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Sixty-eight percent of likely Detroit voters back the concept of special economic freedom zones, a Michigan developer told Fox News Digital, citing the figure as grounds to convert the city's 982-acre Belle Isle into a self-governing district free of local income and investment taxes.
Rodney Lockwood, board chairman of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, also warned that progressive-led cities including New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco face structural trouble as taxpayers migrate to lower-cost states.
The Belle Isle proposal Lockwood's plan calls for private investors to purchase or lease the island in the Detroit River, roughly 140 acres larger than New York City's Central Park, and build a mixed-use residential, retail and commercial district.
Belle Isle is currently leased to the State of Michigan under a 30-year agreement signed in 2013 and operates as a state park.
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