Detroit Could Become the Silicon Valley of the Midwest
venturedlife.com
venturedlife.com
1. "Silicon Valley" basically covers the area from San Francisco to San Jose. There are also a growing number of companies in the East Bay. "Silicon Valley" is not a city, it's a sizable (and effectively growing) geographic region.
2. While startups are a prominent part of "Silicon Valley" lore, most startups fail and are incredibly vulnerable to economic cycles. Dozens of large companies are the glue that hold Silicon Valley together. There is a revolving door between these large, established companies and startups and it provides a talent pool to startups and safety net to tech workers that no other region can currently match. Attracting "startups" to your city is the easy part; attracting (or organically growing) the big companies is the hard part.
3. Not only is there more money for tech investment in Silicon Valley, there are more sources of it. One side of Sand Hill Road probably has more venture firms ready to write checks to technology startups than most cities have in total. That's not going to change any time soon.
4. While the percentage of total employed persons in the Bay Area who work in tech is much higher than the national average, it's still below 10%. The economy here is incredibly diverse and there are plenty of people earning good money in other industries like law, finance and medicine. In fact, a lot of folks working in these fields in the Bay Area make more than the average tech worker. Without this kind of strong broad-based economy, a city or region won't be able to replicate "Silicon Valley."
5. California's weather can't be beat.
Add to that the high unemployment rate, the police problems, the near infinite amount of house and building fires, the poor public transit system and the total lack of bike lines. The only positive to Detroit is cheap land and buildings in many cases. Almost forgot about the city filing for bankruptcy too, that never inspires confidence.
Of course, perhaps you live in Detroit, and have 2014-era information, in which case you would know more than me. I merely decided to search for this because I recalled reading years ago this guy who wrote a blog article about his favourite Detroit supermarkets. (And the article above is that same guy. I suppose Detroit bloggers aren't that thick on the ground.) It certainly seems implausible that a city of 700,000 couldn't support at least one centrally-located food shop.
(I live in a city in the UK, population 500,000, and it has numerous grocery stores. As well as the ones I usually visit, there's one a mile away from my house - a decent size one to boot - that I never even knew existed until last month. I just drove down one particular side street to look at a house that was for sale... and there it was. You don't need a huge catchment area to support a grocery store, it seems.)
None of this is to suggest that Detroit is or isn't some hellhole...
>Detroit just watched its last mainstream grocer, Farmer Jack, close its doors for good.
[1] http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1247787...
People are mammals, not snakes. They need to eat! Where there are 700,000 people, no matter how much many of them live in poverty, you can be certain that there is enough demand for food to support at least one grocery store...
People need food, but grocery stores aren't the only place to get it. I can't speak about Detroit specifically, but it is common for inner city neighborhoods to only have fast food restaurants and "corner stores" -- glorified convenience stores that make most of their money on tobacco, alcohol, and lottery tickets, but happen to have some food as well. They are a far cry from what most people would call a grocery store (even compared to smaller ones like Aldi, Trader Joe's, or Piggly Wiggly).
Now, there may be a grocery store 15 minutes away by car, but that distance becomes significantly more troublesome when you have to take a bus.
First one that came to mind was the Whole Foods [1] next to the hospital. They look to be doing very well from the hospital employees.
[1] https://www.google.com/maps/place/Whole+Foods+Market/@42.349...
I'm hopeful, but far from guaranteeing anything. It's just not NEARLY as bad as you've described. My 23 year old friend recently moved into an apartment downtime and his rent is already up almost 50% from last year. It may be anecdotal, but gentrification is without a doubt taking place. I'd be willing to bet that this will be the first year in a long time Detroit does not see a population decrease. If not this year, then next. Hope I'm not wrong! :D
You couldn't be more wrong. M1 rail, an easy city to bike, Whole Foods in Midtown, etc.
Right now it's a playground for the late 20/early 30 set looking to get a foothold and meet someone, which is exactly what I've done. The city needs to focus on fixing the schools and providing more security, so that it's possible to have a family in Detroit. That will come in time.
The largest "grocery store" I went to sold canned food, pasta, etc but at prices 2x to 4x what we would pay. There is a huge ghetto tax in place. A can of refried beans was over $3. And this place looked respectable, for Detroit, meaning no lotto tickets or bulletproof glass.
I didn't buy anything, for a myriad of reasons. Nearly everything was ruined, could get something on the open market for lower marginal cost of repair. The only homes, and I say homes, worth buying were those clearly occupied, all by old people that had lived there for many years. I am not going to be that person.
Detroit is a very interesting place. There are bombed out sections I would hate to go to, but there are also great areas such as Eastern Market, Midtown, the Riverwalk etc. Some areas are extremely hospitable to biking on the road, but the custom is to ride on the sidewalk. Other areas have very nice bike trails. It's one of the most interesting cities I've been to. The dichotomy of buildings being destroyed next to areas in which young people are attempting to revive the city is impressive to watch.
