One D lays out goals to improve region

Source: The Detroit News
By: David Josar
Published: Friday, June 01, 2007

Group hopes to build transit system by 2015, wants all kids to be literate.

MACKINAC ISLAND -- All children in Metro Detroit will read at grade level and a true regional transit system will be in place by 2015, according to specific goals listed Thursday by the fledgling One D group.

The people driving One D, a consortium of six powerful Metro Detroit civic organizations, gave details for the first time here of what they wanted to accomplish in their initiative to bolster southeast Michigan.

"We don't want young people leaving and no one coming here," said Richard Blouse Jr., president of the Detroit Regional Chamber, one of the groups behind One D.

The group has promised solid benchmarks that will measure the group's success or failure.

Among those goals for Metro Detroit:

# Job growth would be in the top 25 percent of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in America.

# Per capita income growth would be in the top 25 percent of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in America.

# Increase the percentage of residents who are self-sufficient.

# By 2010 improve by 20 percent how the region is viewed nationally.

# Move into the top 10 of largest metropolitan areas in terms of the number of individuals with post-secondary education.

# By December 2008, have support for regional transit and the supporting legislation in all communities to establish a regional transportation authority.

The goals may seem lofty, but the group said it believes that focus and mobilization make the benchmarks achievable.

United Way for Southeastern Michigan President Michael J. Brennan noted that 8,000 people volunteered during Super Bowl XL last year to guide visitors along the streets of Detroit toward Ford Field. That total is the same as the number of third-graders in the region who can't read at grade level, he said.

"If you can get those same volunteers working with those children you can have change," Brennan said.

One D, spearheaded by Edsel Ford II, involves the Detroit Regional Chamber, Detroit Renaissance, New Detroit, the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Cultural Alliance ofSoutheastern Michigan and the United Way for Southeastern Michigan.

Leaders promised to issue annual report cards on progress in five areas residents agreed are important: economic prosperity, educational preparation, quality of life, race relations and regional transit.

Despite the gripes area residents may have, the region has many assets, such as a low cost of living and top-notch health care, said Larry Alexander, president of the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"There are things we have in our region that other places would love to have," he said.

And while Metro Detroit remains one of the most segregated areas of the United States, One D leaders touted the racial diversity as an asset.

"Young people don't want to live in a place where everyone looks like them," said Shirley Stancato, president of New Detroit.

Stancato said the area needs to attract and keep adults between the ages of 21 and 34. "Racial diversity is a key," she said.