People don’t WANT “cities.” They want suburbs. Except for a very few main functions (sports complexes, central government and some banking), EVERYTHING can be “off loaded” to suburbs. I never go to downtown Dayton anymore, and don’t want to.
Things in downtown Dayton I go to:
Mendelson's Surplus, and I understand that is going to be moving.
Canal Street Tavern.
Government offices and jury duty. I avoid the first as much as possible and the second has come up twice in the past decade.