I have an idea that might work. What about a Detroit Regional Reconciliation Commission, maybe loosely based on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission after apartheid rule was overturned?

I can envision a commission comprised of persons from throughout the Detroit metro area, whose task would be to publically compile a biography or memoir of Detroit race relations over the last 60 years. The commission would conduct public hearings for a determined period of time. It would be an opportunity to publically acknowledge all the grievances that have plagued cooperation over that period — from housing and job discrimination to police brutality; from Coleman Young’s alienation of white residents and the business community to Kwame Kilpatrick’s corruption and scandals. After the public hearing process is over, a writer or team of writers assembles the memoir, which is then reviewed by the commission and released through possibly another public hearing process for community review and comment. This would literally be the book on how Detroit got to where it is today.

But it would also be the first step toward where the city and region will eventually go. My hope would be that the process would lead to the kind of community consensus and identity that simply doesn’t exist right now. I would also hope that membership on the commission would be broad enough and participation strong enough to lead to actual regional cooperation.

This idea may be a little Pollyanna-ish, but I’ve long believed that Detroit’s challenges are social — even spiritual — in nature, and even radical economic restructuring and rebranding won’t solve all its ills.

http://www.demographia.com/db-intlcbd.htm

Yes, that’s Wendell Cox’s site, but I’ve found his data to be accurate (once you know the actual measure). Let me put it to you this way, if 4.5% is too low, it’s certainly not materially off such that it would affect the logic. Detroit’s CBD employment probably isn’t much different from Columbus, but the metro employment base is vastly higher.

The radical rethinking process takes shape when they realize they really have nothing to lose and only then will the real extent of the latitude available manifest itself. You may recall St Bernard Parrish seceded and declared itself independant to receive federal and international aid post Hurricane and flood. Could Detroit vote to become a district or request protectorate status?

Aaron, in your free time would it be possible to include a reply link for the commentary? It would be easier to address an individual concern. Thanks TS

I never thought of Toronto as ever being a real industrial powerhouse like the rust belt cities were. (Obviously there were some factories, but that’s not what I mean.) I thought it really came up when capital started moving down from Montreal.

Having said that, I think this plan would be as good as I’ve seen. In particular, stopping construction of new highways (or expansion of existing highways) is imperative. What in the world are we doing building highways when we can’t maintain what we’ve already got?

Also: there’s a two-track railway tunnel between Detroit and Windsor, which feeds directly into the old Michigan Central station. It’s used for freight service, and could be used for passenger service if immigration and customs didn’t add an hour to train schedules.

My perception is that Toronto is a city that has embraced diversity, and that it’s downtown area is prospering. That’s why I thought it might be a model for for Rustbelt American cities.

Perhaps my perceptions are wrong. I know lots of Americans who like cities really like Toronto, and that city’s image and identity have been largely positive.

Regardless of who comprises the majority population, I think Midwestern cities have to find a way to embrace and leverage diverse ethnic and racial populations. To do so is difficult, but to not do so will be an economic disaster.

Per your example of Montreal, investor confidence is everything, and without a programmatic approach, confidence will continue to wane. Even if conditions are far from perfect, the knowledge that issues are being systematically addressed at the highest levels can have a profound affect in the marketplace.

I also don’t know how much you can compare our ethnic diversity to Detroit’s. For starters, it doesn’t look like Detroit is very diverse at all being overwhelmingly African-American. As a Canadian, I will just say I don’t understand American race relations. Toronto was pretty much white as snow until the 60s, so we never had any serious history of discrimination or any major civil rights issues. Maybe a more appropriate comparison would be Anglo/Franco tensions in Montreal, which has over the years scared away a lot of capital from the City (much to our benefit in Toronto).

All that said, as a Torontonian, I really do wish Detroit ‘got better.’ It’s the closest major American city to us unless you count Buffalo (which isn’t exactly Rome), so it seems bizarre we aren’t more connected. There’s always talk of a Windsor-Quebec Bullet Train. I’m not the biggest fan of HSR, but it’s always seemed weird to me that a relatively cheap bridge over the Detroit River (which would add a *major*, by Canadian standards, city) is never considered at all.