wearin' me down

i love living in Detroit… of all the places we’ve lived, the wife thinks it’s the best place we’ve lived… though we’ve only lived in 3 places (Royal Oak, Farmington Hills and the D)… i agree with her… i love being able to walk to restaurants, the museum and cafes… i love seeing all the development and growth… i still love bringing people to the city and showing them all the cool things about it… i love the “realness” that comes with living in a city like Detroit as opposed to the “plasticness” that comes from living in the ‘burbs…

but lately, i’ve been burnt out on the D… the lack of cleanliness on our streets, the lack of lighting on our streets, the lack of leadership in our government, the homelessness, the crime, the dishonesty, the poor customer service… it’s all been taking it’s toll on me…

last week the wife and i were walking down Cass back to our place when a fellow asks us for some cash… says he’s got a flat tire and doesn’t have any cash, just his One card, that he’s not a bum… before i can even decide how i want to handle this guy, the wife says to him, “you just told me the exact same thing 3 days ago”… and the dude didn’t even flinch… he just kept walking…

when i first moved down, i was always willing to help out a bum if they wanted something… i usually wouldn’t give money, but i’d at least ask if they were hungry and if so, i’d buy ‘em something… now, sometimes i won’t even look at them…

to top it all off, we’ve got a racist city council… in light of the happenings with the zoo and the city council’s disagreement on how to handle it, they pulled out the race card saying that suburbanites (more specifically: whites) were trying to take over the city… now, i don’t have a problem with you not agreeing with whatever proposal is being put forward, but to play the race card!?!?!? the comments she made were absurd an appalling… i don’t care to put them up, but after all the good that’s come from SBXL we have to go back to the race card??? C’MON!!! that was the straw that broke my back…

it could be just the weather… i mean, if it were warm out, we’d be headin’ down to the river and walking around more and getting’ a better vibe in the city… maybe that’s what it is…

whatever it is… i hope it changes… i will continue thoughts on this on my other site…

Roger Penske’s Wisdom

Roger Penske did an incredible job with Superbowl XL… and after reading an article in the Free Press about how he handled all the ins and outs of the Superbowl, it only makes sense why the results were so positive… here’s a few things i’ve been able to glean from Penske’s wisdom and leadership that i believe led to the success of SBXL in the D:

Setting Deadlines and Goals – Penske stated, "The Super Bowl was a critical deadline for this city, and we moved forward, and we need to create new goal posts to get things done."

if you’ve ever read any book about leadership, self-help or personal growth, they all speak of setting and meeting goals… what i appreciated about what Penske was saying is that he stated that the whole city, property owners and business owners (not just the government) need to set these goals and move forward…

Avoiding Politics – Penske stated, "Great vision needs to be backed by full commitment from the private sector and also the government. We must continue to build partnerships for action with a strong commitment to the goals by government, our businesses and, most important, our citizens and our property owners"

while Penske made allusions to the government, it’s plain to see that he was more focused on the private sector… here i see that Penske sees how citizens cannot and should not depend solely on their government to bring about change in a city… here, Penske sticks it to the business owners and property owners… calling on them to create change… John Gallagher, who authored the article, pointed out Penske’s avoidance of divisive politics (which is pretty much the only kind of politics you can find these days)… this kind of tactic is exactly what this city needs and is something that i have been trying to promote in various writings of my own…

People First – Penske implicated that dealing with both homelessness and mass transit must be considered as major priorities for the well-being of the city… i like how he highlighted these issues because they deal first and foremost with the needs of the people who need the most… having the stadiums downtown is a big deal (without Ford Field, we never would have had SBXL) and working on the riverfront is essential, but for any city to really thrive, the needs of normal everyday people must be met… especially those who are less fortunate… it would be so easy for the city to just overlook the homeless and eventually move them out of areas of development… but it appears that Penske has put the needs of real people first… the establishment of a functional mass transit system will also meet the needs of those who cannot afford a car…

Thanking the little guys – at the end of his speech, Penske thanked bouncers, cab drivers, ushers and basically all the little guys who helped make SBXL a positive experience... as i was a volunteer at SBXL, that means something to me and i’m sure it means something to the other 7,999 who helped out… but it’s this kind of attitude that brings unity and ownership to the city… by publicly recognizing the need for the help of all people, big and small, Penske has brought unity to people who aren’t always united and promoted ownership of a city that needs people to really own it…

No finger pointing – while pointing out what needs to be done in the city, not once did Penske point a finger at anyone… he never accused property owners of abandoning their buildings… he never mentioned a corrupt city government… he never took a shot at Kwame… and while he did talk about things that needed to be done, he never did it in a negative manner… in today’s society of mud-slinging, slander and personal attacks, i long for leaders who can leave behind all that fluff and just get down to business…

hopefully the citizens and politicians of our city and metro area can learn from Penske… i hope he sticks around for a long time…

NFL Experience

wow, it has been a long time since i've posted anything on here!!! my bad... i've been posting mostly on my xanga site, a lot of stuff has been going on personally, so i post more where there is more going on in my life...

last night the wife and i went with a buddy of ours down to the NFL Experience in Downtown Detroit... it was a pretty great time!!! i was really surprised by the amount of people down there... at first i was a little worried that it was going to be too focused on kids and that i wouldn't have a lot to do, but that wasn't the case at all... they had tons of football related activities for both kids and adults...

our first stop was to take a pic with our heads super-imposed onto an NFL players body... of course i took a pic with the Lions' uniform (pictured left)... after that we went to the "Measure Up" exhibit... i liked this exhibit because they had molds and models of NFL players' body parts, so you could get an idea as to how big those guys really are!!! it was pretty impressive and made me feel really small (except when i weighed myself, that made me feel fat!)... after that we walked over to watch some Hall of Fame quarterbacks throw balls into targets... it doesn't very exciting, but it was pretty cool to see Joe Montana, Joe Theisman and Phil Simms up close... after that we went and did some interactive activities... this part of the Experience is like a theme park... you wait in line for like 10 minutes to do something that takes only 5 seconds!!! but just like a theme park, it's well worth it... they had several things to do like: kick a field goal, kick an extra point, throw a ball as far as you can, run the 40, catch a punt, measure your throwing accuracy and measure the speed of your throw... i tried to kick a field goal (missed), measured my accuracy (0-3!) and measured the speed of my throw (a paltry 37 mph)... after participating and witnessing other interactive activities, we grabbed some free Starbucks and free Chunky Soup and then walked through the paraphenelia store... man, that was the most NFL stuff i've ever seen anywhere... pretty sweet though!!!

the NFL Experience really made me respect the game and the players more... i wish i had stayed longer, but we wanted to experience more of what was going on downtown, only to find that it was rainy... i'd go back, but there are too many other things to do downtown before the weekend is over!!!