Governor Rick Snyder said he wants to see a stronger sense of urgency for action in Detroit.
He outlined his vision for the city in a speech to business leaders today.
Snyder’s vision includes Detroit being a manufacturing center that exports goods across the world; and a welcoming place for immigrants.
He said the city also needs to reverse the trend of young families fleeing the city.
“If we’re going to succeed, we have to have neighborhoods where people want to raise a family. They want to live there. They want their kids going to school. And they want an environment to say, ‘When you grow up, you can have a house in this neighborhood,’ because you can have your grandkids nearby. That has to be part of the vision,” said Snyder.
Snyder said the two groups that left Detroit in the greatest numbers over the past decade were adults aged 25 to 29, and children between five and nine.
The governor said progress is being made, but he wants to see a greater sense of urgency.
“But I’m not seeing it across the board yet about approaching problems. But why do we need that sense of urgency? One is it’s the best way to do things, is to just go after it. But one thing we need to recognize is that every day we don’t take action to move Detroit forward, we are moving backward,” said Snyder.
The governor said municipal bankruptcy is still not out of the question for Detroit.
