Wednesday, Oct. 25 was Detroit’s mayoral debate between incumbent mayor Mike Duggan and state senator Coleman Young II.

They argued over each other’s voting records, which Detroiters they supported, and so on. Normal politician stuff. But about forty minutes into the televised debate, Young criticized Duggan for the 3.3 mile Qline being a waste of time and money.

Okay, sure. I understand that. It’s a 3.3 mile streetcar system, only operates in downtown Detroit, and doesn’t have the right of way over cars. It also was funded with $125 million from bonds, and over $60 million from state, federal, and private sources. Naming rights were bought by Quicken Loans. Basically an expensive boondoggle to make downtown Detroit look cool, is the argument—And one not lacking in validity, in my opinion.

The money spent on the project could have been used to buy more buses, something that would benefit all Detroiters, even if they don’t shop, live, and work downtown. That is correct, I would tend to agree, and Coleman Young had every right to bring up the topic.

But, just like the football player who makes a great catch but trips and stubs his toe one yard away from the end zone, Young had to ruin his argument. He criticized the waste of one boondoggle, and then proposed a bigger and more expensive one: SkyTran.

You will notice that it sounds a lot like “Skytrain,” and I would guess that’s intentional. Skytran is, after all, basically a train. Minus the parts of a train that we use to identify a train, and plus the parts that make it a two person bubble riding on the underside of a track.

SkyTran is a two person pod that is suspended by magnetic energy from a rail, high above the road. None of these systems currently exist, but one was developed by some university or government agency, and there might be one in Tel Aviv, or Abu Dhabi opening in 2020, or whenever they get enough money to create the system and run it, because electromagnetic levitation is apparently expensive—at least in China where millions of dollars are spent in a matter of minutes propelling a bullet train to and from an airport.

But that’s okay, because even though Detroit has no money for it, we can use federal money. Because whenever a president and congress pledge to cut spending, there’s always more money on the table to build elevated pod trains in Detroit.

Excuse me, Senator Young, but didn’t you just criticize Mayor Duggan for wasteful spending?

I’m not going to say that Young made a stupid mistake, because he might win. All the poor Detroiters who don’t have cars; or pay nearly $4000 a month for auto insurance; or who stand out in the cold Michigan winters waiting for slow, unreliable, and dilapidated buses; might be really optimistic and hopeful for a two person skytrain, despite struggling to make ends meet, and carry him to an overwhelming victory.

Here’s my take though, whatever it may be worth: Detroit needs more “boring” plans and goals, like modernizing buses, bringing in new small businesses, opening trade schools, and renovating homes. All things that both candidates claim to support, but only Duggan has actually supported. Of course, in Young’s defense, he was a state senator, not the mayor of Detroit.

Here’s an interesting thought I’d like to share. Young’s father, Coleman Young (the first) was a huge supporter of the People Mover, so I guess expensive boondoggles run in the family.

The People Mover is just under three miles long. It costs $12 million to run, about $4.25 per passenger — compare that to 80 cents per passenger for the buses — yet passengers only pay 75 cents to ride.

Young was elected to five terms, mostly because his flamboyant style, support of the Black Power movement, and relatable past earned him a high percentage of the African-American vote in the city. However, many contemporary observers will attribute some of the city’s social and financial problems to him, as he could have done better as far as helping the city recover economically from the 1967 riots.

It also helps if you can keep middle class taxpayers, and that of course requires safe communities, public amenities, good employment, and schools. All things that deteriorated, just like the middle class tax base.

But those problems are in the past. Now, Detroit needs solutions. Even though it sounds cool, SkyTrans isn’t a solution, it’s an idea, no, a dream. And a pretty bad one for Detroit, which is only 17 months out of the country’s largest municipal bankruptcy — almost $20 billion dollars.

But hey, if Detroit needs a sky train, who are we to let money get in the way?