Noel Night, Mayor Bing, and words from nearly 50 years ago

The following was written by United Way SEM's President and CEO, Michael J. Brennan, on his Facebook page shortly after the 2009 Noel Night.

Noel Night in Detroit's mid-town was an energizing evening. Food, culture, entertainment,and learning swept over all walks of life in this pocket of Detroit. Traffic was backed up, shops were full, and sidewalks were spread with a collection of friends and strangers. There was a buzz and genuine joy in celebrating the many offerings of the season. I heard frequently, "Isn't it great to see Detroit so busy!"

The answer is yes.

Clearly, there is an emerging momentum forming in the mid-town area. Talk with the owner's at City Bird, Motor City Brewery Works, the Green Garage...and you will here about a story of restoration and renewal. These champions, along with many others, are shaping a community within Detroit that represents what many aspire for the greater urban setting.

There are many puzzles that face Mayor Bing and every other individual that is playing a role to the future of the city. One of the central puzzles is how do you get a city of 139 square miles and a population around 800,000 generate the vitality felt during Noel Night. Most experts today would share they a city must have sufficient dense concentration of people.

Hence, the re-imagining of Detroit that is taking place today must practice an important leadership duality: bold vision that moves others to action while nurturing the small sprouts of development that is leading towards that future state. Leaders will need a fierce commitment to the long view (20 years as Mayor Bing describes: http://bit.ly/7uSXkw) with a concentration and focus on building momentum with short term wins.

Leadership, courage, and commitment to the long haul will be essential elements of the 20 year journey Mayor Bing describes. This is not new, overnight, or without past valiant efforts. But the brutal fact is we are living in the time of consequences for the decisions made 100, 50 and 20 years ago. What was the diagnosis 50 years ago?

Take a look at a view written by Jane Jacobs (http://bit.ly/7tZq2D) in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities in 1961. That is right, 1961, several years before the ever defining riots.

"It (Detroit) is ring superimposed upon ring of failed gray belts. Even Detroit's downtown itself cannot produce a respectable amount of diversity. It is dispirited and dull, and almost deserted by seven o'clock of an evening." pg. 150

"Thus researchers hunting the secrets of the social structure in a dull gray-area district of Detroit came to the unexpected conclusion there was no social structure." pg. 68

"Detroit is largely composed, today, of seemingly endless square miles of low-density failure. pg.204

There were great leader's in this city, region and state 50 years ago when this was written. Yet, we never made the decisions necessary to put the city, region and state on a sustainable path. And as Jane Jacobs said in her book, "...it is too bad it is so; too bad for the people who live there now, too bad for the people who are going to inherit it in future out of their lack of economic choice, and too bad for the city as a whole."

I recognize this is nothing much new for those who have lived in and loved this community. My point here is this: the twenty year walk to a city of sustainability and health will rest on the many decisions being made NOW. The two vital levers in my view is education(which will have to be a different article) and a sustainable land use strategy. The courage to re-imagine and act on moving the 139 square mile footprint of the city from "seemingly endless square miles of low-density failure" to one of high density mix use areas similar to the emerging mid-town of Detroit will be a legacy worth passing on.

Related links:

• Michael Brennan on Facebook
• Michael Brennan on Twitter