New York Times

by Mark Binelli

For decades, a succession of city officials has struggled mightily to rebrand Detroit’s battered image. Their ideas have included casino gambling, an ’80s festival mall, new ballparks, hosting a Formula One grand prix, hosting a Super Bowl, even commissioning [[this was Mayor Coleman Young, in 1984) Berry Gordy [[who fled Detroit for Los Angeles by the early 1970s, taking the entire Motown operation with him) to write a city theme modeled after Frank Sinatra’s “Theme from New York, New York.” Another member of the Rat Pack, Sammy Davis Jr., was conscripted to handle the vocals, but sadly, Gordy’s song, “Hello, Detroit,” failed to burn up the charts.

But now much of the attention being showered upon Detroit from the trendiest of quarters comes, in no small measure, thanks to the city’s blight. Detroit’s brand has become authenticity, a key component of which has to do with the way the city looks. Does fixing the very real problems faced by Detroiters, I began to wonder, mean inevitably robbing Detroit of some part of its essential Detroitness?
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