Why I think Detroit is several decades from really improving (houses, neighborhoods)

[Tekkie]

Originally Posted by Arthur Digby Sellers

Cultural wasteland? LOL That is fantastic. Trust me, I've been to far more places than 95% of the provincial yahoos on here who think that Detroit is anyone's idea of "culture."

Detroit is over 300 years old. Many of the buildings in the city remain historical/architectural marvels. The DIA is one of the most renowned art institutes in the country. There are a plethora of parks, sports venues, music venues, museums, libraries, universities, restaurants, bars, and ethnically-unique neighborhoods (Greektown, Corktown, Mexican Village) scattered about the city. And that list is only growing larger each day. With the exception of Ann Arbor, I don't know a single suburban city in Metro Detroit that even remotely compares to that (and even Ann Arbor is a stretch). If you can name one, please let me know. I would love to visit it.

As far as I can tell, nobody here is comparing it to cultural meccas like New York, Chicago, London, or Paris. So let's not detract and make that the focal point of the argument here; it's not. However, Detroit possesses its own unique brand of culture and it continues to grow and mature.

[313Weather]

Originally Posted by lvoc

Detroit as presently constituted will never recover. You have a population of 700,000 and dropping with an income of $15,000. That is simply too big and too poor to ever recover. And it will pull down any renaissance in downtown and midtown. You can't recover with huge numbers of poor by a gentrifying a small 25,000 people community.

The city needs to be dissolved and merged with the surrounding suburbs.

Without some such move it will eventually become a ward of the state and sink deeper and deeper into the swamp of poor.

Agreed.

BTW, Detroit's already a ward of the state (Kevyn Orr/EM).

[MS313]

Originally Posted by zthatzmanz28

I know a whole lot of suburbanites who have never been in Detroit...I am talking 75% or more? Detroit is DEPENDENT on the suburbs for survival, the suburbs will be around long after Detroit has been dissected and sold in pieces to other municipalities by the GREAT KEVIN ORE.

I believe with every passing month, there are fewer suburbanites coming into Detroit as there is a greater decrease in services and an expotential increase in crime.

75% of suburbanites NEVER been to Detroit? Come on, stop fibbing man. Even 75% of people from Kalamazoo has been to Detroit at least a few times and Kzoo is well over a 2 hour drive.

As for the second statement, how is that when downtown/ Midtown is becoming more and more vibrant every year? How is that when there are now so many young people in the burbs who want to live downtown that they have a waiting list on many apartments? If what you said had even an ounce of truth, there wouldn't be more and more places opening up and buildings being renovated and turned into living spaces.
Moderator cut: orphaned

[detwahDJ]

Originally Posted by Retroit

That's true. The extent to which the black candidates are going to prevent Mike Duggan from becoming mayor reveals who the true racists really are. Hopefully the black residents of Detroit are as enlightened to elect a white person for mayor as white America was to elect a black president.

So Detroit needs whites in control - that is the "enlightenment" you yearn for?
You mean those "other" white people who voted for Obama - he got your vote for sure, eh.
How about electing the "best" person for each job - isn't that what real enlightenment is? I'm not saying Duggan is a bad choice, but it sounds like you favor Duggan mainly because he's white.

[lvoc]

Originally Posted by 313Weather

Agreed.

BTW, Detroit's already a ward of the state (Kevyn Orr/EM).

The state has taken over the authority of the City. It has not accepted responsibility and does not appear remotely interested in doing so.

[zthatzmanz28]

Originally Posted by MarvinStrong313

75% of suburbanites NEVER been to Detroit? Come on, stop fibbing man. Even 75% of people from Kalamazoo has been to Detroit at least a few times and Kzoo is well over a 2 hour drive.

