It's bouncing back big time. It's going to take 10 or more years for the whole city, but it will be unrecognizable in the central city in the next few years.
I say this because when I go riding my bike in Detroit on Monday nights 2,000 people ride with me. That's the kind of thing that makes people move in.
Hole in the wall restaurants have an hour wait. Big name restaurants take reservations weeks in advance.
Minor minor minor minor league soccer teams draw like 2,500 people.
The brand is strong. People are going to use it. There is a ton of energy down here and a shit ton of people who live right around the city who will move in once conditions are right, and they are becoming right for the hipsters and college kids.
Are you one of those critical mass riders who shuts down Campus Martius for a few hours a month?
'Cause if you guys could stop and let traffic through on our way home from work, that'd be really helpful. You could pass out pamphlets and get more riders that way.
I'm not one of the critical mass folks. I'm a slow roller, which seems to be the opposite of critical mass. We rider later after traffic, starting at 7:30. We break up our group of riders into small ones so cars don't have to wait a super long time. And instead of any kind of militant attitude we just roll with good vibes, talking with cars, waving at kids encouraging folks to join us.
It's hard not to smile when confronted by such a group.
Are you guys literally shutting down traffic for a few hours at a stretch? 'Cause that's a really shitty way to gain public support, and self-righteously informing people that you're doing them a favor by "getting them out of their cars" is only going to make it worse.
I have, BTW, ridden a bicycle exclusively for 18 years, and I've always enjoyed Critical Mass (our local rides top out around 50 people). It frustrates me how many of my fellow cyclists seem determined to shoot themselves in the foot, PR-wise.
I hadn't heard of Slow Roll. They might be better at handling traffic than the one Critical Mass ride I saw. They had several thousand riders going through a roundabout. It looked spontaneous as they had no detours posted, and a few cars were stuck in the loop for about an hour. They ride at the same time each (week? month?) so I just remember to not drive through that part of downtown on Fridays in the summer.
Really, though, I've looked into similar things, and can't understand how they're able to do it next to a police precinct without posting detours and without being fined or traffic controlled. But, it's Detroit. There are probably 10 cops covering downtown at any time, and they might not have the resources to police traffic on a Friday evening.
That said, I'm actually interested in this. Did you guys have to go through city hall and set up the detour routes and get permission from the affected businesses to lay down your route? The city I tried to set something up in would have allowed it, but there was a lot of paperwork and it was smaller than an organized ride.
In Atlanta, critical mass got up to 300+ riders before the city/police finally got tired of the illegal blocking of intersections. (They call it "corking") Atlanta police had 10-20 motorcycle cops follow the ride and pull over anyone who broke the law (running red lights, etc.) for a couple of weeks and the popularity quickly dropped off when people realized they had to still follow traffic laws. It still goes on every month, but it's more like 50 riders now.
There are also of course plenty of legal rides/events that get permits, police escorts(sometimes free), etc. We have something called "Atlanta Streets Alive" that shuts down several miles of large streets every few months to only pedestrian and bike traffic, allowing people to walk and play in the streets with no cars. Permits are required, off-duty police have to be hired to direct traffic at intersections etc.
I dunno if anything is officially organized, but remember the city pays its cops $14 an hour and they have to transport dead bodies in their cars. That's from my friend who is a cop.
The cops seem friendly and supportive. The city doesn't have the luxury of shutting down something that is positive.
We might shut down an intersection for 2-4 minutes while riders roll through the intersection. The corkers or people who block the intersection are instructed to be nice and apologize for delays and to encourage drivers to join us.
We roll at 7:30 which is well after traffic dies down and we do as much as possible to be respectful, like leaving a lane open so cars can pass us.
oh, for what it's worth, I apologize a bit to you. I know I'm likely coming off as a jerk, but I assure you it's unintended. You're just out for a bike ride.
As the motor city, it would be interesting if Detroit reinvented itself as the first American post-car city. i.e. Take roads, which are the most significant public space in most American cities and take it back from cars and give it to pedestrians and bicyclists.
I would love to see any city in the world take this architects proposal for São Paulo (a major concrete jungle) and run with it.
"...people who live right around the city who will move in once conditions are right..."
Probably not... because once the "conditions" are right... the price DEFINITELY will not be. But Detroit will probably draw more and more of the high end of the creative class. I won't argue that.
This can already be seen, housing is going to be a huge problem without some major investment in that area as well.
Nowhere beside Downtown, and maybe one other neighborhood, is worth living in right now, and the rent in those areas are starting to sky rocket.
Living in Cleveland I sometimes get contact by companies in Detroit looking for developers. I recently considered taking a position, but the housing situation made me reconsider.
It was either pay 3X the rent for an apartment Downtown, compared to my apartment in Cleveland, or have a 45-60 commute every day. Even with the increase in salary it wasn't worth the move.
A little late, but my post is in comparison to Cleveland, OH where for the same prices you could get something much nicer. I would also have many more living options available in Cleveland proper compared to the few areas in Detroit proper worth living.
I will say that if you are moving away from a coastal area then Detroit is pretty cheap and has some interesting things to offer. However, being from Cleveland I can enjoy the positives of Detroit with a 2 hour drive without having to live there.
Hipsters is approaching synonymous with young people at this point. If you're curious as to how young people in Detroit are making a living, I will give you some very concrete examples:
1. Me. I am the biz director of a fantastic startup.
2. My friends started a very popular band and play gigs profitably and organize parties.
3. Many people work in Quicken family of companies, many in real estate.
4. Many are web developers.
5. Some grow medicinal marijuana.
6. Several of my friends have started food trucks.
7. Many are servers or bartenders. I know a couple strippers too.
I could go on like this for a while. Though I know some young people who are on their parent's insurance or receive some help paying down their student loan debt, I know of very few people who live off CCs & their parents. They do exist, but they are very rare.
You forgot mustache, buying either extremely expensive things or extremely cheap things and generally preferring 'old-timey' things (VHS, vinyl) that have been surpassed.
It's not young people, it's young people with specific yet generic taste. Like goths. Only somehow lamer.
I say this because when I go riding my bike in Detroit on Monday nights 2,000 people ride with me. That's the kind of thing that makes people move in.
Hole in the wall restaurants have an hour wait. Big name restaurants take reservations weeks in advance.
Minor minor minor minor league soccer teams draw like 2,500 people.
The brand is strong. People are going to use it. There is a ton of energy down here and a shit ton of people who live right around the city who will move in once conditions are right, and they are becoming right for the hipsters and college kids.