Detroit - is there hope for you?

Almost everyone I've spoken to lately acknowledged that Detroit has a general negative rep - while Michigan is beautiful, few go past the high crime rates & high level of unemployment in Detroit. Over the past few months, I have been reading a great deal about Detroit ... the evolution of the American Motor Industry, the downfall that some have blamed on the automotive unions, recent arts development in the city...


I have been to some online forum (of course, not everything you read in public forum is correct) and have seen folks in the forum trying to promote the city of Detroit... giving it a good rep. However, I think its hard to change the public perception if the locals in Detroit also preach the same "doom & gloom" message. Eg. on more than one occasion when we are paying at the cashier, the cashier asked me for my zip code - I answered "We are here for holidays from overseas..." before I could finished my sentence, the usual response would be "why would you come here for holidays? nobody comes here for holidays."