
Detroit: Bankrupt city turned corporate luxury brand - drjohnson
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/may/14/detroit-bankrupt-brand-ad-chrysler-nostalgia
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Dwolb
I'm so torn by all these comments about whether Detroit has 'bounced back' or
not. On one hand, it certainly seems like salaries, wages, rents, and prices
are rising in the Detroit metro area, on the other hand parts of the city are
in really bad shape.

My own perspective is to not focus on how to classify Detroit's status in
relation to other cities and metrics, but to focus on what Detroit is. It's an
eclectic area where poverty, middle class, and affluence collide. There are
creative communities that butt right up against dangerous areas. It's a great
area to bike since certain times of day cars are few and far between, and
there is an upbeat sense of happiness in some communities. There's not much
more to it other than it's the people's town and the behavior of individuals
will have a lot to do with how Detroit fares in the coming years.

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brohoolio
It's bouncing back big time. It's going to take 10 or more years for the whole
city, but it will be unrecognizable in the central city in the next few years.

I say this because when I go riding my bike in Detroit on Monday nights 2,000
people ride with me. That's the kind of thing that makes people move in.

Hole in the wall restaurants have an hour wait. Big name restaurants take
reservations weeks in advance.

Minor minor minor minor league soccer teams draw like 2,500 people.

The brand is strong. People are going to use it. There is a ton of energy down
here and a shit ton of people who live right around the city who will move in
once conditions are right, and they are becoming right for the hipsters and
college kids.

~~~
aResponder2
Are you one of those critical mass riders who shuts down Campus Martius for a
few hours a month?

'Cause if you guys could stop and let traffic through on our way home from
work, that'd be really helpful. You could pass out pamphlets and get more
riders that way.

~~~
megablast
The whole point is to stop traffic, make people get out of their cars. Cars
have taken over most cities, this is people pushing back.

I think you may miss the point.

~~~
PhasmaFelis
Are you guys _literally_ shutting down traffic for a few hours at a stretch?
'Cause that's a really shitty way to gain public support, and self-righteously
informing people that you're doing them a favor by "getting them out of their
cars" is only going to make it worse.

I have, BTW, ridden a bicycle exclusively for 18 years, and I've always
enjoyed Critical Mass (our local rides top out around 50 people). It
frustrates me how many of my fellow cyclists seem determined to shoot
themselves in the foot, PR-wise.

~~~
aResponder2
I hadn't heard of Slow Roll. They might be better at handling traffic than the
one Critical Mass ride I saw. They had several thousand riders going through a
roundabout. It looked spontaneous as they had no detours posted, and a few
cars were stuck in the loop for about an hour. They ride at the same time each
(week? month?) so I just remember to not drive through that part of downtown
on Fridays in the summer.

Really, though, I've looked into similar things, and can't understand how
they're able to do it next to a police precinct without posting detours and
without being fined or traffic controlled. But, it's Detroit. There are
probably 10 cops covering downtown at any time, and they might not have the
resources to police traffic on a Friday evening.

That said, I'm actually interested in this. Did you guys have to go through
city hall and set up the detour routes and get permission from the affected
businesses to lay down your route? The city I tried to set something up in
would have allowed it, but there was a lot of paperwork and it was smaller
than an organized ride.

~~~
jmccree
In Atlanta, critical mass got up to 300+ riders before the city/police finally
got tired of the illegal blocking of intersections. (They call it "corking")
Atlanta police had 10-20 motorcycle cops follow the ride and pull over anyone
who broke the law (running red lights, etc.) for a couple of weeks and the
popularity quickly dropped off when people realized they had to still follow
traffic laws. It still goes on every month, but it's more like 50 riders now.

There are also of course plenty of legal rides/events that get permits, police
escorts(sometimes free), etc. We have something called "Atlanta Streets Alive"
that shuts down several miles of large streets every few months to only
pedestrian and bike traffic, allowing people to walk and play in the streets
with no cars. Permits are required, off-duty police have to be hired to direct
traffic at intersections etc.

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cschmidt
Shinola is using leather from the Chicago tannery Horween, that was discussed
on HN last week...

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7705512](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7705512)

[http://www.shinola.com/journal/what-horween-
leather](http://www.shinola.com/journal/what-horween-leather)

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justintocci
there seems to be an attitude that what happened to detroit was not related to
policies and politics. i respectfully submit that significant lasting change
in any system requires change in the environment.

~~~
pyre
It was definitely racially motivated. That's where the schism began; back at
the height of Detroit when poor blacks from the South were encouraged to come
to Detroit to work the assembly lines.

Also in the disruption of the Big 3 when faced with foreign competition
(thought IIRC, this is related to policies and politics because the Big 3 were
protected by import controls for a while).

~~~
grimgrin
I've saved a very informational Reddit comment giving a nice summary of The
Fall of Detroit:

[https://gist.github.com/shmup/11354626](https://gist.github.com/shmup/11354626)

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antidaily
No matter what you have to say about Detroit, good or bad: It's not that
simple.

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blueskin_
I don't see how this would work, unless there are some nice suburbs/towns just
outside Detroit, or companies allow a lot of remote work. Otherwise, you'd be
hiring, have interested people up until you say the word "Detroit", then never
hear from them again. Personally, I'd rather live somewhere I'm not likely to
be mugged walking around the corner to the shops.

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personZ
Detroit has bounced off the bottom. While we might exult in the ruin-porn of
Detroit, it is a city on the mend, and is really an interesting city full of
significant potential. I say that as a Canadian who travels to Detroit from
the Toronto area, never feeling a moment of fear but enjoying some great
restaurants, entertainment, and sports.

Go Lions!

~~~
bilbo0s
It is interesting how the international view of Detroit differs from the
domestic view of Detroit. Americans, as far as I can tell, view Detroit with
what strikes me as hostility almost. Not all... but a lot of Americans that I
have heard speak on the issue. And I say that as an American. Whereas
elsewhere in the world, the view is... a bit different.

I think the "grit" brand positioning fits... since most of the brands trying
to tie into Detroit are luxury. I think it will work well. But I don't think
you could market many things to the average American using Brand Detroit.

Maybe cars ... that Eminem Chrysler 300 commercial was pretty good.

Just saying that the view of a Canadian, or Frenchman, or a German of Detroit
will, in all likelihood, be different from the view of an American of
Detroit...

Even though none of the people holding the opinions French, Canadian, German
or American have actually ever visited Detroit.

~~~
personZ
_Americans, as far as I can tell, view Detroit with what strikes me as
hostility almost._

You don't have to go far to find Canadians who view Detroit as a North
American Mogadishu. Such an opinion has a strong correlation with racism, it's
worth noting: Detroit must be the perilous worst because it is held to
represent black America.

As to the "never actually visited", do you claim that most, or even a _remote
minority_ of Americans have "actually ever visited Detroit"? Of course they
haven't. They laugh and point and repost and share the ruin porn because, ha
ha, look at Detroit.

In any case, it was a pretty bizarre claim to use in response to my post given
that I expressly said that I go to Detroit almost regularly. Indeed,
"Canadians" in Southern Ontario almost certainly know more about Detroit than
the bulk of Americans, for obvious geographical and practicality reasons.

Now maybe I'm not going to the "real" Detroit in some people's opinion, in
that I am in built up urban areas and affluent suburbs, but it is a part of
the whole of Detroit.

~~~
bilbo0s
"...do you claim that most, or even a remote minority of Americans have
"actually ever visited Detroit"?..."

???

I said that most of the people who have opinions on Detroit... American or
not... have never been there.

I'm curious as to what exactly you are refuting ??? Or if you are just
agreeing with me ???

