Reasons to live in Detroit

[RickBeall]

Go against the flow and reap big rewards.

[DetroitPole]

This is kind of a strange article. First, there are many, many differences from living in Detroit and the suburbs of Detroit, and she doesn't take that into account.

I think her observations are pretty milquetoast and obvious. You can live in a nice, stable suburbs with decent schools for next to nothing. However, she doesn't address any challenges. Many people would like to do this, but can't find work, or work in their field, or full-time work, or comparable compensation they could find elsewhere in the country.

With the city vs. suburb comparison, I think focusing on the city alone would make for a much more compelling article. It is really, really obvious as to why living in the City of Detroit is not ideal. However, unlike the upshots of living in the Metro suburbs, the reasons to live in the city are not as apparent.

1) She touched on housing. You can get a nice house in the suburbs for a song, but in Detroit, you can get a palatial early 20th century mansion for a few hundred grand what would cost millions elsewhere.

2) Taxes are extremely high, but many of the better neighborhoods are NEZ. This can bring tax rates to more normal levels.

3) Walkability. As a previous poster touched on, well, while it may not be Ann Arbor or Manhattan, many parts of Detroit are pretty walkable, in contrast to a lot of America. I don't live in an area thought of as traditionally walkable, but I can walk to a couple good bars, a few restaurants, a farmer's market, a couple grocery stores, a hardware store, etc. Even with the darth of good mass transit, I can walk to a bus stop and could get downtown that way if I really wanted to.

4) Some of Detroit's problems don't matter as much when you're a single young person or an empty nester. The terrible schools aren't a huge concern personally if you don't have kids. If you're a single male, you don't worry about your personal safety as if you had a wife and kids to worry about. If you live in a big apartment, loft, or condo building you have less chance of being burgalarized.

Once again the local paper disappoints.