HN Explorer

Ask HN:What is the future of Detroit?

1 points by corwinstephen ↗ HN
Every now and again I get this feeling that something that is pretty universally "not worth anyone's time" has become so uncool, that it just sort of feels cool. I'll never forget the first time I got this feeling. I was in high school, and despite the fact that everyone I knew was wearing super baggy jeans, I felt like it might be interesting to try slim fitting ones. Needless to say, times have changed. I realize that's somewhat of an unrelated circumstance, but it's the same exact feeling I got when I decided to buy an apple computer in 2005 (I took some heat for that one at the time), and the same feeling that provoked me to buy into Facebook when all the journalists were hating on it ($19, woo!).

Now I'm getting that feeling about Detroit. I'm hearing bits and pieces about artists moving there, which is always the first sign of gentrification, and it's just sort of made me curious as to how everyone else feels about the future city.

Thoughts?

3 comments

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itwerks4me
we're here, artists and all. drop by any time.
corwinstephen
Random question I know, but I've never been to Detroit so everything I know about it is hearsay. Can I ask what part you live in, and what it's like?
itwerks4me
I do not live in the city, my father was born there and lived within city limits until the 70's. I am located ~25 minutes west, just about where the sidewalk ends, though I have both worked and played downtown for years.

Biggest little city in the US... a lot of sprawl (we might have invented it alongside the automobile & the 80 hour work week) that makes the city seem to go on forever. Infrastructure has been failing for a long time, city government rarely makes any progress, more often they succeed at hampering one another's attempts to do so. City lighting is constantly busted, leaving large areas poorly lit at night, either because of actual failures, or because of rolling blackouts instituted to save money. Roads and bridges are crumbling, and there are many, many vacant properties, everywhere you look. The police are underfunded, corruption within the force is a known problem. FIrefighters are underfunded and of late, shot at regularly. The city has no grocery store - yep - not one, but we have a killer open air market which many of the city's residents and business owners rely on for fresh produce etc. What else... we have a high school here with a football field that is less than 100 yards simply because no one bothered to properly plan for it... yet there are entire elementary school buildings that are vacant less than two miles away... I'd be happy to chat about the city, the people, etc any time.