Downtown Detroit or Royal Oak/ Ferndale--Help! (Warren, Wayne: 2010, city hall, lease)

[Shrewsbury Road]

Originally Posted by MisterShunshine

What "Downtown Detroit" are you talking about? The little corner outside Comerica Park? The city of Detroit has an astounding crime rate. Forbes magazine recently ranked it the most dangerous city in the US.

I'm also not sure what kind of "fun" anyone is having in Detroit these days. When I drive through that city, fun is the last word I would use to describe the experience.

Detroit is a wasteland, and the decay has also been sprawling across the suburbs for years now.

That's about all anyone needs to say about this place.

You apparently have not been through downtown detroit in recent years.

[MisterShunshine]

Originally Posted by Shrewsbury Road

You apparently have not been through downtown detroit in recent years.

I have. There's little pockets here and there...the Joe, Comerica, Greektown, but what else? It's not like you can walk around between those places, like you can in other major cities. I'm not going to ride the People Mover. Ever try hailing a cab downtown? Yeah, you can't.

We're also assuming I don't get shot on the drive down there.

I live twenty minutes away from the extremely large garbage dump that is Detroit. I tend to believe anyone that tries to say this city is anything else just hasn't been to any other cities, or they're smoking some of the drugs that are so readily available on every Detroit street-corner.

[Shrewsbury Road]

I think your seriously overreacting. Detroit, despite all it's economic and political despair is a wonderful place. I grew up in Detroit, moved to Livonia and lived there for some years, finally I've returned to Detroit on Shrewsbury Road, in Sherwood Forest. I love it there, I have wonderful neighbors and the communities in Detroit are like any other, trying to make ends meet. Dowtown is beautiful compared to how it was in the 90s with hotels, casinos, restaurants, and all these festivals. Detroit is not a garbage dump, it's a place people call home and it's not perfect, no place is, but one day it will be the place it used to be. I'm proud of Detroit, despite the fact that some neighborhoods have drug attic and criminals, because it's not all. Please allow someone who loves Detroit to tell you all the positives, because it seems you've yet to find out.

[Shrewsbury Road]

Originally Posted by MisterShunshine

I have. There's little pockets here and there...the Joe, Comerica, Greektown, but what else? It's not like you can walk around between those places, like you can in other major cities. I'm not going to ride the People Mover. Ever try hailing a cab downtown? Yeah, you can't.

We're also assuming I don't get shot on the drive down there.

I live twenty minutes away from the extremely large garbage dump that is Detroit. I tend to believe anyone that tries to say this city is anything else just hasn't been to any other cities, or they're smoking some of the drugs that are so readily available on every Detroit street-corner.

I think you're seriously overreacting, Detroit is not a garbage dump. I, like many people grew up in Detroit, I moved to Livonia, but now finally I've returned to Detroit, on Shrewsbury Road, in Detroit's Sherwood Forest. I have wonderful neighbors, for a wonderful community, and I love Detroit because no matter what economic and political challenges it faces it's communities stay strong, because we know it's not perfect, but like any other city we will keep trying to make ends meet, knowing that one day Detroit will be the place it used to be. It's not a garbage dump, it's a place good people call home. I love it although some neighborhoods, cause its not all of them, have criminals and drug addicts. Dowtown Detroit is beautiful, especially compared to how it was in the 90s. It's filled with those nice parks, hotels, casinos, restaurants, and all of our much loved festivals. Ask someone who loves Detroit, and see what positive things they can tell you about Detroit because it's obvious your not familiar with any of them.

[jeanniepep]

Whatsa matter with the people mover? Whenever we've gone downtown for a sporting event, we usually stay at the RenCen so we park there and ride to the Joe, Greektown, Comerica Park, etc. Granted it doesn't suffice for real transportation, but it's not bad for a parking shuttle.

Right now I live too far away to get down to the city often enough to enjoy it regularly, but I'm moving to Ferndale next month and looking forward to getting downtown a lot! I love the DIA, Eastern Market, obviously the great sporting events, and they have some pretty great little bars and restaurants down there too.

No, it's not as nice as Chicago, which is unfortunate because we have the same climate, a similar waterfront, and it seems like it could be so much better. Yes, there are parts that suck and I'm kinda scared even driving through, I would say the same about Chicago though - all big cities have a crappy neighborhood or two.

Remember when we had the national sports media in town for the All-Star Game, and the Superbowl? I expected a hailstorm of bad press about Detroit because everybody loves to bash the city. But I heard nothing but compliments! Journalists were surprised at how nice it was! They were probably expecting a demilitarized zone, they didn't expect to see museums & shopping & nice restaurants.

I just think that Detroit has a lot to offer and has the potential to be even better. But, just ignoring all the positive points and being scared to go south of 8 Mile isn't going to improve the situation. Going online and telling newcomers that it's a "garbage dump" definitely doesn't help.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by MisterShunshine

I have. There's little pockets here and there...the Joe, Comerica, Greektown, but what else? It's not like you can walk around between those places, like you can in other major cities. I'm not going to ride the People Mover. Ever try hailing a cab downtown? Yeah, you can't.

We're also assuming I don't get shot on the drive down there.

I live twenty minutes away from the extremely large garbage dump that is Detroit. I tend to believe anyone that tries to say this city is anything else just hasn't been to any other cities, or they're smoking some of the drugs that are so readily available on every Detroit street-corner.

You cannot walk between those places? I wish that someone would have told me that. I do it all the time. Why not ride the people mover? My kids love it. We come down and ride around once in a while, get off at random stops and look around to see what there is. I drive into Detroit every day. Becuase the I-75 is closed I have to get off and drive through some yucky nieghborhoods. Sometimes at night a walk around downtown to unwind a bit or look for dinner. Occaisionally on weekends I come in withthe kids and explore. I have never heard nor seen a shot (at least not since moving to Michigan from California in 2005, and excluding the duck hunters' barrages). The only police action that I have seen downtown is traffic control and the policeman who pulled me over.

