Detroit can't prosper with just the East Villages and the Woodward corridor. There are too many other areas — Jefferson-Chalmers, Corktown, Rosedale Park — that matter and have the clout to be heard. But you've got to start somewhere, and a train along Woodward past major employers isn't a bad idea.

And having the police live in the city where they serve has got to help. Police won't feel so much like an occupying force, and citizens may feel more kindly to a police force that has officers they know from the hood.

When I moved to the Greenacres neighborhood in 1995, a cop lived three doors down. It didn't hurt my sense of security to see his cruiser out front some nights. I can't remember whether he moved after the Legislature removed the residency rule or not, but, these days, that place is vacant and the biggest eyesore on the block, with bricks literally falling from one corner, leaving a portal for creatures and the weather to do more damage. It'd be nice to have someone move in and fix the place up.

Mine isn't one of the designated neighborhoods for the Project 14 pilot program. But a successful pilot program usually breeds more and bigger of the same. Greenacres is on the north end of Detroit's Woodward corridor. The light rail project is supposed to eventually make it out to Eight Mile Road. Maybe there's hope. In the meantime nobody is paying me to stay, but I'm not going anywhere.

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