I spent a couple of days in Chicago this week with the Autoblog team covering the Auto Show there, and between this trip and my December trip to Manhattan, I came to the realization that there is at least one thing that Detroit can be proud of, the MacNamara Terminal at Metro Airport.  After flying into LaGuardia and O’Hare’s terminal 2, I was reminded in both cases of the nasty old terminal that Northwest flew out of.  They are both crowded, narrow and kind of dark.  Leaving O’Hare in particular was awful.  The entrance to the security screening area was in the middle of the terminal and the lines spread from there in both directions to the entire length of the terminal.  Once we got to the security check point, there was a grand total of TWO lanes for the whole terminal.  Metro on the other hand, is open and bright and easy to get around.  Of course, all is not perfect, all airports need far more electrical outlets for travellers to plug into.  With so many people travelling with laptops, dvd players and all manner of other electronics, people need to charge their devices, especially when they are stuck between flights.

Now having said something something positive about Detroit, I must say that Cobo Hall must be demolished immediately if not sooner and replaced with a new convention center.   Cobo as everyone who has ever been in there knows how dark and unpleasant it is, not to mention not that big.  McCormick Place by comparison is huge, bright and just generally a much more pleasant place to be.  If we had a facility like this in Detroit, we might actually atract a lot of national scale events besides the Auto Show and the SAE World Congress.  As it is, the only reason the Detroit Auto Show gets any attention at all is because it’s home to Ford, GM, and Chrysler.  Otherwise, the Chicago show would probably get all the big introductions.