As for the second statement, how is that when downtown/ Midtown is becoming more and more vibrant every year? How is that when there are now so many young people in the burbs who want to live downtown that they have a waiting list on many apartments? If what you said had even an ounce of truth, there wouldn't be more and more places opening up and buildings being renovated and turned into living spaces.
Moderator cut: orphaned

Detroit would be BANKRUPT and have an Emergency Manager...OH snap, they are and they do...

And I for one would not consider a bunch of WHITE SUBURBANITES moving to Detroit for SCHOOL to be a population explosion--Students are not residents--just temporary renters.

[MS313]

Originally Posted by zthatzmanz28

Detroit would be BANKRUPT and have an Emergency Manager...OH snap, they are and they do...

And I for one would not consider a bunch of WHITE SUBURBANITES moving to Detroit for SCHOOL to be a population explosion--Students are not residents--just temporary renters.

Wayne State has been there decades before the residential demand went up in downtown/ Midtown. So why is the demand so high it has a waiting list for the past couple of years? Most people moving downtown are young professionals, not college students.

[jonnynonos]

Denise Ilitch said it best years ago when being grilled on the "comeback question."

"It will continue to look more and more like a big city should."

That doesn't mean it's going to look like Manhattan in 10 years, but I think the downtown will definitely continue to get better.

The neighborhoods are in a lot of trouble and that trend is going to be extremely difficult to reverse.

The big problem I see in Detroit is numbers. You really need a lot of young people moving into a neighborhood to stabilize it. The neighborhoods in Chicago that turned over the last 30 years did so with influxes of tens of thousands of kids moving in from across the midwest, mostly. And many of those neighborhoods are still not "perfect" by any stretch of the imagination, and the schools in most cases still leave a lot to be desired. Crime continues to be a huge problem.

I think if the city of Detroit, though, can continue to build up the downtown as a legitimate entertainment district--and say in five, ten years, has a monopoly on the best restaurants, nightclubs, cafes etc. in the metro area--a lot of good things could come out of that.

You really need a lot of people moving to a neighborhood, though, to move the needle.

[Tekkie]

I agree. That is really the staple of my argument for how this city will improve. If you go to any vibrant city in the country, at the core are lots and lots of young professionals. They tend to work in the city, they tend to party in the city after work, and they tend to live in the city. Essentially, the majority of their money filters through the city in one way or another.

We need to continue building up those things that will attract them there (bars, restaurants, sports, music venues, movie theaters, outdoors activities, fitness centers, shopping, etc.). Young people want to be close to all of this. So far, the only places remotely close to offering these amenities in a centralized location, besides Detroit, would be Royal Oak, Plymouth, Novi or Ann Arbor.

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

Denise Ilitch said it best years ago when being grilled on the "comeback question."

"It will continue to look more and more like a big city should."

That doesn't mean it's going to look like Manhattan in 10 years, but I think the downtown will definitely continue to get better.

The neighborhoods are in a lot of trouble and that trend is going to be extremely difficult to reverse.

The big problem I see in Detroit is numbers. You really need a lot of young people moving into a neighborhood to stabilize it. The neighborhoods in Chicago that turned over the last 30 years did so with influxes of tens of thousands of kids moving in from across the midwest, mostly. And many of those neighborhoods are still not "perfect" by any stretch of the imagination, and the schools in most cases still leave a lot to be desired. Crime continues to be a huge problem.

I think if the city of Detroit, though, can continue to build up the downtown as a legitimate entertainment district--and say in five, ten years, has a monopoly on the best restaurants, nightclubs, cafes etc. in the metro area--a lot of good things could come out of that.

You really need a lot of people moving to a neighborhood, though, to move the needle.

[detwahDJ]

Originally Posted by trundle

i"m pretty sure that Detroit will never be anything but a pit, unless the Federal gov't agrees to spend about 50 billion $ a year on the place (forever).

You're "pretty sure" about that without knowing why, and with zero knowledge of the matter.
You might tell us about the superiority of your town and how you achieved that level of greatness so we know what to emulate. Detroit can use some of your wisdom and guidance. Thanks.