Daniel Cherrin  |  North Coast Strategies

Over the past few weeks, I have and will have the opportunity to travel outside of Detroit. For example, last week I was in Chicago for a trade show. While in Chicago, the news that dominated the front page of the Tribune was not the indictment of former Mayor Kilpatrick, it was the trial of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, and the testimony his staffers gave under oath.

Tonight, I just returned from Toronto.  While I was not there for the G-20 Summit, I did read and see pictures of the the police car burning, and heard first hand stories of friends who were not allowed to leave their buildings that were in the security zone, due to violent protests, not to mention protestors breaking the windows of a number of Starbuck’s and other downtown businesses.

Also in Toronto, Canadian Tourism took care of the international media while visiting Toronto. In the media centre, they created a “fake lake” to resemble the lakes of Muskoka, two hours from Toronto and the site of the G8 meetings. The “fake lake” was inside the convention center and was actually the target of stories about the costs of this Summit and the length Canada was going to promote tourism in the Country at a time that they virtually shut Canada’s economic epicenter down to host a two day meeting of world leaders —  As if the Winter Olympics did not accomplish that for them, during one of the busiest tourist times for Toronto, given Canada Day on July 1.  Also, they forced the Toronto Blue Jays to relocate their home game to Philadelphia, who wore their home uniform in Philly.    A city that normally never receives bad publicity certainly felt the brunt of it in just a short weekend.

In addition, on July 1, the Canadian government will institute a combined GST/PST (tax), placing up to 13 percent taxes on professional services (law, accounting), hair cuts, gym memberships, restaurant tabs, home remodeling, new construction, subscriptions etc, which has not been handled well. This frankly, is an opportunity for us to promote shopping in Detroit to our Canadian neighbors.

After the Fourth of July, I will be traveling to Cleveland, where corruption and bribes of public officials continues to rock Cuyahoga County, where several public officials and business owners have been indicted and a number of others on the way, with the federal government targeting Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo and Democratic Party Chair and Chair of the Cuyahoga County Commission Jimmy Dimore  This is the same city, that in the last year or two had major issues affecting their Port Authority, involving money or the lack thereof to fund certain projects.

In August, I will be traveling to San Francisco, where its’ current Mayor (and failed gubernatorial candidate) Gavin Newsom, had an affair with his campaign manager’s wife in 2007.

So, my purpose in sending this email is to provide us with a bit of perspective — All eyes are not necessarily on Detroit. People are really consumed with what is going on in their city and their own backyard.  As we work hard to rebuild, repair and rebrand our image, we are not alone and we should think that everyone is concerned with Detroit, or that we have such a terrible reputation. Unfortunately, we are not the only city with the problems we have. We certainly would like the Kilpatrick era to come to a close and for the headlines to change about Detroit. To do so, we need to celebrate and honor our past, but stay focused on our strengths and move on from our failures. There are no doubt, lessons to learn and impart from where we have been to help create the blueprint that will guide us in moving forward.  With an election upon us in just a few months, we need to elect leaders who will not just be held accountable, we need leadership will will lead by example and will not stray from taking risks at a time of tremendous opportunity.  I look forward to working with you and with our new leaders on that journey.

Best wishes for a Happy Fourth of July.

Daniel

L. Brooks Patterson
Oakland County Executive

Some may be frustrated with delays in the creation of a regional transit plan. They are missing, however, the question at the core of the issue – who pays for it and how will it be funded?

Transportation Riders United and other organizations are hammering away at plans for regional funding, but they get very sketchy when you ask them for specific numbers. Stakeholders have been discussing a regional tax. A lot of us are watching with a little bit of a jaundice as to the hellacious costs associated with building a light rail system, and then maintaining and operating it. It’s going to be in the billions. A lot of us, and I’m one of them, are a little bit nervous and certainly cautious about jumping into these costly programs until we find out how much is at stake and who is going to pay for it. According to current plans, Oakland County residents are likely going to bear the brunt of those costs.

Funding has been, is today, and will be continue to be a major problem. What we’re seeing with the Ann Arbor rail line, the M-1 line, the line from the New Center area to Eight Mile: None of them have been able to secure the necessary funding. The line from the New Center area to Eight Mile is off the table because U.S. Representative Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick redirected her financial support from that commuter line to a high-speed line to Chicago. Every one of the plans that have been talked about has basically been put into mothballs because the funding sources cannot be found.

To make this happen, all of the stakeholders have to come to the table for consensus. I have met with Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, Macomb County Chairman of the Board of Directors Paul Gieleghem, and John Hertel, now the general manager of SMART. We had in attendance a couple of business leaders such as Roger Penske and Matt Cullen. We had representatives from the City of Detroit. And those around that table never reached a uniformity of opinion. Different people had different thoughts. A regional transit plan will never happen without each stakeholder knowing his taxpayers and residents will be protected from unreasonable taxation.

