Reasons to live in Detroit

[fryar]

Per http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...at-being-heard:

• You're smart, you're talented, you've got new ideas.
In New York, you're a sparrow. In Detroit, you're a prized canary. This is Mecca for you, Mr. or Ms. Would-be Transplant, if you've got the brains and hustle to outwork and out-think the demoralized survivors of decades of renaissances that haven't taken root.
No other major metropolitan area will out-welcome Detroit's welcome. Give us your newcomers with moxie and talent. We'll mentor you, invest in you and invite you to parties.
• The flip side of a shrinking Big Metro Area is that some problems shrink, too.
Like big city culture. Cultural attractions that require advance commitments and plans in other cities are a snap here. Whether you want to snag seats for an opera, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, a visiting ballet company or an NFL football game, you can almost always see it here without using bonus dollars or extra sweat.
You can see a Tigers game this weekend. Tell that to your brother in Boston. And the traffic? You can commute downtown in 20 minutes from 20 miles away -- choose the direction. My brother in Los Angeles can't imagine that.
• Detroit's affordable. Really, really affordable.
Here, a young couple can become landed gentry -- house, backyard, good schools -- for a fraction of the cost in a similar community anywhere else. In these shrinking-city days, a shrewd would-be homeowner can pick up a tidy, three-bedroom suburban house for what one used to cost here 15 years ago.
Or, if you're young and adventurous, you can move into Detroit and try out the social consciousness and pioneer spirit progressive young adults mouth so easily from Portland, Ore., to Burlington, Vt. -- places that entertain them but no longer need them.

I can't say I'm talented or get invited to parties, but I'm definitely in agreement with and aware of the other two. I'd say she has a point.

[jt1]

Per http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...at-being-heard:

• You're smart, you're talented, you've got new ideas.
In New York, you're a sparrow. In Detroit, you're a prized canary. This is Mecca for you, Mr. or Ms. Would-be Transplant, if you've got the brains and hustle to outwork and out-think the demoralized survivors of decades of renaissances that haven't taken root.
No other major metropolitan area will out-welcome Detroit's welcome. Give us your newcomers with moxie and talent. We'll mentor you, invest in you and invite you to parties.
• The flip side of a shrinking Big Metro Area is that some problems shrink, too.
Like big city culture. Cultural attractions that require advance commitments and plans in other cities are a snap here. Whether you want to snag seats for an opera, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, a visiting ballet company or an NFL football game, you can almost always see it here without using bonus dollars or extra sweat.
You can see a Tigers game this weekend. Tell that to your brother in Boston. And the traffic? You can commute downtown in 20 minutes from 20 miles away -- choose the direction. My brother in Los Angeles can't imagine that.
• Detroit's affordable. Really, really affordable.
Here, a young couple can become landed gentry -- house, backyard, good schools -- for a fraction of the cost in a similar community anywhere else. In these shrinking-city days, a shrewd would-be homeowner can pick up a tidy, three-bedroom suburban house for what one used to cost here 15 years ago.
Or, if you're young and adventurous, you can move into Detroit and try out the social consciousness and pioneer spirit progressive young adults mouth so easily from Portland, Ore., to Burlington, Vt. -- places that entertain them but no longer need them.





I can't say I'm talented or get invited to parties, but I'm definitely in agreement with and aware of the other two. I'd say she has a point.

Who's making the popcorn for watching this thread?

[BrushStart]

Per http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...at-being-heard:

I can't say I'm talented or get invited to parties, but I'm definitely in agreement with and aware of the other two. I'd say she has a point.

Credited.....

[guito13]

good schools

[bike4beer]

Not really that affordable.

The increased cost of car insurance/property taxes/ cit income tax kept us out. Plus I have a 2.5 mile commute now. Don't think I would want to give the commute up and pay for it to boot.

[fryar]

Who's making the popcorn for watching this thread?

Already? Just wait til you see me share my opinions on [insert outrageous exaggeration of disliked political party's adherents here].

