Thanks for all the replies everyone, much appreciated. To answer a couple of questions:

pgn421: I live in the town of Ramsgate in the south-east corner of England by the coast. It's a pretty average town - nowhere near the size of Detroit with a population of around 45000. We also have a council that is permanently inept and seems to take great delight in getting rid of our heritage and our wonderful buildings despite the best efforts of many of the residents. Unemployment is higher than the national average although crime is pretty low. I guess council's are the same the world over - all in it for themselves.

izzyindetroit: Quite simply, I love reading about the history of America and its towns and cities. Unfortunately, I've only been to the States once when I visited NYC for a week in 2004.
In terms of Detroit, I actually stumbled upon this site and enjoyed it so much that I decided to stick around. I love looking at the photos on the site [[as much as it does make me sad to see history being destroyed by those who don't care). The thing that made me stick around though, is reading what you guys say about your city. It's wonderful to see people with so much hope for their city despite what's happened to it in the past.
Although I don't always understand what's being discussed on the forums and I can't envisage the neighbourhoods or the areas, I make it my business to go away and learn about it - An example is that when I first arrived, I didn't have a clue who Kwame Killpatrick was and I'd never even heard the name but thanks to Google, I now understand most of what is being discussed. I hope to return to the States in the future and one day to visit Detroit [[thanks to these forums, I now know where to go and where not to go!) - something that probably would never have happened had I not found DetroitYes - I'm sure most sites would advise against visiting Detroit.