In the end, I don’t know that it is even worth the cost to build these lines. It’s going to be a huge burden on an already overtaxed part of the state, and we’ve got to go very slowly and make sure that there’s a business case for it.

As of now, there has been no business case.

Robert A. Ficano
Wayne County Executive

It’s no secret that the Detroit Region is one of the only major urban areas that does not have a mass transit system in its arsenal to attract businesses and young talent.

While we have top-notch universities graduating tremendously bright young professionals, we often can’t convince them to lay roots in Southeast Michigan.

Wayne County recently participated in a charrette with students from the University of Michigan. The students examined an area and were asked, ‘if you could start from scratch, what would you do to improve this region and make it more attractive?’ Each group of participants addressed public transportation and its importance to the lifestyles they seek.  We in the Detroit Region cannot offer an integrated transit system to them at this time – but we will soon be able to.

Several projects are in the works. One, a light rail line from Ann Arbor to Detroit, will break ground in October of this year. It will have stops in Ypsilanti, Detroit Metro Airport, Dearborn, and Detroit. Another line will run along Woodward downtown from the New Center area. This project is being done with the help of private financing from business leaders such as Roger Penske and the Illich family, and institutions such as Wayne State University and the Detroit Medical Center. This developing mass transit system will bring vitality to our cities in the forms of new investment and a renewed interest among young professionals. And it is exciting.

But this progress has been a long time coming.

As a region, a number of issues have delayed the development of mass transit. One is a lack of urgency. Unfortunately, we see this issue crop up many areas. There must be urgency to execute a project of this magnitude. Secondly, there are concerns about cost and ridership. But in my opinion, we cannot afford to continue to lag behind competing cities. If we really want to be a complete urban center, we are going to have to offer public transportation – and there is no way around that fact.

Economically, we’re starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. Things are starting to pick up; we’re attracting businesses and we’re working to diversify our economy and retain young talent. Now is the time to show that we’re serious about public transportation, and that we want it for the whole region.  Now is the time to show tomorrow’s workforce what Southeast Michigan has to offer.

Paul Gieleghem
Chairman, Macomb County Board of Commissioners

When it comes to regional transit in Southeast Michigan, our focus should be on people and not one particular project or mode of transportation. We need a system designed to serve the entire region. There is much focus on implementing light rail in Metro Detroit, but our collective goal should simply be to move people throughout the region in the quickest and most efficient way.

Macomb County leaders have examined the Regional Transit Coordinating Council (RTCC) Plan.  The early stages of the RTCC Plan are based on the concept of rolling rapid transit and this, ultimately, promotes support for rail.

Building on the RTCC Plan, Macomb County requested a slight modification and some numbers on what it would take to actually develop a continuous loop.  We refer to this loop as the “Golden Triangle.” A rolling rapid transit system extending along Woodward Avenue from the proposed M-1 line out to Pontiac, then from Pontiac by M-59 to Gratiot Avenue, along Gratiot back to Detroit, is a system that can be successfully built, supported by the region and would help in building the case for a future rail system in the Detroit

We’ve called for simultaneous starts at the three corners to get this system up and running.

Macomb County has proven its commitment to transit that is truly regional. We are the only county in the region that doesn’t allow local communities to opt out of the current SMART bus system. In fact, the Gratiot Avenue SMART line has the highest ridership.

Regional transit has a proven $6 return for every dollar spent.  It will be a fantastic asset to Southeast Michigan, but these plans will be implemented only if this issue is examined from a true regional perspective. If people consider transit only from the standpoint of what is good for their specific areas, I don’t think we’ll see progress.

The southwest portions of the City of Detroit and the downriver area would be well-served by the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments’ (SEMCOG) proposal for the commuter rail line linking Detroit, Metro Airport and Ann Arbor.

This is a great start, but how can the rest of the region also be served? I see the answer to this question as the RTCC Plan.   The RTCC Plan will serve as the first step – a sturdy foundation – for mass transit in this region.  The implementation of the Golden Triangle rolling rapid transit concept will be the initial, important step in linking the tri-county area and is the best, quickest and most practical plan with the most benefit to the everyday lives of the largest number of people.

I have the privilege of working with Detroit Public Television on a video series interviewing the leaders, influencers, and change-makers of the Detroit region.  It’s fascinating and incredibly eye-opening to talk with people such as Mark Petroff of Marketing Associates, Kurt Metzger of Data Driven Detroit, Carol Goss of The Skillman Foundation, and many others working hard to make a difference.

