Excerpt:
This summer, billions in debt and with decades of mass population exodus behind it, Detroit made history as the largest city to
file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy. In essence, the city, once the nation’s fourth most populous and known as the Paris of the Midwest for its glimmering Beaux-Arts structures and ubiquitous public art, was throwing up a white flag. Too many people needed money, and too few had stayed to help generate enough of it.
In the months since, the city has
elected a new mayor and is now embroiled in a court battle to prove its insolvency, a
ruling on which is expected this week. But in shared workspaces, storefronts and loft apartments that dot the city’s expansive 143 square miles, small business owners are fighting a different battle: the battle to activate a commercial renaissance for a city they believe can once again thrive.
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