Last night, I went to the Model D Regionalism talk at the DIA. The panel included the head of the RTA, the head of the Brightmoor Alliance, one of the Detroit Future City guys,one of the higher level DIA people, and Katy Cockrel. I'm bad with names. Anyway, some of it was the typical discussion about transit, etc. The audience Q&A is what really grabbed me. There was one guy who stood up and started yelling and bitching about the governor and the EM and how the state screwed everyone. Not only was his rant unproductive and divisive, it was completely irrelevant to the discussion. However, there was a lady named Marsha who owns the Marsha Music blog. She made an intelligent statment that was eye-opening for me. In response to a comment that the RTA leader made about Detroit being abandoned, she responded by saying[[paraphrase)....Sir, when you use the word abandonment in that way, it makes the citizens of Detroit feel like we are invisible; like we don't count. We never left. In the future, please consider that when you speak about the people of Detroit. So simple and so stunning. I am from Livonia and I'm all for regionalism, but her statement opened my eyes to a personal, heart felt viewpoint of the citizens who have fought tooth and nail to keep their city safe, clean and viable that I just didn't understand. One intelligent statement that counteracts all the non-productive screaming and yelling that occurs at city council meetings. I spoke with her afterwards and thanked her for that statement.
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