Should Be: Detroit - Silicon City • Hacker News Board

Re: Should Be: Detroit - Silicon City

#11

Post by madd_o » Sun, Feb 13, 2011, 3:42 PM UTC

zephjc wrote: post #10

madd_o wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great - where else? If we're going to pick our ideal city, what should it be? Maybe podunk Texas isn't going to have the best internet service. Who does, within the list of economically thirsty locations? That's the underlying question: What city has cheap housing, good infrastructure and is friendly to tech startups?

Cheap housing. Good infrastructure. Friendly to tech startups. Pick any two.

Why? I mean it without sarcasm, why do you suggest that the three are not possible?

Re: Should Be: Detroit - Silicon City

#12

Post by Headfirst » Sun, Feb 13, 2011, 3:42 PM UTC

There are projects like this in Detroit already. I see everyone in this thread passing around old, tired images of a past Detroit. It hasn't been like that for awhile.

I started my business in Detroit and there is no other place I would choose if I did it all over again.

Stop passing old stereotypes about Detroit around and come see the city for yourself.

Re: Should Be: Detroit - Silicon City

#13

Post by dookiet » Sun, Feb 13, 2011, 4:02 PM UTC

Snow is an idiotic argument. In fact if you like winter sports Michigan has an advantage in more consistant snowfall due to the proximity of the great lake (a huge benefit itself). Better to live in a place prepared to deal with snow then set up shop in the south and have you business and community shut down and clear out like a post apocalyptic city.

Re: Should Be: Detroit - Silicon City

#14

Post by NY_USA_Hacker » Sun, Feb 13, 2011, 4:15 PM UTC

The labor unions will kill any such effort. The whole state of Michigan is just in LOVE with the labor union efforts that killed Detroit. Until Michigan gives up on labor unions, f'get about it.

Re: Should Be: Detroit - Silicon City

#15

Post by madd_o » Sun, Feb 13, 2011, 4:23 PM UTC

balanon wrote: post #9

It's tough for Detroit to shake the negative press about it. I think there is a lot of potential. There's a re-gentrification happening and there's a growing population of artists, musicians, and tech growing in the middle of the city. It's certainly not big enough to garner any attention but it will. I think it's easy for people to poo poo on Detroit. Detroit needed to burn so something better could rise from the as…

I'd read about the influx of artists and musicians, but didn't have a link ref to it, so I didn't bring it up. I'm not dead-set on Detroit, but it seemed a good match, the artsy and the geeky crowd. There is a big jumbled mix of modern hip culture which lends itself to new web style and start-up culture...

Thanks for the counterpoint.

Re: Should Be: Detroit - Silicon City

#16

Post by madd_o » Sun, Feb 13, 2011, 4:24 PM UTC

Headfirst wrote: post #12

There are projects like this in Detroit already. I see everyone in this thread passing around old, tired images of a past Detroit. It hasn't been like that for awhile. I started my business in Detroit and there is no other place I would choose if I did it all over again. Stop passing old stereotypes about Detroit around and come see the city for yourself.

What's your business focus?

Re: Should Be: Detroit - Silicon City

#17

Post by LoveMich » Sun, Feb 13, 2011, 4:29 PM UTC

VERY reasonably priced housing. Extremely supportive people who will help entrepreneurs in an instant. Lots more to do than the media would like to share. Fabulous live music venues. Great museums. A gazillion terrific restaurants. Four distinct seasons. A quick drive to Northern Michigan will give you views of some of the most beautiful lakes in the world. I'd never move away from here.

Re: Should Be: Detroit - Silicon City

#18

Post by madd_o » Sun, Feb 13, 2011, 4:34 PM UTC

LoveMich wrote: post #17

VERY reasonably priced housing. Extremely supportive people who will help entrepreneurs in an instant. Lots more to do than the media would like to share. Fabulous live music venues. Great museums. A gazillion terrific restaurants. Four distinct seasons. A quick drive to Northern Michigan will give you views of some of the most beautiful lakes in the world. I'd never move away from here.

> Extremely supportive people who will help entrepreneurs in an instant.

Can you elaborate on this?

Re: Should Be: Detroit - Silicon City

#19

Post by pitdesi » Sun, Feb 13, 2011, 5:17 PM UTC

I like the idea and have love for Detroit (I went to grad school at U of M) but there are a number of things that make this really hard, including terrible government, deep seeded racism, cold weather, etc. Also - this story is crazy. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11002/1114667-109.stm And it's not like those auto workers can be employed by your startup.

That being said, there are a lot of smart people in the midwest, and given the challenge of finding talent in the valley, there should be more startups in the midwest. Chicago and Pittsburgh seem to be getting there but you don't hear much from other places... Any place with good universities will have some startups, but Detroit hasn't gotten much out of U of M

Re: Should Be: Detroit - Silicon City

#20

Post by _delirium » Sun, Feb 13, 2011, 6:29 PM UTC

yummyfajitas wrote: post #8

olsonea wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Snow is a personal preference. Boston and Detroit are comparable in terms of snowfall, the difference being there are umpteen ski resorts within a three hour drive of Boston. I like the OP's Utopian vision for resurrecting Detroit, I had a similar idea related to other manufacturing ventures. The infrastructure should mostly still be in tact. The only thing that is missing is the industry. The perfect fit to me is th…

Detroit is a kleptocracy. The UAW will come in and demand you overpay your workers and (probably more importantly) impose work rules that prevent you from becoming more efficient. The city will tax you to death, since you will be the only source of revenue within the city limits. Toyota had very good reasons for building their Prius factory in Mississippi rather than Detroit. It's a low tax, right to work state, with…

High taxes, strong unions, etc. apply to places like Massachusetts and California as well, and they don't seem to have the same kind of troubles Detroit has.

I'd chalk most of Detroit's problems up to the post-industrial malaise that affected Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Cleveland, Gary, etc. as well, i.e. cities built around industrial-age factory sectors that turned out to have their eggs in the wrong baskets for the 21st century. Factory towns in right-to-work states didn't generally weather the transition any better-- South Carolina is littered with ghost towns that were formerly supported by the textile mills, and the state's economy never really recovered from their departure (it's now the country's fourth-poorest state, worse off than Michigan).