After one of our shoots, I had a good conversation with two of the DPTV cameramen, Fred and Matt, about race. Fred is African American, lives in the city, and is a former Detroit Police officer. Matt is white and is from Howell in Livingston County. Together we pondered what it would be like for each of these guys to walk in the other’s shoes in each other’s community for a few days.  Fred and Matt are work buddies, but what is it like when Fred goes to Howell, and what is it like when Matt goes to the city?   How are they are received? Is it different than how they perceive they are received?  It just got us thinking about diversity, communication, and understanding.

Both Fred and Matt love to hear the people who come to the studios, and what’s going on around town. I love to hear and see their reactions.  They are always blown away by one or two of the people being interviewed.  It makes me want to try harder to get more people who don’t have the opportunity I have to learn about some of the most important work happening here in the region.  I want the One D/DPTV interviews to get the word out to people in the city and in the suburbs – from cameramen to hairdressers to accountants and retailers. I meet inspirational leaders and organizations every day, but there are so many people who don’t have exposure to some of the amazing stuff that’s going on.  Check into OneD.org on a regular basis to hear thoughts from these leaders, and please feel free to send me some thoughts of your own. You can email me at Kat.Owsley@oned.org. I would love to hear from you.

My eyes were opened recently to the often hostile atmosphere today’s kids face every day. I was talking to a great bunch of students from Generation of Promise, a leadership development program for high school juniors. The Detroit-based initiative promotes diversity among the region’s youth, most of whom attend schools with about a 90 percent makeup of students of the same race.

The kids in Generation of Promise are exposed to others their age of different backgrounds, and strategize together on how to address racial polarization. The students I spoke with have made lifelong friends through this program, and are wise beyond their years.

I was dismayed to learn through the course of conversation with one young woman that she hears racist and oppressive language at school every day – words I would not even want to allude to in this blog.  It blew me away, because I thought we could count on the next generation to be more tolerant and open-minded than my own generation and others before us. But the kids in Generation of Promise give me hope. I asked them how they handle those situations.  They are far more poised, savvy and worldly than my classmates and I were at their age.   They went on record with me at Detroit Pubic Television to say they don’t tolerate it and they aren’t afraid to speak up to a friend or peer to express their disapproval.   This is part of what the Generation of Promise program has taught them, to have the courage to confront these unfortunate situations.   I’m discouraged, to say the least, at the knowledge about the peer oppression underway in our schools – particularly in light of recent cases around the country – but I am hopeful that executive director Christine Geoghegan of Generation of Promise and her students who are coming together will continue to chip away at this problem.

Check out some other great programs we are aware of in this region that address racial issues for youth:

Michigan Roundtable for Diversity & Inclusion

http://www.miroundtable.org/

University of Michigan Youth Dialogues Program

http://www.ssw.umich.edu/public/currentProjects/youthAndCommunity/raceAndEthnicity.html

If you know of other initiatives that work with students to help increase understanding and bridge divides, let us know about it at the One D site http://www.oned.org/programs

Sign Up or Sign In and register your program…you can upload photos and logos as well.

Carmine Palombo
Director of Transportation Programs, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG)

One of the defining characteristics of Southeast Michigan is the fact that in order to get around, you really have just one option – the automobile. While cars will likely always be our main source of transportation, this region needs to have other options available – other choices to complement and support the lifestyles of residents and, perhaps more importantly, potential residents.

Many young professionals and emerging business consider the elements of an attractive, sustainable community when deciding where to lay roots. An improved public transit system would help attract a larger tax base and a growing workforce, creating communities with higher levels of density and stronger attraction to talent (including homegrown talent). It would really help get Southeast Michigan’s wheels turning.

Certainly we have made strides in this vital area. There was a time when transit wasn’t even discussed in our region; now there are discussions every day of the Ann Arbor to Detroit commuter project, the M-1 rail project and the Woodward light rail project, and the so-called Golden Triangle in Macomb County. Everybody seeing this progress is getting positive vibes.

The turning point that started changing everything was when Detroit hosted Super Bowl XL in 2006.  Elected officials started to see for the first time the number of people that wanted to use public transit. If there was one negative in the highly successful execution of this event, it was that organizers underestimated the number of buses that they needed. That started getting elected officials to consider improved mass transit as an issue worth taking up, an issue worth funding and an issue worthy of region-wide collaboration.

As plans fall in place, the need for a regional transit authority is first and foremost. We need someone to speak on behalf of transit in Southeast Michigan – not on behalf of Detroit, not on behalf of the suburbs, but someone that’s the voice of public transit for the region as a whole. We also need someone responsible for generating funding so we can build and operate the system that we want.

A great end result of this exciting progress would be being able to have a choice every day whether you want to take your car to work or use light rail line, a bus rapid transit line or a train; to be able to attend events without having to pay for parking or worry about where to park. The residents and visitors of Southeast Michigan will finally have transportation choices – and good options to choose from.

