There is much talk in Lansing and throughout the state about the proposed multi-million dollar expansion to Cobo Hall in Detroit. Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, Kwame Kilpatrick, and Governor Jennifer Granholm seem to believe this will bring large amounts of trade shows and other expositions to Detroit, brining in tourism dollars and helping to revitalize the downtown area.

There is a big question: how? How will this bigger space allow so many more shows and conferences to come to Detroit? Most of the time, Cobo is mostly empty. By building more empty space, how do they expect to hook more companies and industry collectives into coming to Detroit?

Gov. Granholm et al need to look at Germany as an example. Virtually every semi-major city there advertises itself as "Messestadt": basically, 'convention city'. Rather than just build convention centers, the German's try to offer the full package. The cities are centered on the principle of attracting and entertaining convention guests, with public transport designed to not only allow easy access to the convention center, but also to the rest of the surrounding area. In Detroit, without a car, a visitor has very little to actually do outside of eat and gamble. Going to The Henry Ford in Dearborn, the Fox Theater, or other attractions is difficult. Furthermore, transportation from Detroit Metro Airport to downtown in relatively hard and expensive, and there is no real way to get downtown with the train.

The Germans also focus on signage and the placement of tourism offices to better inform and acclimate guests. The Detroit Convention and Visitors Bureau is making progress, but without some serious infusion of funds, and the networking of DCVB with state agencies to provide guests with a networked 'one-stop-shop' of Michigan tourism as a whole, the city will still have to live with the reputation of having 'nothing to do'.

Building more empty space is not the solution. Only through a serious analysis of what visitors and companies want in a convention destination can policy makers come up with policies necessary to attract visitors and help revitalize Detroit and the whole of south east Michigan.