Sure there are some areas where the police do not even want to go at night. I have been in those areas either by mistake or during the day for business. However, downtown is not one of those areas and even in the bad areas, the chance of you getting shot while driving your car are about as liklely as a big win in hte lottery. The crime rate is so high mostly because bad guys shoot bad guys, or poor guys (and gals) shoot their spouses, or a drug addict shoots their dealer. Once in a while there is a truely random murder of a random victim, and that always gets sensationalized in the media ("look how dangerous Detroit is!"). People from the suburbs who are in Detroit once a year or who have not been here for years or even decades, make all kinds of assumptions, generalizations and broad sweeping statmenets like the ones we see here. People who actually know Detroit look at such statements and say "There goes another suburb dweller making generalized statements based on Rumor, conjecture, and supposition with no real knowlege."

YEs parts of Detroit are bad. Some areas are so bad that theygive Detroit as a whole the title of the most dangerous city. Does that mean that you are likely to get shot if you drive across the border from Grosse Pointe into Detroit?

That is silly. Downtown is pretty neat and reasonably safe. Yes you have to use common sense, and you are taking some risk, but you are taking a greater risk if you drive anywhere on a Saturday or Friday night in the suburbs (or in the city or anywhere for that matter). A lot more people are killed by drunk drivers than by murders of random vicitims. If you are afraid fo coming downtown, then you ahd better never step into an automobile. That is far more dangerous.

[MisterShunshine]

Look, I am not just trying to bash Detroit for no reason. I'm also not a person that is just speculating based on media reports. I live in Metro Detroit, and I have had plenty of experiences in the city.

If you want to ride the People Mover and get off at random stops, be my guest. Do it enough times and you most certainly will hear or see a shot fired. If you do, it is quite likely one of those shots will be aimed at you. Don't bother trying to call the police, because they won't show up for a few days, if at all.

Some of you seem to be oblivious to the realities of this place. Getting on an internet forum and telling people that have never been here that this city is great is just a big lie.

Sure every city has its bad parts, but in most cases those bad parts aren't like the bad parts of Detroit, and they don't make up 95% of the entire city.

I would be willing to bet that 90% of the Detroit residents would agree with my point of view, but you won't see their opinions on this forum because they can't afford a computer, let alone food or rent.

It doesn't bother me if you folks want to look at Detroit through rose-colored glasses, but I'm just trying to give unknowing victims a factual warning.

[Shrewsbury Road]

Originally Posted by MisterShunshine

I would be willing to bet that 90% of the Detroit residents would agree with my point of view, but you won't see their opinions on this forum because they can't afford a computer, let alone food or rent.

It doesn't bother me if you folks want to look at Detroit through rose-colored glasses, but I'm just trying to give unknowing victims a factual warning.

This is what some people think that bothers me.

[jeanniepep]

Who gets off the People Mover at random stops? It's not a freakin carnival ride, it's transportation. Pick a spot and go to it. I don't have any desire to be lost in downtown Detroit. Nobody's saying that it's Disneyland - but it has a lot more good points than many suburbanites are willing to acknowledge.

I hear nonstop gunfire pretty much every weekend, all year long. Out here in Nugent country! My hillbilly neighbors do love their guns!

[Tnic]

Haha wow!!! I found this while trying to find information on a cheap foreclosure in Ferndale. It drives me CRAZY when people that never go downtown bash it. Saying you might "get shot on your way downtown"? Hahaha wow. Downtown is VERY safe. Outside the city, not so much. And why the People Mover bashing? It's a simple transportation train that goes around the middle of downtown. It doesn't go outside downtown, what is so bad about it? Yes, downtown is a little more spread out than most cities, but Detroit in no way can compare to Chicago or New York or L.A. It is totally different. And from 5 years alone, downtown is making a huge transformation. Right now because of politics and the economy it is stalled a little bit, but I think that ignorant people that never go downtown need to stop hating on it. I ADORE downtown. My boyfriend had a loft for a couple years in Merchant's Row. Right in the middle of the city. Gorgeous. And everyone loved coming down. It was within walking distance to everything and there was ALWAYS something going on. To say there is nothing to do, is just ignorant. There's the DIA, Museum of Contempory Art, concerts and Campus Martius or Riverwalk. Then as far as bars go, Cliff Bell's is an awesome jazz bar. You feel like you're in the 1920's. Centaur has the best martini's around. Of course the Tiger's and Lion's, with the Eastern Market and The Elwood. Pizza Papalis, Mosaic, The Whitney, Coach Insignia. Last year I went to The Dirty Show at Bert's Warehouse for the first time. LOVED it. Am definetly going again next month. I can go on for days. There is something for absolutly everyone downtown.As far as safety goes, I am a 24 year old girl. If my boyfriend didn't go out with me at night, after I left the club with my friends, they would go their way to their car, and i'd go mine, to his loft. I'd walk through the city at 2:30 in the morning and have never had a problem or not felt safe. Saying Royal Oak is better? Haha sorry guys but I am going to use the word...."yuppie". I have never came in contact with so many drunken, molesting Tools in my entire life. There is only one decent bar, Commune, underneath Bastone's. And even that is hit or miss. I have never had a good time in Royal Oak and have been there pleeeenty of times. At night, every bar is the same. Full of drunken messes that think they are more attractive than they really are. Haha sorry to everyone that lives there! But if you do want REAL urban living, there are some beautiful lofts now. Detroit is the place to go.