10 years after bankruptcy, Detroit is a city on the rebound

April Anderson said her friends and family questioned why on Earth she opened a bakery in Detroit in fall 2013 — just months after the Michigan city declared the largest municipal bankruptcy in history.

But 10 years on, Good Cakes and Bakes is going strong, much like Detroit, she said. 

"My father said, 'You're gonna open in Detroit? I was like, 'Yeah, this is my home.'" Anderson said.

"People are just so baffled about … why would she want to open up a bakery here? But one thing people don't understand is that even though we were just ... coming out of the other end of a recession …  food brings people together, right?"

Anderson's business in the Avenue of Fashion neighbourhood is emblematic of the big investments, streetscaping and beautification projects that many credit with bringing the city back after its July 18, 2013, bankruptcy.

But some still have concerns about the future of the city amid growing infrastructure needs and climate change. 

'You can see the growth'

Five years ago, Anderson acknowledged, there might have been a tale of two Detroits — downtown, home to investment and renewal, and other neighbourhoods not yet benefiting from that investment. 

Today, she said, that's different — starting with streetscaping projects in Avenue of Fashion that have slowed cars down, widened sidewalks and made it more accessible so people can spend more time at local businesses. 

"If you're patient, you can see the growth, you can see the change. Now, in the 10 years since since the bankruptcy, you'll see a bigger change."

Anderson said communities have bought into the effort, as she saw first hand during the pandemic. 

"This, the Avenue of Fashion is definitely a destination spot, right? And that's a wonderful thing," she said. "But the main thing is, I think the beautiful part of it is that our community, our neighbourhoods have brought into us. 

"That really showed during COVID when they were sheltering in place … because they want to make sure when we came on the other side of the pandemic that we were still here."

Phil Aiello is president of Steam and Co. Distillery, on the edge of Corktown and southwest Detroit. Corktown has traditionally received plenty of investment — but he's hoping to bring that energy beyond the edge of the neighbourhood by revitalizing an abandoned building. 

[Corktown] been rebuilt and revamped, it's the outskirts that need a little love," Aiello said. "We're hoping to see it hit southwest Detroit and keep on going and keep on thriving."

Key to post-bankruptcy change is leadership

Detroit had $18 billion US in debt when it filed bankruptcy. The city emerged in December 2014 with a new mayor, Mike Duggan. 

He's led an effort to change the way Detroit invests in all its neighbourhoods, according to the city.

"What changed I think quite frankly is the leadership. It starts with leadership and ends with leadership," said Kevin Johnson, president of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation. 

"When we saw this leave this leadership void being filled by a political body that is so committed to the improvement of Detroit, starting with Mayor Mike Duggan and the city council that he works with, it enabled the market to just kind of take a deep breath and let's start thinking about structural things that would make Detroit a place where investment could occur, I think."

But not everyone is fully convinced. District 6 Coun. Gabriele Santiago-Romero said she worries the city is building "sand castles." 

"While we are slowly but surely changing … I need us to be moving as rapidly on that infrastructure and services as quickly as we are developing downtown," said Santiago-Romero. 

Santiago-Romero said several key issues remain: infrastructure, affordable access to water and housing, and the need to work on climate change issues. 

"While we're really focused on beautification, these seem like beautiful sand castles if there is no infrastructure at the bottom of it to sustain it," she said. 

Sandy Baruah is CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce. Ten years later, he said he's "pleasantly surprised" about how far Detroit has come. 

"Detroit is in such a different and much more positive place today than it was 10 years ago. I mean, economically, culturally … there really isn't a metric that you can think of that doesn't show significant progress since bankruptcy.

"But I think you just need to put bankruptcy in perspective. Bankruptcy didn't solve all of the problems that Detroit had. It provided an opportunity for leadership to come in and do certain things that capitalized on that opportunity.

"But the way I phrase it to most people is that Detroit now has most of the same problems that most industrial Midwest cities have, which is great compared to having a completely unique set of problems."

While not all of Detroit's many neighbourhoods are where they might want them to be in terms of revitalization, Baruah said they're "leaps and bounds" better than they were a decade ago. 

"Had we filed and didn't change anything else. … frankly Detroit would look pretty much the same as it did then."