The Detroit City Council is at a crossroads with a decision pending on approving tax breaks for a colossal $3 billion development featuring a partnership between Henry Ford Health, the Detroit Pistons, and Michigan State University. Shimmering on the horizon, this initiative, dubbed the "Future of Health," is poised to reshape the New Center neighborhood with a comprehensive upgrade to Henry Ford Hospital and a suite of other projects. However, these plans hinge on the council's vote this coming Tuesday, which could grant tax breaks and future tax recaptures totaling $296 million across 35 years for five out of the six development facets. This report comes from the Detroit Free Press, which clarified most of the requested funds would benefit the Pistons-related apartment buildings development.

Community advocates, such as those at the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice, remain apprehensive, arguing that these tax dollars could be diverted from needy public coffers to pad the wealth of billionaires like Pistons owner Tom Gores. Tonya Myers Phillips told CBS Detroit, "We're not anti-hospital expansion. What we are asking for is fairness and equity and for our public servants to use our money for public good."

With over 700 permanent jobs, assorted housing for different income levels, and advanced health care and research facilities on the line, proponents of the project argue the community benefits outshine the value of the incentives. According to CBS Detroit, Denise Brooks-Williams, Executive Vice President of Henry Ford Health underscored, "We don't see this project being successful without all three components. And so we would work, you know, diligently to try to make that delay less, you know, the least amount of time possible, if that were the case so that we would be able to find a way to have the project, you know, be fulfilled the way we vision."

Meanwhile, amid this charged debate sits a glaring $595 million gap under scrutiny. Genuine community benefit versus who stands poised to gain most from the tax concessions. Critics point to inflated development benefits figures, questioning whether the purported advantages touch the lives of average Detroiters meaningfully. Tonya Myers Phillips of the Sugar Law Center, in an Axios interview, scrutinized the proclaimed $604 million worth of benefits to the community as overly optimistic, placing the figure closer to just $9 million.

The Detroit Free Press has detailed the pressure cooker situation as Henry Ford Health digs in, owning all project land and refraining from seeking tax breaks itself. Jerry Darby, Henry Ford Health's VP of Development, indicated that an incomplete project would lead to scaling back ambitions. "We’re not saying we wouldn’t do something. But in all likelihood, we would not be able to do something of this scale across the street." Darby stated to Detroit Free Press.