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Detroit: So cheap, there's hope?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by TrooperBari, Oct 26, 2011.

  1. TrooperBari

    TrooperBari Well-Known Member

    Interesting read from the Economist on how Detroit might be turning a corner as entrepreneurial types move in and take advantage of cheap, abundant real estate downtown:

    http://www.economist.com/node/21533407

    What are the odds that this Detroit Renaissance is the one that sticks?
     
  2. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Yeah, if you want to buy a four-bedroom home with a swimming pool for $60K, Detroit is the place to go.
     
  3. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    If I'm Detroit, or Gary, IN, I'm giving away housing, office space, industrial sites, to entrepreneurs.

    Give 'em tax breaks. Give incentives.

    There's no tax base now. You have nothing to lose, and in some ways an incredible opportunity.

    These cities have infrastructure and geographical advantages.

    They need to attract engineers, computer programmers, artists, and entrepreneurs.

    You just graduated from Harvard or Stanford? Come here.

    They've got to retain (in the case of Detroit) and attract young college grads.
     
  4. KJIM

    KJIM Well-Known Member

    Detroit's been giving tax breaks to businesses left and right for years, hasn't it? It doesn't seem it's helped that much just yet.

    As a former Detroiter, I hope the city springs back, but one thing I see is that all the efforts are concentrated in one little area. The city is spread out farther than just a mile outside of the fist. Those residents outside the immediate area get nothing from any resurgence -- or at least, that's how it seems to me.

    You've got Foxtown, and then you take eight steps and you're back in a post-nuclear zone. (Note: I moved in 9/07 - not sure of recent developments.)

    I know my former roommate, who owns her house, is paying exorbitant taxes to make up for absent landowners, etc.

    When does the light rail get built? Is that a done deal?
     
  5. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Gary has the same problem. So few home owners left, their property taxes are very high, even though they get few/no services.

    And many can't afford to pay, so delinquencies are sky high.
     
  6. Stitch

    Stitch Active Member

    Detroit is too big area-wise. I don't know what you do unless the city condemns entire neighborhoods and turns them into open space reserves. With the city trying to revitalize certain areas, some will be left behind. The hope is increased tax revenue benefits all residents instead of the core, but I doubt that will happen.
     
  7. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member


    Why?

    That's the question these cities have to answer. It's not enough to offer $1 houses. Or tax breaks.
     
  8. WolvEagle

    WolvEagle Well-Known Member

    I live in suburban Detroit. A lot of good things are happening in downtown Detroit. The rest of the city? No. High taxes, high crime, crappy schools. Yes, outside of downtown, the city is a bombed-out war zone.

    If hipsters are going to move to the Detroit area, odds are they won't be living in the city - once their ideals collide with reality.
     
  9. micropolitan guy

    micropolitan guy Well-Known Member

    With jobs, come employees. It's not a stretch to think that some of these employees will settle within the city limits over time, attracted by affordable housing and a convenient commute. Detroit will never be what it was in the 1940s and 1950s, but it can be reclaimed to a degree, house by house, block by block. This is happening in Buffalo in certain neighborhoods like the Larkin blocks, the area by Kleinhans and the west side.

    The key, of course, is jobs. No jobs, no people.
     
  10. NoOneLikesUs

    NoOneLikesUs Active Member

    This is a pretty accurate description. I drove around the city this summer and ended up eating at some joint near Foxtown. There was a huge hollowed out shell of a building staring me in the face. It seemed absurd that it just stands there among all of the good things happening in that area, but that's Detroit, I guess.
     
  11. wicked

    wicked Well-Known Member

    Bing's been trying to do this, funnel the population into more concentrated areas. Not outright condemnation, of course.
     
  12. novelist_wannabe

    novelist_wannabe Well-Known Member

    Same Dan Gilbert who owns the Cleveland Cavaliers?
     
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