I visit Detroit and the surrounding area at least once a year, and I have tons of friends that live around Detroit. Many parts of the city are stuff, yes. However, the Greek Town area and the border are pretty decent. The worse thing that's happened to me personally while walking around that area is someone coming up to me and asking for a cigarette. The stuff parts of Detroit remind me a lot of the areas I've lived in most of my life in Chicago, just with a tad more crime.