Cobo could get fixed this time, maybe

Expanding, refurbishing, and bicker - all things that go on when Cobo is discussed. But, maybe it's time, finally, to set aside differences and fix up the ailing civic center. Or, maybe they'll just continue to bicker.

Excerpt:

As for Cobo, Patterson complained about specific provisions in the proposed state law, including giving Cobo to an authority that would have the power of eminent domain, as well as the power to establish ordinances with criminal penalties. He also complained that 50-year no-bid contracts were part of the proposal.

Macomb County Commission chairman William Crouchman, meanwhile, complained that he couldn't get economist David Sowerby to return his phone calls asking for an explanation of how he came up with the figure that 10 percent of Cobo's benefit goes to Macomb County.

Exasperated, WJR AM 760 morning host Paul W. Smith said he'd hold the Big Four in place until the Cobo deal got finished, given the Detroit Auto Dealers Association threat to move the show -- and its 16,000 jobs and $500 million in economic activity, which amounts to a Super Bowl every year.

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