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Old 11-02-2015, 08:24 PM
 
1,636 posts, read 2,146,244 times
Reputation: 1832

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Well I have some good news for you. Southeast Michigan (From Detroit up to Saginaw and Port Huron) is the least attractive area of Michigan. The rest of the state is gorgeous. Next summer, make sure you visit the Sleeping Bear Dunes, Mackinac Island, Beaver Island, the Upper Peninsula, and make it down the coast of Lake Michigan hitting all the beach towns - and don't miss out on the sand dunes in Silver Lake. The Detroit area is where the bulk of the population lives and its not impressive as the rest of the state. However, the northwestern suburbs of Detroit in Oakland county in West Bloomfield, Waterford, Milford etc are nice with hundreds of lakes. Yes, the roads here are a nightmare. If you go to Detroit, visit downtown, midtown, eastern market, corktown - but outside these areas, be very very careful. Also, make sure you visit Michigan's second metropolis - Grand Rapids. Also, Ann Arbor is worth a visit.
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Old 11-03-2015, 07:42 AM
 
2,210 posts, read 3,499,203 times
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The auto industry conspiring to eliminate public transportation in Detroit is a myth that refuses to die. It has no basis in reality.

http://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/ho...nt?oid=2143889
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Old 11-03-2015, 07:46 AM
 
2,605 posts, read 2,715,622 times
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Really interesting overview, thank you. Its nice to get feedback on the city from fresh perspective. Many of the comments you mentioned I have heard from out-of-state relatives: like the car thing. My NY friends are always surprise at this but it is supporting local business. Every time I go to west coast, I fall in love with your mountains and hills. We are flat but it makes driving easy.

I use to think public transit was amazing & wished we had cool stuff like that in D. So every time I go to city that has good transit, I hop on it & with in one trip I realize how inconvenient it is to wait for a train and take twice the time to get to a location than it would take driving. My friends in DC, NY, SF, and even London have confirmed once you go for car its hard to go back to public transportation.

We are segregated but that also gives some really different community that other parts of USA doesn't have. Hope you have chance to visit Mexico town, Hamtramck, and Dearborn for some culture experience.
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Old 11-03-2015, 08:16 AM
 
Location: North of Canada, but not the Arctic
21,167 posts, read 19,761,393 times
Reputation: 25713
Thank you for having the courtesy of giving feedback. So few people do that that I stopped giving advice.
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Old 11-03-2015, 12:44 PM
 
12,823 posts, read 24,419,764 times
Reputation: 11042
Quote:
Originally Posted by Geo-Aggie View Post
I posted a couple threads in here before asking questions of

"Hey, should I consider a job there?"
and
"Hey, I'm taking this job, where should I live?"

Well, I took the job and I rented an apartment in Royal Oak. I've been here for about 10 days and I just wanted to give my outside perspective of the area, from someone who had never visited Michigan before, good and bad.

First some good:

I get that I've not been to inner-city Detroit yet, which I hear is indeed run-down, but the metro area is nothing like the media makes it out to be. The towns I've been to, even Warren, which is not considered by most to be very nice, are perfectly fine. I feel comfortable walking alone in them. I feel safe bringing my family to them and I think they look better than a lot of suburbs from other metros I've visited. Overall it's really nice here.

People here are friendly. As in, really friendly and approachable and just want to be your friend. I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around this, but I like it. I can just say hi to strangers and they instantly like me and want to talk with me.

It's so green! Royal Oak is green, incredibly green, more-so than other suburbs I've visited; however, my wife and I drove up to Port Huron this weekend. Once we got past about 23 Mile I felt like I was in a mystical woodland or something. Coming from the desert this is incredible to me. I think if I decide to stay a while and buy a house, it'll be up that way.

Cheap groceries! Cheap property! Cheap beer!

Flashy yellow/red lights make sense.