[fryar]

I do think she's talking about Metro Detroit. She contrasts the landed gentry's house to the urban pioneer's house, which I take as one of those unstated things people are always commenting on, in this case suburb and city, maybe in other cases to use urban or Detroiter as possible code for black.

Popcorn ready yet?

[Detroitnerd]

Living in Detroit often means having a tavern within walking distance. For me, that's huge.

[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.

[fryar]

It is a little milquetoast, you're right, but it does address [[somewhat) resignation to the brain drain.

In the columnist's defense, I only copied the reasons she gave. The full-length piece does state that this was her response to an acquaintance asking her if she wouldn't leave if she were young, if she could come up with even just 3 reasons to stay in [[Metro) Detroit.

For city-vs-suburbs debate, I think you can add some concept of real-ness or character or something because the city is much older than the suburban structures often are.

[Fnemecek]

Caspar Milquetoast called; even he thinks that column was ungodly lame.

[sumas]

I could possibly list 100 reasons not to live in the city. Could also list 100 reasons to live here.

I live here, I love it. We have two domociles and it is a hard pick between the two. Great neighbors make a great neighborhood. Better be prepared to be flexible though. One neighbor cranks up his music every day at 4:00 pm, it stops at 6:00pm. He bbq's in the front yard. He has lots of kids and they are all charming.

Taxes are insane and city services can be sketchy. Still I call this home.This city life is real, maybe even edgy.

[DetroitDad]

"Welcome, to the desert, of the real".

Reality can't be ignored here, but neither can the calling of duty to action that results from being able to clearly see it.

Downtown Detroit is also a safe haven for those waiting to see how things play out in the collapse of the suburbs. Downtown Detroit has strategic economic advantages. You can get by without a car or with only one car if you live and work in the CBD or surrounding areas. There are other places in our metro with similar benefits, but greater Downtown does serve as a good jump off.

[Barbara_10]

"the collapse of the suburbs."
Really? Doesn't look like that from here.

"You can get by without a car"
Really? How are you going to get out when the city collapses? A bus, perhaps?
Good luck with that.

[DC48080]

Downtown Detroit is also a safe haven for those waiting to see how things play out in the collapse of the suburbs.

Jesus, this same old nonsense again. The suburbs are not going to collapse. We all get it; you love Detroit, and good for you!

But just because Detroit has so many major problems doesn't mean that the suburbs are going to be flushed down the toilet with Detroit.

Yes, suburbs are somewhat dependent on the central city but Detroit needs the suburbs more. Detroit has very little to offer the 'burbs yet is very needy of much help from outside the city.

You sound like you're hoping that the suburbs fail like Detroit has. It is kind of like someone who has cancer or AIDS wishing the same thing on his neighbor. "I'm living in hell so you should too".

Let's see how your tune changes when your child is school age. You will eventually grow up [[hopefully) and look at things differently.

[wolverine]

The flip side of a shrinking Big Metro Area is that some problems shrink, too.
Like big city culture. Cultural attractions that require advance commitments and plans in other cities are a snap here. Whether you want to snag seats for an opera, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, a visiting ballet company or an NFL football game, you can almost always see it here without using bonus dollars or extra sweat.
You can see a Tigers game this weekend. Tell that to your brother in Boston. And the traffic? You can commute downtown in 20 minutes from 20 miles away -- choose the direction. My brother in Los Angeles can't imagine that.

I bet the brother in Los Angeles, can't imagine someone going to football games, orchestras, and art museums everyday....365 days a year. So yeah, a lousy justification. How about the majority of housing units no more than a 5 minute walk from a grocery store? Can I get that?

[detroitbob66]

I will tell you why I live in the City of Detroit, Michigan. There is so much to do in the city that meets most of my hobbies/interests. I love the culture. I love the art museums; DIA and Charles Wright AA Histroy, the Detroit museum, belle isle, fishing/boating, exploring abandoned buildings is a definite!, photography, ride bikes, cruise Gratiot, Grand River, or Woodward Avenues. The best libraries, Wayne State Walter Ruether and Main Branch Detroit Public. Sporting events. Concerts and detroit rap is the best [[just my personal opinion now What else? Ohh, the lovely food, restaurants, mainly coney islands, drive movie theaters, Casinos, most everyone minds their own business, and much much more

[English]

I bet the brother in Los Angeles, can't imagine someone going to football games, orchestras, and art museums everyday....365 days a year. So yeah, a lousy justification. How about the majority of housing units no more than a 5 minute walk from a grocery store? Can I get that?

