It's amazing how there are many people within the city are against regional cooperation when it is needed the most. Currently they are well represented in the city government.

If you watch any of the talk shows on WHPR TV 33, and talk to some of the citizens of Detroit, you'll notice that many of the callers and the hosts, that their viewpoints are against regional cooperation in any form. They aren't the only ones. The suburbs have their share of isolationists.

Conspiracy theories that there is an enemy trying to take over Detroit from the citizens that are left, are all over, leading many Detroiters to the assumption that in the end it will be them that will end up on the short end of the stick if we cooperate at all. Fear of increases in Detroiter presence in the suburbs would increase crime and decrease home values are still there.

The Detroit Public Schools has already been marked by the Dept. of Education as the "worst school district in the nation". Despite the efforts of Robert Bobb which I commend him on his efforts to reform the district, it would truly take a death and rebirth in order for the district to get better.

It's amazing that while the city collapses around them, that many hold on to the notion that the city of Detroit can survive on their own.

With the population decreasing by the day, it is prudent that the citizens still here wake up and understand that only as a region, can we survive. There are some things that should be put into a regional authority, especially when Detroit doesn't have the money to manage everything anymore.

It would save the city a lot of money if the public transportation around here was united and managed by a regional authority. Something that should have been done years ago.

New leadership in Detroit, as well as the suburbs, is needed in order for everyone in the area to get along.

This year is truly a chance to boot out all of the current leaders that have truly shown their incompetence through mismanagement in all departments.

I truly hope that things will change for the better. However, it will truly be up to those that are left to decide whether to make compromises, or slowly fade into darkness.