Best and Worst Detroit suburbs (Warren, St. Clair Shores: foreclosures, high crime, mobile home)

[Osito57]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

Spent the night in BH last night. Went to the musical at BH High. Beautiful huge school. Drove through a forest of McMansion subs on Maple Road to get there (among other roads, just remember Maple as being particularly filled with them). Certainly are a huge quantity of McMansions there. That is all we have seen in the 50-100 times that we have visited BH in the past 5 or 6 years. There are a few older farm houses preserved here and there at the edge of the subdivisions, and there are a few other stately older homes here and there, but pretty hard to find amongst the new subs. Where do you find entire neighborhoods or even a cluster of nice older homes in BH? Where do you find a newer sub that is not filled with McMansions?

I'm sorry, but I do not believe anything in this post. It's bascially 100% BS.

First thing, there is no Bloomfield Hills High. There are two high schools; Andover and Lasher. Second, neither are particularly large or beautiful. Both are kinda small and generic-50's style. Third, neither are anywhere near Maple Road. They're both at least three miles north.

Fourth, there is no "forest of McMansion subs" ANYWHERE on Maple Road in Bham-Bloomfield. I mean NONE. Maple Road only runs through older neighborhoods, and has been completely developed for at least 40-50 years.

Fifth, what are you talking about "farm houses" in Bham-Bloomfield? WTF? By your description (McMansions, farm houses, new high schools, etc.) you seem to be describing Novi or Oakland Township or something. Birmigham, Bloomfield Hills, and Bloomfield Township are all older, "mature" communities. All three cities had their peak population back in the 1960's.

[Hoarfrost]

Royal Oak and Ferndale are the only two suburbs of Detroit that I can say are somewhat interesting, personally. The rest...

[lovemygirls0_2]

Sterling Heights is a great place to live and raise kids. Crime rate is low, Utica schools are great, taxes are low and the city, although not bustling with nightlife, is fairly close to everything. Money Magazine has had Sterling heights on "top 100 US Cities" several years.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by Osito57

I'm sorry, but I do not believe anything in this post. It's bascially 100% BS.

First thing, there is no Bloomfield Hills High. There are two high schools; Andover and Lasher. Second, neither are particularly large or beautiful. Both are kinda small and generic-50's style. Third, neither are anywhere near Maple Road. They're both at least three miles north.

Fourth, there is no "forest of McMansion subs" ANYWHERE on Maple Road in Bham-Bloomfield. I mean NONE. Maple Road only runs through older neighborhoods, and has been completely developed for at least 40-50 years.

Fifth, what are you talking about "farm houses" in Bham-Bloomfield? WTF? By your description (McMansions, farm houses, new high schools, etc.) you seem to be describing Novi or Oakland Township or something. Birmigham, Bloomfield Hills, and Bloomfield Township are all older, "mature" communities. All three cities had their peak population back in the 1960's.

Nope sorry West Bloomfield. I was really tired when I posted thatt. Sometimes when I am exhaustedd I mix up similar sounding things like West Bloomfield and Bloomfield hills, not the places, jsut the names. Sometimes I am not able to sleep at all, occaisionally for days at a time. Intersting reaction though.

[DBoiHoodRich]

I been noticing that alot of crime is starting to happen in canton on the Wayne Canton Border..that city is growing in population and is going to be hood one day

[Northsider 248]

Truely, there are no best or worst. Alot of suburbs have huge upsides and huge downsides.

Royal Oak, for example, is considered as one of the best by 'outsiders'. As a city it is nice. It has a large, trendy Downtown and the southern end of the city is very nice. It isn't really a family area though. The schools are bad, some of the neighborhoods have above-average blight, the drivers are ignorant, and alot of 'children' are actually teenagers - some dangerous.

Hazel Park and Ferndale are both very old, tightly knit communities. While they still remain to both be that way, there's also a recurring trend of forclosures and burglaries in both cities, and they both share a small joint neighborhood around 8 Mile and John R. that could be called a 'ghetto' area. Nonetheless, they excel in schools and local business.

Warren. My gosh, Warren. Beautiful tree-lined streets, good schools, easy-flowing traffic and a vibrant ethnic community; yet you go into Center Line and it looks like crud. You go east into Roseville, and you'd swear you were driving through Hamtramck minus the culture.

I guess the best place I can suggest is St. Clair

[ROfan]

Originally Posted by [JS]

Truely, there are no best or worst. Alot of suburbs have huge upsides and huge downsides.

Royal Oak, for example, is considered as one of the best by 'outsiders'. As a city it is nice. It has a large, trendy Downtown and the southern end of the city is very nice. It isn't really a family area though. The schools are bad, some of the neighborhoods have above-average blight, the drivers are ignorant, and alot of 'children' are actually teenagers - some dangerous.

Hazel Park and Ferndale are both very old, tightly knit communities. While they still remain to both be that way, there's also a recurring trend of forclosures and burglaries in both cities, and they both share a small joint neighborhood around 8 Mile and John R. that could be called a 'ghetto' area. Nonetheless, they excel in schools and local business.

Warren. My gosh, Warren. Beautiful tree-lined streets, good schools, easy-flowing traffic and a vibrant ethnic community; yet you go into Center Line and it looks like crud. You go east into Roseville, and you'd swear you were driving through Hamtramck minus the culture.

