

Code for America Apps for Detroit challenge - rmason
http://appsfordetroit.org/

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Jwsonic
Thanks for posting this. As someone who lives in the Detroit-metro area,
Detroit certainly needs all the help it can get.

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ronnier
I've never been to Detroit, what's wrong with it? Is it as bad as the media
makes it out to be? I hear of murders and vacant swaths of previously bustling
areas. How much truth is there to this?

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mgkimsal
in one sense, not much - "detroit" as a catch-all for 'detroit metro area'
(and in some cases "southeastern michigan") - that's generally fine. Economy
is hurting, but suburbs are suburbs.

"Detroit" - the area within the technical city boundaries - it's decimated.
It's not quite 100% gone - there are new pockets of activity springing up, but
it's extremely depressing to see what's happened. Used to be home to close to
2 million people (IIRC), and now it's 700k, and most of those don't want to be
there.

The "downtown" area - about 15 square blocks - is nice - then it becomes a
wasteland for several miles until you hit the suburbs.

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planetguy
How much would it cost to buy up the whole blighted area and declare it a
giant national park?

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saturdaysaint
Unfortunately, a lot of prime, undeveloped real estate is owned by aggressive
squatters with enough money to make any such venture a living hell.

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planetguy
> undeveloped real estate is owned by aggressive squatters

Is this some unusual use of the word "squatter" of which I'm not aware, or are
you using it wrong? Squatters tend not to be owners.

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rmason
Got a cool idea for a civic app? Outside developers wouldn't get a hearing
much less a trial in other cities. Detroit is in such bad shape they're
willing to take some risks and try things.

In Detroit you've got a great chance to see your app actually get put into
production. It opens up opportunities for your code to make a real difference
in peoples lives.

