Lee, I was just offering a counter view to your post, it was GarandMarine who offended me.
Detroit is not without its problems. I'm not trying to say that it is operating as a model city right now. They have a $300 million deficit and nearly $20 billion in debt. The city has an emergency financial manager, though technically, Detroit did not declare a fiscal emergency, the State of Michigan declared one for them under an outrageous law that was voted down by the people of Michigan last November. Crime is high and there are neighborhoods with more abandoned buildings than occupied ones.
But there is nothing more offensive then someone declaring that because of these problems the city should just be abandoned. Detroit has a lot going for it, a number of companies have opened offices downtown and are attracting people back to the city. Unemployment in the city proper is under %10 for the first time in 5 years and the deal with Canada to build a new bridge will create even more jobs. Detroit suffers from a small population spread over a large area (for scale, the land area of Detroit is almost 3 times that of Boston), but within that area, there are numerous awesome neighborhoods. There are a bunch of people in and around the city who love and care about Detroit's future. The city recently cut its parks department, and you know what? Residents volunteered to mow the lawns and pick up trash in city parks.
I don't have a problem with people talking about Detroit's problems, but I do think it is harmful to the city's future when negative things are all anyone sees about the city. And I am certainly offended when someone suggests that the city just be abandoned and its residents rounded up and forced to move somewhere else, as though the city had nothing to offer and it's citizens had no rights. Lots of places in the world suck, it's not clever, or funny, or helpful to just declare them hopeless shitholes, and advocate for their destruction.