Reply #55: I knew that! :blush:

[last1standing]

You can see how much I pay attention to sports, can't you? I meant the Lions but for some reason "Pistons" sounded better. :)

But, yeah. Kilpatrick has gotten some of the credit for things that Archer has turned around, but the truth is that his mismanagement has led the city into more decline. I remember when the superbowl came to Detroit (that was football, right?) and instead of making any real changes that could help the city long term he began a two pronged plan. One, he sent his goons out to every bar and club with live entertainment of any sort and tried to extort a "cabaret fee". This caused one of my favorite Detroit bars to close up. Second, in the downtown area, where the party was held, he ordered that sheets of plywood be put up at the doors and windows of abandoned shops on Woodward St. and had "NEW BUSINESS COMING SOON" painted on them. We're still waiting for those businesses.

Anyway, Archer was helped by the Enterprise Zones that Clinton created, but not as much as you'd think. It was a great program but Detroit needed much, much more than those to get turned around. It needed entertainment options that the other cities couldn't claim to draw people back in who hadn't stepped foot in Detroit in 30 years. Casinos helped with that as did moving the Lions into the city. I just hope that when we have a new Democratic president and a new mayor who's more interested in the city than strippers we'll see more progress.