In 1999, the Detroit architecture firm Hamilton Anderson Associates produced an award-winning master plan for the island that called for reconfiguring some island roads and making multiple other changes and improvements. Rainy Hamilton, president of the firm, said last week that the plan, even in the late '90s, could have cost about $180 million to implement. The City Council has never adopted it.

It's not clear how much the State of Michigan would have contributed over time, had the lease deal been approved, but almost certainly it would have been millions more than the financially strapped City of Detroit could have afforded.

In perpetuity - for the entire state.

All for a billionaire bastard named Roger who sucks monies out of our wallets for all of his toy tracks.

http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/15266

Orion would take a big chunk out of that $20-mil figure.

That, along with other events like the Grand Prix CS mentioned and the Fireworks (especially the fireworks), would make up a bulk of the rest.