Quote Originally Posted by Novine View Post
Stephen Henderson has one of the biggest megaphones in Detroit. You can count on one hand the number of people who have the ability to reach as large an audience as he can. He needs to start using it to promote the city that Detroit must become and the steps it needs to take to reach that place. Have a vision for the city. Have solutions that are beyond the usual platitudes and rehashed ideas of solutions that haven't worked in the past. Present both big ideas and small that could turn Detroit around and hammer on the elected officials and community leaders at all levels, city, regional and state, to get on board with this vision and these ideas.

He's not going to succeed getting everyone to embrace that vision. But if he makes any progress with moving some of them forward, it will be far better than what passes for leadership in SE Michigan these days. I'm tired of reading the same old ideas from the same retreads on the editorial pages of the Detroit papers. We never hear anything new or inspiring. If Henderson doesn't want to be placed in the same category, he needs to start writing editorials that get people talking the next day, that drive public policy and ultimately result in moving ideas into action into results. Otherwise, he might feel good after writing this stuff but in five years, he'll have nothing to show for that effort.
A bit of confrontation is not bad if it is well meant and there is no hidden agenda [[political ambition).
There needs to be talk about how to accomplish things and getting people involved so that a momentum happens. Journalists and university professors, all manner of educated specialists should get involved. Urban planning is not just the domain of a few heads anymore, it is a participatory process and ordinary Detroiters can educate themselves about the possible alternatives in urban design in the world at large and pick and choose. I know its not that simple but it is not apocalyptic either. Remember that the metro region has one of the highest GDP in the world. You can mortgage some of that, which takes us back to political will and a certain confrontation by the media. Reporting the facts just arent enough in Detroit, columnists are part of the solution or of the problem by not speaking out as you say Novine.