[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 108 (Thursday, July 25, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5960-S5961]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             UNSEEN DETROIT

  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, when people across the country flip on 
the news tonight, they are probably going to see pictures of Detroit. 
They aren't going to be flattering pictures, and they are not going to 
tell the whole story.
  There is no question that the Detroit city government is going 
through an extremely difficult financial crisis, and there are many 
causes for that.
  There are more than 20,000 people--retired police officers and 
firefighters and teachers and city workers--who have been loyal and 
hard-working employees their entire lives, who are now worried about 
how they are going to pay the mortgage or put food on their tables.
  The TV cameras are rolling when it comes time to show us bad news 
about Detroit, but what aren't we seeing?
  On TV, they aren't showing us the city that is the No. 1 market in 
the country for tech jobs--No. 1. They aren't showing a city that is 
one of the fastest growing in the country for new manufacturing jobs. 
On TV, they aren't showing us the city that is undergoing a massive 
revitalization, with businesses and religious leaders and community 
leaders and neighborhoods working together every day. They aren't 
showing us the Quicken Loans headquarters with 7,000 jobs in downtown 
Detroit; a CEO so committed to the city that he closed a beautiful 
building in the suburbs to bring people downtown; a CEO who is 
purchasing properties and investing in so many ways in Detroit, along 
with a wonderful coalition of business leaders committed to the 
revitalization of this great city. They aren't showing us the beautiful 
renovation of Campus Martius and the amazing things happening downtown 
on Woodward Avenue, where people can go on any day now and see people 
who are there--younger people, older people--enjoying the beautiful 
surroundings.
  They aren't showing us the surge of innovative companies that are 
breaking new ground in creating opportunity in Detroit.
  On TV, they aren't showing us the new Elijah McCoy Patent and 
Trademark Office--the very first and, so far, only satellite patent 
office in the country that was put in Detroit. Why? Because Michigan 
happens to be No. 1 in new, clean energy patents--new ideas on clean 
energy, coming from Detroit and the surrounding communities. They are 
not showing us TechTown and the venture capitalists and the 17 tech 
startups that are investing in technologies that are being developed in 
Detroit right now and that are going to change our lives in the years 
to come. On TV, they aren't showing us Michigan's world-class research 
universities and the incredible collaboration that is going on with 
Detroit businesses.
  They are not showing us the rich depth of culture we are known for in 
Detroit. The city that gave the world Motown once again has an 
exploding arts and music scene. In fact, last weekend, in beautiful 
Traverse City, MI, I was speaking to someone who lives there who said 
his sister is coming back from Colorado who is an artist; she is moving 
to Detroit. When he asked her why, she said Detroit is where everybody 
is going because there are so many opportunities there in arts

[[Page S5961]]

and culture. There are exciting things happening. We have the beautiful 
Detroit Institute of Arts, one of the largest and most important 
collections of artwork in the country.
  Jack White, the founder of the band, the White Stripes, stepped up 
and paid off with his own money the back taxes owed on the Masonic 
Temple in Detroit, one of the most stunning theater and music venues in 
the world.
  Story after story such as that can be told of people coming forward 
and saying: We are going to make sure that Detroit is coming back.
  On TV, they are not showing us Eastern Market, the Nation's longest 
continuously operated farmers market, and all the great things that are 
happening there, with new test kitchens and local agriculture. In fact, 
as chair of the Agriculture Committee, I was so proud to learn that we 
in Detroit have the national leaders in urban agriculture who are now 
creating jobs working with small business to create food entrepreneurs 
and healthy foods for families and neighborhoods.
  I am so proud of the work we have been able to do with the Detroit 
Public Schools. Not long ago I stood at a school garden in a 
neighborhood that was put together by the children of the school. We 
now have 46--46--gardens at schools in Detroit, and in the summer the 
neighborhood makes sure they can help get the work done for the gardens 
so the children can have fresh fruits and vegetables when they come 
back to school.
  Last month Whole Foods opened their first grocery store in Detroit, 
where they are featuring local foods such as Avalon baked goods and 
McClure's pickles and Good People Popcorn and Garden Fresh salsa and so 
many other things that are made right in the metro Detroit area.
  We might just see a shot of the bridge to Canada on TV, but what we 
will not see is the more than $1 billion in trade that crosses that 
border every single day. Metro Detroit, in fact, is the fourth largest 
city in America for exports, and we have the largest, busiest northern 
border crossing in the country.
  While the cameras are obsessed with showing us decay, we are seeing 
an auto industry that is roaring back. We are seeing the Chrysler plant 
that the New York Times called one of the most modern and successful 
auto plants in the world, in Detroit. That plant employs more than 
4,000 people and added a third shift at the end of last year to build 
the Jeep Grand Cherokee.
  Ford Motor Company reported record North American profits in the 
second quarter and growth in every sales region.
  GM's global sales are up, and they too are making record profits 
again, hiring workers and investing in new plants and technologies.
  So while it is true that the city government is going through a 
terrible time and a bankruptcy, and that process will be very painful 
and very difficult for many people in the city--many people who work 
very hard--it would be a mistake to count Detroit out. It would be a 
mistake to think there isn't opportunity in our great city of Detroit. 
It would be a mistake to think Detroit isn't coming back, because if a 
person is going to say anything about Detroit, a person has to say: 
Times may be tough, but so are the people of Detroit. Times may be 
tough, but the leaders, the businesses, the educators are tough. Our 
people, our businesses, are smart and talented and care deeply and are 
committed to making sure this great city called Detroit comes roaring 
back better than ever.
  Thank you, Mr. President.

                          ____________________