Minnesota college kids visit Detroit
From The Detroit News, April 2, 2011. My quote is correct, even though the reporter and I had a much longer chat. Never did hear from the college kids.

Last Updated: April 01. 2011 10:07PM
Minn. college students meet Detroit officials to tout revival plan
Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News

Detroit— Some called their road trip to Detroit refreshing. Others deemed it condescending.

Either way, five Bloomington, Minn., community college students made the rounds Friday from City Hall to Wayne State University to present their turnaround plan for Detroit. They've studied the Motor City all semester at Normandale Community College and traveled 700 miles to bounce their ideas off local leaders and see Detroit first-hand to learn more.

They huddled with Deputy Mayor Saul Green, six of Wayne State's top executives and Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee. The students were given a police-guided neighborhood tour and five tickets to Sunday's Detroit Red Wings game from the mayor's office.

And they even became brief celebrities, with a city bus driver recognizing them from a TV interview while they walked down Woodward.

Today, they expect to meet with Robert Bobb, the emergency manager for the Detroit Public Schools.

"I am so grateful and humbled that people have taken the time out to meeting with five college kids," said Dulcie Valusek, 21, of Eagan, Minn. "After these interviews, I have come to know we didn't really know Detroit. All I have heard about Detroit is it's a war zone and it's barely hanging on. But what I have seen is a community that is coming together.

"It's not helpless. It's not hopeless."

Their trip is a unique example of the heavy national interest in Detroit as a laboratory for urban reformers, with national groups pitching ideas to rescue the city. The five students contacted The News this week for help in reaching city officials before making the trip.

But it's caused controversy among those weary of outsiders claiming to have answers to problems that have bedeviled generations of Detroiters. And some residents were upset the five students chose to stay at a Farmington Hills hotel because of their parents' concerns for their safety.

Tom Page, a Midtown resident who offered to give the students a tour, said he appreciates their enthusiasm but said it's a slight to say: "We will study you, but we won't stay in the city."

Marcus Page, 20, of St. Paul, Minn, said he understands the backlash, adding the students meant no disrespect.

The students' plan includes dramatically boosting the size of Wayne State University, making Detroit known as an education hub and adding neighborhood service projects to high school courses. Page said they will retool their project with what they've learned during their visit.

Many of the ideas the students pitched — including growing the Midtown neighborhood — are being done, said Karen Dumas, a Bing spokeswoman, but she applauded them for going beyond their classroom.

"I'd like other people to do the same rather than pass judgment on the city," Dumas said.

The other students who came to Detroit are Jacob Mars, Katie Krout and Ari Werner. Another student, Tanner Moncrief helped with research but didn't make the trip.

cmacdonald@detnews.com

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