{"id":381,"date":"2013-01-31T09:33:28","date_gmt":"2013-01-31T15:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.challenge.dev2.formbox.biz\/blog\/?p=381"},"modified":"2013-01-31T09:33:28","modified_gmt":"2013-01-31T15:33:28","slug":"full-house-at-the-liveworkdetroit-event-lets-bringem-to-the-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/full-house-at-the-liveworkdetroit-event-lets-bringem-to-the-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Full house at the LiveWorkDetroit event – let’s bring’em to the city!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As I entered the dinner hall at the Renaissance Center for the LiveWorkDetroit! event this past Saturday<\/a>, I could not help but notice that it was packed.\u00a0 Perhaps it was the narrow room layout, but it appeared there were more attendees that I expected, and there were hardly any empty seats. I asked everyone at my table to guess the attendance figure; the answers ranged anywhere from 200 to 350. \u00a0My guess was 300.<\/p>\n

I started imagining the exponential impact of 300 young professionals moving to Detroit (note to self: make a movie titled \u2018Detroit\u2019s 300\u2019).\u00a0\u00a0 Of course, the odds of getting all 300 to move to Detroit are statistically small.\u00a0 Still, even if 30 people, or 10 percent, move, it will have a cascading affect!\u00a0 Thirty people nearly fill a mid-sized residential building like Claridge House Apartments downtown (which the participants toured). High occupancy levels in yet another building downtown may be the tipping point for a real estate developer on the fence about investing in Detroit. \u00a0A nearly full building can convince a young entrepreneur to do a pop-up restaurant in the building\u2019s first floor.\u00a0 Thirty people spending their disposable income in Detroit may be enough to sustain a couple new jobs for people in Detroit\u2019s neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

It goes beyond the economic benefits (although, as Marx taught us, everything has economic implications).\u00a0 More people living downtown means more people who think about Detroit\u2019s problems on a macro and micro level and come up with creative solutions.\u00a0 It means more people who will make a point of telling someone who throws a candy wrapper on a sidewalk in Campus Martius that there is a trash bin five feet away! It\u2019s more eyes on the street, which makes for a safer environment. It\u2019s more people bringing their parents downtown and changing their perceptions.\u00a0 The truth is, every champion for this city is vital.\u00a0 Each one will propel Detroit forward. It reminds me of a common saying at my company: \u201cThe inches we need are all around us\u201d. It is the accumulation of little things that add up to a big difference, transforming neighborhoods, and cities.<\/p>\n

I guess what I am saying is: carry on in telling everyone about Detroit.\u00a0 Keep recruiting.\u00a0 Keep the momentum going because each conversation is inching us closer to the city we envision.<\/p>\n

Finally, I am proud of the leadership role the organizations I am associated with have in Detroit.\u00a0 Rock Ventures is increasing the likelihood that these soon to be graduates will move to Detroit.\u00a0 Whether it\u2019s bringing more jobs to Detroit, increasing the retail presence, activating the public spaces, or rehabbing vacant buildings into apartment units. \u00a0I am also appreciative of my fellowship organization, Challenge Detroit, for convincing 30 young professionals to live, work, play, and give in Detroit.<\/p>\n

Contributed by fellow Vadim Avshalumov<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I entered the dinner hall at the Renaissance Center for the LiveWorkDetroit! event this past Saturday, I could not help but notice that it was packed.\u00a0 Perhaps it was the narrow room layout, but it appeared there were more attendees that I expected, and there were hardly any empty seats. I asked everyone at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}