The New York Times
Published: December 3, 2012 293 Comments
PONTIAC, Mich. — Even the great and powerful Oz could not save the film studio that was supposed to save this town.
The studio, a state-of-the-art facility fit for Hollywood blockbusters,
had risen from the ruins of a General Motors complex here. It was the
brainchild of a small group of investors with big plans: the studio
would attract prestigious filmmakers, and the movie productions would
create jobs and pump money into the local economy. A glamorous sheen
would rub off on this down-on-its-luck town....
Pontiac desperately needed them. In March of that year, roughly one of
every two residents was without work, according to federal data. Food pantries
had record requests. Pontiac was consistently listed among the top 10
most dangerous cities by the F.B.I. The city had made national news when
a group of teenagers approached homeless people on the street and beat
them to death.
Ms. Granholm declared the city in a financial crisis in February 2009
and appointed an emergency manager, Fred Leeb. The city’s budget was $54
million a year, but it was overspending by an estimated $7 million to
$12 million. Pontiac was also still weighted down by old incentives it
had given to businesses like G.M.
The movie studio was an added challenge, since it was seeking financial
incentives from the city — not to mention from other branches of the
government. It won redevelopment tax credits from the federal government
and separate aid from the state that included incentives for technology
companies that hire residents.
Job creation became a point of contention with beleaguered Pontiac,
which was being asked to waive virtually all property taxes for the
studio. The investors claimed that thousands of people would be
employed, but Mr. Leeb said that when he asked for job numbers to be
written into the contract, the investors refused. “We started seeing
some backpedaling,” said Mr. Leeb, who added that the negotiations
featured “knock-down, drag-out fights.”
Mr. Nelson said he did not recall that request, but added that his
company could not have guaranteed jobs anyway, since they were mainly
supposed to be created by filmmakers renting out the studio.
Under pressure from the governor’s office, Mr. Leeb said he had little choice but to approve the investors’ requests....
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/us/when-hollywood-comes-to-town.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
No comments:
Post a Comment