Quote Originally Posted by bust View Post
All it would take would be contemporary equivalents of a "meter maid" employed to randomly require proof of payment and authority to issue a fine. Only a few of them. They can work in shifts to cover all hours, and even though most often you can board a car they don't check, there's a persistent small chance one will -- and consequences. Easy peasy.

Why don't they do that?
They were doing this pre-pandemic. I would often get my ticket checked at peak operating times back then. The problem was, the people checking would just ask you to go buy one, no punishment for trying to avoid the fare.

In Toronto I saw police semi-restrain and escort off the train someone who was on the streetcar without a ticket. That's the kind of enforcement Detroit needs, both for the bums drinking beers on there, and the suburban sports fans who think "eh, it's Detroit, who cares".

More on topic though, Hard Rock was a Downtown pioneer who's time was over, as with the other chain theme restaurants noted here. They're basically an Applebee's with more expensive crap on the walls. That being said though, the physical hole they left in OCM is hard to ignore.

Walking downtown this weekend there seemed to be some activity in the building just north of Greyson, perhaps prepping for a new tenant.

They are also doing some demo work in What About Bob's over on Griswold.

The Fowler is also coming along. I imagine the retail space in that building is awesome.