Over the past several years, the city of Detroit has fallen short on its budget and faces a looming fiscal crisis.
One solution proposed by real estate developer Rodney Lockwood Jr is to purchase the island located in the Detroit river for $1 billion dollars.
His goal is to then turn Belle Isle into a commonwealth of the United States by seceding from Michigan, then investing as much as $40 billion dollars into construction projects, turning Belle Isle into a beacon of the future.
Similar ideas have been shot down by Detroit's City Council, so support from the White House should start political momentum regarding the topic.