[aep612]

My family and I are debating whether we want to move to Michigan but don't know that much about it. My husband is a chaffuer trying to hopefully find the same clientele that he has here in Cali. We are looking for nice, safe communities and excellent school districts. We have 2 elemetary aged girls. We are looking for reasonable 3 bed, 2 bath apartments or condo's with washer/dryer and garage for no more than 1050 a month. Please help.We are a black couple looking for a area that isn't racist.

[Cliffie]

Originally Posted by aep612

My family and I are debating whether we want to move to Michigan but don't know that much about it. My husband is a chaffuer trying to hopefully find the same clientele that he has here in Cali. We are looking for nice, safe communities and excellent school districts. We have 2 elemetary aged girls. We are looking for reasonable 3 bed, 2 bath apartments or condo's with washer/dryer and garage for no more than 1050 a month. Please help.We are a black couple looking for a area that isn't racist.

For everything you describe, Shelby is not a bad place to move at all. St. Clair Shores might be good, Eastpointe; Warren is very mixed racially but kind of run down. Pontiac is very mixed with every kind of housing available and good prices, but some of the neighborhoods are pretty rank. Others are great. I used to live in that area and like it a lot.

Racism varies here by individual, not region, if you ask me. Where I live now (Brighton) is a couple miles from the last known seat of the Michigan KKK, 25 years ago, but now all kinds of minorities are moving in -- it's been going on for nearly 10 years and there have been so few incidents that if someone uses the "n" word on the schoolbus it makes the front page of the paper. (That's been about 2x in the 10 years.) It's starting to look like home to me again. VERY low crime, it's almost embarrassing to me as someone who grew up on the East side of Detroit. I would suggest buying here rather than renting because so many people are desperate to sell, you can get a great place for a song. There are some condos in my complex still up for sale, 2 bedrooms, closeout prices, but maybe farther from downtown than you'd want. PM me if you want details on the area.

Ann Arbor is very mixed racially but not very comfy with it yet if you ask me, in a very college-town way where people practically wear sandwich boards proclaiming they're not racist. Also, rents and home prices never seem to go down there. I shudder to think what you'd pay to live in a place like what you're describing in Ann Arbor. Ypsilanti, between Ann Arbor and Detroit, is much more affordable, even more mixed racially and fine to live in if you steer clear of a couple of gang-infested neighborhoods.

[elisabetm]

Originally Posted by aep612

My family and I are debating whether we want to move to Michigan but don't know that much about it. My husband is a chaffuer trying to hopefully find the same clientele that he has here in Cali. We are looking for nice, safe communities and excellent school districts. We have 2 elemetary aged girls. We are looking for reasonable 3 bed, 2 bath apartments or condo's with washer/dryer and garage for no more than 1050 a month. Please help.We are a black couple looking for a area that isn't racist.

You'll be able to find that in just about any community in the metro Detroit area as the economy is so severly slumping. I'd advise against Shelby Twp. It is really poorly located in terms of expressways. As far as racial diversity goes, Shelby is predominately white. It has a very suburban feel, lots of strip malls and shopping of all kind but little to no nightlife or entertainment. I'd look at Troy, Farmington Hills, Royal Oak and maybe Livonia. Versus CA, your money will go a long, long way in MI. I'd stay away from Warren, Eastpointe and Roseville. None of those school districts are very good and all of those cities have some pretty shady areas.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by aep612

My family and I are debating whether we want to move to Michigan but don't know that much about it. My husband is a chaffuer trying to hopefully find the same clientele that he has here in Cali. We are looking for nice, safe communities and excellent school districts. We have 2 elemetary aged girls. We are looking for reasonable 3 bed, 2 bath apartments or condo's with washer/dryer and garage for no more than 1050 a month. Please help.We are a black couple looking for a area that isn't racist.

What kind of clientele would that have been? If it's a certain type of people he chauffeurs -- then you might have to find where they would be and go from there.

[Jeanne1012]

I've lived in Shelby Township for almost 11 years and I've enjoyed it very much. I will have to admit, the city has grown in the past couple of years. When I moved here Gross Pointe, it still had open land and forests. We do have a lot of strip malls and 2 major malls, tons of restaurants. Our school district is one of the top in the country, that's why we moved here, so our son would receive an excellent education.

Look into the other cities that the others have mentioned. We have many nice communities here in Michigan.

Good Luck

[michiganbob]

I live in Lansing, which is about 90 minutes away, but frequently go to Detroit Metro Airport and see a lot of limo drivers there. Not sure if there is someplace liveable that meets your standards nearby (hopefully someone else can fill you in there) but there is a lot of emphasis being put on the airports right now and there always seems to be a good amount of traffic going in and out of there.

