Is any PR Good PR?

sleeping. bench. seaside.

A few days ago I was having a conversation with a good friend @slayerkun and he was explaining the pros and cons of handling a negative public relations incident. I agreed on most of his points and I do try to take every opportunity and look at the positive side.
Since CIMA IT Solutions was hired to redesign the Puerto Rican Parade of Fairfield County Inc. Website (@prpct) and help them with their social media and online presence for the last few days I have been tracking Bridgeport as part of my main keywords on @jitterjam (Social CRM Software I am a reseller of) and saw Bridgeport being mentioned more often than usual.
I found out via @lucymfel that it was all related to Family Guy’s recent degrading comments on the city. Please Watch in the following video:

I lived in Bridgeport during the 1980’s & beginning of the 1990’s when it had a notable crime rate. I have bad memories of the terrible experiences I had walking from school from watching shootings to other terrible things. In 1992 my parents decided to move back to Puerto Rico and I would say it was one of the best decisions they could of made for all of us.
My parents returned to Bridgport in 1998 I stayed behind living in Ponce, Puerto Rico in between the military and College. I returned to Bridgeport to see improvements in 2004 I lived for almost two years and I did see many improvements. I visited this past June & October and I did see many of the downtown areas with new businesses. I was there a few days before the Tornado and I would say they recovered pretty quickly from most of the damage although there is a lot to be done. I think Bridgeport has a long way to go but so do many other cities around the U.S.
I think this is a great opportunity for Bridgeport to demonstrate how much they have improved since the 1990’s and work towards fixing the many things they still have to fix.
It was a great opportunity for Bridgeport’s Mayor @mayorbillfinch and his staff to listen at what many people where talking about on twitter and other online channels. This was the perfect opportunity to take those people that where offended unite them and make them work towards a better Bridgeport.
I read an article on the @ctpost on how @mayorbillfinch took the humor and made the best of it.
How do you think these negative mentions can help a city that is currently working on fixing many things?
Have you visited Bridgeport or have you heard of it previously?
Please share your thoughts and ideas on how to make lemonade out lemons!