Paging the Joshua Generation

In November, the New Yorker published a terrific article on race and the presidential campaign, calling President Barack Obama the foremost member of "The Joshua Generation" -- a new wave of black leaders, like Cory Booker in Newark and Patrick Deval in Massachusetts, whose appeal transcends race. The Breakthrough, Gwen Ifill's new book, has a similar argument, pointing to black leaders who "rely more on pragmatic political coalitions than on racial solidarity."

I think it's time the Joshua Generation makes itself heard in Detroit. The last two weeks have proven, yet again, that politicians across the region suffer from 1967 syndrome -- the delusion that nothing has changed in forty years. Detroit's City Council almost seems to take it as a badge of pride.

Exhibit A: The Cobo Veto. Not only did the Monica Conyers-led Council veto the region's best hope for fixing Cobo and saving the Auto Show, they did it singing "Onward Christian Soldiers" to the region's permanent embarrassment.



Exhibit B: The Leno "Snub". Today, Jay Leno announced a free show at the Palace for anyone unemployed in Michigan. I'm not a fan of his, but it's a great gesture, and I'm glad he's doing it. Not Councilmember Martha Reeves. No, no, no. If it's not in the city limits, she doesn't want it at all. Here she is making an ass of herself on WDIV. Note the refrain: "Auburn Hills isn't Detroit." I got news for you: Yes, it is. No one outside of Southeast Michigan gives a damn whether you're from the city or the suburbs. We're just Detroit. Get some pride and let it rest.

Don't forget Cobo

The Free Press has an article on the crumbling of Cobo Center. The facility not only needs to be expanded, the existing structure needs to be fixed. But the region seems ready to drop the ball yet again and further postpone renovation plans.

We. Need. Transit.

Two great editorials on transit in Sunday's Free Press. The first explains the critical need for a "comprehensive national transportation policy" and the second brings the article closer to home, emphasizing how badly our region needs a major transit success story.

The editorials are part of an excellent, ongoing series in the Free Press "on the nation's glaring lack of an agenda for cities and viable solutions to the problems affecting our most populated regions." Previous editorials discussed the critical importance of cities, the problem of urban poverty, and the need to fight urban crime. The whole series is online at http://www.freep.com/cities.

A better Detroit is possible

Last week I discovered The Motor(less) City, a thought-provoking blog with gorgeous photos of the city's crumbling architecture. The author has left Detroit and is unafraid to say why: "Long commutes, crumbling infrastructure, a lack of cultural resources, no mass transit, an over reliance on a single industry, and barely a plan in place to do anything about any of it."

His complaints are hard to deny, but his portrayal of the region bothered me. What is the value of such dialogue? I recognize that the region is deeply flawed, but I fear that reiterating its flaws without noting its progress only adds to the "black hole of despair and self-pity" that permeates the region. That's why I try to strike a balance on this blog. I hope to herald the region's faltering progress without sounding like Sinclair Lewis's Babbit, the caricature of middle-class America with a groundless faith in "progress." But I also avoid dwelling on the negative; some of the region's flaws are so glaring I feel they nearly speak for themselves.

Yet I sympathize with the blogger's rebuttal that what the region needs most is to coldly confront reality. What disheartens me most about this region and this state is its complacency in the face of failure. The city of Detroit has been declining for fifty years; the auto industry has likewise been shrinking for decades. Yet even today we respond to this crisis with passivity and cynicism. Local leaders like Brooks Patterson continue to reject regional solutions. Our legislature is an embarrassment, incapable of passing a budget, and our governor has shown no vision. No wonder then that college graduates are leaving in droves.

But I believe the status quo can and must end. We deserve better. And that's why I focus not only on the region's flaws but also on the efforts to confront and resolve them. A better Detroit is possible.

Also in the news

The News describes Kwame's rise and fall in depth and reports on Wayne State's new community-based research program in the School of Social Work, which will work with local agencies to determine best practices for confronting the major social problems in our area.

Crain covers an event urging cooperation with Canada, new tax incentives for urban brownfield development, and the many upgrades being made to hotels in Detroit. Also in Crain's this week: 20 in their 20s, profiles of young leaders in Metro Detroit that prove that not all promising college grads are fleeing, just most.

Event: Regional transit meetings

For the past year and a half, John Hertel, the "transit czar" hired by the Regional Transportation Coordinating Council, has been meeting with area leaders to build consensus on a regional transit plan. Now he's taking public input at three open houses:

• Tuesday, April 8, from 3-7 pm, at the SEMCOG offices in the Buhl Building (535 Griswold) in downtown Detroit

• Wednesday, April 9, from 3-7 pm, at the Oakland County Commission offices (1200 North Telegraph Rd) in Pontiac

• Thursday, April 10, from 3-7 pm, at the Macomb County Commission office (1 S. Main Street - 9th Floor) in Mt. Clemens

The future of this region depends on mass transit. That's why the Detroit News published an editorial today in favor of a strong regional transit authority that can move this plan forward.

The city to the south

Windsor, that is. Easily overlooked by we on the other side of the river, Windsor is struggling with some of the same issues as Metro Detroit, especially in the past decade as the downtown has declined. I recently found a blog called Scaledown Windsor that advocates its revitalization, envisioning "a sustainable framework that leverages safe, attractive walkable neighbourhoods, dynamic public spaces, and local independent businesses and artists as cornerstones of our social, cultural and economic prosperity."

Another test of regional cooperation

The Detroit Zoo is trying to create a regional authority with the power to levy a millage in Oakland, Wayne, and Macomb counties to finance the zoo's operations. It won't be easy:

Patterson acknowledged proponents face a tough sales job on a tax increase during a down economy, especially when property values are falling. They also face the challenge of trying to unite a fractious region that has struggled to cooperate on other important economic issues like expanding Cobo, control of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department and the divvying of Homeland Security money.

Can the region cooperate to preserve this "cultural gem" (as all the politicians rush to call it)? The answer may portend whether we're ready for more important moves later on, in particular the creation of a regional transit authority and the passing of a local sales tax to finance a rapid transit system.

We're all in this together

To celebrate its one year anniversary, Metromode compiled a list of its ten best articles from the past year. The overall message is clear: To thrive, Metro Detroit must act as a unified region anchored by the city of Detroit.

I don't agree with every point, but these four articles especially demonstrate how, through creativity and entrepreneurship, we can resuscitate the economy and reorient the region:

• Michigan's Aerotropolis

• Think Local, Act Regional

• Density vs. Transit

• Ann Arbor, Welcome Detroit

Don't forget Ypsi

This week Metromode gives props to the increasing hipster cache of Ypsilanti, which is often overshadowed by neighboring Ann Arbor. Calling it "the Brooklyn to Ann Arbor's Manhattan" probably gives both cities too much credit, but I'd definitely like to visit Ypsi soon and see what the hype's about.

Downtowns for everyone

The suburbs, too, desire revitalized downtowns. The News looks at Clawson's efforts to improve its downtown at the intersection of 14 Mile and Main, and Crain's Detroit looks at a plan to create a "downtown" Southfield where none currently exists.

I post these as a reminder that despite the dreams of urban planners, Detroit already is and will remain a sprawling region. The city of Detroit may revitalize itself, but the suburbs will not magically retrench back within its borders. But sprawl is not a lost cause. The visionary nonprofit Michigan Suburbs Alliance has much to say about what can be done for the inner-ring suburbs and the region as a whole to make the best of an un-ideal planning situation.