As someone who has lived in downtown Cleveland, I've heard a lot about "revitalization."
Ball parks don't do it. Restaurants don't do it. Bars certainly don't do it. It takes people living there and it takes big businesses being headquartered there. Sports arenas, bars, and restaurants don't do that. They bring people downtown for a few hours and then they get in their cars and drive back to the suburbs.
It takes a serious, serious commitment to turn around a downtown--and, more importantly--it takes continuous commitment, especially in a place that isn't a "natural" population center (i.e., not New York, Chicago, or LA). Take Indianapolis, for instance: the city put in a lot of effort to bring back the downtown, only to let it go, so to speak, once the downtown had made it "back." As a result, the city is beginning to slip again.
I think Detroit (and Cleveland, for that matter) need major attitude changes before the city will become prosperous again. I frankly don't know how that will happen in either one because the voters are heavily democratic and the candidates who win elections will continue to deliver the same message that wins them election year after year.
And--seriously--this isn't a Republican vs. Democrat issue; I really don't care WHO it is that is going to make the hard choices that are required to turn around a major city, but it just has to be done and there is NO incentive to do so when people continue to win elections with lip service.
The definition of stupid is continuing to do the same thing over and over while expecting different results. Welcome to Cleveland (and, I expect, Detroit).
Ball parks don't do it. Restaurants don't do it. Bars certainly don't do it. It takes people living there and it takes big businesses being headquartered there. Sports arenas, bars, and restaurants don't do that. They bring people downtown for a few hours and then they get in their cars and drive back to the suburbs.There was a study last summer that showed Detroit is now a "bedroom city." More people work in the city of Detroit than live there -- it actually gains population during the daytime.
Detroit has potential to improve but the city "leaders" have GOT to get out of the way. End the ridiculous red tape and taxes on small businesses in the city, straighten out that sorry excuse for public school management, rip Coleman Young's legacy out by the roots, and stop trying to rip off the suburbs by forcing them to pay for the city water Detroit residents use and WON'T pay for.
Sorry, but as a former Oakland County resident, Detroit still stinks like an open sewer.