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Detroit’s revival takes shape after decades of decay

theguardian.com

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Re: Detroit’s revival takes shape after decades of decay

#111

Post by rmason »

RALaBarge wrote: post #4

30 miles West in Ann Arbor, there are tech gigs but not tons of them. If you are apart of the University of Michigan, there are tons of opportunities via the college and the groups there, but if not there aren't tons of openings. Detroit itself is an amazing city, but it isn't a tech hub, nor is it for everyone. It is the shell of the automotive companies that started to move their operations of out the country in th…

I grew up in Detroit during the fifties and sixties. Afterwards I watched the city decline for a good forty years. Around the time of Detroit's bankruptcy it started to be reborn.

Dan Gilbert gets a lot of the credit because he bought Detroit real estate when no one wanted it. Skyscrapers that had been empty for thirty years or more. People wouldn't consider coming downtown or moving their offices there because of the crime. In response Gilbert formed his own police force and put cameras everywhere. They coordinated with the Detroit force and crime plummeted downtown.

Then the complaints were that sure it was nice downtown but no where else. Then projects started all over the city. Detroit is a very large city which makes fire and policing difficult. There are huge swaths of empty area thanks to federal funding that allowed abandoned and burned down houses to be torn down.

The critics will point out there is still no shortage of crime although the overall numbers are declining. But it is relatively safe downtown, midtown where the sports teams are located. Detroit was at one time the richest city in America, yes ahead of even New York City. Detroit also had the best public city school system in the U.S. at one time though they are near the bottom now. There are a lot of world class museums and architecture. The city is being discovered and rated a top destination by dozens of publications. I'd urge you to make a trip there and discover for yourself.

As for tech, Detroit is only second to Ann Arbor in the state for the number of startups and venture capitalists. Unlike the rest of Michigan Detroit and Ann Arbor are the only cities in Michigan where entrepreneurs run the local community events. Everywhere else in the state its run by economic development organizations that do not understand startups and hinder their forward progress.

Re: Detroit’s revival takes shape after decades of decay

#112

Post by DoctorOetker »

The Detroit Exodus quickened after the racial riots.

There was a police unit enforcing the racial oppression (STRESS).

It was disbanded after a certain event: Southern Airways Flight 49 hijacking.

3 individuals, intimidated by the local Detroit government decided to take matters in their own hands: hijacking a plane (which was common up to the ~70's, since people were allowed to bring their weapons on the plane, back then the reasoning was that its more cost effective to deal with zest-for-life hijackers in the air), but not just hijacking a plane, they threatened to crash it into an Oak Ridge nuclear reactor (or more plausibly the surface storage). After a few back and forths they got a few million, some bullet proof vests and some parachutes. At some point a gun was fired and one of the pilots got hit in the arm. They tried to land in Cuba but were sent back by Fidel Castro (accepting these highjackers was figuratively radioactive), after refuel and some more flying around they tried landing in Cuba again. This time they were allowed to land, but then immediately arrested and went to prison in Cuba for ~7 years, then extradited to the US, sat in prison for another ~7 years.

Shortly after this event: the STRESS police unit was disbanded, US airports finally installed metal detectors and X-ray scanners.

According to interviews the hijackers were willing to die and were serious about the threat to crash the plane and cause release of nuclear materials if their demands were not met.

Were they civil rights activists or violent terrorists?

That is a false dilemma, one can be both at the same time.

Re: Detroit’s revival takes shape after decades of decay

#113

Post by qudat »

pc86 wrote: post #53
yawgmoth wrote: post #15

In my experience, companies based in Michigan pay 20-50k lower and do not have staff/principal roles available. You have to find a remote role to stay competitive wage wise. Some companies are not willing to pay as much for Michigan workers as they are NY/SF/elsewhere workers, too. I think the reality is Columbus and Chicago are growing quicker than Detroit. The relative increase here might be "buzzing" but in absolu…

Don't you think the delta in cost of living between Michigan and NYC/SF is a lot more than $50k/yr?

I live in Ann Arbor and I think you would be surprised by the CoL here. I’m not claiming sf/nyc numbers but it’s pretty close to Chicago numbers

2 bed 1k sqft condo downtown will costs you $800k-1mil

Re: Detroit’s revival takes shape after decades of decay

#114

Post by qudat »

RALaBarge wrote: post #4

30 miles West in Ann Arbor, there are tech gigs but not tons of them. If you are apart of the University of Michigan, there are tons of opportunities via the college and the groups there, but if not there aren't tons of openings. Detroit itself is an amazing city, but it isn't a tech hub, nor is it for everyone. It is the shell of the automotive companies that started to move their operations of out the country in th…

I live in A2 as well and I don’t even bother looking for gigs here. Duo used to be the tech company to work for here but they were bought by Cisco which is not really my vibe. Barracuda is another big name but other than that I cannot name many others.

