Detroit, the birthplace of the mass-production car industry and the Motown sound, has long had an image problem. It boasts a billion-dollar downtown development, ultramodern motor-manufacturing plants, some excellent museums and one of the nation's biggest art galleries. But since the 1960s, media attention has dwelt instead on its huge tracts of urban wasteland, where for block after block there's nothing but the occasional heavily fortified loan shop or food store. Although cities like Atlanta, Newark and Washington, DC post much worse crime statistics, the press has seemed intent on painting Detroit as some kind of war zone.
Such views incur the wrath of many Detroiters, who claim that the press has magnified the city's problems because blacks run Detroit and account for 75 percent of its population. That assertion certainly carries weight, but Detroit - which has lost nearly half its citizens, almost a million people, in forty years - has unarguably suffered. However, following the resurgence of Clevelandleadership of Mayor Dennis Archer, showed signs of turning the corner. The Detroit Tigers opened Comerica Park, and Ford Field was opened in August 2002 for the pro football Lions. Three big-time casinos opened and plans are afoot to enhance the waterfront. While these developments won't wipe out the city's problems in one fell swoop, they're an exciting start. Hotels in Detroit |
Detroit hotels
