I've lived in and around Detroit for several decades [[let's say well the better part of a century and that's as specific as I get). My family came to 'Old' Delray just after WWI. Before I was born, it was wagons ho to the west side. Ours was the last white family on South Martindale between Grand River and Northfield. Our family had to leave.

I once had the opportunity to drive many celebrities around the Detroit area as a chauffeur for a young neighbor's new limo business. I would often ask [[when the rare opportunity came up for me to speak) what these sports and entertainment celebrities thought about Detroit [[not their audiences, the city). The nicest thing that I can remember was Rev. Al Green's response, a truthful one: 'Detroit is what it is'. Usually, I got a sidestep or no answer at all. When I dropped people off on the tarmac at Pontiac/Oakland or Metro, I would invariably end up telling them to please come back and visit us here in Detroit and also invariably get a stone faced mannequin look as if I had just invited them to stick their whatever in a light socket.

So, I go with Rev. Green's mindset. Detroit is what it is. Detroit is in deep trouble. People who want to sit in the peanut gallery and toss shells at us are no good anyways. When your house is on fire, forget about what the neighbors are saying, stop the fire.