(MintPress) — As Detroit’s economy began to plummet in the early 2000s, its reputation for gutted and dangerous neighborhoods trumped the major accomplishments the industrial city had once been recognized for. Largely discouraged by the 18.2 percent unemployment rate that plagued the city at the height of the economic crisis, 25 percent of Detroit’s residents fled the city in the hope they would discover their American Dream in another place.
The mass exodus of Detroit’s residents is to date the largest drop in a population for cities with more than 100,000 people in the U.S. But while many native-Motor City residents abandoned the area, many young, creative entrepreneurs have moved to the abandoned city with the goal of restoring it to it’s former glory.
Tough times hit Detroit
Growing up in the Northwest side of Detroit, 26-year-old Margarita Barry says she lived a pretty normal middle-class life. Raised by a single mother, Barry says her neighborhood saw its share of violence and crime, but generally she felt safe. While a young Barry was never allowed to venture much further than the boundary of her own backyard, she says there was a strong sense of community in the area. “It was a nice place to grow up,” she explained, adding she was surrounded by “good people and good neighbors.”
“Detroit’s depiction now [as a community riddled with crime and economic decline] is not how it was depicted when I was young,” she explains. “Things were always booming … Most people I knew had jobs and their parents were working.” Home of the fourth largest industry in the U.S., auto industry related jobs were plentiful in Detroit, and clusters of retail spaces were always opening around the city.
But by the time Barry graduated from Bowling Green State University in Ohio in 2009, Detroit’s suffering economy and high crime rates had become synonymous with Detroit. Suffering from the mortgage crisis and a weakened auto industry, the city once a beacon for middle-class families was on life support.
As the economy fell, it wasn’t just the poor and middle classes feeling the effects of a financially desperate Detroit. Commercial and residential property was abandoned in such large numbers that many properties sold for as low as $1, that is if they weren’t torn down to make room for urban farms. Even Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s childhood home was demolished, and his father was once Governor of the Great Lake State.
Invasion of the creative class
As many native Detroit residents lost their homes to foreclosure and moved to other parts of the country to find work, the possibility that Detroit would become the next ghost-town was becoming a reality. But as downtown Detroit lost 25 percent of its residents, the city saw a 59 percent increase in the number of college-educated residents younger than 35 moving in.
In a study from the University of Michigan, the report’s authors found one way to turn a down economy around was to change the culture of a community by incorporating community-based arts and culture. The authors argued that in a neighborhood where people live and interact on a day-to-day basis, “culture can be used to revitalize the urban grassroots, bring new inspiration and life into a [community], revive its citizens civic engagement, and in turn, bring new economic vitality into a neighborhood.”
Just like Austin, Brooklyn, Madison and Seattle, Detroit began to see a surge of young creative persons from across the U.S. looking for an affordable entrepreneurial beginning and a way to help revitalize the city’s economy following those cities economic downturn.
Barry was one of those young persons excited to move back to Detroit after four years of studying in Ohio. Inspired by the innovation and work by other young professionals, she started an organization called I Am Young Detroit (IAYD), where she shared stories of young entrepreneurs, hoping to inspire people living in the area and people interested in Detroit. Barry recently launched a 2.0 version of her website where she hopes to create an “ecosystem of employment” by connecting entrepreneurs, young do-gooders and consumers.
“Young people weren’t starting businesses because they wanted to make a ton of money and become the next Donald Trump,” she says. “Young entrepreneurs care about the city and want to create something for themselves as well as an opportunity for other people. It’s a social endeavor as much as it is a business one.”
Since launching her IAYD project a few years ago, the young entrepreneur has started three other businesses: one called D:Pop also known as Detroit Pop, which helps start-up businesses test their product in the area by creating pop-up retail stores; another entitled CitySpotters,which encourages residents to share new businesses in the area, started by people younger than 35; and lastly Barry has an online shop entitled Bohomodern, which features new and vintage homewares, clothing, paper goods and accessories made of organic and recycled materials.
Unlike the established cities of Los Angeles, Chicago or New York, Barry says the young persons moving to Detroit are happy to be able to be a part of the exciting project that is rebuilding the city from the ground floor. “In L.A., Chicago or New York City you’re one of billions of people and the competition is fierce,” she said. “Opportunity is there but it’s hard to get your foot in the door, the cost of living is high and it’s more expensive to set-up shop or open a boutique.
“In Detroit we’re at the beginning of this growth or transformation,” explains Barry, “so the opportunity is really good.”
