IT firm coming to 1001 Woodward

[mikeg19]

I think there might be an unseen benefit in just having more entry level jobs near all the colleges in Downtown and Midtown. Livening up Downtown and increasing pedestrian street traffic and public transit ridership is something that these jobs might do, and something that would benefit Detroit and Michigan. We really need better city centers with more vitality in this state in order to keep our young people from going to New York or Chicago.

Detroit right now doesn't cut it

You make a very good point. There needs to be more than just a job to keep young people, myself included, from running to Chicago as soon as we have a degree. But I don't think Detroit is even close to what Chicago and New York have to offer or ever will be. There needs to be an attraction outside of a job to lure young people downtown, and there are a lot of great things to do downtown and in the surrounding area, but it isn't what Chicago and New York have to offer. Once I have my degree, I probably will move away, but I know someday I will come back to Detroit because I like living here.

[esp1986]

You make a very good point. There needs to be more than just a job to keep young people, myself included, from running to Chicago as soon as we have a degree. But I don't think Detroit is even close to what Chicago and New York have to offer or ever will be. There needs to be an attraction outside of a job to lure young people downtown, and there are a lot of great things to do downtown and in the surrounding area, but it isn't what Chicago and New York have to offer. Once I have my degree, I probably will move away, but I know someday I will come back to Detroit because I like living here.

Perhaps just as importantly, is the fact that the jobs in this region are so spread out. If you grow up in Novi or Northville, go away to MSU for five years then come back to look for a job, you have little idea what companies are actually up in, say, Birmingham or Troy. If more of the jobs were centralized, it would make it easier for students to find jobs. So many students don't even know half of the companies around, so they jump ship. In Chicago or New York, most of the companies have offices in the city, and you start to recognize names pretty easily. Whereas in Detroit, you go from Compuware to, look, and abandoned building. If more of the businesses were centrally located that would be a big help to students finding jobs and employers recruiting them.

Companies have no one to blame but themselves for talent leaving Michigan. It is more than just the jobs though, young people want to live in the city and not have a car, which is an opportunity that is not really provided by Detroit in the same capacity as that by Chicago or New York. If more was centralized in this region, we would all be a lot better off.