Surprised to hear Time bureau chief say . . .

[RealityCheck]

I found myself leaving town some days just to get away from the blight.

. . . Some people criticized me for shopping in Grosse Pointe, but I couldn't find fresh fruits and vegetables downtown except on Saturdays at Eastern Market."

-- Steven Gray, former bureau chief, 'Assignment Detroit'

With Harbortown Market just a mile from Time's house on Parker Street in the West Village, I sure wasn't surprised to hear grumbles and disappointment from a handful of local journalists in the back of the Masonic Temple ballroom where he and two senior Time editors spoke today at a Detroit Economic Club luncheon.

Most remarks by the magazine folks were more encouraging.

"We definitely increased scrutiny of Detroit around the world, whether that’s a good or a bad thing," said John Huey, editor-in-chief of all Time, Inc. publications. "We're now much more interested in Detroit and much more knowledgeable about the city. . . . If you really want to know what I think the most positive thing you can say about Detroit right now, it’s that it doesn’t feel nearly as desperate or as fearful as it felt a year and a half ago."