"If we open a quarrel
between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future"
Winston Spencer Churchill
The
November 8 election is probably more crucial to Detroit’s future than
arguably any City election in the past. The election of Mayor offers
contrasting personalities and styles and voters must decide who will be best
suited to solve the City’s budget, education, public safety and taxation
issues. These solutions will determine whether the City stays out of
receivership, whether the public school system continues to contribute to
the exodus of Detroit’s residents in search of better education, whether
reliable public safety and containment of crime invites businesses and
residents back to the City and whether the high level of taxation, both
income and real estate, continue to be barriers to repopulation.
The Board of Education
election is crucial to the City’s future as the Detroit Public School
System faces its own financial crisis, loss of students, school closures and
quality of education issues. In addition, the new School Board will be
selecting the new School Superintendent, who will provide leadership in the
issues mentioned above.
The Detroit City Council is
in dire need of new blood to go with some of the well established incumbents
who undoubtedly will be re-elected. Most importantly, the new City Council
needs to find a way to work with the elected Mayor to facilitate the
solution of the City’s problems.
The first Mayoral debate
between Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and challenger Freman Hendrix before the
Detroit Economic Club points to a heated and nasty campaign. The Mayor
accuses the challenger that during the Archer-Hendrix administration basic
services such as snow removal, grass cutting and garbage collection were not
provided to the citizens of Detroit, that the east riverfront warehouse
district businesses were uprooted because of the failed attempt to co-locate
the three casinos there and that the City was left with a $70 million
deficit at the end of their term in office.
The challenger contests that
a blueprint for dealing with the deficit was left for the mayor to implement
but instead the deficit ballooned to $300 million because of inactivity and
that the image of Detroit has suffered because of the Mayor’s patronizing
of family and friends and questionable expenses on his City credit card.
Through it all, Detroit
voters will have to decide who is best equipped to lead Detroit out of its
serious problems in the next four years. Instead of being drawn into the
debate of whether the past under Archer-Hendrix or the present under Mayor
Kilpatrick was better or worse, the key issue is not to lose sight of the
future. n
