Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Detroit’s revival takes shape after decades of decay

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 172 posts

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

#161

Post by randcraw »

qudat wrote: post #114
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.

In Ann Arbor the name of the game is small startups, often derived from U Michigan professors. There are enough of those you can make a career there, though it's wise to expand your network to include other towns within 30 minutes (like Plymouth or Novi). You won't want to rely on only UofM for work, though I know a few who have worked there in computing for decades.

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

#162

Post by randcraw »

bityard wrote: post #129
wing-_-nuts wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've actually looked at Ann Arbor before as I adore college towns and was looking at trying to find one in the great lakes region as a forever / retirement destination. Given you're from the area would you have any others to recommend? Things I'm mainly looking for: * A climate change refuge * No 'lake effect' snow * Continuing education opportunities (i.e. auditing classes as a retiree) * A good public / uni library…

I live in this area, and feel qualified to comment. > climate change refuge Not totally sure what that means, but we get anywhere between 2-4 weeks of (usually non-consecutive) high heat (90F plus) per summer and 7 months of cold, as judged by whether or not I ride my motorcycle. If you mean will you have to swim through your house after the polar ice caps melt, no, I don't believe so. > Continuing education opportun…

> As long as you're okay renting. Ann Arbor property values and property taxes are reasonably ridiculous and Ypsi is getting there.

In fact, A2 housing prices are simply insane. Even a 1000 sq ft hovel without garage sells for upward of $500k; I kid you not. Nowhere in MI is the housing market more expensive, even the tonier resort spots like Charlevoix. A2 prices rival upscale neighborhoods just outside large US cities, but the houses in A2 are smaller and relatively downscale.

In the past couple years the fraction of A2 homes bought with cash is very high, so there seems to be an influx of emigre coastal urbanites driving the demand.

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

#163

Post by randcraw »

bluedino wrote: post #122
ghaff wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You probably need to decide if you want no "lake effect" snow specifically or just don't want a lot of snow. It still snows a lot in places that aren't Buffalo or Syracuse. Just in New York state Ithaca is pretty much out of the lake effect snow belt but it still snows quite a bit.

Michigan really only has lake effect snow on the western shore

But in the Winter, the entire state does suffer from persistent lake effect gloom. I grew up in central MI and had no idea how much sunnier it was elsewhere in the US (esp. along the eastern seaboard) when seasonal daylight gets short.

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

#164

Post by randcraw »

pc86 wrote: post #159
qudat wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It looks like the big issue with Ann Arbor is supply. I just pulled up Chicago Zillow for this criteria (1-1.25k sqft, 2 bed exact, 1+ bath, condos only, for sale not rent) and am having trouble finding one for more than $700k. Lots in the $350-400k range. Overall there are hundreds, with almost every block having at least one in the "nice" downtown area. Leaving criteria the same and switching to Ann Arbor, I see fo…

A2 has surprisingly high demand for small condos. Many affluent parents like to buy them for their children while they attend UofM, or as alumni to attend college sports events (since UofM is a big sports Mecca), or as retirees to be close to campus/city activities and amenities.

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

#165

Post by bityard »

bityard wrote: post #123
francisofascii wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious if Lansing, the capital of Michigan, offers opportunities for government contractor work due to its proximity. With Lansing, Detroit, and Ann Arbor relatively close to each other, semi-remote roles might be feasible.

I lived in Lansing 10 years ago. Honestly, it was pretty depressing. We lived in an old neighborhood between the downtown area and south Lansing which while not conventionally dangerous, was an area I always avoided driving or walking around at night if I could avoid it. The west side is fine but bland, a mix of suburban and apartment living. East Lansing is more interesting due to being a college town. The outlying…

> We lived in an old neighborhood between the downtown area and south Lansing

Too late for me to edit but in case someone comes back and reads this later, I want to be clear that south Lansing was the place I'd avoid at night, not the neighborhood I lived in.

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

#166

Post by toyg »

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #149
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 watched a YouTube video recently about Detroit's rebirth with a focus on old architecture being renovated. What I mostly noticed, from the Arial drone shots, was how spaced out the buildings were, it looked to be about 70% car parking.

I always say that Detroit feels like an European city in the late 1940s, i.e. a dense city that suffered a bombing campaign. It's really weird. And it's a shame, because what's still there can be jaw-dropping.

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

#167

Post by toyg »

parpfish wrote: post #27

all the apocalyptic stories about Detroit’s decay after the ‘08 collapse and one thing that stuck with me was that there were serious discussion about razing entire empty neighborhoods to deal with the fact the city was a lot smaller than it used to be. In my area, there are a lot of communities that have also gone through decades of contraction and are now sparsely populated with a lot of dilapidated structures. It’…

> after the ‘08 collapse

Detroit's problems go way earlier than that. RoboCop was made in 1987, and by then the state of the city was already a national stereotype. Most people will say the race riots of 1967 were the turning point, but decay probably started earlier than that.

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

#168

Post by screye »

filoleg wrote: post #69
wing-_-nuts wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've actually looked at Ann Arbor before as I adore college towns and was looking at trying to find one in the great lakes region as a forever / retirement destination. Given you're from the area would you have any others to recommend? Things I'm mainly looking for: * A climate change refuge * No 'lake effect' snow * Continuing education opportunities (i.e. auditing classes as a retiree) * A good public / uni library…

I have an alternative proposal to Ann Arbor for this that hits every single one of your criteria, but with a plus-minus (with a caveat, but i will elaborate on that later) regarding reasonable cost of living. That would be Seattle area. I will go point by point. The good: * According to their own Climate Vulnerability Assessment[0], the region is fairly resilient to the impacts of the climate change. * There is no la…

Seattle to Japan is 11 hours. (It's 15 hours from nyc) Were you thinking of Hawaii?

The west coast isn't near anything. Most of Asia is 16 hours away, which is the same for NYC.

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

#169

Post by yawgmoth »

coolyd wrote: post #155
qudat wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

This is a pretty interesting take. Anyone concerned with cost of living should not be considering a condo downtown. Overall the COL in detroit is around 45% lower for real estate and over 25% cheaper groceries versus new york. There will always be overpriced condos available.

Isn't everyone concerned with cost of living? Isn't there a whole game of life where we all find some comfortable CoL and salary balance?

That's why salary via CoL never made any sense to me. It should be based on how hard people want to work.

These "it's cheaper in Michigan" ideas -- yeah you can come up with a boring lifestyle that is dirt cheap. I'm just in Michigan already. It's hard to leave. I'm a global dude. I travel domestically. I invest. These things don't have Michigan prices.

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

#170

Post by eduction »

add-sub-mul-div wrote: post #74
eduction wrote: post #23

Detroit’s homicide rate as of January is about 4x the national average, 31.9 per 100k vs 7.4 nationally. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/20...

Like any city most of these would happen in easily avoidable areas and there's no reason to live in fear about it unless you're one of those people for whom it's a hobby.

Not “like any city,” that’s the point. Other cities do have areas like that and still manage to have a fraction of the homicides of Detroit.

“It’s a revival!”

“Isnt crime still super high?”

“It’s a revival in the nice neighborhoods!”

Post reply on HN