What I'm hearing from my new neighbors here in the East Riverfront district is that Ford Auditorium is going to come down, then Chene Park will come down, and an open-air neo-Chene Park amphitheatre will be built on the Ford Auditorium site. Chene Park and adjacent areas will become upscale condos.

When I pointed out the utter failure of the Watermark Condos project, they told me that the economy will get better and that project will get revitalized.

Oh well. I hate to be a cynic, but given Detroit's recent history, they'll raze Ford Auditorium and let the spot stay vacant -- or better yet, "pave paradise and put up a parking lot."