Still, many Detroiters are toughing it out, pouring their resources and their talents into rebuilding the city.
We wanted to shine a spotlight on the people in Detroit who are making remarkable contributions to the city. We asked our readers, who are the folks across industries — from finance and automotive to entertainment and retail — who are dedicated to the revitalization. The nominations came pouring in.
These are the people making their city proud.
Alicia Marion George opened the only coffee shop for miles.
Owner of Motor City Java & Tea House
When Detroit native Alicia Marion George moved to the Brightmoor area in the late 1990s, she described the neighborhood as "being in a coma." The devastation of financial resources had touched every facet of life: businesses wasted away, homes were abandoned, and crime surged.
"People didn't think the light went past the end of their block," George says. An executive assistant at the time, she wanted to give residents hope that someone was paying attention to them.
She began visiting coffee shops across the region and touring roasting plants, and she even got a nine-month gig as a barista at Starbucks. It took 10 years to find a location and gather the funds, but in 2010, she opened Motor City Java & Tea House in a foreclosed house.
Inside, George takes customers behind the bar to teach them how to use the cappuccino machines and to explain how she paid for them. Local festivals, art galleries, youth groups, and block clubs host gatherings there. And since launching, half a dozen businesses have opened in Brightmoor.
Andy Didorosi created a bus line to mobilize Detroiters.
Founder of The Detroit Bus Company
Detroit is not in a good place when it comes to infrastructure. Forty percent of its street lights are broken, and $7 million was cut from the city's transportation budget.
When the city abandoned its proposal for an M-1 light rail on Woodward Avenue — the Broadway of Detroit — 20-something serial entrepreneur Andy Didorosi bought up half a dozen old school buses, hired local artists to paint them and drivers to drive them, and installed a GPS tracking app so passengers could track their ride. All of a sudden he was running The Detroit Bus Company.
Buses are biodiesel-fueled and can be hailed by the tracking app during slow times. The bus is a godsend for the 11,000 students who use the buses each month as their primary means of getting to after-school programs around the city, and the buses can also be rented out for private functions. Didorosi uses them to give city tours and bar crawls as well. Next he's working on creating a public service to and from the airport.
Dan Gilbert has started a chain reaction of new growth in his hometown.
Founder and chairman of Quicken Loans
About three and a half years ago, billionaire Dan Gilbert began "picking up" properties in downtown Detroit, with the intent to bring commerce back to the Motor City.
The architectural relics he bought sometimes sold for as little as $8 a square foot. Gradually, over 120 companies opened shop in his nine-million-square-foot spread of prime real estate — including Chrysler and Twitter. To date, Gilbert has invested about $1.3 billion in the downtown area alone.
"[Gilbert] has helped rebuild Detroit one day at a time," one reader tells Business Insider. "He truly cares about making Detroit a better place to live."
Gilbert also walks the walk. Until fairly recently, Quicken Loans was headquartered out in the 'burbs. In 2012, Gilbert moved the company to a new HQ downtown, where he and more than 12,000 employees can work in the heart of the action.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
