[beadster]

Avoid anything below 10 and a half mile, Avoid Warren, Avoid Pontiac. Avoid Downriver cities. Avoid HamTramack, Avoid Dearborn. Avoid Waterford, Avoid livonia (getting better though), Avoid Flint.

Aww heck just avoid Southeastern Michigan if you want a fighting chance to not be robbed, shot, raped, beaten

[beadster]

Madison Heights, is actually a very safe city. It borders Warren, Royal Oak, Troy, Clawson. I have lived there

[scolls]

Figures a thread about SE Michigan would lead to typical union bashing.

[beadster]

This region as a whole has spent so much time on the finger pointing, and the depression of michigan.At the end of the day everything that has happened in michigan and SE Michigan especially has been due to everyone that lives there. Not unions themselves. The going logic for so long was that you could graduate from high school and make 20 dollars an hour at one of the "big 3 plants" everyone had that idea, that the sky would never fall and those jobs would always be there. This is nothing to do with unions. It was sure arrogance.

[canudigit]

Gotta comment here, because some of these pps are making SE Michigan sound like a combination war zone/moonscape, with only angry, unemployed auto workers stalking the place and everyone else fleeing on the next train to la la land (aka Florida, Arizona, South Carolina, etc.)

As someone who recently left Monroe County for a nice suburb of Phoenix, only to be returning ASAP, you guys don't really realize what a gem SE Michigan really is. I am not going to go into a long list of what is wrong with AZ, because that would be a totally subjective opinion anyway, except to say that all of the problems that you have cited with SE Michigan are magnified tenfold here, with the exception of snow and cloudy weather. Not that a string of days topping out at 110-115 degrees is pleasant either, mind you, but to each their own, right? Why does everyone just assume that there are a multitude of high paying jobs in places where the sun shines 24/7? People here in AZ are having just as much trouble finding work as those back in MI, in fact, I couldn't find a job here to save my life, but once we knew we were coming back, within two days of beginning to look, I was offered a good job in a suburb of Toledo, OH, and we are going to buy a house in SE MI.

Anywhoo...I have lived in Monroe County, more specifically in Bedford Township for the past twelve years, with the exception of our brief time in AZ. Do you enjoy friendly people, impossibly low crime, extremely reasonably housing, and a place that still has a gee whiz, authentic county fair with 4H animals and the whole shebang, not to mention lakes and excellent shopping within a few miles? What about the world class colleges and universities within an hour or two's drive of Detroit? Want me to go on???

To dismiss the entire region of SE Michigan as somewhere to be avoided...well, that's just silly and certainly not factual. Quality of life in Monroe County, MI is excellent, and some of the suburbs of Detroit are absolutely phenomenal too. I hope that any potential visitors/residents who read this thread realize that there are two sides to every coin and that the people who are usually the most negative about a region are those who have never lived anywhere else.

[chiroptera]

Rep point for canudigit.
Although it's common for people to have sweeping, generalized impressions of places they don't know. But you provide a good counterpoint.
I've spent tons of time in Phoenix...Arizona definitely has some beautiful areas and positives. But I'd choose almost anywhere in Michigan over Phoenix to live.
Although I could be swayed by the Payson or Flagstaff areas...if I could afford it.

[kemcnyc]

Beverly Hills is nice. That is where I grew up. You can find nice homes in your range and it's a nice, safe area with really nice neighbors.

[Paradise Calling]

Originally Posted by canudigit

To dismiss the entire region of SE Michigan as somewhere to be avoided...well, that's just silly and certainly not factual. Quality of life in Monroe County, MI is excellent, and some of the suburbs of Detroit are absolutely phenomenal too. I hope that any potential visitors/residents who read this thread realize that there are two sides to every coin and that the people who are usually the most negative about a region are those who have never lived anywhere else.

You raise some very valid points, but the bottom line is that at the end of the day Michigan itself is a nice place. It is the prevailing attitudes and mindsets of those who live in the area that drag it down. I work for one of the big three right now. I'm quitting to go to college, it has always been a goal of mine. I can't tell you how many people I work with who have this entitlement mentality that something has been taken from them by the foreign auto companies, or the government or whatever other conspiracy theory they come up with..

Kids were raised in households that were bringing in $100,000+/yr by parents who didn't even go to college and in some cases didn't even make it out of high school. Most kids only aspire to reach equal to or just past their parents. You wonder why the entire region is in trouble. There is no value placed on education. What jobs are going to be created for an uneducated workforce? In my opinion the fallout in SE Michigan is necessary in order to bring change and allow the region to evolve into an area with more white collar jobs. The change is already in progress. Those unwilling or unable to adapt are leaving the state in droves and you can see college registrations are up, especially at community colleges (first time or returning college students).

Originally Posted by beadster

This region as a whole has spent so much time on the finger pointing, and the depression of michigan.At the end of the day everything that has happened in michigan and SE Michigan especially has been due to everyone that lives there. Not unions themselves. The going logic for so long was that you could graduate from high school and make 20 dollars an hour at one of the "big 3 plants" everyone had that idea, that the sky would never fall and those jobs would always be there. This is nothing to do with unions. It was sure arrogance.

This post sums it up nicely.

[canudigit]

Nice post, Paradise Calling. When we lived in Bedford Township, we knew a guy who was a production worker at the Jeep plant in Toledo. He often bragged about "barely making it out of high school" and living in his $350,000 house and having his kids in private high schools. Another guy that we know works at the GM Powertrain plant in Toledo. He has just a high school education as well, and he always bragged to us when we would run into him about how he was getting paid 95% of his wages to stay home during slow periods at the plant. Now, needless to say, both of those guys are wondering what the heck happened, and do you think that either of them ever considered that the gravy train might have to stop someday? I'm not sure about the Powertrain guy, but the guy who works at Jeep, last I heard, was way behind in his property taxes and about to get foreclosed on. No one ever told them that making almost $30/hr. with a high school education is not something that is owed to them. I would hate to be either of them right now.