Blacks in Livonia

[elisabetm]

Honestly, I'd look elsewhere. Try Van Buren Twp. More diverse and newer housing. Livonia has changed a lot and not for the better. Unfortunatley, the school board and administration has a lot to do with that. They did close particular schools a couple of years ago. They reconfigured the grade levels so that your kids will most likely board a bus for a 30 minute traffic-filled ride to attend a school across town. Really a crazy plan for a city as dense as Livonia, something you'd expect to see in more rural areas like Howell or Fowlerville. Any way, people are exrememly frustrated with the schools. On top of that, they brought in a new math program for k-4 this year, called Everyday Math. I understand that other states do not even allow this program in any of their schools. This is an extremely good source of info that I hope the mod will allow. Look at livonianeighbors.com It is a local forum. I think it would give you a begining glimpse into Livonia and it's residents.

[and the]

How does anyone ever know when something like that happens?

Because the uninformed spread capricious rumors.

Ever heard about black Detroit cops "racially profiling" when they stop a white guy in an all black neighborhood at 8 Mile and Wyoming because their experience tells them he's probably looking for a ***** or dope? No? Why not? Because it doesn't happen?

[reconmark]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I have decided to relocate to West Bloomfield mainly because of the reputation of it's schools. I've found a home and will be moving in a month or so. I will truely miss being in the city but I had too many problems with other people's children not knowing how to behave and socialize in her school. I feel she was receiving an excellent education and had a wonderful, caring teacher but it is coming to the point where she would rather stay inside during lunch in order not to have to fight or be picked on by the boys who bully the girls on the playground.
I have to leave before I put my hands on some kid with too much mouth and attitude and not enough home training.
I did drop her off one morning and just stuck around, the profanity I heard from some elementary school kids pretty much cemented my coming to term that I had to relocate for the good of my children.
Again, thanks the everyone that took the time to reply.

[Michiman]

My family is dying to get OUT of Livonia. The schools are going down hill. We've lost several hundred kids due to the board of education and their grade reconfiguration. Here's a good source for info: http://www.stevekingchronicles.blogspot. com/

[dj0114]

I live next door to Livonia (Westland resident- 17 years) and can attest that Livonia doesn't appear to be friendly to minorities. There are still residents in Livonia that are not open to having minorites living in their city (hence the ugly moments during the Wal Mart Superstore hearings in which several residents expressed racist concern about that storte being built on the old Wonderland Center site... as a compromise WalMart grudgingly accepted the store being closed from midnight to 0600).

It isn't as bad as when I first moved to Westland yet there is a reason why Livonia was once voted the 'whitest' city in America (it had the lowest percentage of minorites of ANY city with a population of 75,000+ in America). The schools are top rated, property values remain high and crime is low- yet you must consider how your neighbors might treat you if are a minority buying a house there.