New Year, New Hope

Thank God 2009 is over - that is one year Detroit could have done without. It almost closed with a bang, but thankfully, we did not have a Christmas-day catastrophe courtesy of Mr. Abdulmuttallab.

Anyways, some good news to start the new year.

The Auto Show is showing more life this year than last, and we have had some good Congressional participation. Hopefully, the government will "get it" now that it has some skin in the game. The feds are even pitching in with money ($223 m) to raze or fix 4,000 buildings in Michigan, which would be great (http://detnews.com/article/20100115/METRO/1150375/1409/METRO/Feds-award-Michigan-$223M-to-fix-up-or-raze-4-000-buildings) - 20% of the funds will go to Detroit.

Of course, our state legislature is still in gridlock, but hopefully new indications that the people of Michigan are willing to pay more in taxes (http://detnews.com/article/20100115/POLITICS02/1150373/1022/Polls-say-Michiganians-back-higher-taxes) will sway the government to some rational decisions. As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society." Frankly, we really cannot cut too much more. Government can certainly become more efficient, but cutting good programs is not an acceptable answer.

Mayor Bing and a new City Council have been sworn in - they have a lot of work to do, but I think they have as good a chance of fixing our mess as any. Even more importantly in my view, Robert Bobb has been extended with Detroit Public Schools.

Let us hope and pray that 2010 is better for Detroit and Michigan than last year and that we finally begin the long awaited Renaissance.