Spirit of Detroit keeps dream alive in renewal efforts

Highlights from teh story:

.  We’re less than a week from the first pitch in Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game at Comerica Park, and the state of downtown Detroit might startle the doubters.

.  You know them. They’re convinced that Detroit will embarrass itself and the rest of us because, well, this is Detroit. If the shape of things is any indication — and I suspect that it is — they’ll probably be mistaken.

.  To those whose image of downtown, where it’s heading and how it’ll look to outsiders disinterested in the region’s petty squabbles, I’d say this: Take another look. You’ll be surprised.

.  You’ll see landscaped boulevards. New street lights evoking Detroit in its heyday. Rehabbed store fronts on Woodward and Broadway that say smart money sees promise downtown because smart money has choices.

.  Most of all, you’ll see hope where there was almost none.

.  There’s no question the deadlines of the July 12 All-Star game and Super Bowl XL next February are driving more positive change than this city has seen in a long, long time.

– Source: Written by Daniel Howes’, The Detroit News