[sugarbeet]

Troy might be a place for you to look. Shelby's fine, but (along with most of Macomb County) tends to be populated with more people who have lived here their whole lives. As someone who moved to the area from out of state, I found Troy/Birmingham/Royal Oak and surrounding areas to be more my style.

[Coldjensens]

I cannot imagine a huge demand for Limos outside of the airport (DTW), Detroit, Ann Arbor, or Lansing. Possibly Grand Rapids on the West side of the state (really pretty over there).

If you need to be close to DTW, your best bets are Plymouth, Canton, Livonia, Taylor, Woodhaven, Southgate, and maybe Trenton or Wyandotte. You would have to look up the racial statistics on the internet, but these areas will not be very mixed (probably mostly white). Plymouth has the best schools. Canton shares some schools with Plymouth. Wyandotte is a neat town and may be more racially mixed than the others, but the schools are not outstanding. Trenton schools are a little better, you might find a place in or near Wyandotte but within Trenton School district. You will get some people on these boards who will tell you that Livonia and Taylor are very white and racist, and others who will tell you that this is simply untrue. Like anywhere, it probably depends on where you are and who you encounter.

You cannot find a place that is cleansed of racists, but at the same time, it is completely unreasonable to label every person in any given community as bigoted (I do not know, maybe there are some places in the south where this is justified, but I doubt it). Taylor schools are not so good. Livonia schools are decent (fair to good).

I know nothing about Southgate, except that their schools are neither notoriously bad, nor notoriously good.

Dearborn may be a good option for you. It is mixed in places with pretty good schools. It is a nice clean suburb in most places and close to DTW.

You could also look into Northville, Lyon Township, or Grosse Ile. these places are all pretty white, but reasonably accepting in my experience (limited since I am white, but our black friends in these areas seem to have little trouble). All have excellent schools and are fairly close to the airport.


If you are going to focus on Detroit, Royal oak and Ferndale may be good choices for you to consider, but that is a long way from the airport or from Ann Arbor.

Keep in mind that the economy here is faltering. thus, fewer and fewer people have money to spend on luxuries like limousines. That is why you may need to be near the airport, Detroit or Ann Arbor, where more people from other areas tend to go.

[kcam213]

Originally Posted by elisabetm

You'll be able to find that in just about any community in the metro Detroit area as the economy is so severly slumping. I'd advise against Shelby Twp. It is really poorly located in terms of expressways. As far as racial diversity goes, Shelby is predominately white. It has a very suburban feel, lots of strip malls and shopping of all kind but little to no nightlife or entertainment. I'd look at Troy, Farmington Hills, Royal Oak and maybe Livonia. Versus CA, your money will go a long, long way in MI. I'd stay away from Warren, Eastpointe and Roseville. None of those school districts are very good and all of those cities have some pretty shady areas.

Not sure about Livonia. I have read quotes it is 80% white. I know some residents protested the building of a Walmart because they didn't like Walmart's clientele (I guess Blacks shop at Walmart? [shrug]) Also Livonia opted out of the public transportation system... maybe to discourage people who do not have own transportation (poor) from coming into Livonia.

I live in Redford, next door to Livonia. HIGH taxes, but great schools. I have never had any overt racism that I was aware of, but I really don't look for incidents... if people gape at me and my husband (mixed couple), I don't notice because I am looking in the direction that I am walking, not looking around to see who is looking at me. and I haven't ran across someone who is such a jerk to actually say something inflammatory to me or my husband

[dmetro]

Originally Posted by kcam213

Not sure about Livonia. I have read quotes it is 80% white. I know some residents protested the building of a Walmart because they didn't like Walmart's clientele (I guess Blacks shop at Walmart? [shrug]) Also Livonia opted out of the public transportation system... maybe to discourage people who do not have own transportation (poor) from coming into Livonia.

I live in Redford, next door to Livonia. HIGH taxes, but great schools. I have never had any overt racism that I was aware of, but I really don't look for incidents... if people gape at me and my husband (mixed couple), I don't notice because I am looking in the direction that I am walking, not looking around to see who is looking at me. and I haven't ran across someone who is such a jerk to actually say something inflammatory to me or my husband

No, Livonia is 96% white, not 80%. And you should consider the fact that Livonia's protests for the Wal-Mart may not be completely based on race. I know that I wouldn't want ghetto trash from Detroit coming into my nice, clean suburb, possibly comitting crimes. This is why most people don't want Detroiters coming to the Wal-Mart: not because they're mostly black, but because a lot of them are lowlifes and/or criminals. Not all, but a lot.