Renaissance

New York Times Writes About the Entrepreneurial Spirit in a Bankrupt Detroit

April 16, 2014, 1:37 PM


Andy Didorosi (Facebook photo)

The New York Times on Wednesday has an article headlined: "Entrepreneurs Seeking a Place to Start a Business Find a Surprising Answer: Detroit."

The Times piece is one of many pieces of late that reflect the national media's fascination with the city, which is showing little flickerings of hope while battling a big, messy bankruptcy.  It also shows the ability of some media outlets to see beyond the obvious crime and fear stories.

Stacy Cowley of The Times writes that small business owners say operating in Detroit is like doing so in the Wild West or a third-world country. She notes: "They often mean it as a compliment."

“You can do things here that would be impossible in a more functional city,” said Andy Didorosi, 27, an entrepreneur who housed his first business, a car repair shop, in a vacant airport hangar that he rented for $300 a month, according to the Times.

The Times writes that he arrangement ended when the Federal Aviation Administration caught on that he, who as a teen at the time, didn't own an airplane.

An urban area filled with empty buildings and an underused labor force offers some powerful advantages for entrepreneurs. The cost of starting here is a fraction of what it would be in other large American cities, which is one reason Mr. Didorosi’s ever-changing collection of enterprises includes successful ventures like the Detroit Bus Company, a fleet of biodiesel-fueled tour buses, and whimsical ones like the Thunderdrome, a motorcycle-racing series held at an abandoned velodrome.

The article mentions the bankruptcy, but notes that it hasn't yet directly impacted residents and businesses.

“It’s a stack of papers in a courtroom,” Rachel Lutz, 33, who owns a pair of boutiques, tells The Times. "It has nothing to do with how people live and do business in Detroit.”

-- Allan Lengel


Read more:  The New York Times


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