Mo' Motown

Detroit has more than its share of detractors and I'd say negative articles about the Motor City outnumber positive ones at least ten to one. In a way I suppose one could say that things have gotten so bad there that there's nowhere to go but up. Then comes yet more bad news, the city government is so dysfunctional that the state is taking over control of its finances.

Happily, during my lunchtime web browsing today I came across not one but two positive pages about Detroit. The first was written by the Leonard Slatkin, Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. In the article, Slatkin speaks about the orchestra's outreach program into the schools of the city with some very positive results.

I'm a little skeptical about the second page as it comes from a source of ill repute at least in my opinion, yet another web list from Forbes Magazine. You might recall last month they published a list of the twenty most miserable cities in the United States and ranked Detroit number one. Well they've just published another slightly more useful, and positive list they call: "Fifteen Cities' Emerging Downtowns." Detroit made this list as well. Forbes sites five companies that have pledged significant resources into Downtown Detroit as well as other companies that are relocating there.

Of course a thriving downtown does not necessarily translate into a healthy city; one can only hope this will help spur more development and interest in one of our great cities.