4 ms·

There are a great number of excellent reasons not to be in Detroit, as a business or an individual. The taxes are outrageous, the government is corrupt, the peo

There are a great number of excellent reasons not to be in Detroit, as a business or an individual. The taxes are outrageous, the government is corrupt, the people who could afford to leave have all but left, the infrastructure is even worse than you'd expect given the ratio of revenue to services. 90% of murders go completely unresolved. That is, out of every ten people killed, and there are a lot, the perpetrators in nine of those murders will likely walk completely free. I don't know how anyone gets by, except perhaps in the gated communities, and in the communities which have organized more closely despite the odds. Even there, the shallow/immediate opportunities are effectively gone. You truly can not expect many with another option to choose Detroit as it stands. My family on my mother's side grew up there, and it seems it's really breaking their heart to see it today. My mother holds on to hope that the artists will somehow "save" Detroit, which could be somewhat true. I'm of the opinion that nothing will save Detroit until it is so bad that the politicians no longer get anything for their corruption and excess.

brianwawok 9y ago
The burbs seem "fine", and crimes get solved. I could see living in the burbs and not minding it too much. I wouldn't live in the city limits, but I wouldn't live in NYC either..
- detroit1234 9y ago
  You've never tried to take I-75 into the city or back to the suburbs during rush hour, have you? The burbs are fine if you like that and paying way too much money for a tiny apartment or house, sure.
  - brianwawok 9y ago
    No idea, I just went to visit. I would way rather live in Chicago if I wanted a midwest city with bad weather. I am just saying that it isn't ALL a barren wasteland. You can live in the Detroit metro area and have an OKish life.
detroit1234 9y ago
I moved from Ann Arbor to Detroit because of a wonderful group of musicians that I get to perform and spend time with. From a Detroiter to one who clearly has never been here, kindly go fuck yourself. Detroit has problems, but it's been four years since the bankruptcy and we're actually building new offices downtown because the existing buildings are only 5% vacant. There's progress being made every day, but that would require doing some research. Maybe pay Detroit a visit before you spew your crap. :)
- trowawee 9y ago
  Seconding this. I have a bunch of friends who live in Detroit. It's not Robocop World over there.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- microcolonel 9y ago
  > From a Detroiter to one who clearly has never been here, kindly go fuck yourself. I have been to Detroit. It was pretty low energy, and that was some years ago (six?). Since then the crime has risen and the population and economic activity have declined. The mere fact that some buildings are being built in some places does not indicate that things are getting much better. I understand the Michigander pride, but I don't think Detroit compares favourably to almost any other decent city in North America. I like the character of Detroit, but I'm not going to pretend it's booming. It can get better, and a broken city presents a lot of opportunity that a functioning city does not, but that doesn't make it any less broken in the moment. Detroit is a city where about one in two thousand people are murdered every year, nearly nine times the U.S. average. A city where ~1.4 per thousand women are raped every year, about twice the national average. This is, in relative terms, not a pleasant or safe place to live. Michigan in general is actually about on par with the national median, Detroit has suffered especially harshly.
  - detroit1234 9y ago
    I pay probably half of what you do in rent. Allow me to weep all the way to the bank and then pop downtown for a cocktail made out of my tears. Seriously, have you BEEN here lately? Detroit from four years ago is not the Detroit of today. But fine, Detroit doesn't need people like you anyway. This is a city for people who know how to put up with a lot of crap and not flee to the boring, expensive suburbs when shit gets hard.
dang 9y ago
> You truly can not expect any sane person with another option to choose Detroit This is the second time today that we've had to ask you to stop posting uncivil comments to HN. I don't want to ban you, but if you don't fix this we'll have to, so would you please fix this? (Re-)reading the following might help: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14817477 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14817477 and marked it off-topic.
- microcolonel 9y ago
  I guess I didn't see it that way, I hope my change is adequate. That said, I think that what I said was about as tame as newsguidelines.html itself: "If your account is less than a year old, please don't submit comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a common semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills.", which resorts to some light chiding which I personally do not mind being subjected to. Note: I think you'll find Detroit1234's and Detroit12345's genuine account by looking at the list of people who have downvoted all of my comments in this thread. This is, assuming you folks aren't already doing work like this. And again, sorry to waste your time. The expected colour of discourse here is a bit different from what I'm used to in person.
  - detroit123456 9y ago
    How would I downvote with a throwaway, you dumb bitch? I don't care about HN enough to get karma from the circle jerk on a regular account. I read Hacker News comments to keep in touch with how out-of-touch the Galt's Gulch abortion that is Silicon Valley is.

