Last night, at a town hall meeting, a panel of local experts argued that the current economic recession is, in fact, a positive opportunity for Ann Arbor’s future.

The panel, comprised of Mayor John Hieftje and other community leaders and activists, discussed numerous issues, including health care, housing, the environment and food.

“We have to do something different, what we’ve been doing in Michigan isn’t working,” Hieftje told the crowd.

Hieftje said solutions to Michigan's problems can be found in our own backyard.

“One of the things I think we miss doing in Michigan is looking around the way we should and if we wanted to find examples we only need to look across the lake to Ontario,” he added.

Hieftje explained that Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario has built wind turbines, which have allowed the city to decrease its carbon footprint. Additionally, the structures helped to increase employment, since all of the steel for the operation was produced locally.

“It’s difficult to say you can’t do something when someone is already doing it,” Hieftje said.

Across the board, members of the panel said that an overall transformation, rather than a basic recovery, was essential to the city’s long-term economic development.

Economics Prof. Tom Weisskopf, said the nature of today’s economic crisis in many ways mirrors the Great Depression of the 1930s with high unemployment rates and decreasing economic activity. However, he stressed that the current situation is not as severe as the one of the past.

“Whether it’s a matter of reinvigorating the economy or transforming it, it’s going to call for major shifts in economic policy at the macro level,” Weisskopf said.

Weisskopf explained that in order for recovery to continue to progress, the federal government must oversee issues like wealth redistribution and emissions control.

Lisa Dugdale, co-founder of Transition Ann Arbor — a group that works specifically with city residents to create a low-energy future — addressed the need for change at the local level.

“Look at our own individual energy usage,” said Dugdale. “Reduce your carbon footprint in the areas of transportation, housing and food.”

By creating a sustainable environment, people are, unconsciously, improving their own personal well-being, according to Ellen Clement, executive director of Corner Health Center in Ypsilanti.

“When people live in healthy places, they are healthier people," said Clement. "When people have access to jobs, they are healthier people. When people have access to education, they are healthier people.”

Clement said economic progress could be made by expanding current projects.

“We need to take some of the things going on in our state and take them statewide,” Clement said. “One of the things we’ve been doing in Ann Arbor is moving to LED street lights.”

Heiftje said these streetlights, which are made in Michigan, have the potential to be on college campuses across the country, adding that the expansion would not only benefit the nation’s environment, but also the state’s financial situation.

“What may be the most important thing that we can do to turn around our state is to refocus on our cities,” Hieftje said. “Focus doesn’t need to be on serving industries so much as it needs to be on making cities a place where people want to live.”

— Joseph Lichterman contributed to this report.