Thirty-year-old native Detroit resident Amy Kaherl can attest to this. She returned to the area in 2008 after spending three years sharing a one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles while studying for her master’s degree in theology. After graduating, Kaherl opted to move back to the city because she said she knew it would be cheaper and that there would be a fun community atmosphere full of people similar to her.
“The people [in Detroit] are cool, and the ego’s left at the door,” Kaherl said. “I know New York, I know L.A. You gotta hustle. This is the place where you try to make something happen.”
Economic impact of young entrepreneurs
A report by ArtServe Michigan, entitled “Creative State: Michigan,” states that “for every dollar invested in arts and culture, $51 is pumped back into the state’s economy. Not surprisingly the young entrepreneurs repurposing a variety of industrial, residential and commercial spaces is impacting the state economically.” While it has only been a few years since the movement began, the growth in the economy is already visible.
In an email to MintPress, Irvin Corley, Jr., Director of the Detroit City Council Fiscal Analysis Division said:
“The influx of entrepreneurs and young people in Detroit, particularly in Mid-town (sic), downtown, and Cork town (sic) of Detroit, with the help of major investments in downtown Detroit by the likes of Dan Gilbert and Pete Karmonos, has been remarkable, in that 1) there’s been more foot traffic during lunch hour and at night, when more social interaction and economic spin offs from restaurant and other retail spending are taking place; 2) more people are renting apartments and condos in the noted areas above; and 3) there’s been population growth in the areas noted above, and in the Southwest Detroit area. A revitalized river front (sic) in Detroit, particularly in the downtown area and abutting the Ren Center, GM’s headquarters, has helped draw people as well.
“Economic spin offs bring more income tax, utility users tax and property taxes to the City. More people density in these areas spring forth a greater sense of community self-worth and safety, thereby attracting more people.
“These efforts and accomplishments make the educational community (Wayne State University, Wayne County Community College, Detroit Public Schools and Detroit charter schools) step up its game to provide the necessary educational opportunities needed for the current and next generation to meet the needs of growing industries in Detroit.”
Still, not every Detroit resident is equally ecstatic about how these improved economic situations are being achieved. As some reports on the creative movement have pointed out, many African-Americans living in Detroit are feeling a “cultural divide” between themselves and the young, mostly white, entrepreneurs moving into the area.
For example, Good News shared the story of a Detroit man who called into a local radio station to express his frustration about the rise in property values in the area. “Midtown is being taken over by people who didn’t necessarily come from this city, and they’re renovating homes and building invisible fences around them so people who are from here can’t get in.”
“There’s been a lot of racial tension for a long time [in Detroit],” says Meagan Elliott, a Ph.D. and Masters student at the University of Michigan in the departments of sociology and urban planning. But she says when it comes to gentrification in terms of rising property values pushing poor people out of their homes, even the fourth most segregated city in the U.S. is not experiencing this phenomenon.
Elliott quickly adds that while she doesn’t believe housing displacement is happening now, she is not convinced it won’t happen in the future. “It would be a positive thing to look at what makes a neighborhood sustainable,” she says. “Set-up and enact plans [now] for affordable housing. There’s also gotta (sic) be constant collection about how people feel about what there is and what is not in a neighborhood, like transportation, housing and public space.”
Those involved in the movement, like Barry, equate increased property values as a normal part of the city’s improved economic conditions. “Look at history,” she says, “once you become an ‘it’ place and get more traction, more people moving in, jobs, etc., the cost of living is going to go up.
“Midtown Detroit is really popular and we’re already experiencing lack of residential spaces unless you buy a house,” Barry continues. “That’s what happens — we expect that to happen and in a way we want that to happen.”
Similarly, Elliott told MintPress that the branding of Detroit as a creative place has changed the perception of the city and has increased tourism. She adds, that similar to the age-old question of what came first, the chicken or the egg, it’s not clear whether the economy has improved because of the creative movement or the other way around.
“The face of Detroit is changing,” says Barry, who continues by explaining the streets are now filled with persons of a variety of ethnic backgrounds and varying ages, something she said she didn’t see much of before the creative movement began. “The opportunity is available to everyone,” Barry stressed. “It’s hard to ignore the movement because the cost [of housing and opening a business] is so low [in relation to other cities].”
Even national corporations like Blue Cross Blue Shield and Quicken Loans have started programs encouraging employees to move to the city, Barry said, pointing out that the movement was not just for creative entrepreneurs. “When you have all of these big companies and organizations passionate about moving young people to the city,” Barry explained, “you have this whole group of people moving in, and you have people living in the city feeling re-energized and thinking ‘maybe I can stay here and start a business.’”