Role model

Q. What city not far from Cleveland has all of the following:

• A county governed since 1984 by a home rule charter, with an elected County CEO, an Assistant CEO responsible for economic development, and a fifteen-member county legislative branch elected by district?
• An established downtown casino industry?
• A downtown waterfront free of industrial and port uses, with lots of park space, promenade access, hotels, office and residential development?
• A 2.4 million square foot downtown convention center — the nation’s 19th largest — with 700,000 square feet of exhibition space?

… not to mention thousands of recent immigrants, a growing feature film industry buoyed by an early-adopter state tax credit program, and a City Council elected entirely at large?

Where is this urban cutting edge, whose residents already enjoy so many of the reforms and innovations that Cleveland so sadly lacks?

(Hint: It’s not Pittsburgh.)

A. Detroit.

Yes, Detroit.

I said Detroit. Detroit. Detroit.

Feel better now?