

David Byrne: Don't Forget the Motor City - jericsinger
http://journal.davidbyrne.com/2010/09/092310-dont-forget-the-motor-city.html

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bryansum
Having lived in Michigan for almost all my life, I find Mr. Byrne's conclusion
and observations about Detroit to be pretty accurate. I want to point out that
not all parts of Detroit are ruinous; mid-town with Wayne State University,
the DIA (Detroit Institute of Art), and other universities in the area make
for an interesting and healthy part of town. As far as the tech scene, I'd say
it's mainly concentrated in the Ann Arbor area.

~~~
markkat
I feel the same way. My wife and I work downtown and walked down to the
Transformers filming at lunch. It's so odd to have outsiders look at Detroit.
It's both embarrassing and cathartic.

I'm in AA too. Lived in MI most my life, but moved to AA last year. Any HN
meetups? We are looking for another tech-cofounder, applying to YC this month.

~~~
jerf
There are not any HN meetups that I am aware of; based on the periodic "where
are you" posts here I'm not sure HN density is high enoungh. But there is an
active startup hub here, see <http://www.techbrewery.org/> . In the community
section, I think a2geeks.org is probably the most active site. There's
definitely enough startup activity to get you going. Either show up for the
"beer thirty" mentioned on the techbrewery's sidebar, or just stroll in and
start chatting. Make sure you meet Dug Song.

~~~
JangoSteve
I live here in A2 as well (have for a few years now). My office is just across
the hall (in the same building) as the Techbrewery, and we very much
participate in Beer:30 every Friday.

I've actually met up with a few people here on HN, and I know many many more
who are HN readers, but not really commenters. If anyone is interested in
having a cozy HN meetup in A2, contact me via email and I'd be happy to set it
up.

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JangoSteve
Great article about the history, but unfortunately, being outside of Detroit,
the author has only barely scraped the surface of all of the amazing people
that are still in and around Detroit doing real things to make a real
difference.

Just take a look at the TEDx Detroit event [1] that I was fortunate enough to
attend last week for evidence.

If you haven't seen the amazing difference that everyday people like Chazz
Miller [2], or Claire Nelson [3], or Terry Bean [4], or many others are
making, then you don't know what's possible for Detroit.

Also, if anyone is interested, I'm excited about a great movie being made
about Detroit and what's possible, called Lemonade Detroit [5].

[1] <http://www.tedxdetroit.com/>

[2] <http://www.publicartworkz.org/>

[3] [http://www.thedindecor.com/2008/06/city-speak-and-
interview-...](http://www.thedindecor.com/2008/06/city-speak-and-interview-
with-claire-nelson-shop-owner-bureau-of-urban-living/)

[4] <http://twitter.com/motorcity>

[5] <http://lemonadedetroit.com/>

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wyclif
Thanks for submitting this. These are the kinds of non-startup stories I like
to find on HN (I'm a fan of David Byrne's blog but I somehow missed this one).

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rottencupcakes
Personally, I just want to see the Naive Melody video that David produced.

Fantastic song by the star of the best concert movie of all time.

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city41
I was born and raised in a suburb of Detroit. It's sad to see it die so much
even over the course of my short life time.

I am watching the Requiem for Detroit documentary linked in the blog entry,
it's well done.

~~~
junklight
I watched that yesterday (after reading the David Byrne article last week).

Good documentary (apart from all the "show and tell" cut and paste video and
one or two of the soundtrack choices - Schools out for a burned out school!
ugh)

Loved the optimism at the end and how a bunch of people living there see it as
a really exciting place to live full of possibility.

(it also occurred to me that if anyone was going to film Samuel R. Delanys
Dhalgren - Detroit would be the place to film it)

<http://www.sfsite.com/02b/dh122.htm>

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matrix
Detroit's story of a working-class town that failed to evolve is depressingly
familiar throughout the US in many small towns whose main industries have
moved on - for example, the old railway towns. I feel these towns die because
they lack the critical mass of people with a culture that embraces technology
and change.

Unfortunately, the pain that comes with this evolutionary process is probably
unavoidable. To change it would require a wholesale change in culture -
something that takes a generation, if not more.

------
rmason
I'm a fifth generation Detroiter and have lived in MI my entire life. The
people are like nowhere else. In my many travels, despite the state's
troubles, I haven't met anyone who has left who doesn't want to come back if
they could.

I think there is hope for converting large swaths of Detroit to farmland and
reinventing the city. As I am fond of saying any idea that has among its
supporters both Barack Obama and Rush Limbaugh just has to happen ;<).

~~~
dillydally
You've met one, now!

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z0mb0
Starting point for any SE Michigan startup folks: <http://a2newtech.org>

More about the Ann Arbor scene: [http://www.slideshare.net/dugsong/ann-arbor-
startup-communit...](http://www.slideshare.net/dugsong/ann-arbor-startup-
community-development-h109-1759718)

------
Saad_M
I’ve always wondering if farming could be a solution for Detroit? It seems to
have plenty of land and with growing shortages of basic commodities such as
Wheat on the global market surely there’s an opportunity to return large parts
of the land back to farming use.

~~~
dnewms
Many people have thought this (John Hantz), but there's a reason it hasn't
begun. The cost of cleaning up the land is too great to start cost-competitive
large scale farms.

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arethuza
Nice to see the positive reference to Glasgow - I had forgotten that Byrne was
born in Scotland.

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maxklein
What's wrong with having a few cities like this? If you had clean, organized
cities through the country, life would be boring and the visuals would be
monotonous.

Broken down buildings are history. A country should not be made up of suburban
sameness, just like a mole on a models face enhances her beauty, enclaves of
disorganisation can make the country as a whole more interesting and prettier.

~~~
chrischen
Because real actual people are suffering in the city. Think of the poor who
_can't_ get out. Detroit schools are in serious trouble right now. Recently in
the news they were taking donations for toilet paper. Apparently their EMS has
trouble meeting demand because it's underfunded, and just about everything
else about detroit is either underfunded or undermanned. Let's not forget
about the crime and murders.

~~~
markkat
This. Detroit isn't a painting, it is an ongoing tragedy with many kids
playing roles. When I was in my late teens, we used to go to parties and art
shows in these abandoned buildings, even in that Packard plant.

Once Gil Hill (commissioner of Beverly Hills cop fame) and the police broke in
our party with guns drawn. Before ticketing us (95% white kids from the
suburbs) he berated us, and told us not to dance in his city. It was a very
colorful tirade. He was in the wrong, but I now know where his anger was
coming from. To us, Detroit was a cool industrial wasteland scene to party in.
To him, it was a dysfunctional place where people struggle to live.