I guess the best place I can suggest is St. Clair

Your contention Royal Oak schools are bad, blight is "above average" and teens there are dangerous is absolutely ridiculous.

Students in Royal Oak public schools test above average (way above average in the case of the elementary schools) on state tests. Check out this link for fairly recent scores: http://www.rosd.k12.mi.us/pdf/yourschools/YS_May08.pdf

And I'd strongly disagree Royal Oak is not family friendly. Plenty of parks, sidewalks everywhere with stores and schools in walking distance -- just because you don't have to slide your big butt into an SUV to haul the kids everywhere, per the rules of modern suburbia, does not mean it isn't 'family friendly.'

Blight? OK, there are some houses where the lawn needs to be mowed, and the siding could use a good powerwash, but I wouldn't say that is out of the ordinary in the suburbs. You could find the same in Birmingham right now.

And crime by teens? I've not heard of it. What little crime there is in Royal Oak usually is committed by adults, and most of them don't even live in the city.

Your utopia of St. Clair Shores, from what I understand, has it far worse by your measures than Royal Oak.

[Northsider 248]

The actual city of St. Clair, not St. Clair Shores. By that I meant that the actual city of St. Clair is the closest thing you will get to an excellent suburb.

Test scores do not really matter in the case of Royal Oak Schools. First off, they've cut bussing and all art programs for the city come next year. That means no band, no art, no vocal music classes. Second of all, the middle school has been arsonized twice and there have been multiple stabbing incidents. They had to take PLASTIC KNIVES away from the school lunch program because too many students were shoving them up against eachother's jugular veins and threatening to kill them. The students have sex in the bathroom there all the time. Yeah, send your kid there; but when he buys a big bag of weed on the staircase and loses his virginity to a 17 year old flunkie in the 8th grade, don't say I didn't tell you so.

I've driven past houses where the awnings were falling off, the doors (and some windows) were barred up or boarded up, the lawns were well more than uncut, there was trash in the yard, cardboard sheets were taped to the windows, the tops of houses have been left covered in tarp for years because there's no roof... you name it, I've probably seen it.

And being a teenager myself, I know how dangerous other teenagers are. Alot of the teens are reckless and like to get into trouble. They pick fights at the littlest of things. They carry knives around and threaten little kids with them. Not to mention all the shoplifting and grafitti...

Downtown, Vinsetta and south of 12 Mile are the only places I can really say good things about.

[ROfan]

Originally Posted by [JS]

The actual city of St. Clair, not St. Clair Shores. By that I meant that the actual city of St. Clair is the closest thing you will get to an excellent suburb.

Test scores do not really matter in the case of Royal Oak Schools. First off, they've cut bussing and all art programs for the city come next year. That means no band, no art, no vocal music classes. Second of all, the middle school has been arsonized twice and there have been multiple stabbing incidents. They had to take PLASTIC KNIVES away from the school lunch program because too many students were shoving them up against eachother's jugular veins and threatening to kill them. The students have sex in the bathroom there all the time. Yeah, send your kid there; but when he buys a big bag of weed on the staircase and loses his virginity to a 17 year old flunkie in the 8th grade, don't say I didn't tell you so.

I've driven past houses where the awnings were falling off, the doors (and some windows) were barred up or boarded up, the lawns were well more than uncut, there was trash in the yard, cardboard sheets were taped to the windows, the tops of houses have been left covered in tarp for years because there's no roof... you name it, I've probably seen it.

And being a teenager myself, I know how dangerous other teenagers are. Alot of the teens are reckless and like to get into trouble. They pick fights at the littlest of things. They carry knives around and threaten little kids with them. Not to mention all the shoplifting and grafitti...

Downtown, Vinsetta and south of 12 Mile are the only places I can really say good things about.

I don't know what your angle is but I know kids, and parents with kids, in Royal Oak Middle School and I've never heard any of what you're talking about, barring the one fire. And again, that's the middle school, not all of Royal Oak schools. Way to generalize, pal.

And where did you see these derelict houses you speak of? I was just in the neighborhood near I-75 and 11 Mile last week, where you would expect to see the most "blight" in Royal Oak due to its proximity to Detroit/iffier suburbs, and saw no tarps or collapsed awnings, etc. I think you're full of it, or again, seeing one or two instances of this and making the generalization that "ROYAL OAK IS TERRIBLE!!"

There's no doubt Royal Oak has nicer vs. less nice areas but again, show me a city in metro area that doesn't, especially now, two years into the recession.

[Northsider 248]

There were two fires. For the sake of the school's reputation, they refused to speak to the news about it; but there was the gym arson and then a student taped paper towels under the automatic dryers in the bathrooms the year after.

You say I-75 and 11 Mile. I laugh at the use of "Iffier suburbs". Maybe Madison Heights. What I'm talking about is north of 12 Mile though.

You say you've never heard any of what I'm talking about, but I've witnessed it. I've seen firsthand - students pulling knives on others, threatening to stab eachother, throwing rocks at peoples' car windows, trying to push other students onto Washington, which through there is an extremely busy street - it's just a warzone packed into a renovated smoke-and-mirrors excuse for a building. And on top of that, it's not like the administration does anything about it.