Michael.....
    DO WHAT EVER YOU WANT TO DO! Ever heard of "windjammers"? It's a book of great lakes sailing songs. Do you know what most of them are? Old english/western/irish songs with the major cities and port names changed. The exact thing you're trying to do has been going on for hundreds of years. Don't let anyone tell you that you shouldn't/cant localize an old song. That's part of the beauty of folk/labor music - it's history is always being traced and retraced from one place to another where it was altered to suit the needs of the singer. Being a Michiganer, I might be against "Cleveland Rock City"...but I'm not much of a Kiss fan anyway... I think you have the right idea - do what feels good to you.

-Spartacus