As we got on the tour bus in Detroit, I heard a familiar accent. There was an Englishman aboard and it wasn’t my husband.
“Please keep an open mind,” I pleaded. I explained that I lived in the UK for 5 years and that their press wasn’t very nice to our Detroit. He replied that the press around the world wasn’t kind to the Motor City either.
Touché, Mr. Englishman, touché.
Last week, I embarked on a two-day whirlwind of tours, panels, cocktails, and even a lunch with the Detroit Economic Club and Mayor Bing. The Detroit Regional News Hub, in an initiative called Transformation Detroit, gathered local, national, and international journalists to give them the information to report a balanced picture of Detroit.
How did I get invited? I’m not sure but I’m not complaining. Yes, for most of the ride they were preaching to the choir with me. I love Detroit. I know that this city and its people have tons to offer. Now, the rest of the world needs to know. 
Mayor Dave Bing speaking with Carol Goss & Timothy Leuliette before the presentation at the Detroit Economic Club.
At the Detroit Economic Club presentation, Mayor Bing said, “This is a great time to be in the city of Detroit because we can redefine who this city is to the rest of the world.”
Over the two days we were shown different ways that Detroit is redefining itself, from small businesses to urban farming to alternative energy. Mayor Bing told us that we’ll have an 8-10% increase in the health care industry and that Midtown will grow faster than the rest of Detroit.
We talked about urban revitalization and education. The overwhelming answer to our greatest asset was the people of Detroit; we are strong and resilient. The Mayor called us gritty and said that we will fight.
Let’s be sure to pick the right fight, Detroit. We need to fight for our city and region, not against it.
Addressing the out of town journalists, the Mayor said, “We don’t need people from outside of the city defining who we are.” And to be clear, he wasn’t speaking about the divide between the city and suburbs.
Shall we talk about that, though?
Suburbanites are “afraid” to go downtown. Unless a sporting event is going on, apparently, nothing bad happens while bats are being swung and skaters are taking each other to the boards. I won’t mention football; it’s best that way.
Parents warn their children about a city that they haven’t stepped foot in for ages.
It goes the other way too.
Urban dwellers, people who live in the city limits, look at you like you can’t possibly know or love Detroit because you live north of 8 mile. I’ve personally been snubbed because I live in the suburbs.
Eight Mile Road is Detroit’s own Mason-Dixon Line.
We’re our own worst enemy. What’s the saying, no one will love you until you love yourself? Yep, we have that problem here in Detroit.
This time the Englishman leaned over to me and asked if the tour was glossing over the bad. “Honestly,” I said, “they’re highlighting the good but we just drove by a burnt out house that you took a picture of; we can’t hide our problems here in Detroit.”
Mayor Bing had it right when he said, “The State goes as the city goes." Do you disagree? Are you so settled in your suburban or urban lives that you don’t see that we are part of our own problem?
The time is now, my friends. Our lives and livelihoods, our children and their education, our reputation as an innovative city (we were once called the Paris of the Midwest and were the hub of the industrial world), it’s all at stake.
“Detroit allowed me to be the best I could be.”
“This is the city I choose to live in.”
Those are the words of Phil Cooley, part owner of Slows Bar B Q and a General Contractor with O’Connor Development.
They could easily be my words.
So, can we get over our damn selves and come together? Right now?
All in all, I think the Englishman, and the journalists from Canada, Chicago, and elsewhere were impressed. They saw parts of Detroit that they had never knew existed. That goes for the local press, as well.
And I learned a few things too.
Most notably, we visited the Earthworks Urban Farm and Green Garage Detroit.
Darryl Howar, a trainee at Earthworks Urban Farm.
The Green Alley between Green Garage Detroit and Motor City Brew Works.
We listened to Asenath Andrews, the principal of the Catherine Ferguson Academy, an institute for middle and high school students who are pregnant or are parents, talk about the journey of her school and students.
Michael Score, a fantastic speaker and the president of Hantz Farms, told us about building a global center for urban agriculture here in Detroit.
Detroit is a city where anyone can come and be a part of something and change things, Cooley told us.
So, did the Englishman keep an open mind?
I think so. I left the Englishman and the other journalists from Toronto, Windsor, and Chicago feeling confident that they won’t pull a Dateline. We raised a pint and had dinner together; we discussed Detroit’s problems and the incredibly exciting things that are happening here.
And then it dawned on me. Maybe we’re trying too hard to get outsiders to like us. The Detroit love needs to start at home. In the city, in the suburbs, and in the state of Michigan.
After finishing the two-day Transformation Detroit media briefing my love for Detroit has grown but, as always, I feel the need to do more.
But really, Detroit? Is my love for you defined by a mile marker? Can we abolish this antiquated barrier? Please? It’s getting us nowhere.