The greatest gift a society can give itself is a sense of community. The connection shared by one another creates a belonging and a land of growth. It is easy to point to an unequal burden, but it is honest to understand the justice regional transit will create. The Metropolitan Detroit area is still cited as enormously segregated. This is in spite of burgeoning experiences in dining and entertainment between the city and the suburbs.
For a long time Detroit has felt comfortable with defining itself with roads. Instead of seeing 8 Mile as a gateway from east to west, it has been commonly cited as a wall between north and south. Instead of finding commonality in the names of corridors, we grasp onto the multitude of municipal names to define us. As Robert Frost writes how "Something there is that doesn't love a wall," the Detroit area must recognize a sense of shared community, responsibility, and graciousness toward one another.
The Regional Transit Authority explains the need for regional transit to support job growth, senior independence and mobility for those with disabilities. But if someone has a job and feels independence and mobility should be self reliant, then regional transit does not make sense. If the transit plan doesn't reach out to the far flung expanses of suburban sprawl, then it may not seem like a wise investment. It also means that someone is missing the point of regional transit.
Mass transit, in any major population center in the world, works from the inside out. People may have to drive to the Metra lines in Chicagoland and Londoners may have to walk, bike, or ride for an underground/overground station to the city center. Regional transit is about bringing people together rather than curb side service. It is about reliable mutual benefit instead of inching commutes with one-person to a car.
Possibly the professional athletic field can provide some insight. Sports fans proudly recognize how the Detroit Red Wings, the Detroit Lions, the Detroit Tigers and possibly the Detroit Pistons will all play within blocks of each other in Detroit, but some fail to see how camaraderie exists beyond the parking lot or garage. This may be easier to understand in New York where the Giants and Jets play in New Jersey. Or maybe it is all the University of Michigan sweatshirted football fans seen in Metro Detroit talking about the Big House in Ann Arbor. A rail line from Detroit to Ann Arbor is included in the plan.
It is more than a game and it is more than going out to eat. It is about the education students need and employers having a competitive talent pool. Community, no matter how isolated it may seem, relies on interdependence for independence. It is time for a greater, regional community to bridge the artificial walls so easy to create. It is easy to say good fences make good neighbors, but it is honest to know that they do not. In Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" the narrator wonders what is being walled off. Detroit for too long has walled off progress forsaken on a road of fear. Regional transit would be the greatest gift the Motor City could give itself.