always a form of procrastination, a means of diverting public attention or defusing anxiety while the status quo remains untouched. It’s impossible to produce Utopia by one fell swoop of a grand casino, or to foresee all the difficulties that will arise in the life of a community.

What we have failed to do is develop an industry that is inextricably bound to our locality.
Unfortunately, our city could never bring itself to believe that its true destiny was as a tourism center. This idea is impossible without high-growth start-ups, to provide valuable management advice and important contacts, and opportunities, like a casino would provide. Introducing a casino as job, and money generating revenue works. All this crime crap is just a smoke-screen. Give me a break.

Port Huron has every right to be — one of the Greatest of the Boating and Maritime tourism industry.
Not just of Michigan and the Midwest, but of America. And we need tourisim and a casino.

http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080624/BUSINESS06/806240341

There are a lot of efforts under way and court rulings that run counter to the statement about taxes.

Rhode Island has sent in troopers and raided tribal smoke shops as has New York with the Seneca. Court cases are being heard.

Akawasne, St. Regis Indian Reservation in up state New York has it share of raids by local and state police.

Michigan will probably seek an agreement for taxes to be paid by the tribe, when and if the center is built, just as they have before.

I would also agree that your speculations as to what would happen in the UP are not unrealistic…

The conservative skeptic in me immediately starts yelling “why are all these unions so strongly supporting giving land to tribes?!” Is there already a sweetheart deal in the works to guarantee union labor on the project, or is that just an assumption in MI where unions are king as in NW Ohio. Maybe there is a “deed restriction” in place as well – ala Toledo’s marina project.

Wait AHL, don’t forget – construction, casino’s and organized crime go hand and hand. I have seen the Sopranos and the movie Casino.

Also interesting is the fact that the tribe would “trade” pristine UP coastal lands and wooded areas for “some land in Romulus or Flint.” I would bet the government – betting on the tribes following the national trend of building casinos for revenue and jobs for tribe members – is getting a bargain in the trade! (and killing some legal troubles as well). Don’t be surprised when once the deal is done – oil, gas, or some other resource is “discovered” up in Charlotte Beach, or a developer buys it from MI for a song and puts in condos.

The AHL.