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Harper’s
takeaway
message
in
achieving
one’s
dreams
and to
make a
difference,
is to
overcome
fear can
which
can
aspirations.
Harper’s
definition
of Fear
is
“False
evidence
appearing
real.”
(Photo
by HB
Meeks/Tell
Us
Detroit)
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The
Detroit
2020
Policy
Conference
ends
with
high
hopes
for the
coming
decade
By
Karen
Hudson
Samuels
Tell Us
Detroit
DETROIT
-
Defining
Detroit’s
future
in the
next
decade
was the
theme of
2020
Detroit
Policy
Conference
Wednesday
at the
Motor
City
Casino
Hotel.
Elected
officials,
entrepreneurs
and
thought
leaders
from
community
groups
gathered
to share
their
outlook
on the
city’s
future.
The city
that
created
living
wages,
the
forty
hour
week
work and
profit
sharing
and
empowered
families
to buy
homes is
evolving
said
Dennis
Archer
Jr. of
the
Detroit
Regional
Chamber
who
delivered
the
opening
remarks
of the
conference.
Archer
then sat
down for
a 30
minute
conversation
with
Mayor
Mike
Duggan,
to
discuss
the
transformative
renovation
the city
is
experiencing
in its
neighborhoods
and
industrial
landscape.
Mayor
Duggan
praised
General
Motors
CEO Mary
Barra
for
changing
course
in
deciding
not to
close
Detroit-Hamtramck
Assembly
at a
time she
was
being
widely
criticized
for
announcing
its
closure.
“I just
called
her in
the
middle
of the
chaos,
she
answered
the
phone
and we
talked
for a
long
time”
said
Duggan;
who
urged
Barra to
take the
risk of
a big
investment
in the
future
of
automation
and
electric
vehicles.
Ultimately,
General
Motors
announced
a $2.2
billion
dollar
investment
to build
an
entirely
new
Detroit
Hamtramck
plant
that
will
manufacture
electric
vehicles.
The
conversation
then
shifted
from
industrial
investment
to the
U.S.
Census
and the
redevelopment
along
Livernois
Avenue
in
northwest
Detroit.
The
streetscape
along a
stretch
of
Livernois
came
about
said
Duggan
because
folks
wanted
services
in their
neighborhood.
Having a
great
commercial
strip
along
the
Avenue
of
Fashion
was an
idea
that led
to
meetings
during
the
summer
of 2018
with
business
owners
and
hundreds
of
residents
who were
presented
designs
to
create a
new
roadway.
The
collective
wisdom
of the
community
resulted
in a $17
million
improvement
along
Livernois
with
three
lanes of
traffic,
no more
median
down
middle,
wider
sidewalks,
bike
lanes
and
outdoor
patio
space.
Duggan
said “If
you
haven’t
been
there,
go on a
Friday
or
Saturday
night,
come see
what’s
going
in”
adding
that in
last
twelve
months,
thirteen
new
businesses
have
opened
along
Livenois
most of
them
black
owned,
The
importance
of the
census
on April
1st was
stressed
by the
Mayor
who said
an
undercount
of about
30,000
in the
last
census
cost the
city
millions
that
could
have
gone to
school
lunches,
Medicaid
and
other
programs.
The
Federal
government
cut
funding
for the
2020
census
and
there is
no
office
of the
U.S
Census
Bureau
in
Detroit,
instead
it is
located
in
Chicago.
The
Mayor
said
Washington
has
shown no
interest
and has
spurred
fear
among
immigrants;
to
dispel
apprehension
Duggan
emphasized
that the
Census
counts
inhabitants
not
citizens.
To
boost
census
turnout
the city
has $1.7
million
dollar
campaign
with a
network
of count
locations
in the
neighborhoods
and jobs
at
$24.00
an hour
to work
on the
census.
The
Mayor
said
trust
and the
voices
of the
ethnic
and
minority
communities
are
important
to
encourage
participation
in the
census
count.
An
important
issue
for
local
and
regional
businesses
is to
attract
and
retain.
Tell Us
USA News
Network
caught
up with
volunteer
Ambassadors
of
“Let’s
Detroit”
in the
exhibition
space
for
community
groups.
“Let’s
Detroit”
mission
is
connect
talent
with a
network
of
professionals
who know
Detroit
and
guide
talent
to
initiatives,
people
and
events
that are
having a
positive
impact
on the
region.
The next
decade
will
rest
with the
likes of
“Let’s
Detroit”
and its
Ambassadors.
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