MSU proposes urban agriculture project in Detroit

[corktownyuppie]

I see where you're coming from...and it points to an even more fundamental question than the viability of Detroit Works: Whose responsibility is it to take care of our poor, powerless, and disadvantaged.

Unfortunately, society's answer at the current moment is: themselves.

Now if you can convince the political needle to move in the opposite direction, then great. But under the current political realities -- which, admittedly, are created by the institutions and the powerful people who run those institutions -- there aren't lot of better answers.

Is antiestablishmentarianism going to further our mutual aims? To better Detroit? To take care of the powerless? I personally don't believe so. But I'm still listening, and I'd like to hear your take on how that -- or any other real alternatives -- might work.

In other words, it might be true that the longer term health of Oakland County depends on Detroit. But if they don't believe it's true, then we either need to convince them or find another avenue. But til then, they're happy as a clam with things the way they are.

[Detroitnerd]

I see where you're coming from...and it points to an even more fundamental question than the viability of Detroit Works: Whose responsibility is it to take care of our poor, powerless, and disadvantaged.

Unfortunately, society's answer at the current moment is: themselves.

Now if you can convince the political needle to move in the opposite direction, then great. But under the current political realities -- which, admittedly, are created by the institutions and the powerful people who run those institutions -- there aren't lot of better answers.

Is antiestablishmentarianism going to further our mutual aims? To better Detroit? To take care of the powerless? I personally don't believe so. But I'm still listening, and I'd like to hear your take on how that -- or any other real alternatives -- might work.

In other words, it might be true that the longer term health of Oakland County depends on Detroit. But if they don't believe it's true, then we either need to convince them or find another avenue. But til then, they're happy as a clam with things the way they are.

Thanks for hearing me out, CY. I think there are a lot of decent people earnestly trying to make a difference, and that's a plus. I count you among them. And I think we have more of that energy than we did 10 years ago, and that's encouraging. It's not all bleak.

There are other answers. For instance, if the banks would let Detroit restructure its bond debt, it could save the city a huge chunk of money. But that is never brought up -- because the banks are too powerful. [[When New York City was about to go kaput, its terms were modified, after all.)

I think we're at a turning point, actually. And I think that may be why there's this necessity of haste for ramming through Detroit Works right now. I'm not saying Detroit is all soap bubbles and glitter and that its leaders are solons, but some elements -- such as tax breaks for Michigan's wealthy at the expense of revenue-sharing for the cities -- had nothing to do with Detroit and everything to do with Lansing. Let's step back and look at what else we can do.

Maybe that's the coolest thing about Detroit; there is no big Soviet-style five year plan or Cultural Revolution to follow. It's different people trying different things. That's where the best new ideas come from...