PLEASE! I did not read a single response to this thread before responding. Detroit does not have to be like anywhere else! I just posted a new thread "Detroit Now".
For Detroit to become onto its own again, it must remake itself. The auto industry and supporting staff is gone. Never to return. Detroit must take up what remaining assests it has and grow from there. Being a copy of another city is not the answer. Detroit's future lies with recreating itself! Being a new and unique adventure! Not a carbon copy of a city of legal whores and drug use.
Be your own person. Lay it out there. See what happens!