It is interesting, everyone I talked to was great. Way safer than Chicago (probably cuz everyone is gone, ;)
The one thing that really surprised me was that all the black people I talked to WANTED white kids to move to the city and bring it back. They weren't worried about gentrification, they were more worried about decay.
The property taxes are too high and are pushing old people onto the street. 5k a year was not uncommon for taxes on lots of places I looked at. Rent would barely cover the taxes, leaving nothing for upkeep, so a rental market is not viable. I applaud the move at the next auction to require local buyers.
Even tho I live in the surburbs, I got a coworking space downtown. I don't care for downtown life, and like space/houses. If not, I do move downtown. To get to downtown takes me about 15-25 minutes. Where I live is safe, has grocery stores, very low crimes, lots of parks, great city, cheap property. Detroit area is a great buy!
I bought my house for low 5 figures and it's paid off. 4 bedroom, 1/2 acre backyard, 3 car garage, $1200/yr property tax. No mortgage! My salary is a bit lower than my peers in Silicon Valley. I definitely save more than them.
So yes, Detroit the city outside of downtown might not offer much, but that doesn't mean that one should stay away. You can move Downtown or the surburbs. The positive move is spreading from downtown outwards.
There seemed to be an inexorable cycle: During good times, we'd be making cars like crazy. Civic leaders all warned that we shouldn't be so dependent on one industry. "The Silicon Valley of the Midwest" was mentioned as early as I can remember.
During bad times, the car plants would shut down. Civic leaders said that we shouldn't be so dependent on one industry.
When things turned back around, we always went back to making cars like crazy. And pieces of cars, etc. Civic leaders breathed a sigh of relief but warned that we shouldn't be so dependent on one industry.
So, if Detroit is picking up right now, I'll wonder the same thing that I've wondered before: Is it just because there is more demand for cars again, and everything else is just a trickle down from making cars again, and pieces of cars? Or is it something else?
[1]Some old PG essays about factors to create a "Silicon Valley":
Chicago has a much bigger tech sector, including satellite campuses of silicon valley tech giants like Google.
Kansas City seems to have stronger entrepreneurial support, including being home to the Kauffman Foundation and Google Fiber.
I am in the city often and there are some damned interesting companies getting created. I was born in Detroit and have watched it all my adult life, first as it slid down hill and then the numerous attempts by well meaning people to bring it back. Detroit finally has lots of forward momentum and I don't believe the forward motion will stall anytime soon.
But Detroit will never become what it was in my youth. Richest city in the world, best public big city school system in the United States. Heck the auto industry will never be what it was back then either. But it can be a healthy city with full employment, but its going to take time. It took fifty years to hit rock bottom and at least that long to fully recover.
I tell college students that there is both risk and opportunity in Detroit. If you want the safe choice it's probably not where you want to go. But if you want to skip a few steps in your career rise along with a higher risk of failure then it's one of the best places.
Forget the Silicon Valley comparisons. Lets Detroit be Detroit. Don't accept the ruin porn pictures, check it out for yourself.
I expressed this exact sentiment at a conference a year ago where the topic was about keeping great talent here (Detroit/Michigan/Midwest) instead of losing it to the coasts. Basically, you could go be a cog in the Google machine, or you could stay here and drive something new to success. Of course you're taking risks; big names missing on your resume, a six figure starting salary, winter. There are benefits though; you get to set the culture, much lower cost of living, and fall here is awesome.
With the bankruptcy in motion I think locals now feel that Detroit has finally hit bottom and can now work its way back to something better. It's not going to be the next Silicon Valley, but with the increased interest from younger generations it's going to be something more than it has been in a while, growing.
However, like other commenters have said calling it the "next Silicon Valley" is a bit disingenuous. The whole regional economy is still very tied to manufacturing (particularly automotive manufacturing). I don't see a drastic change to technology or any other economic sector happening in the near future. I work at a software consultancy in Detroit and almost every project I have worked on has been tied to various parts of the auto industry.
I think other midwest cities like Chicago or even nearby Ann Arbor are much further along the path of being "Silicone Valley-esque"
[1] http://www.detroitlabs.com/
[2] http://www.automationalley.com/a2_nws_eventinfo?id=a08600000...
This is right on the main street into downtown. It's really sad.
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Title+Source,+662+Woodward+A...
The same is true in Silicon Valley. You need some special coding or hardware, they've got a whole subdivision of those guys on 24-hour call. No problem.
You don't find that in any other city for those two industries. You wouldn't want to start a wheat operation in San Francisco but cause they don't have the tools sitting in a store down the street with 10 farmers who know how to use it. Go to Kansas, young man.
I have been to detroit, I wanted to live the batman detroit dream. Better to move to Utah, Arizona or New Mexico. High taxes, corruption. The place needs the peace corps.