“It’s a slam against all the citizens of this city and a slam against the citizens of the whole area here," said bookseller John King, a lifelong Detroit resident who stayed in the city as its population dramatically declined. He said the DIA is important to what is left of Detroit's spirit, and hopes creditors don’t force the sale of its assets to pay the city’s debt. “It’s sad they’re even talking about going after that asset," King said. "I, mean they have other assets they could go after, and they shouldn’t really be touching the Detroit Institute of Arts.”

Finance professor Amiyatosh Purnanandan of the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan says the total value of the DIA’s collection is far less than what Detroit owes its creditors. “You’re looking at $18 billion of debt," Purnanandan said. "The Art museum will fetch you about $1 to $2 billion. Even if you sell that, it’s not going to solve your problems.” “To have to sell it piecemeal would be sad," commented visitor O’Toole, adding that selling the collection could also undermine the very thing Detroit needs at the moment.

“It brings visitors, it brings cash flow to this community, which this city is in desperate need of some cash flow,” he noted. The non-profit group ArtServe Michigan says the state earned $2 billion in tourism money in 2011, based mostly on cultural institutions, like the Detroit Institute of Arts. Not only would selling the DIA’s collection hurt tourism income, experts say such a sale would mean a large amount of rare and important artwork would flood the market, potentially undermining the city’s ability to get the best price possible for its holdings.