Detroit's desolate middle makes downsizing tough

The Detroit News reports:

Mayor Dave Bing is committed to downsizing Detroit, but experts say his emerging plan must confront a difficult challenge: The most vibrant areas of the city also are farthest from downtown.

The most viable neighborhoods, with the fewest vacant lots, are on the fringes, near the suburbs. The ones with the most abandoned houses and vacancies are closest to downtown.

"We have a downtown core and then we clearly have an outer ring," said Douglass Diggs, interim executive director of the recently formed Detroit Land Bank, a primary agency in the city's downsizing push. "The question is how do you link those two?

The challenge.