Detroit Photos.

[GuyFawkes38]

I think Detroit's troubles are often overstated by the media.

The Detroit region, as a whole, is still a crucial economic powerhouse of the country. Oakland county, right next to Detroit, has a population of about 1.25 million. It's also a top 50 GDP per capita income counties in the country. In fact, all the counties surrounding Wayne county still have relatively impressive economic stats. It's really silly when someone like Colin Cowherd says he doesn't think Detroit will be able to support a major league team.

The city of Detroit has struggled in the past 50 years. But what heightens that struggle and makes it more photogenic is Detroit's lack of density. Detroit is one of the least dense major cities in the country. Detroit was built for the car. There are not many apartment dwellers in the city.

When 5 families move out of an apartment building of 10 units, it sucks for the landlord, but the building is still taken care for. And to the outsider, it doesn't look bad. When 5 families move out of a block of 10 homes, bad stuff happens (crack houses, burned down homes, etc....). It's tougher to provide city services to a spread out area. And of course, it looks terrible and becomes a major PR issue.