Metro

'Katrina Happened In Detroit

V

Native Detroiter tells it like it is — and can be.

Judith Doner Berne
Special to the Jewish News

T

o writer/editor Daniel Okrent,
a graduate of Detroit's Cass
Technical High School, the city's
future depends on turning around its
schools.
In both his prepared remarks and in
answer to questions from among the more
than 350 who turned out on a rainy May
evening at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in
Southfield, the native Detroiter made his
point:
• When the car companies and other
industries revive, their largest obligation
to the city is an educated workforce.
• When land and labor gets cheap,
people will come — but not while schools
are Detroit's No. 1 problem.
• The light rail project will help bring
young and old into the city — but not
families unless something can be done
about the schools.
As part of the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit Women's Department
Food for Thought series, Okrent's "hybrid"
talk combined his participation in an
ongoing Time Inc. report on Detroit and
a preview of his new book, Last Call: The
Rise and Fall of Prohibition.

The Detroit Story
What's happening in Detroit "is the most
extraordinary story going on in the coun-
try:' Okrent said as reason for the year-
long examination of the city by a live-in
(Indian Village) team from Time, Fortune,
Sports Illustrated and Money magazines.
It also prompted his participation,
although "I'm mostly retired from Time,"
he noted.

"HOW

incredible
it was to
grow up
in the
'50s in Detroit when
the city was rich and
vibrant. To see it in
this condition is really,
really heart breaking."

- Daniel Okrent

"Katrina happened in Detroit, but it
took 40 years, not overnight:' said Okrent,
who graduated from the University
of Michigan, always wanted to live in
Sherwood Forest and still sings the praises
of Lafayette Coney Island.
"How incredible it was to grow up in the
'50s in Detroit when the city was rich and
vibrant:' he recalled. "To see it in this con-
dition is really, really heart breaking."
His article "Detroit: The Death — And
Possible Life — Of A Great City" led off
the Time series Sept. 24, 2009. He blamed
the demise on overdependence on an auto
industry and a government that allowed
that industry to play by weakened rules.
"When you lean on government to give

a wider berth, you are messing with the
market:' Okrent said.
County divisions also have hurt Detroit,
he said.
"The artificiality of Eight Mile Road
defining what your life is like is a deep
tragedy:' he said.
Okrent is currently working on a piece
about the role of culture in the city. "Its
an important part of Detroit:' but how
do you get people to give money to arts
institutions when people don't have food
or housing?
"My friends Larry and Penny Deitch"
— he's the U-M regent and they live in
Bingham Farms — were the initial tour
guides for the team of journalists, he said.
Since then, his colleagues have written
nine major pieces, including stories on
urban farming ("It's nice, but it's not a
solution:'); promoting the city ("We got
five major advertising agencies to com-
pete. The public voted for the campaign
that Campbell-Ewald Advertising cre-
ated:'); and profiles of Mayor Dave Bing,
Chief Wayne County Prosecutor Kym
Worthy and state-appointed Detroit Public
Schools Emergency Financial Manager
Robert Bobb.
"Eight months into it, we're telling the
story and finding some points of hope
Okrent said.
In addition, the project has led other
news media to do their own reporting.

The Prohibition Era
Okrent, who was the New York Times' first
public editor, was also at the podium to
peddle his new book on prohibition that
"has a lot in it about Detroit. Our home-
town was the wettest city in the country.
"Liquor was the second-largest business

behind the car and before the chemical
industry:' he said.
With Canada providing most of the
nation's liquor, "so many boats were cross-
ing the Windsor-Detroit border that it was
called the Mosquito Fleet.
"The great irony is that in Detroit and
the rest of the country, it became harder
[through government regulation] to get
a drink after prohibition than during;'
Okrent said. "If we suddenly legalized
marijuana, those same laws of control
might lead to less abuse'
"I had a moment of nostalgia;' Barbara
Grant said, following Okrent's presenta-
tion.
She recalled her dad telling stories of
picking up liquor at the Detroit River
when he was a young man.
But Grant, a West Bloomfield resident,
also weighed in on what Okrent had to say
and write about Detroit. "He told us what
we needed to hear:' she said.
"I was very impressed with the breadth
of his knowledge on a number of eco-
nomic and social issues:' said Jacob
Schwarzberg, a Southfield resident who
is a Detroit city prosecutor and former
Detroit police officer. "I liked that he fore-
sees a brighter Detroit:'
"I think he thinks there's a glimmer
of hope said Susie Citrin, president of
the Women's Department of the Jewish
Federation. "Not just the city — all of us
have to pick up our tuches (rear ends) and
work."
Some members of the audience were
dismayed that Okrent only spoke and
answered questions for about 30 minutes.
"It was too short:' said Jim August from
Bloomfield Township. "I wanted more
said Peggy Frank of West Bloomfield. ❑

Youth Wins Scholarship

Brian Pesis,18, son of Clara and Jack Pesis, is this year's winner of the
Farmington Hills-based Adat Shalom Synagogue Jay Yoskowitz Israel
Scholarship Fund.
Pesis has completed his first year in the Stephen M. Ross School of Business
at the University of Michigan. His Israel experience will start this summer in
Volunteers for Israel's International Youth Program, when he will live and work on
an army base. He then will volunteer with Project Leket's Israel National Food
Bank.
In the fall, he will begin a Birthright Israel experience, a first-time educational
Israel trip for Jewish young adults.

Brian Pesis of Farmingto Hills flanked by Adat Shalom Rabbis Herbert

Yoskowitz and Aaron Bergman

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May 27 - 2010