Detroit Is Going Bankrupt, But Its Tech Community Is Going Strong • Hacker News Board

Re: Detroit Is Going Bankrupt, But Its Tech Community Is Going Strong

#41

Post by sneak » Sun, Jul 21, 2013, 4:52 PM UTC

zenocon wrote: post #29

sneak wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The five square blocks around the rencen and the casino don't count, though you can't get emergency services there either. It's not nonsense, you just don't use emergency services like police, EMS, or fire every day. That doesn't make it any less stupid to live somewhere they aren't available, though. Enjoy unplowed streets and no street lights while things "pick up", though. Oh, wait, the rencen has a parking garage…

Listen, I'm really just fucking tired of people slagging Detroit. The people that are doing it always seem to fit the profile of this guy here, "I used to live there...I have relatives there...I visited there once..." -- quite frankly, fuck all y'all. We're doing fine in Detroit, we're making it better...slowly but surely.

I lived there for 23 years. I am back for a week at least once a year.

If you're tired of people slagging on your town, maybe your town should be one that doesn't suck?

Re: Detroit Is Going Bankrupt, But Its Tech Community Is Going Strong

#42

Post by rdl » Mon, Jul 22, 2013, 11:07 AM UTC

temphn wrote: post #37

sneak wrote: post #2

Anyone who lives or works there is a fool. I grew up there, and lived downtown for years before wising up. Have a medical emergency and call 911? You're lucky if an ambulance shows up within an hour, if at all. I've been robbed at gunpoint enough times for one lifetime. I'm tired of having to pick up my .45 as the first thing I do after landing at the airport and getting my rental car. Tell me how cheap rent has to b…

No one can "fix" Detroit because no one can even discuss the reasons why Detroit is Detroit. It's not Democrats (Seattle and the Bay Area are fine). It's not big companies (there do happen to be auto plants in other areas). It has to do with the great unmentionable taboos of modern American society. To state why Detroit is Detroit is like saying that "Stalin was a dictator" in 1970s Russia[1]. It doesn't matter that…

It's clearly not just due to black people, either, though. Atlanta has a large black population, and is a pretty decent city (it has problems, sure, but so do other places). And there are cities with largely-non-black populations which also suck in the same kind of ways as Detroit.

Any city with a massive decline in population (which was probably triggered by racial issues and bad governance in the 1960s, a time when a violent armed revolution, at least at the local level, was quite possible) is going to have problems. Detroit had a heavily union population, reflected in the government as well, so unlike mining/etc. ghost towns, the "hangover" from the massive decline in population was a lot more unsustainable (in a place like Butte, people just left when industry left).

Sure, the decline into a war zone hurt, and compounded all the initial problems, but NYC was a warzone in the 1970s/1980s too, and didn't die. LA and Miami in the 1980s/1990s. I mean, even Oakland is somewhat turning around now (largely on the strength of SFBA overall and an artificially limited housing market in SF, true, not internal improvement.)

Re: Detroit Is Going Bankrupt, But Its Tech Community Is Going Strong

#43

Post by Jgrubb » Mon, Jul 22, 2013, 4:18 PM UTC

odonnellryan wrote: post #22

Jgrubb wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously, can anyone in the Ann Arbor area speak up on this? My family and I have been mulling over a move from North Jersey back to MI for a while, and I know there is a tech scene there, but what's it like?

Why the move from Jersey? I'm in Jersey myself, just wondering why you want to relocate!

It's mostly a family thing. Neither me nor my wife are originally from here, we moved up for a gig that I don't have any more. If we hadn't bought a house at the top of the bubble we'd probably have split already. That said, I really love our house and where we live (Stillwater), it just feels kinda lonely on the family front now that we have our own kids.

Re: Detroit Is Going Bankrupt, But Its Tech Community Is Going Strong

#44

Post by Jgrubb » Mon, Jul 22, 2013, 4:22 PM UTC

kevinnk wrote: post #23

Jgrubb wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously, can anyone in the Ann Arbor area speak up on this? My family and I have been mulling over a move from North Jersey back to MI for a while, and I know there is a tech scene there, but what's it like?

I'm from Ann Arbor and have lived in New York. The tech scene in Ann Arbor is quite strong, especially considering its only a town of 110k or so. Most of our startups and incubators are centered around the university, so I would recommend at least living close by. Its an amazing place to grow up or start a family in too.

Totally. You can tell that just from walking around. We were out there over the 4th weekend and I could definitely see raising the family there. My tech network is pretty much non-existent out there though (for now).

Re: Detroit Is Going Bankrupt, But Its Tech Community Is Going Strong

#45

Post by temphn » Tue, Jul 23, 2013, 1:25 AM UTC

rdl wrote: post #42

temphn wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one can "fix" Detroit because no one can even discuss the reasons why Detroit is Detroit. It's not Democrats (Seattle and the Bay Area are fine). It's not big companies (there do happen to be auto plants in other areas). It has to do with the great unmentionable taboos of modern American society. To state why Detroit is Detroit is like saying that "Stalin was a dictator" in 1970s Russia[1]. It doesn't matter that…

It's clearly not just due to black people, either, though. Atlanta has a large black population, and is a pretty decent city (it has problems, sure, but so do other places). And there are cities with largely-non-black populations which also suck in the same kind of ways as Detroit. Any city with a massive decline in population (which was probably triggered by racial issues and bad governance in the 1960s, a time when…

The numbers are quite different. Detroit is 82.7% black, while Atlanta is 54% black:

http://www.bestplaces.net/compare-cities/atlanta_ga/detroit_...

Numbers matter. Political control and on-the-ground police haven't flipped over entirely yet to Camden, NJ or Gary, IN levels.