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Location: Detroit's eastside, downtown Detroit in near future!
2,053 posts, read 4,394,799 times
Reputation: 699
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bhaalspawn
The point is to provide an example of what could happen to someone who wants to move into the city for altruistic reasons to "make a difference". I agree that her story is extreme. (However, there is a reason why some people feel compelled to put bars on their windows. Perhaps there's something to this story?) It's an example of a good-naturred person who sincerely wanted to "make a difference" and of the "gratitude" she received in return.
Also, this story was actually published in a major, reputable newspaper. Referring to a Wall Street journal article with a link is much better than saying, "I have heard stories about..." or "I have watched local TV news stories about burglaries in Detroit..."
Someone who is seriously considering moving into the City of Detroit or buying a home owes it to themselves to read that article for a different perspective. If they still want to do it, more power to them, but at least they'll have some sense of what kinds of problems and risks they might be facing or at least are more susceptible to.
I don't care what newspaper the story was printed in. You obviously have an agenda. Last I checked the media was in no way hiding the fact that you MAY be victimized here. So please miss me with that bs
Location: Detroit's eastside, downtown Detroit in near future!
2,053 posts, read 4,394,799 times
Reputation: 699
Quote:
Originally Posted by scolls
Grosse Pointe is closer to Dearborn than Plymouth which was being recommended. I can't help it if Detroit schools are so ****ty that you have to drive farther. Come on, Grosse Pointe or Detroit? Don't sit there and say you'd take Detroit over Grosse Pointe if you needed a family neighborhood. Like you said, make sure it makes sense.
Actually I CHOOSE to live in Detroit over all of the burbs. If I ever was to move, it damn sure wouldn't be in any other city in MI, to hell with this place. And it has nothing to do with the city itself but people like you. Gross Pointe is probably my favorite burb but I'd never live there for personal reasons so you're wrong. Secondly every school in Detroit isn't DPS and every DPS isn't bad. Besides I have no kids right now so I don't care about that. Like I said in the thread I'm talking about, I live far east within the city limits. Gross Pointe is atleast 10 min east of me and Dearborn is a nice drive from my house. Never would I suggest GP of all places to anyone who will be commuting to Dearborn and I can care less about Plymouth.
Location: Detroit's eastside, downtown Detroit in near future!
2,053 posts, read 4,394,799 times
Reputation: 699
Quote:
Originally Posted by us66
It's probably not the best suggestion, but commuting from GP/Macomb Couty is not an uncommon choice. Lots of people do it. Heck, when I lived at 17 and Hayes, a neighbor across the street and down a bit commuted from there to the Dearborn Truck Plant. That's not much further in terms of mileage than GP Woods as the crow flies, but from that part of Macomb County, a goodly portion of the commute (and why I don't want to ever live there again) was simply getting to the freeway.
"Personally, those 'burbs are textbook definitions of sprawling, bland, generic, inaccessible, car-dependent suburbs."
Yes, but a lot of people actually like them. Macomb Township wasn't built as part of a Soviet-style command economy.
Like I've said, if you are MI person who is use to avoiding Detroit at any costs then you may be used to it
Every city looks like that, even ones that are widely considered to be "safe." Take a look at Grand Rapids: Grand Rapids, MI Crime Map - Showing Crimes in Grand Rapids - Crime Statistics, Alerts and Reports - Crime Stops Here If you've been to Grand Rapids, you would never think that all that crime is taking place there. Same goes for the "good" parts of Chicago, etc. I'm not saying it's acceptable or trying to rationalize crime in urban cities, but it's just a reminder that one needs to always use a level of caution and common sense. I don't have any problems in Detroit and I'm pretty brazen in my nightly adventures, but at the same time, I'm no fool. You're not going to catch me strolling through Cass Park at midnight or lingering at a shady liquor store at 2 in the morning. This is my formula for staying out of trouble when I'm out at night:
I lock my car and keep my valuables in the trunk
I don't wear flashy jewelry or flash large wads of cash
I don't stop to talk to bums at night
I don't go into neighborhoods I'm not familiar with after dark
I don't buy anything off the street
I always carry my phone
I don't get smart lipped with drunks or stoners
I don't walk in sketchy areas alone
I stay in areas that are well-lit and well-traveled
I avoid high crime places like certain liquor stores and nightclubs
I make eye contact with people that come into my proximity
I don't get so smashed that I can't figure out how to get home
I always have the number to a cab company in my wallet
These are all fairly common sense things that you develop when living in an urban area. Call it "street smarts" or whatever, but they pretty much become second nature after a while. Obviously, I've broken my own rules on many occasions. I walked from Bookie's all the way through Cass Corridor to another bar near Wayne State by myself at 12:30 AM. That's obviously a pretty rough area, but if you keep your wits about you, 99% of the time you'll pass right through. Downtown, Midtown, Corktown, E. Riverfront, etc. I really don't have many safety concerns, but there are other areas where I exercise more caution. Downtown is more like my own little amusement park.
A coworker of mine described Detroit (and to a certain extant all cities) this way- there may be lots of crime, but there's not a lot of random crime.
