“What drove me away (from Metro Detroit) was lack of leadership, lack of discipline and petty politics that accomplish nothing but make a bad situation worse. I’d wager this is what is driving a lot of people away from Michigan as well. The flapdoodle about Cobo simply makes me sigh. (It’s) business-as-usual petty politics surrounding something that should be a slam dunk, no-brainer, good-for-everyone project.”
That’s Peter Zeiler talking to Detroit News columnist Daniel Howes. Zeiler’s a talented, public-spirited Detroiter who recently relocated to the Carolinas.
Zeiler’s well-intentioned rant about Cobo could easily be expanded to other key issues that the region’s elected leaders have delayed action on for years, including Airport City, mass transit, and a compromise on the management structure of the Detroit water system which serves more than 100 suburban communities.
County executives, mayors, legislators and governors need the votes of people like Peter Zeiler. His decision on where he resides is a much more important vote than any lever he’ll pull at the ballot box.
2 Comments
Peter’s message needs to be piped from every skyscraper, and quietly played near each legislator’s bed while they sleep! The younger generations demand more results, more quickly, than our parents and grandparents did – a side-effect of modern society. As long as this state continues to push the accelerator and brake at the same time, we will continue to migrate to environments where our efforts produce results.
Forget about steering the boat in the right direction, get it turned rightside-up first!!
A link to this post will be in the March 5, 2008 issue of Regional Community Development News. It will be on-line March 6 at http://regional-communities.blogspot.com/ Please visit, check the tools and consider a link. Tom