Detroit, Michigan is great city that can be greater.

The cliché is that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. In Detroit, we see the grass as emerald everywhere else and not only brown and dormant on our side of the fence, but that we have no grass at all.  It is just not true. The city and its surrounding areas have so many great assets that we often do not appreciate.  I believe that in southeast Michigan and possibly throughout all of Michigan, we have the greatest mass inferiority complex ever.  We need to get over it.  We need to embrace the many things that make our state and our cities great, face our shortcomings with the understanding that we can overcome them, and then boldly move forward to make our cities shine and our state second to none.

We have so much to be thankful for.  We have one of the finest arts facilities in the country, if not the world, in the Detroit Institute of Arts. We have a premier destination for history in The Henry Ford. We have great architecture, great live theatres, professional teams in the four major sports, and other entertainment venues.  Our state has a great coastline, over 11,000 inland lakes, and lush woodland. Michigan has an excellent university system and is the headquarters for many major companies. These are just a few of things that make cities and our state great.

As a state, we need to stop relying so heavily on the automobile, both for our livelihoods and for our own transportation system. We need to have comprehensive transportation plans that include the automobile and truck, must also invests heavily in rapid urban transit, high speed rail between major cities, and allows cars to share the road with bicycle and other forms of transportation.

Michigan is a great place to live and Detroit is the city that I love to live in. By applying urbanist principles to our city, we can make it an even better city to live in.