Belle Isle

[CurbsideProphet]

While the city of Detroit continues to teeter on the brink of bankruptcy, one developer is proposing a radical and revolutionary idea to rekindle the American spirit and bring Detroit back into prosperity.

The driving force behind the plan, developer Rodney Lockwood, wants Detroit to sell the city’s Belle Isle Park for $1 billion to private investors who will then transform it into a utopia free of big government and ideally full of job creation and innovation. Belle Isle is an uninhabited 928-acre island in the Detroit River, between the U.S. and Canada.

Under the plan, the island would be developed into a U.S. commonwealth or city-state with around 35,000 people. Citizenship for the “remarkable new nation” would cost $300,000 in most cases. The community would also have its own laws, transportation, customs and currency.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/01/28/would-you-pay-300000-to-become-a-citizen-of-this-proposed-free-market-utopia-in-detroit/

Sounds like someone needs to introduce this guy to Bitcoin.

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[Phinnaeus Gage]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/belle-isle-author-utopian-plan-save-detroit-article-1.1249105

Lockwood theorizes that the city of Detroit, which has long experienced a cancerous economic blight, would use the money from the purchase to reinvest in itself and would give the city hope for an economic turnaround.

...

During one meeting last week, Sandy Baruah, president and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber told Lockwood his partners, the Detroit Free Press reported, that they hadn't done enough to explain how their idea for how a rich, tax-free city-state would benefit Detroit itself.

"Having rich neighbors doesn't make you rich," he said.

As if $1B isn't enough.

The building of Belle Isle could incorporate a strict policy of hiring only those residing around the Detroit area as much as possible during the construction phase.

[benjamindees]

As if $1B isn't enough.

You know, when I first came across this idea of buying up city blocks in Detroit to turn into a Libertarian city, the idea was more along the lines of buying cheap houses and taking them away from the morons who ran Detroit into the ground in the first place.  Not giving them more money.

[franky1]

$1 billion for an island..

hmm i can think of better located islands

EG the bahama's

http://www.privateislandsonline.com/islands/bird-cay
http://www.privateislandsonline.com/islands/devils-cay
only $12mill each

[Phinnaeus Gage]

$1 billion for an island..

hmm i can think of better located islands

EG the bahama's

http://www.privateislandsonline.com/islands/bird-cay
http://www.privateislandsonline.com/islands/devils-cay
only $12mill each

Lets buy Devils Cay ourselves and make our own libertarian utopian nation!

I pledge $500

Here's another list of islands for sale at a better price point: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/top-10-private-islands-sale-350000/story?id=17932025

[CurbsideProphet]

$1 billion for an island..

hmm i can think of better located islands

EG the bahama's

http://www.privateislandsonline.com/islands/bird-cay
http://www.privateislandsonline.com/islands/devils-cay
only $12mill each

Judging by the renderings of the proposed Belle Isle, it looks like he intends to have significant infrastructure there including what are clearly some very large skyscrapers.  It could very well be that the islands you posted do not have the proper soil/foundation to support such large infrastructures.  They're also only 117 to 250 acres in size (a lot of which looks unusuable, Bird Cay has a large body of water within the island) while Belle is 928 acres in size and located next to a major city making import/export a lot easier.

Belle Isle is probably a pipe dream but the guy has a lot of money and is looking to establish among other things, a new currency.  Why re-invent the wheel when he can just use Bitcoin.

[The-Real-Link]

Yeah sorry for bumping this but I was thinking, gosh, you'd have nothing but apartment towers since the island is big but not THAT big.

In the meantime, wasn't there also a plan by the State to pay to own it, earn National Park revenue from it, but save the city $8M a year in maintanence?  Sounded like a win-win but then again political stuff is unfortunately never that easy.

For $1B gosh, he could buy up a few islands in Dubai's "The World" easily.

In the meantime though, yeah, he should learn of BTC

But how that'd "save" the city, hard to say.  It's sad.

[sunnankar]

Citizenship for the “remarkable new nation” would cost $300,000 in most cases. The community would also have its own laws, transportation, customs and currency.

[/quote]

You can already get economic citizenship in Saint Kitts & Nevis (a UN member with visa-free travel to over 100 countries including EU) for a $250,000 contribution or with a real estate investment. And Dominic is cheaper at around $100,000 and will likely get visa-free EU travel in the next few months.

Why get citizenship in this 'remarkable new nation' that is too closely tied to the US?

[bencoder]

$1 billion for an island..

hmm i can think of better located islands

EG the bahama's

http://www.privateislandsonline.com/islands/bird-cay
http://www.privateislandsonline.com/islands/devils-cay
only $12mill each

I think the point of the large sum of money is an incentive to allow the island to secede and form its own city state. Simply "buying" an island won't do this. You'll still be under the ownership of the government that claims ownership of the island.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

$1 billion for an island..

hmm i can think of better located islands

EG the bahama's

http://www.privateislandsonline.com/islands/bird-cay
http://www.privateislandsonline.com/islands/devils-cay
only $12mill each

Judging by the renderings of the proposed Belle Isle, it looks like he intends to have significant infrastructure there including what are clearly some very large skyscrapers.  It could very well be that the islands you posted do not have the proper soil/foundation to support such large infrastructures.  They're also only 117 to 250 acres in size (a lot of which looks unusuable, Bird Cay has a large body of water within the island) while Belle is 928 acres in size and located next to a major city making import/export a lot easier.

Belle Isle is probably a pipe dream but the guy has a lot of money and is looking to establish among other things, a new currency.  Why re-invent the wheel when he can just use Bitcoin.

Speaking of pipes, how do they plan on handling the shit from 35,000 people a day? Dump it in the river? Not! Build a treatment plant on the island? Don't think so. Pipe it to the nearest city? Bingo! Bonus points if you can name the nearest city. Hint: It starts with a D.

[n8rwJeTt8TrrLKPa55eU]

Citizenship for the “remarkable new nation” would cost $300,000 in most cases. The community would also have its own laws, transportation, customs and currency.

Why get citizenship in this 'remarkable new nation' that is too closely tied to the US?

Yep.  Stupidly naive and doomed from the start.  To the extent that the island community is in any way economically successful, it will be promptly re-annexed and/or politely asked at the point of a nuke to contribute its "fair share" to the rest of Michigan.

[franky1]

$1 billion for an island..

hmm i can think of better located islands

EG the bahama's

http://www.privateislandsonline.com/islands/bird-cay
http://www.privateislandsonline.com/islands/devils-cay
only $12mill each

Judging by the renderings of the proposed Belle Isle, it looks like he intends to have significant infrastructure there including what are clearly some very large skyscrapers.  It could very well be that the islands you posted do not have the proper soil/foundation to support such large infrastructures.  They're also only 117 to 250 acres in size (a lot of which looks unusuable, Bird Cay has a large body of water within the island) while Belle is 928 acres in size and located next to a major city making import/export a lot easier.

Belle Isle is probably a pipe dream but the guy has a lot of money and is looking to establish among other things, a new currency.  Why re-invent the wheel when he can just use Bitcoin.

Speaking of pipes, how do they plan on handling the shit from 35,000 people a day? Dump it in the river? Not! Build a treatment plant on the island? Don't think so. Pipe it to the nearest city? Bingo! Bonus points if you can name the nearest city. Hint: It starts with a D.

absolutely true.. having a island in a sexy and exotic location free from government rule is a pipe dream.. and now i see the reason why detroit(not exotic or sexy) was chosen .. throw the crap back at them cheaply and easily without it changing the environment noticeably to the natives nearby.