Some Neutral stuff:

Everyone drives Ford, GM and Chrysler. I didn't realize this at first, but it's crazy. Cars that are huge in cold-weather regions outside of Detroit, like Subaru and Audi, are almost no where to be seen. Instead of Lexus and BMW I see Lincoln and Cadillac. Instead of Camrys and Accords I see Impalas and Fusions, everywhere. I don't think I've ever seen a Volt before moving here, but apparently people drive those instead of the Prius, because I've seen like 1 Prius here.

It's super flat. For a glacial region, I expected more hills. Moraines, drumlins, cirques, anything, but it's just flat. I feel like I could drive 10 miles and have a total elevation change of maybe 20 feet.

You guys ever heard of public transit? Luckily the highways are quite functional and not too terrible, but the metro could really benefit from some functional light rail. I assume the good (though poorly cared for) highway system and lack of rail has a lot to do with the auto industry?

I'm not sure if I love .. or hate .. the goofy left turns. I think I like them. They make sense.

Now some bad:

Not exaggerating here, but I have honestly never been somewhere in my life that just openly gave zero ****s about the conditions of their roads quite like the towns around here do. Maybe I've just not seen enough of the midwest and this is normal here, but it blows my mind. I honestly take a slightly longer way home because I feel like avoiding a certain stretch of road will significantly prolong the life of my car and tires and the highways are disasters, all of them. I get it, it snows here, snow plows tear stuff up - but like... it also snows in SLC, Boise, Denver, Boston and Hartford. I've driven in those cities - the roads are perfectly fine.

It's so segregated. I come from an area with a lot of Hispanic population, but it's integrated/integrating. There are a few Hispanic neighborhoods and a few white neighborhoods, but there are many integrated ones that reflect the overall region's population. That just doesn't feel like it exists here. You have black areas and you have white areas. I see the same thing at work. People's groups, and often profession, are defined by their color, I'm not used to that.

Premium gas is expensive. Out west if regular is $2.20, Midgrade is $2.30 and Premium is $2.40. Here if regular is $2.20, Midgrade is $2.60 and Premium is $3.00. What gives?

Overall:

I'm impressed. I think I'll like it here. 10 days is certainly not long enough to determine if this will be a long-term thing or a short stop before I move on in my career and of course much of this will depend on if I end up liking the job or not (so far, seems pretty great), but I'm not disappointed and I think it'll be a good place to, at the very least, spend 4-5 years.
If you think the roads are bad there, you should check out California, most especially the Bay Area. And we don't even have the excuses of snow and freeze-thaw.
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Old 11-03-2015, 01:51 PM
 
4,861 posts, read 9,318,767 times
Reputation: 7762
Quote:
Originally Posted by Geo-Aggie View Post
I get that I've not been to inner-city Detroit yet, which I hear is indeed run-down, but the metro area is nothing like the media makes it out to be. The towns I've been to, even Warren, which is not considered by most to be very nice, are perfectly fine. I feel comfortable walking alone in them. I feel safe bringing my family to them and I think they look better than a lot of suburbs from other metros I've visited. Overall it's really nice here.

Not exaggerating here, but I have honestly never been somewhere in my life that just openly gave zero ****s about the conditions of their roads quite like the towns around here do. Maybe I've just not seen enough of the midwest and this is normal here, but it blows my mind. I honestly take a slightly longer way home because I feel like avoiding a certain stretch of road will significantly prolong the life of my car and tires and the highways are disasters, all of them. I get it, it snows here, snow plows tear stuff up - but like... it also snows in SLC, Boise, Denver, Boston and Hartford. I've driven in those cities - the roads are perfectly fine.
Yeah, the national media seems to have a field day trying to convince the rest of the country that the entire Detroit Metro is like Beirut, only with more crime, lol. Sometimes when we are on our way to visit our son in Novi and we are driving up Beck Rd. through Plymouth, Northville, and Novi and we are passing gorgeous neighborhoods with lakes and $2 million dollar homes, or when I am driving up Lake Shore Drive in the Grosse Pointes, I can't help but think how much fun it would be to take people from around the country and drop them there and ask where in the U.S. they think they might be. I wonder how many of them, based on preconceived notions, would ever answer "Metro Detroit!" It would be interesting to see what they thought.

