It is my honor to once again serve as president of the Gateway Community Organization (Gateway). Over the past few months I have attended many meetings, trying to understand how Gateway fits into the City of Detroit’s and the North End’ plans for the future. The more I heard, the more I began to feel a sense of urgency to return to community service, to do my part.
In the midst of Detroit’s resurgence, things are happening fast, and if YOU and I don’t STEP IT UP NOW, Gateway’s future will be planned by others. Gateway sits in the heart of Detroit; developers, realtors, community development corporations (CDCs) and others, are actively planning our future with minimal to no input from those of us who live in the Gateway Community. BOTTOM LINE: You and I need to begin working together to not only fulfill Gateway’s mission, but to ensure our collective voice is heard in every meeting and discussion that impacts the City, particularly the North End and Gateway.
Geographically positioned North of the Arden Park – East Boston Historic District, has led some to think, and say, Gateway is not a part of the North End. In fact, some Gateway streets have been left off planning maps and we’re not included in discussions regarding Gateway.
So, in this month of MAY, the month in which we honor mothers, let’s use a bit of “mother’s wit”; Let’s make our plan and work our plan for the betterment of our community. To borrow from Langston Hughes and Mahatma Ghandi…“Life…Ain’t been no crystal stair” so we need to “Be the change (we) wish to see in the world”.
Every adult, senior and youth in our community must do his/her part to return Gateway to the historic, beautiful and wholesome community it once was, positioning it for the future. A community in which each of us can proudly say: “I live in the Old North End” “A Community Working as ONE!”
‘WORKING TO ‘BRING BACK THE PRIDE’,
Electra
P.S. Let’s welcome our new neighbors, get to know them, be neighborly, and encourage them to get involved and be a part of Gateway’s change.