Re: Detroit’s revival takes shape after decades of decay

#115

Post by qudat »

tokioyoyo wrote: post #47
RALaBarge wrote: post #4

30 miles West in Ann Arbor, there are tech gigs but not tons of them. If you are apart of the University of Michigan, there are tons of opportunities via the college and the groups there, but if not there aren't tons of openings. Detroit itself is an amazing city, but it isn't a tech hub, nor is it for everyone. It is the shell of the automotive companies that started to move their operations of out the country in th…

I was there about a year ago with a couple of friends, stopped for a night while driving through Michigan to go up north. It was just so eerie throughout the entire day. Incredibly wide streets, but sometimes you would walk for 5 mins before you saw a single soul. Maybe because it was a bit of a chilly day as well, but it felt like the city was built for way more people, and there just isn’t enough now.

It’s a commuter town: people drive in at 8am and leave at 5pm. The greater Detroit area is massive.

Re: Detroit’s revival takes shape after decades of decay

#117

Post by OnACoffeeBreak »

FireBeyond wrote: post #77
pc86 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is kind of funny since you're talking about UofM, not Stanford or MIT. It's a good school but there are literally hundreds of good schools in the US. In my experience lots of folks educated at top top tier institutions are pretty humble about it, and acknowledge places where other institutions are as good or better than their alma mater. A coworker of mine recently got his MBA from Penn which is not only Ivy Le…

I have refereed basketball at a very high level (think Div 1 College, NBA G-league/minor league), and in my earlier days I did a lot of junior high-level games, and I noticed very much the same, although more "vocal" with the parents than players. There seem to be three tiers: 1 - the low-level games, where it's fun, and no-one thinks it is more than it is, and everyone is generally chill. 2 - the very high-level gam…

The basketball thing can be such a shit show. As a parent of a kid that fell in love with basketball, did travel AAU basketball and ended up playing for a D3 college, I've experienced parents at all levels showing their full ass.

Examples... Their coach at a rec league for 9 year olds was assaulted by the opposing team's coach at the end of the game. I've seen the cops being called to protect the refs and parents being escorted out of the game after threatening the refs. It goes on and on.

All that's to say that the steaks don't seem to matter. Folks are passionate in a disproportionate way when their children are involved.

Re: Detroit’s revival takes shape after decades of decay

#118

Post by guywithahat »

RALaBarge wrote: post #4

30 miles West in Ann Arbor, there are tech gigs but not tons of them. If you are apart of the University of Michigan, there are tons of opportunities via the college and the groups there, but if not there aren't tons of openings. Detroit itself is an amazing city, but it isn't a tech hub, nor is it for everyone. It is the shell of the automotive companies that started to move their operations of out the country in th…

> who the Big 3 have abandoned for a profit.

I don’t think anyone left Detroit willingly; they were forced out due to race riots, threats to their life, and the UAW. The big 3 lost billions trying to revive the city in spite of the local politicians

If your book implies or says it was somehow due to greed, you should respectfully find a new book.

Re: Detroit’s revival takes shape after decades of decay

#119

Post by Qwertious »

jt2190 wrote: post #55
dcchambers wrote: post #20

I really thought the major "rust belt" cities were going to blow up after the big COVID WFH push. Why spend 2-10x as much to live in one of four coastal metros when you could get the same pay while living somewhere much cheaper. The biggest issue with these cities in the last 50 years has been a lack of high paying jobs and WFH tech jobs essentially negate that issue. There are a ton of American cities that have fall…

Housing is cheap because the job market is poor. Should enough remote workers choose to relocate to the same rust-belt city we’d see higher housing prices in that city. The challenge is that rust-belt cities are just not desirable enough for enough remote workers to reverse the decades of decline. Furthermore, there is no reason that remote workers would cluster by geography other than fear of loosing their remote jo…

>Furthermore, there is no reason that remote workers would cluster by geography other than fear

Amenities. Some things (and communities) just aren't available elsewhere. And some people just value their local identity too much to move.

Re: Detroit’s revival takes shape after decades of decay

#120

Post by Qwertious »

pc86 wrote: post #75
nancyminusone wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you expand on this point? Are climate refugees not expected, at least in the short term?

It's a byproduct of the naïve belief that climate change means it gets hotter (and little/nothing else), to which "just move north" is a logical conclusion. The truth is closer to climate change means more extreme weather happens everywhere, and things get hotter up until -- and here's where my knowledge of science may be much less up-to-date -- a critical mass of ice at the poles melts, and which point the temperatu…

IMO it should be called "climate destabilisation".
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