Moving to Michigan (Ann Arbor, Canton, Plymouth: fit in, low crime, house)

[Jimmi70]

Hello all, I am looking for some help here. I will be relocating to Michigan within the next 4-6 weeks, and I have a 12 year old son. What I am looking for is some HONEST advice about the areas and schools, from what I have seen and looked at so far the Plymouth area seems really nice, so with that said

1) What is the school system like
2) What is it like living in the Plymouth area
3) My son plays football, so what is football quality and life like (Jr. High and High School)
4) Any other information you would like to share.


Please be open and honest in any and all input you have for me.

[jeffandjess]

Michigan sucks right now, just being honest. its depressing and pathetic. I have lived here my entire life and love michigan but the economy has killed it. and if GM files BK its going to go downhill fast.

[Coldjensens]

Plymouth is a great city. My brother lives there. We considered it very seriously for a while. If I was going to live in Plymouth, I would live within walking dsitance of downtown.

Quaint downtown with lots of nice community events. Low crime. Great schools. I am not sure about football, but it is a very large high school so they are probably competitive. the high school has two schools combined on a single campus. If you cannot get a class that you need at your school, you can walk accross to the other school. I am not sure if they have one football team or two.

Plymouth is very close to Ann Arbor which is a lively and fun city with loads of cultural activities (and U-M Football to boot!).

[josh1111]

low crime in plymouth? that is a questionable statement. personally i would not walk downtown plymouth in the dark.

[consideringamove]

It's such an unusual thing to hear about people relocating TO Michigan, so man are relocating FROM MI (my family included). Welcome! I don't know about Plymouth.It's not an area I'm really familiar with. What city are you working in?

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by josh1111

low crime in plymouth? that is a questionable statement. personally i would not walk downtown plymouth in the dark.

I do fairly often my brother who lives in downtown plymouth does as well. Plymouth has a downtown camera that you can access on the internet. Check it out. You will see what I see when I am in Downtown plymouth - an empty town.

The biggest threat is probably the risk of gettin beaten up with heavy purses by old ladies for littering if you drop a candy bar wrapper on the ground. It is not crime free, but it is hardly a place to avoid due to crime problems.

[Coldjensens]

Here is the link to Citydata's page on Plymouth:

[SIZE=3]Plymouth Profile | Plymouth MI[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Crime stats are about halfway down the page. [/SIZE]

Citydata says:

"Plymouth's property crime levels tend to be much lower than Michigan's average level. The same data shows violent crime levels in Plymouth tend to be much lower than Michigan's average level."

[zakian]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

Plymouth is a great city. My brother lives there. We considered it very seriously for a while. If I was going to live in Plymouth, I would live within walking dsitance of downtown.

Quaint downtown with lots of nice community events. Low crime. Great schools. I am not sure about football, but it is a very large high school so they are probably competitive. the high school has two schools combined on a single campus. If you cannot get a class that you need at your school, you can walk accross to the other school. I am not sure if they have one football team or two.

Plymouth is very close to Ann Arbor which is a lively and fun city with loads of cultural activities (and U-M Football to boot!).

You must be young. The schools have always stunk,(my ex went there and she's no dummy,)Homes were,maybe still are, WAY over priced.
The good stores, the class has been gone since 96.
Look into Northville.
Plymouth is living on a false rep.

[terpteacher]

Hi, My husband was recently transferred to Michigan. He works out by the airport, so we ruled out the Points and northern Oakland County because of the commute. We looked in Northville, Plymouth, and Canton and bought in Plymouth because that is where the house that best met our needs was located. We would have bought in Northville if we had found the house there, but probably not in Canton. We thought that we could get lots of house for the money in Canton, but wanted more of the small-town (rather than suburban) feel. Plymouth is very family oriented and has a cute downtown. So does Northville. Schools are rated highly in both areas and seem well supplied and maintained, but based on what I have seen so far (very limited), I have concerns regarding the rigor and the quality of reading insruction. Both are close to major highways and shopping.

The greatest concern I have about Plymouth is the lack of diversity. People are friendly; they just all look the same. Hope this is helpful.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by terpteacher

Hi, My husband was recently transferred to Michigan. He works out by the airport, so we ruled out the Points and northern Oakland County because of the commute. We looked in Northville, Plymouth, and Canton and bought in Plymouth because that is where the house that best met our needs was located. We would have bought in Northville if we had found the house there, but probably not in Canton. We thought that we could get lots of house for the money in Canton, but wanted more of the small-town (rather than suburban) feel. Plymouth is very family oriented and has a cute downtown. So does Northville. Schools are rated highly in both areas and seem well supplied and maintained, but based on what I have seen so far (very limited), I have concerns regarding the rigor and the quality of reading insruction. Both are close to major highways and shopping.

The greatest concern I have about Plymouth is the lack of diversity. People are friendly; they just all look the same. Hope this is helpful.

Diversity is over rated in my opinion. Great people are great people. I do not care what color they are or ethnic background they are from. I have lived where I was a minority, where I am part of the overwhelming majority and in "diverse" areas. The "diverse" area was the worst. It was a wealthy area and the people of all races were snobby. I would much rather live in the primarily all white city where I now reside, or the primarily all hispanic neghbirhood that we moved from where the people were terrific, than in some neighborhood selected for diversity's sake. In any event, I really do nto understand what difference it makes.

I will take friendly down to earth people over an enticing mix of color and culture any day (Diversity of color rarely seems to mean diversity of culture. When only a few people of a given background are in an area, everyone seems ot adopt a bland neutral culture. To me real culture is found where people of a particular background cluster together and support each other in the practice of their traditions and cultural activities.

I do not understand the use of "diversity" as criteria for selecting a home. Is it just the current P.C. craze to desire diversity? Can someone please explain it to me?

I do not mean in any way to disdain or disrepect your desire for diversity. I just do nto understand it. Since you are a person who sees diversity as a major benefit in selecting a location, perhaps you can enlighten me. I feel like I am stupid about this issue becuase I simply cannot see the benefit in something that so many people seem to desire.