Look to Cleveland.
The Free Press should be careful when acting smug. The paper asked: "Who wants to be the Cleveland of Canada?" According to Wikipedia, "Cleveland is considered an exemplar for public-private partnerships, downtown revitalization, and urban renaissance. In studies conducted by The Economist in 2005 Cleveland was ranked as one of the most livable cities in the United States, and the city was ranked as the best city for business meetings in the continental U.S." Have you seen Cleveland's market? Or the Tower City Center? Or it's heritage district? Cleveland has serious problems but that does not mean one cannot learn by watching how they, and other challenged cities, are working to make their cities better. A less smug newspaper, one that uses Google and thinks before it speaks, would help our city immensely.