{"id":14105,"date":"2015-12-23T19:02:11","date_gmt":"2015-12-23T19:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/?p=14105"},"modified":"2015-12-23T19:02:11","modified_gmt":"2015-12-23T19:02:11","slug":"a-detroit-state-of-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/a-detroit-state-of-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"A Detroit State of Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m not one to lose myself in thought very often, but when it does happen it’s always an adventure. Last week, I was riding my bike past Michigan Central Station in Corktown\u00a0and thought, I can’t wait until this building is operational again. Wouldn’t it be great if I had enough money to buy it?<\/em><\/p>\n

I was recently in Kansas City visiting some friends from\u00a0Peace Corps. While we were there\u00a0we visited a restored train station that was filled with people and family festivities for the holidays. It got me thinking, what would I do with Michigan Central Station if I owned it?<\/em><\/p>\n

Quick side story…<\/p>\n

Do you remember those moments in English class when your teacher or professor would tell you to write? “Just write,” I remember them saying like it was as easy and intuitive as brushing your teeth. Like a psychologist trying to pry thoughts out of your complex mind with a patronizing tone.\u00a0“Just write. Don’t\u00a0think\u00a0about the words coming out on the page. You’ll have time to organize your thoughts later. Now is the time for writing.”<\/p>\n

These moments always stressed me right out. I was not a good spontaneous writer and I didn’t like someone constantly whispering\u00a0to remind me\u00a0how easy it should be.<\/p>\n

The point I’m trying to make is that if I had a pen and paper while\u00a0I was riding my bike past Michigan\u00a0Central\u00a0Station that day, I would have written a novel and I have no idea what sparked the sudden burst of thought. So, instead of a novel, I’m going to try and capture a few of the main points that I remember in this post.<\/p>\n

When I thought of what I would do\u00a0with the\u00a0currently vacant Michigan Central Station I immediately thought of an Eastern Market-type scenario where local business owners and entrepreneurs who don’t have brick and mortar locations\u00a0could go to sell their products. Detroit is filled with tons of small business owners with\u00a0really cool, creative ideas and this would be a great way to foster that talent. Right?<\/p>\n

\"Snap6\"<\/a>

Michigan Central Station at night. This photo was taken by my Challenge Detroit colleague, Nadir Ali, who also owns a business on the side called 3andathird. Very talented guy with a great eye for photography. Go to 3andathird.com to check out his product line and other photos!<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Well, that brilliant idea lasted a few seconds before I started to wonder if the market for small business development in Detroit is becoming oversaturated? Is this something anyone else is concerned with? Or is my minimal knowledge of economics way off here?<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago my girlfriend and I went to the Detroit Urban Craft Fair at the Masonic Temple. When we walked into the large hall where all the vendors were set up, we were both very impressed.\u00a0Just the size of the event was incredible. But as we started walking through the aisles it seemed like we were constantly running into small variations of the same idea (jewelry, stationery, and other small handmade goods). Just to clarify, all of these things were fantastic, well-crafted\u00a0items, and all of the vendors I met were incredibly kind and generous, but it seemed to become a bit redundant as I moved through the aisles.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0450\"<\/a>

A look at the Detroit Urban Craft Fair at the Masonic Temple<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

I was lucky enough to get to several of the holiday markets in Detroit over the past few weeks, but the more events I went to,\u00a0the more I realized that a lot of these small business vendors have very similar products. One\u00a0item that\u00a0comes to mind is\u00a0some variation of a\u00a0Detroit-themed T-shirt that usually has\u00a0a prideful statement on the front or back\u00a0and\u00a0an old-English D. These T-shirts are so prevalent that you would think the market for them must be oversaturated despite high demand.<\/p>\n

I don’t know everyone’s story. Maybe these businesses aren’t intended to be a sole source of income,\u00a0or\u00a0maybe it’s just a hobby.\u00a0What I do know is that people in Detroit have\u00a0incredible ideas\u00a0and I know it’s possible for two people to have the same idea…so why not partner up and share the successes?<\/p>\n

The entrepreneurial culture in Detroit is unlike any I have ever seen (which may not be that spectacular\u00a0considering I’m only 28): the idea of creating\u00a0one’s\u00a0own business and trying something on\u00a0his\/her own\u00a0seems to be\u00a0met with overwhelming support now,\u00a0instead of\u00a0skepticism. It really is one of the coolest things about living here. However, will these\u00a0individual, yet somewhat\u00a0similar\u00a0business endeavors be sustainable in the long run (how did I become the skeptic)? Sometimes, it seems like the idea of becoming your own boss (which I, too, would love to do at some point in my professional career),\u00a0might be\u00a0more important than finding the best way to ensure long-term success.<\/p>\n

Bottom line…I love supporting small businesses development here in Detroit. I really don’t have much money to my name and still I\u00a0will blow a bunch at these holiday markets because there is a unique, personal connection\u00a0to be made when you buy something from a small business owner compared to a chain or superstore. I hope the current state of entrepreneurship here never goes away.<\/p>\n

Cut back to the bike ride past Michigan Central Station…<\/p>\n

At this point I probably biked about 10 wheel rotations in the time it took all those thoughts to rush through my brain. After that, I started thinking about the cost of urbanization in a place like Detroit…<\/p>\n

Detroit’s Western Market, a bustling consumer mecca on Detroit’s\u00a0west side,\u00a0was taken down in the 1960s\u00a0to make room for the I-75 & I-96 interchange. The decision was made due to an influx in\u00a0population\/traffic and the need to compensate with appropriate infrastructure. Logistically, it makes perfect sense. Economically and socially, it left dozens of farmers and independent business owners without a place to market and sell their products (obviously, Eastern Market is now that place). Additionally, it forced dozens of businesses, like Hygrade Deli<\/a>, to relocate while others closed down permanently.<\/p>\n

Every day, Detroit is getting more and more positive press (it’s about time) and\u00a0fewer\u00a0publications are referring to it as the worst city in America<\/a>, or the worst city in America<\/a>, or the worst city in America<\/a> (thank you for your consistently\u00a0original thoughts, national media), though clearly there is still a fair share.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Snap5\"<\/a>

It took Google 0.32 seconds to give me multiple reasons why Detroit was\/is the worst city in America.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

However, with the increase in the city’s positive publicity and more organizations like Challenge Detroit trying to attract both fellows and the general public to the city, will there be another point in\u00a0Detroit’s future like the closing down of a Western Market? With the price of real estate in Detroit\u00a0so low, will larger corporations finally realize the potential of this great city and will we, and the small business owners we all love to support, regret our relentless advertisement of Detroit to others?<\/p>\n

I hope this didn’t sound too apocalyptic or dark. I guess I’m finally starting to understand the old Detroit vs. new Detroit discussion. Needless to say, this was one hell of a bike ride. My head was spinning by the time I arrived at my destination only a few minutes later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m not one to lose myself in thought very often, but when it does happen it’s always an adventure. Last week, I was riding my bike past Michigan Central Station in Corktown\u00a0and thought, I can’t wait until this building is operational again. Wouldn’t it be great if I had enough money to buy it? I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/298"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}