What the liquor store crowd thinks about the city

There were three men ages Raymond 27, Marvin 38 and Antonio 42 at a liquor store in Detroit. I engaged them in conversation regarding the state of the city. There were three main topics for this discussion: The mayor, the city council and the current Cobo Hall expansion deal.
None of them are highschool graduates, all have children but only Marvin is married to his children's mother. All are unemployed.
Regarding the mayor: All three think Kilpatrick got a raw deal. The general consensus is that white politicians have been getting away with graft and misrepresentation for years, "it's about time a brother got some of the gravy." Regarding the current mayors race: The general consensus was that they don't care who wins as long as it is a "black man who can get that chedda."
On the city council: They thought Monica (Conyers) was "the shit." They commented on her what her sexual prowess must be like. Other than that they had nothing to say about the city council.
Regarding the Cobo deal: Only Marvin had understood that the suburbs wanted to buy Cobo but didn't want to pay the asking price.
All three men are registered to vote in the City of Detroit. The voted in the presidential election in '08, but did not vote in the mayoral primary. They are unsure as to whether or not they will vote in the special general election this May.
This is unfortunately an all too familiar scene in the citizenry of Detroit. I did attempt to educate these three men on the three topics we discussed without attempting to influence them in any way with my own politics.
It was clear that Marvin was the "Alpha Male" in this group and the other two followed his lead. None of them watch the news, read the papers, listen to talk radio or have internet access. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to combat this issue city ride in an effort to reclaim this city from the brink of oblivion?


-- For the city I love, Detroit Dennis