By JACK LESSENBERRY
The economy may be dreadful, but that just may have helped foster something positive in Michigan's biggest city.
And that has to be good for the entire state.
There is a different atmosphere in Detroit these days, a city that not long ago seemed to be on another planet. Four years ago, the city was led by a "hip-hop" mayor famous for extravagant living, wild parties and behavior so outrageous that one out-of-town police force said it would no longer take responsibility for protecting him.
Today, there is a new spirit of something like sobriety. After Kwame Kilpatrick went off to prison in October, there seemed to be a collective sign of relief. Suddenly, Detroiters seemed to want sane, competent, grown-up leadership. Dave Bing, a sports hero turned successful businessman, was elected to replace Kilpatrick.
When he won a special election in May, most of the other major candidates bowed out of challenging the new mayor for the full four-year term that will be decided this November.
Then, on Tuesday, news surfaced that federal prosecutors were zeroing in on Monica Conyers, Detroit's most bizarre council member, who was linked to a sludge-hauling bribery scandal. Federal prosecutors reportedly offered her the chance for a plea bargain, something that would get her out of government.
Detroiters, who once might have rushed to the barricades at the thought of one of their leaders being indicted by the feds, seemed mainly relieved at the thought that one of the most embarrassing politicians in Detroit history might soon be gone.
"I mean, she gets into bar fights, she runs her mouth, she disrespects her fellow council members," said a 40-something woman having lunch at The Breakfast Place downtown. "I work for the city, so I don't want my name in the paper," she laughed.
"But she is outrageous."
Mrs. Conyers, the wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, has been something of a full-employment act for the news media and a source of embarrassment for the city, saying openly racist things, calling one council member "Shrek" and suggesting that another needed sex.
Whether she will leave voluntarily was not at all clear, but there was general happiness at the thought she might still be gone.
Meanwhile, while Detroit's new mayor tried desperately to deal with a huge budget crisis, Robert Bobb, the state-appointed Emergency Financial Manager, was trying to get city school finances under control. Other groups forged ahead with trying to get a new city charter, and change the city council to a more rational district system, rather than the current one where everybody is elected at large.
Detroit has a long way to go, and the city's biggest need is, as it has been for decades, jobs and investment. But level-headed grown-ups seem to be back in fashion and back in control.
And that can't be bad.
National economic summit
Detroit, or rather The Detroit Economic Club, held what was oddly billed as a "national economic summit" June 15-17 in the Renaissance Center.
The case can certainly be made that the nation needs an economic summit. But if it ever has a truly national one, it will probably be in New York or Washington, with opening remarks by the president and with someone like Warren Buffet or Bill Gates presiding.
The "national" meeting in Detroit included a healthy selection of Canadian business leaders as well. Important local worthies, including the presidents of the region's three major universities, were invited to speak. However, the leading expert on the Michigan economy, Michigan State University economist Charles Ballard, was nowhere to be found.
Speakers, however, did include the famously beautiful young woman Becky Quick, who hosts a cable TV show called Squawk Box.
The Detroit summit was not designed to produce a blueprint for the future, or any kind of action plan. Rather, it was a chance for leaders of automotive-related industries to air their thoughts and concerns, in a series of speeches and panel discussions.
Some of what was said was meant to be uplifting and inspiring. There was less government-bashing than usual, possibly because so much of the auto industry is heavily dependent on bailout funds.
William Clay Ford Jr., chair of the company that bears his name, argued that "green technology" was the key to Michigan being competitive in the future. Andrew Liveris, chairman of recession-plagued Dow Chemical, called on the nation to establish an industrial policy, something business leaders long have bitterly opposed.
Both men also served as co-chairs of the summit. And in what might be the meeting's most important development, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke invited both men to Washington, to discuss the idea of an industrial policy with the Obama Administration.