brianwawok 9y ago

The burbs seem "fine", and crimes get solved. I could see living in the burbs and not minding it too much. I wouldn't live in the city limits, but I wouldn't live in NYC either..

detroit1234 9y ago
You've never tried to take I-75 into the city or back to the suburbs during rush hour, have you? The burbs are fine if you like that and paying way too much money for a tiny apartment or house, sure.
- brianwawok 9y ago
  No idea, I just went to visit. I would way rather live in Chicago if I wanted a midwest city with bad weather. I am just saying that it isn't ALL a barren wasteland. You can live in the Detroit metro area and have an OKish life.

detroit1234 9y ago

I moved from Ann Arbor to Detroit because of a wonderful group of musicians that I get to perform and spend time with. From a Detroiter to one who clearly has never been here, kindly go fuck yourself. Detroit has problems, but it's been four years since the bankruptcy and we're actually building new offices downtown because the existing buildings are only 5% vacant. There's progress being made every day, but that would require doing some research. Maybe pay Detroit a visit before you spew your crap. :)

trowawee 9y ago
Seconding this. I have a bunch of friends who live in Detroit. It's not Robocop World over there.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
microcolonel 9y ago
> From a Detroiter to one who clearly has never been here, kindly go fuck yourself. I have been to Detroit. It was pretty low energy, and that was some years ago (six?). Since then the crime has risen and the population and economic activity have declined. The mere fact that some buildings are being built in some places does not indicate that things are getting much better. I understand the Michigander pride, but I don't think Detroit compares favourably to almost any other decent city in North America. I like the character of Detroit, but I'm not going to pretend it's booming. It can get better, and a broken city presents a lot of opportunity that a functioning city does not, but that doesn't make it any less broken in the moment. Detroit is a city where about one in two thousand people are murdered every year, nearly nine times the U.S. average. A city where ~1.4 per thousand women are raped every year, about twice the national average. This is, in relative terms, not a pleasant or safe place to live. Michigan in general is actually about on par with the national median, Detroit has suffered especially harshly.
- detroit1234 9y ago
  I pay probably half of what you do in rent. Allow me to weep all the way to the bank and then pop downtown for a cocktail made out of my tears. Seriously, have you BEEN here lately? Detroit from four years ago is not the Detroit of today. But fine, Detroit doesn't need people like you anyway. This is a city for people who know how to put up with a lot of crap and not flee to the boring, expensive suburbs when shit gets hard.

dang 9y ago

> You truly can not expect any sane person with another option to choose Detroit This is the second time today that we've had to ask you to stop posting uncivil comments to HN. I don't want to ban you, but if you don't fix this we'll have to, so would you please fix this? (Re-)reading the following might help: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14817477 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14817477 and marked it off-topic.

microcolonel 9y ago
I guess I didn't see it that way, I hope my change is adequate. That said, I think that what I said was about as tame as newsguidelines.html itself: "If your account is less than a year old, please don't submit comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a common semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills.", which resorts to some light chiding which I personally do not mind being subjected to. Note: I think you'll find Detroit1234's and Detroit12345's genuine account by looking at the list of people who have downvoted all of my comments in this thread. This is, assuming you folks aren't already doing work like this. And again, sorry to waste your time. The expected colour of discourse here is a bit different from what I'm used to in person.
- detroit123456 9y ago
  How would I downvote with a throwaway, you dumb bitch? I don't care about HN enough to get karma from the circle jerk on a regular account. I read Hacker News comments to keep in touch with how out-of-touch the Galt's Gulch abortion that is Silicon Valley is.