Lawsuit Cries Foul Over Approval Of Pistons' Deal To Move Downtown

A lawsuit filed yesterday in Wayne County (Mich.) Circuit Court "seeks to tear up a preliminary agreement" to bring the Pistons downtown, "claiming members of the public body that approved it violated the state's Open Meetings Act when they met privately to discuss the deal right before a public vote." The suit filed by local activist Robert Davis states that all five members of the Detroit Downtown Development Authority's finance committee "met privately for four hours on Nov. 22 to comb over the Pistons deal." Later that day, after the finance committee's discussions, the DDA's full board "approved the deal during a half-hour public meeting" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 12/23).