U.P. Question (Calumet) (Houghton, Hancock: relocation, real estate, housing)

[Mark S.]

I was looking at City Data's stats for Calumet, MI. They're here:

http://www.city-data.com/city/Calumet-Michigan.html

Check out the crime stats. What happened in 2004 and 2005? Crime skyrocketed. Were those two years just odd years? Has crime continued to rise?

Is Calumet considered a higher-crime area of the UP, or were '04 and '05 just a couple of bad years?

[protowhatever]

Hi Mark,

I've been living in Calumet since 2003 and moved here from the Hancock area. I haven't really noticed an increase in crime up here, but after looking at the data I can see what you mean!

The only thing I can think of was a rash of car break-ins that occured and some assaults as a result of bar brawls. I can't remember if those were in '05 or '06.

Overall, it seems pretty quiet up here. But when things happen they seem to be within a short timeframe.

[and the]

The town is so small that if you get just one burglary crew or just one crew of car thieves working the area, it makes it look like a crime wave.

Also, different record-keeping practices may account for the big disparity. They may not have reported their crimes for the FBI Uniform Crime report the same way for each year.

I'd call the police station, the local sheriff's dept. (Keewenaw County?) or the nearest State Police post and ask them about crime trends. If you call all of them, you're bound to get an objective answer from somebody.

Have a beer for me at Shute's!!

[protowhatever]

That's a good idea to call around.

If you call Calumet station, you might want to call Laurium as well. The two towns are a hop skip and a jump away from each other.

For the county, we're covered by Houghton County.

And for the moment, we have a State Police Post in Calumet. There was talk of closing it July 15, but I guess now it will stay:

MSP Calumet Post staying

If it were to close, the closest State Police post will be in L'Anse.

[Milliano]

Originally Posted by Mark S.

I was looking at City Data's stats for Calumet, MI. They're here:

Calumet, Michigan (MI) Detailed Profile - relocation, real estate, travel, jobs, hospitals, schools, crime, news, sex offenders

Check out the crime stats. What happened in 2004 and 2005? Crime skyrocketed. Were those two years just odd years? Has crime continued to rise?

Is Calumet considered a higher-crime area of the UP, or were '04 and '05 just a couple of bad years?

The village is just a small part of the Calumet-Laurium area. That is where the downtown is, and the public housing is, bars, stores, etc.. Being a business area, it is going to have relatively higher crime per capita (all business areas in all US regions are like that). So stats are distorted in that sense.

I'm from that area and lived in the village recently as 2006. It's very low crime IMO... probably one of the safest poorer towns in the whole USA. The whole Keweenaw Peninsula is like that.

[darstar]

Originally Posted by Milliano

The village is just a small part of the Calumet-Laurium area. That is where the downtown is, and the public housing is, bars, stores, etc.. Being a business area, it is going to have relatively higher crime per capita (all business areas in all US regions are like that). So stats are distorted in that sense.

I'm from that area and lived in the village recently as 2006. It's very low crime IMO... probably one of the safest poorer towns in the whole USA. The whole Keweenaw Peninsula is like that.

Aw but ,. what a great place to visit. I first discovered the Keweenaw in 1976, looking for " any place thats cool for a few days ".......... and , kept coming back to the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge , year after year........

[JustT&Me]

Originally Posted by Milliano

The village is just a small part of the Calumet-Laurium area. That is where the downtown is, and the public housing is, bars, stores, etc.. Being a business area, it is going to have relatively higher crime per capita (all business areas in all US regions are like that). So stats are distorted in that sense.

I'm from that area and lived in the village recently as 2006. It's very low crime IMO... probably one of the safest poorer towns in the whole USA. The whole Keweenaw Peninsula is like that.

What about crime in relation to vandalism/breakins/theft ... for those houses that sit empty winters? I'm thinking about relocating to the U.P. but if so would like to snowbird maybe 4 months or so anyway. I was wondering how it'd be - would I need to board up the house? I've read there are a lot of break-ins, so I'd think that would be higher if your small town inhabitants knew you were going to be gone for the winter. Feedback?

[Great Lakes Pirate]

Originally Posted by JustT&Me

What about crime in relation to vandalism/breakins/theft ... for those houses that sit empty winters? I'm thinking about relocating to the U.P. but if so would like to snowbird maybe 4 months or so anyway. I was wondering how it'd be - would I need to board up the house? I've read there are a lot of break-ins, so I'd think that would be higher if your small town inhabitants knew you were going to be gone for the winter. Feedback?

Having lived up here in the Keweenaw for seven years, I can safely say this would be a small concern. However, common sense would advise you not to leave anything very valuable or of sentimental value in any unoccupied home. You know, just in case.

A bigger concern would be properly winterizing your home during an extended leave.

[JustT&Me]

Originally Posted by darstar

...I first discovered the Keweenaw in 1976, looking for " any place thats cool for a few days ".......... and , kept coming back to the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge , year after year........

Yes & beautiful views! I was up ... (recently) & stepped inside for a look around. Quiet & peaceful. In fact, I was thinking it might be a nice place to work. Do you think the roads would be too iffy between there and CMT winters? Or would you advise living closer to the Lodge? Say, somewhere along 26? I like 41 through Brockaway, but I don't think I'd want to drive it everyday up and down.

[JustT&Me]

Originally Posted by Great Lakes Pirate

...A bigger concern would be properly winterizing your home during an extended leave.

There was a post on another thread re: a few ideas for this - I think by either jeeg or wordsmith, maybe? (I don't know how to get their post to paste it here from there.) So... in lieu of that, what winterizing advice would you recommend for an extnd'd leave? And... are most snow removal companies there reliable to remove snow if you're on a contract? (Had a problem with this once before and ended up with flooded storage which I wouldn't want to repeat.)

Maybe similar ordinances don't exist there re: snow removal, but in this area if it isn't removed from main drives & sidewalks within 24 hours or so, you could be fined.