Choose the city: The best hope for Detroit is its people

A balanced budget in Detroit would be great. Mass transit would be amazing. Improved public schools would also be pretty sweet. However, Detroit's biggest asset is its people. And though, the writer says, times are tough, there is hope as long as Detroiters stay Detroiters.

Excerpt from the Detroit Free Press:

My friends around the country have stopped asking: What the heck are you doing in Michigan? Why are you roaming the streets of Detroit when you could be somewhere else?

They stopped asking because they finally get it: I wasn't sentenced to Detroit. I chose Detroit. Every time I enter a classroom and see a child smile, I see hope. Every time I see a new restaurant open, I see hope. Every time I welcome home a college student who wants to work in Detroit, I see hope. Every time I meet someone who just moved here from someplace else, I see hope.

Today, wherever you live in Detroit or its suburbs -- and those out-of-date '60s obstructionists who still want to hold up that wall better give it up, the wall is coming down! -- we should celebrate that we're still here, fighting for Detroit. I get letters from Detroiters around the world who fiercely protect the memory of what was and the dream of what can be. They, we, are all the capital Detroit needs to get better. We all must ask ourselves if we're doing all we should, all we can, to make it happen.

Read the entire article here.