The buzzword around American cities right now is Detroit. Everywhere you go people want to be affiliated with Detroit, are writing about the city, or maybe just genuinely curious about what’s going on. You have ‘Detroit Is The New Black’, “Detroit Dirt”, “Detroit Vs. Everybody”, and so forth. The energy and excitement around the city is certainly contagious. But Detroit isn’t quite there yet.

As someone who’s been in and out the city my whole life the progress is certainly outstanding and worth mentioning. The recent development and opening of attractions is creating a city that feels like well, a city. All around people are capitalizing on the business opportunities and entrepreneurs are springing up everywhere. However, it often irks me when people talk about “innovative” or “noteworthy” accomplishments as if we still aren’t behind.

I’m not writing this blog to be a negative Nancy or to put a damper on the recent successes. Heck, I continually talk about how much I love the city and being apart of it’s growth. I write this because I’ve spent some time in other cities and I couldn’t help but notice that Detroit has a ways to go. I want to open the conversation more about things the city lacks and how to progress forward in those areas.

One thing I continually notice is the lack of young professionals around the city, especially ones who don’t work for Quicken Loans or one of it’s partners. I don’t have a problem with these individuals, but often it seems they’re in their own cohort and most the time only contribute to the greater downtown area. A lot of young people I’ve met at events live in Metro Detroit and come only to capitalize on the brief moments and flock back to their suburban homes after dark. Regardless of how you frame it, young professionals are lacking in this city.

I don’t want to delve to much further into the topic because context and tone may be lost in the message. I just want to emphasize that we still have a lot of work to do. Not even to get back to the Detroit of the 1950’s but just a city that feels like a city.