Wow, this is really sort of enlightening for me, a 19 year old white male in Royal Oak (SE Oakland CO). I had no idea that there were any serious attempts at mass transit in the metro area. I guess I figured that the auto industy made it a non-issue. I never considered the suburb-city race issue. It stinks that the burbs would shoot stuff down like that. I have a feeling that many of my peers are just as in the dark on such political issues as I am.

Hopefully, when the next generation of white folks (my generation) becomes rich, we'll be somewhat more tollerant than our parents. Detroit's image, from the suburban perspective, is slowly improving, but it has a way to go. The rule for us suburbanites used to be "Detroit = death", now it's more "Detroit = risky". So I do think that mass transit in Detroit will happen. It'll just take awhile. Maybe I'll see it in my lifetime.