[maxerickson]

Oakland county to the north of Detroit and Washtenaw county to the west of Detroit are two of the wealthiest, most highly educated counties in the country.

And the cities surrounding Detroit have a lot less problems than the city itself.

[ghaff]

I think the parent's point still probably stands. Wherever they end up, assuming there really is a 50K HQ2 in the end, they have to convince a lot of people to relocate. And a lot of people would be: 1.) Detroit, no thanks or 2.) I can live with Detroit but when I end up leaving Amazon after 2 years like so many people do, I'd have to find a job in a different location. I imagine the talent question at least factored in--schools in the general area notwithstanding.

[maxerickson]

My point is that the problem is largely one of perception.

The hundreds of thousands of people in the area with technical educations aren't working at McDonald's.

[s73ver_]

"My point is that the problem is largely one of perception."

That very well might be true, but that's Detroit's problem to fix, not Amazon's. Amazon doesn't want to have to deal with that; they want a place that they can get people to come to day 1.

[maxerickson]

Of course. Note that my first comment is literally pushback against the poor perception...

[hbosch]

So, where are they working?