Urban Expert Gives City Pat On Its Downtown

This year will be a good one for downtown Ann Arbor, according to Guy Larcom, executive director of Ann Arbpr Tomorrow, a group of citizens interested m the revitalization of the central área. Last year and the ones before that have not been that bad in downtown Ann Arbor compared to many other cities, according to Saúl 'Seigel, who 'has traveled around the country and the world trying to determine what it was that made some cities successful in revitalization efforts. Seigel, a former consultant for urban affairs for the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, said he would rank Ann Arbor in the 70 to 80 percentile range if he were to grade it on the level of central city viability. That part of Ann Arbor is i'ar from dead, he said. Ann Arbor is doing an excellent job, according to Seigel, who is president of the Flint Area Conference, Inc., a nonprofit corporation similiar to Ann Arbor Tomorrow. "That is quite a statement coming from an Ohio State gradúate," Seigel said. Seigel said he has become a urban philosopher due to the amount of travel to cities around the country and world made possible by the generosity of his boss. Larcom said the first new city plan since 1962 would be completed thjs year I and traffic and parking solutions would begin to be developed. The AAT executive also pointed to the upcoming shuttle and trolley. There are more major projects coming every month, he said. Larcom did not name them. He also said there has been superior cooperation from the city. AAT President Franz Mogdis said the organization was putting together a very positive, progressive program for downtown over the next year. Seigel said the complex subject of revitalizating cities could be reduced to three basic ingredients: 1) Good government. "That is ho surprise. Is the public official competent?" Seigel said it would be nice if the officials also had other positive character traits. He cited Mayor Daley of Chicago as one who got the job done even though he was lacking in some other positive character traite. "The guy in San Clemente got the job done. He may have been lacking in other qualities." 2) Have responsible news media. Seigel said he was talking about all forms of communication. He said he did not mean controlled media that would say what the.people wanted them to say but media that would say something the masses could comprehend and use. 3) Solid, private sector support. Seigel said he was not talking just about money but the power of housewives, ministers and priests to cause things to change. A cooperative city governmerít can attract interested developers ! improving the profitability of investment, he said. "We live in the kind of community we want to live in. Don't believe projects are built just for civic minded purposes. They are built to make money." Private enterprise was what made this country great and it can do it again, according to Seigel. Government should consider new approaches which would release' constraints that prohibit private initiative. He said handouts from the federal government have not been successful in some cases. Seigel said this country is facing not just an urban crisis, but an air of crises in which business, government, the press and the people mistrust each other and are cynical instead of being enthusiastic and dedicated. He said the country needs more, urban statesmen like Henry Ford and David Rockefeller. "I did not say Nelson Rockefeller." Seigel said central city problems are frontier. "I don't agree with a lot of young people who say that the last frontier has vanished. We have not applied ourselves to the city. If you have the commitment you can find the dollars." He urged the approximately 40 persons at the annual meeting of Ánn Arbor Tomorrow and the Ann Arbor Development Council to think big and consider spectacular innovations. But Seigel said to be prepared in advance for the criticism from the nitpickers who get a lot of attention by the media due to the fairness doctrine. "I am for the fairness doctrine bul it rewards I the nitpickers with a lot of free I it.v." I