I had the recent pleasure of speaking with Pam Good, president of the Bloomfield Hills-based Beyond Basics, a non-profit working with at-risk children to develop foundational learning skills. Pam’s reputation precedes her as an incredibly passionate, driven leader who will do anything to help her kids. As I was talking with her, I was able to see this passion first-hand.

After interviewing her on-camera at the Detroit Public Television studio for our on-going video series highlighting the movers and shakers in the region, Pam began to cry. She was crying, she told me, because she can’t serve every school that applies to work with Back to Basics. And every year, she has to choose which schools to work with and which she cannot help. With all the wonderful work Pam is doing, it is painful for her to think about what she can’t do at this time. What a heart this leader has, and what an incredible capacity for compassion. We are so lucky to have her working to make education better in the Detroit region.

Back to Basics started out as a coat donation program in one inner-city school. The non-profit has since expanded to educational programs in four Detroit Public Schools, 25 staff members, and a roster of over 1,500 volunteers. People often say to me, ‘I want to give back, I want to be involved’. Beyond Basics is one organization I will point to, to say, ‘here’s a really easy way to get involved.’ Anyone can get in touch with Beyond Basics and say, ‘this is how much time I have to give,’ and they will make it work for you. This organization is an exceptional example of serving a need, showing quantitative results, and utilizing volunteers and resources in a really efficient way.

The organization impresses me, but Pam Good’s passion truly moved me.

Transportation Riders United (TRU) has been working for ten years with the specific goal of improving and promoting public transit in the greater Detroit region. Transit is critical to revitalizing our city, improving quality of life, and ensuring transportation equity – making sure that everyone has access to what they need.

We work both to improve existing bus services, which are the lifeblood of any transportation system, and to bring in quality rapid transit; the kind you see in every other major city, the lack of which has been holding our region back so long.

TRU was very excited at the recent announcements that the Detroit region was granted substantial federal investment for transit. Funding for new multi-level stations in Dearborn and the Troy/Birmingham area, as well as $25 million to support light rail on Woodward, is a huge boost toward building a quality regional transit system.

That said, a lot of other communities nationally received more federal funding, which really points to the fact that we still have a long way to go. As we look at the states and metro areas that received the most federal investment, two common denominators arise: They have great regional cooperation among their different municipalities, and they are making investments at the local and state level.

Those initiatives fit in very well with what TRU has been focusing on: The need for a regional transit authority to bring all of our efforts together, and the need to regard local and state investments as a way to get more federal funding.

Another major priority of TRU is helping the region understand the economic benefits of transit. For far too long, transit was perceived as just a way to get from point A to point B, but when we looked at other communities around the country we saw enormous economic benefits. The first rapid transit line in Dallas returned $6 – $8  for every dollar invested in the system, in terms of jobs created and new development. We are working to identify businesses that can help speak out about the economic need to invest in transit.

Partnership and collaboration are going to be all the more important moving forward. While we’ve had enormous success in helping the region understand the importance of transit, the next big challenges are the establishment of a regional authority and then developing a funding source. In many ways our biggest battles are in front of us, and we are going to need to ensure everyone is working closely together to help leaders maintain regional thinking, and to help the region understand the need for smart, strategic investments.

Maud Lyon
Founding Director, Cultural Alliance of Southeast Michigan

Arts and culture organizations bring people together. At concerts, festivals, museum exhibitions, and other community cultural activities, people are sharing a common experience. Those kinds of experiences are the glue that brings communities together. They are the catalysts for people to meet, and the way people experience their community as a whole. Public transportation is an important element to the cultural experience.

We in the Detroit region have hundreds of arts and culture organizations serving students, seniors, and families. Unfortunately due to lack of transportation, there are so many who can’t attend concerts, can’t take music lessons, can’t come to exhibits, and can’t participate in fairs and festivals. The organizations most immediately impacted by lack of regional transit are the youth-serving organizations, offering programs such as mentoring or tutoring that change students’ lives. Those kids can’t drive. If they’re going to participate in theses programs, they’re going to need to be able to get to them on a regular basis. Public transit would make all of the difference.

We are beginning to think more regionally. People are really understanding that public transit is vital, to tie us together as a larger community and really understand our inter-relationships. It allows the free market to put businesses where businesses need to be, but also preserve communities where they are by making it easier to link the two together.

You can’t create a regional system in pieces and parts. You really need to have a vision of the whole. A lot of good work has already gone into that effort. What we need is to have a regional transit authority that can oversee such an effort and ensure it is fair and equitable to all communities, efficient, and effective.

Our communities need to be drawn together more closely, to have a feeling of openness and accessibility and possibility. Regional transit will unite us and empower us to experience all the richness of culture our communities have to offer.