Advice from a montrealer.
Downtown Detroit wouldn't be the poor cousin to suburban malls if a strong mass transit system had had a chance to evolve in metro D. If your only alternative to transit is using your car to go home to an outlying area even if in the city, them you will avoid the kind of friction that humans need to have in order to create a sense of city. I mean friction in a good sense like taking the time to ogle a nice pair of secretarial legs on the way home, a lot better done than sitting in your Caravan. Detroit's downtown doesnt retain people because of a wrong vision of development not a lack of vision just the wrong one. Henry Ford II's Renaissance center was designed as a fortress blocking access from the street. It emptied hotels and office buildings and did a lot to kill the street life. Wrong vision. Suburbanites didnt care as long as they felt catered to, protected. Inner city people with no business to do there felt alienated. Detroiters need a mass transit system and should do anything they can to rally behind a plan for major infrastructure in that area. The suburbs have to chip in, even if this means Michigan passing a decree. Detroit is succulent enough a bait for urban planners worldwide to get involved. It is not too late. You have the added advantage of wide avenues for streetcar and suburban rail. Detroit has beautiful architecture and it needs to preserve it. Dont let folks decide without getting involved. Montrealers have said no to a billion dollar development deal involving a new casino and entertainment district a couple of years ago because citizens in a working class neighborhood next to it [[Pointe St-Charles) fought and won. It might have been a boon economically for developers, but the sense was that it was another white elephant.[[TRU) Transportation Riders United has an online petition for detroiters who want better transit. Better transit is the lifeblood of all great cities. Anyone who cheers for a new stadium, skyscraper or casino and balks at a new plan for mass transit has vision alright, only the wrong kind. Respectfully.