Cobo problems continue: Roof leaks plague Autorama
The latest chapter in the saga of Detroit's dilapidated Cobo Center was written over the weekend during the annual Autorama show. Against a backdrop of gorgeous and valuable hot rods, Cobo itself again became the story thanks to roof leaks that sent dirty water dripping down from the ceiling onto some of the show cars below. The situation angered the show's organizer, who pointed out the abundantly obvious when he told the The Detroit News, "If this isn't addressed, they're going to lose events." Lord knows the facility's been losing exhibitors at its signature exhibition, the North American International Auto Show, over the past couple of years. While some of that surely has to do with the economic climate, many of those same exhibitors still manage to find their way to major-market shows like L.A. or New York.
As to whether the situation has any hope of improving, that's all up in the air. Cobo's future is mired in an ugly political tug-of-war between Detroit's mayor, who supports state-backed renovation and expansion followed by regional control of the facility, and the City Council, which doesn't want to cede any control. Last week, the mayor vetoed the council's rejection of the state-supported measure, and now the council may mount a legal challenge. As usual, lawyers stand to win regardless of the final outcome.
In the meantime, Cobo becomes more of an embarrassment with each passing day. It's hard to lure world-class events to your venue when you need to hang tarps from the ceiling to catch water coming through your leaky roof, which is exactly what happened during Autorama. The Motown city fathers ought to be worried, seeing as how there's a gigantic facility in a legitimate destination city just 237 miles away. We're sure they'd welcome the likes of Autorama and NAIAS with arms wide open.
[Source: The Detroit News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Aprime 7:24PM (3/11/2009)
You guys don't know what to do with the former French colonies, obviously. :v
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xspeedy 7:27PM (3/11/2009)
And manufacturers probably have to pay some "union" guy $100 to place a bucket under the drip if it is in their booth area.
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superman211 10:21PM (3/11/2009)
LMAO! That's a good joke.
But seriously SEMA is the only show worth going to.
elprogramer 10:48PM (3/11/2009)
"Union"? Not necessarily.
Someone who kicks money up to Monica Conyers? Absolutely.
AMcA 10:35PM (3/12/2009)
Chicago would warmly welcome NAIAS, I imagine.
And everyone would have an extremely great time.
You ever been to Chicago? Yeah, you had a great time.
You ever been to Detroit? Weird place, not necessarily a good time.
Kevin 7:29PM (3/11/2009)
I think the link for the gigantic facility is wrong, Chicago and its mccormick place though would put on great shows, esp a North American Auto show
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Alex Nunez 8:35PM (3/11/2009)
Indeed. That's what the link was supposed to be. Fixed.
jc 7:31PM (3/11/2009)
Unions and Dems. Perfect together
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Brian 8:05PM (3/11/2009)
Quality comment.
the vegas style guy 8:08PM (3/11/2009)
Loser.
Guess what?
WE WON!
S2K 8:42PM (3/11/2009)
Great, I'm so happy that winning is more important than stupid things like the constitution, wealth creation and prosperity. Come to Detroit and let me show you how great the Democrats have made the city.
Brian 9:09PM (3/11/2009)
It was the Republican executives of the auto manufacturers that decided to abandon Detroit and made it the city it is today.
ronnie schreiber 10:39PM (3/11/2009)
Detroit is an example of what happens when Democrats are in charge for 60 years. Democrats have controlled the mayor's office and the city council since the early 1960s. Likewise, Detroit's representatives to the state legislature in Lansing have been uniformly Democratic. The Detroit school board has also been uniformly Democratic and the Detroit Federation of Teachers is a major faction within the Michigan Democratic party. Currently 24% of Detroit public school students graduate from high school.
It wasn't Republicans who rioted and burned businesses in 1967. The '67 riot permanently damaged Detroit. Small and medium businesses moved to the suburbs and the city's emptying out accelerated.
Detroit, proper, has about 900,000 people. It's been estimated that half of the adults in Detroit are functionally illiterate. No wonder they keep electing sociopaths like Monica Conyers (wife of congresscritter John Conyers) and the buffoons who serve with her of Detroit's city council.
dwaltr 10:44PM (3/11/2009)
Hardly. Race is the biggest problem in Detroit. If you follow any of Detroit's problems with Cobo (or pretty much anything else) it comes down to a few individuals who have just enough influence to screw things up because they believe that white people are out to get them. There was a good deal on the table that would have gotten the burden of Cobo off of Detroit and still brought in money for the city, and the Det. City Council voted against it based on their racism. Had nothing to do with Democrats, or Republicans. Members of both parties worked out the deal and racists screwed it up.
Luce 7:41PM (3/11/2009)
Given how much rain we got, I'm kind of not surprised. Friday and Saturday were both fine indoors but it sounded like Sunday was just awful. I don't even want to imagine the kind of stuff that would leak out of that roof... It's a real shame they've let the place go so badly because I love the shows they have there.
And the link is wrong...
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Alex Nunez 8:37PM (3/11/2009)
Link fixed.
dwightB 10:11PM (3/11/2009)
Detroit sucks in every possible way. Kill it. And before you ask, I lived in that sh*thole city for four years for school. :shivers:
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Max 10:20PM (3/11/2009)
Looks like a Soviet building, this should have been torn down and re built 15 years ago.
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The Rest Of The US (except the East Coast which sucks too) 10:41PM (3/11/2009)
Those of you who are a bit older might remember that until '90 or so the Chicago show was basically the world show for the U.S. It wasn't until the '90s that Detroit took it back as the premier show for the US industry.
's cool, you guys can come back here.
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redshark 12:13AM (3/12/2009)
maybe they should sell the city to Omni Consumer Products, and get the Delta City project going.
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