3 ms·

As somebody who grew up in the Metro Detroit area and moved away, I’m unbelievably impressed by the bid Detroit put together. The entire region is so completel

As somebody who grew up in the Metro Detroit area and moved away, I’m unbelievably impressed by the bid Detroit put together. The entire region is so completely disfunctional. The idea of getting the neighboring counties (which have the money, education, and talent) to work together was unheard of. I do think the Metro Detroit area is consistently understated as a potential tech hub. It has one of the largest cohorts of STEM people in the nation (albeit in more traditional engineering roles). I don’t think the tax breaks will be sufficient enough because Michigan only seems to care about manufacturing plants. I hope Detroit gets the HQ2 bid or at least can use this process to start getting good tech jobs in the area. I know I (and many of my hometown friends) would move back if the job market was closer to Seattle.

rmason 9y ago
I can't speak for other states. But I do know there is an incredibly large number of people raised in Michigan that would move back in a heartbeat if the opportunity was there. In fact Detroit has an annual event where they invite back successful people who were born in the city and try to woo them to return or to invest in the city. http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20170914/news/639081/detroit-train-station-gets-a-homecoming http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20170914/news/639081/de...
Kalium 9y ago
> I don’t think the tax breaks will be sufficient enough because Michigan only seems to care about manufacturing plants. I know what you mean. I remember noticing this when I was a freshly minted Wolverine and looking at my job prospects. Almost nobody in Michigan seemed to take seriously the prospect that the future might not look like the gloriously shining car-factory-centered past. Not at a policy level and not at a person-on-the-street level.

rmason 9y ago

I can't speak for other states. But I do know there is an incredibly large number of people raised in Michigan that would move back in a heartbeat if the opportunity was there. In fact Detroit has an annual event where they invite back successful people who were born in the city and try to woo them to return or to invest in the city. http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20170914/news/639081/detroit-train-station-gets-a-homecoming http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20170914/news/639081/de...

Kalium 9y ago

> I don’t think the tax breaks will be sufficient enough because Michigan only seems to care about manufacturing plants. I know what you mean. I remember noticing this when I was a freshly minted Wolverine and looking at my job prospects. Almost nobody in Michigan seemed to take seriously the prospect that the future might not look like the gloriously shining car-factory-centered past. Not at a policy level and not at a person-on-the-street level.