Detroit may still put up big numbers in total crimes, but outside of the really rough parts there isn't tons of random crime or violence. There might be lots of gang on gang crime and drug related crime, and that's certainly not good, but it's not like there's roaming gangs of people killing random pedestrians.
I lived in Chicago for more than two years in both Wicker Park and Uptown. Most of the parts of Detroit I've been to that are nice I'd place somewhere between those two neighborhoods in safety and niceness, with the really amazing areas like Palmer Woods or Sherwood Forest being nicer than Wicker Park.
It seems to me that a lot of the people that are so down on Detroit for being dirty, dangerous, and whatever else aren't comfortable in urban areas generally, not so much Detroit specifically.
Oh, and for the record, while lots of people may like Macomb and the hideous cookie cutter housing and sense of disconnection you get from everything else there's lots of people who don't like them as well. In a lot of ways the housing out there exemplifies a lot of what's gone wrong with American architecture- all of the houses are designed to offend as few people as possible to maximize their saleability. That may have some economic benefits, but right now there's people who want to live in Palmer Woods, Sherwood Forest, Indian Village and the other great Detroit neighborhoods because of the houses. Do you honestly think anyone is going to be moving to those cookie cutter areas for the homes in 10 years, let alone 100?
Oh, and for the record, while lots of people may like Macomb and the hideous cookie cutter housing and sense of disconnection you get from everything else there's lots of people who don't like them as well.
I like cookie cutter architecture in some places. In the sunbelt, with stucco (earth tones out west, pastel in Florida, but basically the same house otherwise) I love it passionately and can't get enough, though the recent Tuscan influence isn't my favorite. When I'm in Vegas I spend more time driving around the 'burbs taking in the stucco and tile. Summerlin is one of my favorite places on Earth. My desktop computer has for its desktop wallpaper a shot of Interstate 15 traffic. The netbook once had wallpaper of an intersection along Bell Road in Phoenix.
I simply cannot stand the houses they've put up around here the past 20-30 years, except for the more contemporary styles. As for the sense of disconnect, I'm not usually a social being (with notable exceptions) and don't mind it. Heck, today was among the first times I've ever spoken to my next door neighbor in the six years I've lived here, and our garage doors are about a foot apart. This lack of social interaction, although I know it is not good for society in general, doesn't bother me much. If I feel otherwise there's always the window seat at the Royal Oak Qdoba for some people watching.
Drawn like moths we drift into the city
The timeless old attraction
Cruising for the action
Lit up like a firefly
Just to feel the living night
(Subdivisons by Rush)
"If I ever was to move, it damn sure wouldn't be in any other city in MI, to hell with this place. "
As for the sense of disconnect, I'm not usually a social being (with notable exceptions) and don't mind it. Heck, today was among the first times I've ever spoken to my next door neighbor in the six years I've lived here, and our garage doors are about a foot apart. This lack of social interaction, although I know it is not good for society in general, doesn't bother me much.
I give you props unique us66. You certainly come across as being yourself, and that's respectable.
It seems to me that a lot of the people that are so down on Detroit for being dirty, dangerous, and whatever else aren't comfortable in urban areas generally, not so much Detroit specifically.
True, move away from the "dirt" to outstate and you also move away from culture.
Quote:
Originally Posted by us66
I like cookie cutter architecture in some places. In the sunbelt, with stucco (earth tones out west, pastel in Florida, but basically the same house otherwise) I love it passionately and can't get enough, though the recent Tuscan influence isn't my favorite.
Usually the term "cookie cutter" refers to the bland & boring, in other words you've seen one you've seen them all (no reason to see any more). There is obviously something interesting in the architecture or neighborhoods you're referring to.
True, move away from the "dirt" to outstate and you also move away from culture.
Usually the term "cookie cutter" refers to the bland & boring, in other words you've seen one you've seen them all (no reason to see any more). There is obviously something interesting in the architecture or neighborhoods you're referring to.
It's just different than it is here. There (in CA/NV/AZ) it's often stucco where we have brick or aluminum siding and tile where we have asphalt shingles, xeriscape rocks, cacti, and palm trees where we have grass, deciduous trees, and evergreen trees, concrete block walls (sometimes decorative in the older areas) where we have wooden stockade fence.
I'm more fascinated with Long Island than Manhattan, The Valley over Hollywood. Look at my previous posts...Midtown and Downtown Detroit don't mean much to me (except for the dueling Coney Island greasy spoons) but I really like the outlying neighborhoods...my fav streets in the city are probably Hillcrest and Lannoo (Mack/Warren area) and it annoys me that these areas (and others in the city) have been pretty much been left for dead by progress. The housing stock is great, if maybe a few hundred square feet smaller than people want nowadays and getting kinda old, but most (but not all; my wife's childhood Morang/Harper brick bungalow was pretty shoddily built and wired from what I heard) of those houses were reasonably well-built, unlike a lot of the stuff built from V-J Day to 1970 in South Macomb from Warren/Eastpointe up to Sterling Heights/Clinton Township, which were built (some with corresponding low to no down payments in some areas) basically to evacuate families from Detroit.
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