Pulling together; Many leaders view regional thinking as imperative, but obstacles remain.(Special Report)

Crain's Detroit Business, April, 2003 by Kosdrosky, Terry

Byline: Terry Kosdrosky When backers of the Proposal K arts tax looked for a celebrity to sell the idea in Wayne and Oakland counties, consultants essentially said, ``Don't bother.'' They saw the region as so splintered that it needed a different front person and message for each county. That the proposal even made the ballot last year reflected progress in regional thinking.

That it failed, like a similar initiative in 2000, shows that ``region'' is still a foreign concept to thousands of people in Southeast Michigan. Business leaders, most recently Chrysler Group CEO Dieter Zetsche in a Detroit News interview, are pushing regional approaches to transportation, land use, Detroit development and arts funding. Thinking regionally is smart for business and...

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