A federal lawsuit claims Mayor Duggan conspired with the school board to deprive residents of the right to vote on whether billionaire Pistons owner Tom Gores should receive more than $55 million in public financing.
Without public discourse, city council voted 7-2 to dish out $34.5 million to the Pistons.
Before voting publicly on giving $34.5 million to billionaire Tom Gores, council members already assured the Pistons team owner they would get the money – a violation of state law.
Mayor Duggan’s plans to give tax incentives to the billionaire Pistons owner are far from a slam dunk.
Tom Gores also is demanding that he not pay property taxes for the Pistons’ new practice facility, which would rob the city and schools of up about $450,000 a year.
Suggesting the move is a slam dunk is untrue and disrespectful to the democratic process.
Mayor Duggan showed no respect for Detroit taxpayers by announcing the Pistons deal before gathering input during mandatory public hearings to see if residents want to spend the money.
Taxpayers could be on the hook again for another sports arena, and city officials are refusing to discuss it, choosing closed-door meetings instead.
Lanier was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992.
Lasting into triple-overtime, the Pistons beat the Denver Nuggets 186-184 in the highest scoring NBA game of all time.