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The Master Plan: Detroit In Motion

The Master Plan: Detroit In Motion image
Parent Issue
Day
12
Month
August
Year
1976
OCR Text

THE MASTER PLAN:  Detroit In Motion

By Nadine Brown

"Renaissance" is defined as a rebirth, a revival. The term is taken from the great revival of art and learning Europe in the I4th, 15th and 16th centuries.

The fabulous structures rising rapidly along the riverfront of our fair city, depicted in a slide film last year as the creation of "a second renaissance," are part of a rebirth that has been going on for nearly four decades.

Right in the middle of those soon-to-be-towering buildings is the awe-inspiring complex called the Renaissance Center, which has already attracted tenants who have leased some 20 per cent of the over two-million square feet of office space.

Detroit, with its port to world trade, is one of the most strategic cities, not only in Michigan but in the nation. It has, without a doubt, the potential for becoming once again a dynamic center of progress. And no one in his or her right mind would reject a rebirth from the old and outmoded to new and progressive methods to enhance the welfare of this city and its citizens.

But many people who have been victims themselves, or have watched developments of the plan -which really began to take shape in the late '30's. under the persistent direction of the late Mayor Albert Cobo (for whom Cobo Hall was subsequently named')- and seen the resulting human suffering, have some nagging doubts about their future.

Despite recent assurances and some visible progress on long-awaited building activities in the central city, many citizens who remember the unfulfilled promises of the past cannot shake off their apprehension. "Seeing is believing," they say.

This concern is not prompted simply by the isolated build-up of downtown and along the perimeter of the city. Most would welcome those developments if it were not for the obvious.and prolonged lack of official consideration for the plight of the black and poor minorities who have consistently suffered while wealthy whites have taken over the grand structures.

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