Are suburbanites aware of how unattractive living in Metro-Detroit is to outsiders?

**internet_pseudopod** · April-18-12, 06:53 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

...They put too much emphasis on attracting residents/patrons/visitors from the suburbs as the panacea to save the city. Sure, the city could use residents and money from almost any source, but the suburbs will not save the city. Again, THE SUBURBS WILL NOT SAVE THE CITY. The suburbs will never be a large source of future residents for the city.....

In 2000 or 1990 I would have certainly agreed with that viewpoint but currently we have a new suburban population that doesn't have an irrational hatred of Detroit or the silly racial hatreds of the past. In fact most of these people were relatively happy being in Detroit in the 1990's and early 2000's. Then the bottom dropped out.

The beginnings of any comeback that Detroit has involves some of these people being drawn back by improvements made to city finances and services. The long term does depend on drawing people to the region for both jobs and quality of life but first we have to pick the low hanging fruit.

**iheartthed** · April-18-12, 08:39 PM

Originally Posted by internet_pseudopod

In 2000 or 1990 I would have certainly agreed with that viewpoint but currently we have a new suburban population that doesn't have an irrational hatred of Detroit or the silly racial hatreds of the past. In fact most of these people were relatively happy being in Detroit in the 1990's and early 2000's. Then the bottom dropped out.

The beginnings of any comeback that Detroit has involves some of these people being drawn back by improvements made to city finances and services. The long term does depend on drawing people to the region for both jobs and quality of life but first we have to pick the low hanging fruit.

Well, when I say that Detroit will not be saved by the suburbs I'm speaking more of the nature of cities in general. NYC, for example, has a net negative migration of native residents but manages stabilization/growth by attracting out-of-region migrants to offset the losses. This is how cities have always worked. Detroit once worked like this too.