Can Detroit be fixed?

There is a lot of talk about who will be the mayor of Detroit in 2014. But who wants a city that has been on the decline for the last four decades, has lost residents every year for the last 40 years, is on the way to bankruptcy, has schools that are day-care centers more than education stations, crime is equated with the city, and there is the perception of pathological corruption?

There are some people who want fix the problems. There are some that have been around Detroit politics for a long time: Fred Durhal, Benny Napoleon and Mike Duggan,  and the let-me- have-a-go-at-its, Lisa Howze and Krystal Crittendon.

Some of these people are running for mayor because they feel it is their time; they have paid their dues and know the people and the city. There are some running because they feel the people of the city will vote for the person most like them. There are those that see “us versus them” as being the dominant politics of Detroit and hope people will vote on the basis of that.

The most amazing thing is that there are some young people who believe that the dream of M.L. King Jr. has moved to a living reality. They see the election of President Barack Obama as the surest sign that people are making decisions not based on the color of one’s skin but the content of one’s character. This was best demonstrated by the last national election in Detroit, when Gary Peters was endorsed by the young black clergy and others who called on voters to ignore the fact that he was not black. Peters will be the first white man in recent times to represent many of the black people in Detroit’s 14th congressional district.

This may be a sign of things to come. But my question is who, if anyone, can fix Detroit? There is no cry from the vox populi saying help fix this mess — just talk about it being a mess and who messed it up.

Maybe people have given up on Detroit being fixed ever again.