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United Effort. The man who has genially stood watch over much of Detroit's decline is Mayor Louis Miriani, 64, a competent but complacent bureaucrat who has held office since 1957. Miriani wants the Michigan legislature, dominated by Republicans to help by voting more state relief funds or by at least passing the bills to let Detroit get more federal aid. Says Miriani: "That's where we need help—at the state level."
This year, Miriani is facing serious opposition in Detroit's nonpartisan mayoralty race. His opponent: Lawyer Jerry Cavanagh, 33, who describes Miriani as a ''ceremonial figurehead who presides over the abandonment of the city." Cavanagh talks of attracting new industry, capturing a bigger slice of the St. Lawrence Seaway trade, and, if need be, leveling an income tax on anyone—including suburbanites—who makes money in Detroit.
But many Detroiters would agree that the city cannot be saved by a mayor alone. Its problems run so deep that they can be solved only by the effort of labor, management, -'government and citizenry—working in a spirit that once made Detroit the symbol of economic dynamism. Says Henry Ford II: "Detroit admittedly has its problems—intelligent citizen interest and action can solve them. As I see it, the vital need now is for the people themselves to become interested in the community and government, and to take an active part in their affairs."