Our roads are, for the most part, terrible. I don't live too far from the Ohio state line and the road conditions change noticeably the minute you cross the line into Ohio on virtually every road. I know there are myriad reasons for this, but all things considered, even though I am an Ohioan by birth, there is no way I am leaving Michigan anytime soon. I love this state more with each passing year and appreciate it more too. It really does grow on you. I am one proud Wolverine!!!
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Old 11-03-2015, 04:43 PM
 
Location: Back in the Mitten. Formerly NC
3,829 posts, read 6,738,453 times
Reputation: 5367
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arthur Digby Sellers View Post
The auto industry conspiring to eliminate public transportation in Detroit is a myth that refuses to die. It has no basis in reality.

How Detroit ended up with the worst public transit | Local News | Detroit Metro Times
If that was in reference to my comment, I made no such claim. It is the people that are overly attached to their cars, IMO. Most people are not willing to give them up. Not the auto industry squashing public transit.
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Old 11-03-2015, 09:26 PM
 
1,636 posts, read 2,146,244 times
Reputation: 1832
Quote:
Originally Posted by canudigit View Post
Yeah, the national media seems to have a field day trying to convince the rest of the country that the entire Detroit Metro is like Beirut, only with more crime, lol. Sometimes when we are on our way to visit our son in Novi and we are driving up Beck Rd. through Plymouth, Northville, and Novi and we are passing gorgeous neighborhoods with lakes and $2 million dollar homes, or when I am driving up Lake Shore Drive in the Grosse Pointes, I can't help but think how much fun it would be to take people from around the country and drop them there and ask where in the U.S. they think they might be. I wonder how many of them, based on preconceived notions, would ever answer "Metro Detroit!" It would be interesting to see what they thought.

Our roads are, for the most part, terrible. I don't live too far from the Ohio state line and the road conditions change noticeably the minute you cross the line into Ohio on virtually every road. I know there are myriad reasons for this, but all things considered, even though I am an Ohioan by birth, there is no way I am leaving Michigan anytime soon. I love this state more with each passing year and appreciate it more too. It really does grow on you. I am one proud Wolverine!!!
Sorry couldn't resist but Beirut actually has been rebuilt and quite nice. Ironically, there is a very strong connection between Beirut and Detroit.
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Old 11-03-2015, 11:16 PM
 
10,115 posts, read 19,422,165 times
Reputation: 17444
Look, people, try to get it straight---

Detroit is DETROIT!!!

It is NOT Warren, Birmingham, Grosse Pointe, etc, etc, etc

My parents left (or fled, whatever makes you happy), from Detroit to Warren. Many years ago. I left Detroit for Texas, haven't been back. All that stuff you read/hear/see about is DETROIT. Not the surrounding cities. Get a map----

Crime rates, property taxes, city income taxes, lack of housing, lack of affordable grocery stores---that applies to DETROIT not the surrounding cities
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Old 11-04-2015, 05:35 AM
 
Location: Leafy London
504 posts, read 466,178 times
Reputation: 767
Quote:
Originally Posted by keraT View Post
, and even London have confirmed once you go for car its hard to go back to public transportation.
Absolutely and completely NOT. I live in the NE suburbs. Just moved from a house 2 mins walk from the Tube (Subway) station to 12 mins walk, and it's been quite a compromise.

I drive out of London 27 miles daily to work, and back again. That's it. Other than that, the car never moves. I can't have driven in London socially for months and months. My OH works (at the House of Commons, actually) and if he drove to work, it would take 10 times as long and cost more to park than he earns.

We have buses from the centre of town at 12 minute intervals right through the night, and once the Unions have gotten over their strop, a Tube train every 15 mins (and every 4 mins daytime). You don't have to worry about drinking, parking, traffic. I couldn't live anywhere without great public transport. Having stood in Mid Wilshire LA watching 6 lanes of huge, polluting, stationary cars, it all confirms my opinion.

Mind you, we pay $7+ a gallon . Lucky American tourists renting cars can't be bothered to work out £ per litre else they'd have a heart attack
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