The problem is, most people in the Detroit suburbs, or in most of the "desirable" places in America, live within a 5 minute walk of a grocery store thanks to zoning. Even if they could walk there, many and perhaps most do not -- the very essence of a big box store is driving up to it in an SUV or truck and getting as much as you can. It's much different from being in NYC or Chicago, and making more frequent but smaller trips.

[fryar]

I bet the brother in Los Angeles, can't imagine someone going to football games, orchestras, and art museums everyday....365 days a year. So yeah, a lousy justification.

Yes, everyday would wreak havoc on the pocketbook. That aside, of course, even if you had a bottomless pocketbook, you really couldn't do so without sitting in traffic for multiple hours a day, frittering your life away. So you wouldn't.

The point she's making is that it's easy to do that in Detroit. No traffic, ticket prices are more affordable, it's not sold out 3 months in advance, and you can still sleep in that morning.

How about the majority of housing units no more than a 5 minute walk from a grocery store? Can I get that?

Well, no.

[Nero]

Nero does not believe the suburbs will collapse. Nero does wonder if Michigan can support a thriving Detroit, thriving Detroit suburbs, thriving Battle Creek, thriving Flint, thriving Grand Rapids, and thriving Saginaw. Nero would also like to see Windsor, Toledo, and Gary thrive.

Nero wonders if such thoughts will end in despair. Nero wishes he could help more. Nero wishes he could help more. Nero wishes he could help more.

Could such a balancing act play out even between Detroit and her suburbs? Is one or the other doomed to failure, or can both city and suburbs thrive on indefinitely?

[Armin]

Nero does not believe the suburbs will collapse. Nero does wonder if Michigan can support a thriving Detroit, thriving Detroit suburbs, thriving Battle Creek, thriving Flint, thriving Grand Rapids, and thriving Saginaw. Nero would also like to see Windsor, Toledo, and Gary thrive.

Nero wonders if such thoughts will end in despair. Nero wishes he could help more. Nero wishes he could help more. Nero wishes he could help more.

Could such a balancing act play out even between Detroit and her suburbs? Is one or the other doomed to failure, or can both city and suburbs thrive on indefinitely?

Nero refers to himself in third person. Nero looses all interest in what he has to say from everyone on the forum.

[erikd]

And the traffic? You can commute downtown in 20 minutes from 20 miles away -- choose the direction.

You can't commute downtown from 20 miles away in 20 minutes unless you are working midnights or some other off-peak shift.

Westland, Troy, Franklin, and Fraser are examples of places that are about 20 miles driving distance [[less than 20 miles as the crow flies) from downtown Detroit, and you can't get from downtown to these places in anywhere near 20 minutes in rush hour.

As a person who has commuted between downtown and Troy hundreds of times during rush hour, I can assure you that the normal commute time is closer to an hour.

That is most certainly less time than a similar distance commute in LA during rush hour, but the idea that you can commute 20 miles away from downtown in 20 minutes in any direction is ridiculous.

[313WX]

Of cities with 3+ million people, a study was recently done and it was determined that Detroit has the least amount of congestion.

So while the "20 minutes to downtown if you're 20 miles away" comment was an exaggeration, the main point about Detroit's relative lack of traffic still stands IMO.

[stasu1213]

My reason for like Detroit is that it is still cheaper than living in other big cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Atlanta. There is much more room for developers to play with but still have homes to live in cheaper than living in an apartment in Manhattan. Hill Harper had paid a cheaper price for the house in Boston Edison, just over $1M than he would had paying for a 3 bedroom condo in Manhattan or anywhere in New York and two of it's burroughs