| > If you talk to them a few years later they long to return to the Midwest and they want to do a startup. As a biological Michigander (Detroit) that now identifies as Californian, my friends and I have anecdotally experienced the opposite. Lack of opportunity was of course a factor. However, the major con for us was the entrenched segregation. I had amazing parents who did their best to teach me not to judge people by their race. But growing up as a black kid from the city who had friends in the burbs, you see a lot of ugly shit. I have bad memories of places like Howell (which still, if I'm not mistaken holds annual KKK rallies) and there are still lots of areas not far from the city where it still isn't safe at night. Like everywhere else, gentrification is picking up steam. But it isn't as much as an issue since increasing tax revenues far outweighs maintaining communities in a city that had an epidemic of vacant houses. City services have vastly improved and it is heartening to see more diversity in my old neighborhood as whites and others no longer have as much fear of the city, but it's slow going as the scars from the 60's are still evident. Don't get me wrong. I still appreciate the natural splendor and experiencing the rhythm of the four seasons. I spent this past winter there and it was actually unexpectedly refreshing (if you have someone to shovel your snow). I did end up tacking on 20lbs. That I had to travel 7 miles to find Mexican food that wasn't Taco Bell is a deal breaker for me. One thing I noticed on my last trip back home is just how much of the Detroit metro area's economy is still driven by staid, stuffy dynastic enterprises such as the old Big Three, health care firms, same old top law firms with the kids now running the show. A lot of the so-called startups are spinoffs that are wholly owned or seeded by Quicken Loans via Rock Ventures. People still have that mindset that work consists of getting a job at a large firm and they aren't as willing to work for startups or become entrepreneurs. |
Detroit's revival owes a big debt to Dan Gilbert's (Quicken Loans/Cleveland Cavaliers) purchase of a big chunk of the downtown and his funding of dozens of startups. But the majority of startups now in Detroit aren't funded by Gilbert though he's still a major influence.
It took forty years for Detroit's destruction. We're only on year eight of the road back. Next time you're in the 'D' checkout Bamboo CoWorking center on Woodward. You will meet lots of early stage startups https://www.bamboodetroit.com/ . Gilbert's startups are in the Madison building on Broadway just off Grand Circus near the Opera and Tiger stadium. That entire neighborhood is full of startups. Before 2010 none of it existed, the buildings had been empty for thirty years or more.
Ann Arbor has a huge startup scene. Anchors are Ann Arbor Spark and the Tech Brewery. Much smaller scene in Lansing, Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids but it's progressing.