Laura Berman

Kresge head already sees resurgence in Detroit

The news is "completely positive." "Extraordinary." "A story arcing in all the right directions."

These utterances trip off the tongue of Richard "Rip" Rapson, the Kresge Foundation president. He's talking about Detroit, not San Francisco or Paris, and Laura Trudeau, who heads Kresge's Detroit program, nods her assent.

This is the same Rapson who has repeatedly warned that without quick signs of change, he and other philanthropy executives would lose patience and interest in investing in the city's revival.

Kresge has already ladled millions of dollars into the Detroit resurrection stew, funding everything from developing entrepreneurship to the Detroit RiverWalk, to paying the salary and staff costs of Toni Griffin, an urban planner now working for the city.

Far from being discouraged after moving from Minneapolis, where he headed the McKnight Foundation and served as deputy mayor, Rapson is more hopeful than ever about the city.

Rapson hasn't weathered decades of Detroit ups and downs -- he's been here for four years -- but he's largely encouraged by Mayor Dave Bing's administration and what he views as a steady, disciplined approach to assessing the city's strengths and weaknesses.

"Things are beginning to take shape and gain momentum in Detroit in a way that's extraordinary," says Rapson.

Far from being daunted by the ups and downs of the past year, Rapson is energized. He praises Bing's clarity of purpose and emphasis on the integrity of his staff. Ideas that were controversial a year ago -- from remapping the city's functional boundaries to creating light rail -- are moving forward.

Griffin is "the real deal," he says, and working with staff at looking at the city's resources, from the way its water lines and lighting are laid out, to where the city's children live to reinvent the shape of the city.

Even as Detroit's urban prairie spreads, its school system deteriorates, and its middle class residents move elsewhere, Rapson sees tangible evidence of change in the conversation and the culture of Detroit.

He and Trudeau contend that national interest in Detroit, from foundations and the federal government, is keen, in part because Bing's effort to restore the city's fiscal stability are "disciplined, systematic, completely focused."

Rapson can tick off these events, soon unfolding.

• Housing incentives in the Midtown area, backed by Wayne State University, the Detroit Medical Center and Ford Health Systems, that will encourage workers to live in Midtown, helping to boost the Woodward corridor.

• An appearance here by the U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood next Monday awarding a $25 million federal grant to spur development of a largely privately funded light rail line from the Riverfront to the New Center.

• A potential fellowship at Wayne State University that would put energetic urban planners and other professionals to work within Detroit organizations already working to solve the city's problems.

The news for now, though, is that Kresge's commitment isn't waning but growing.

lberman@detnews.com (313) 222-2032