To provide economic hope, we must eliminate systematic racism. With white flight, many of the job producing companies have moved out of the city. With no rapid transit system, the poorest people among us, those without a reliable car, are unable to get to where the jobs are. Riding a bus, it can take much longer to get there, if the bus will even get them there.  The bus system is woefully insufficient for getting people to these jobs and two separate bus systems that are not coordinated make it even harder on those trying to get to jobs.  In order to provide economic hope, Detroit needs a legitimate rapid transit system.

We need true economic development. So much of our economic development in the suburbs has been at the expense of the city. Over many decades, businesses have been lured to the suburbs with suburban leadership stating that it is the market in action, ignoring that state and government policies have fueled these moves. But when a city decides to move from a suburb into the city, cries of unfair practices are screamed through every media outlet.

We need to stop the mindless and destructive us versus them, city versus suburb, metro versus outstate mentality that exists. To have healthy suburbs, we need a healthy city.  Healthy suburbs are spun off of a healthy city. We need to get out of the mindset that if the city wins, a suburb loses and vice versa.  Michigan needs to be one Michigan and stand up for each other rather than tear each other down.

Both the governor and the mayor, and all regional leaders, need to find ways of creating jobs in the poorest neighborhoods to rebuild the economic engine of the city and the state. The status quo of long term unemployment and lifelong poverty needs to be public enemy number one.