First time in Detroit yesterday. (Ann Arbor, Farmington Hills: fit in, real estate, 2014) - Michigan (MI) - City-Data Forum

Serious Conversation · 08-03-2014, 10:12 AM

I didn't have much to do yesterday and drove up from Indy to check out John King books, the downtown area, and a few places in and around Detroit. I was in a hurry and didn't see much, but here's what I thought.

Coming in from 75, I was surprised at how many new-ish developments there were right inside the Wayne County limits. I was also surprised to see the big Ford development right outside the city limits, and the other heavy industry as you cross into the city near that Piston's symbol. If you just listen to the news, you'd think the whole area is rotting like the Packard plant. It didn't seem to be so.

There was a notable lack of automobile traffic coming in, going through midtown and downtown, and even on my way up to Somerset Collection in Troy. There were quite a few people on foot, but the lack of cars struck me as odd. I went the wrong way down a road in the Financial District - none the wiser until I got to the next intersection because no cars passed me.

Though there wasn't much traffic, there were A LOT of bad roads, traffic lights not functioning, holes in the road, and other road hazards. Roads were the worst I've ever seen. FWIW, I still thought they were bad in Birmingham, Royal Oak, and Troy. 94 didn't seem to improve much until I was well out of the metro.

I never felt in fear of my personal safety. Granted, I walked from the bookstore, down to Comerica, and up through the financial district, and come across a lot of people, but none seemed threatening or even paid me any attention at all. I am white. I was scared of having an accident and not being robbed or murdered.

So many people were standing around idly, many with their head in their heads, looking defeated. Most AAs I saw had a real defeated, pitiful look to them - same expressions I've seen on the white folks in the truly dead parts of Appalachia. I saw some young white couples and hipsters cycling and they looked much happier and more positive.

It was amazing to see a maintained house and biz next to ruined ones. I've never seen such contrast anywhere. I thought Toledo was far worse at first blush (more rust, ruined buildings, hideous smell) - and nothing I saw even compares to the ruined areas of WV/VA/KY. Michigan Station and the Silverdome were sights. I was also very surprised to see that a number of houses were boarded up and abandoned in Troy/Royal Oaks. I've never seen such an affluent areas (on paper) allow that.

I was also surprised at the Liquor/Beer/Lotto markets. Obviously they do enough biz to stay in biz, but I guess the drug money keeps it going since people are so officially poor.

Would I be back? Maybe once or twice a year, but that's more of it being a longer drive than I anticipated and not because of the D itself.

animatedmartian · 08-03-2014, 01:02 PM

That area near the Silverdome is Pontiac. Totally different city from Troy and Royal Oak.

detwahDJ · 08-03-2014, 04:13 PM

Newbie visitors listening to the national media don't quite understand the situation in Detroit. For instance, as I have recently heard from conventioneers, they might see a desolate downtown area on weekends and attribute it to the lousy economy. On nights and weekends, downtown has always emptied out due to zoning laws, and only events draw crowds there.
Outsiders also don't separate the bankrupt public sector from the growing private sector, thus lumping them together into a distorted picture.
The neighborhoods are blighted, but there is nothing there for a visitor anyway. Downtown/midtown has a lucrative convention business and is kept safe, yet outsiders have gotten the idea that it is crime-ridden.
If you want to see it jump, just visit when there is some event which floats your boat. Case in point:

ABPA Gold Cup 2012 from the Roostertail Restaurant! - YouTube

Detroit Grand Prix 2014: Chevrolet Extends Sponsorship | Chevrolet - YouTube

Richie Hawtin DEMF 2014 Set Opening - YouTube

Movement Electronic Music Festival 2014 Detroit - YouTube

If one is into jazz or country, here are other music events.

Serious Conversation · 08-03-2014, 05:17 PM

I saw ads for a country station as I went into Detroit. Laughed a bit at that. I think it was 93.1 Nash. I've heard of the EDM scene up there, which is supposedly quite good. Granted, I read the FREEP every day and follow the local news stations, and read a couple of books from LeDuff, so I have at least a cursory knowledge of what's going on.

To be frank, I have lived in a majority black community of South Carolina, but people were of the same culture, so it didn't feel that odd. Everyone was on the same page. This was odd - made me know what it's like to be in the minority.

I would be willing to go back on a three day weekend for the right thing.

MackOnMack · 08-03-2014, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emigrations

I didn't have much to do yesterday and drove up from Indy to check out John King books, the downtown area, and a few places in and around Detroit. I was in a hurry and didn't see much, but here's what I thought.

Coming in from 75, I was surprised at how many new-ish developments there were right inside the Wayne County limits. I was also surprised to see the big Ford development right outside the city limits, and the other heavy industry as you cross into the city near that Piston's symbol. If you just listen to the news, you'd think the whole area is rotting like the Packard plant. It didn't seem to be so.

There was a notable lack of automobile traffic coming in, going through midtown and downtown, and even on my way up to Somerset Collection in Troy. There were quite a few people on foot, but the lack of cars struck me as odd. I went the wrong way down a road in the Financial District - none the wiser until I got to the next intersection because no cars passed me.

Though there wasn't much traffic, there were A LOT of bad roads, traffic lights not functioning, holes in the road, and other road hazards. Roads were the worst I've ever seen. FWIW, I still thought they were bad in Birmingham, Royal Oak, and Troy. 94 didn't seem to improve much until I was well out of the metro.

I never felt in fear of my personal safety. Granted, I walked from the bookstore, down to Comerica, and up through the financial district, and come across a lot of people, but none seemed threatening or even paid me any attention at all. I am white. I was scared of having an accident and not being robbed or murdered.

So many people were standing around idly, many with their head in their heads, looking defeated. Most AAs I saw had a real defeated, pitiful look to them - same expressions I've seen on the white folks in the truly dead parts of Appalachia. I saw some young white couples and hipsters cycling and they looked much happier and more positive.

It was amazing to see a maintained house and biz next to ruined ones. I've never seen such contrast anywhere. I thought Toledo was far worse at first blush (more rust, ruined buildings, hideous smell) - and nothing I saw even compares to the ruined areas of WV/VA/KY. Michigan Station and the Silverdome were sights. I was also very surprised to see that a number of houses were boarded up and abandoned in Troy/Royal Oaks. I've never seen such an affluent areas (on paper) allow that.

I was also surprised at the Liquor/Beer/Lotto markets. Obviously they do enough biz to stay in biz, but I guess the drug money keeps it going since people are so officially poor.

Would I be back? Maybe once or twice a year, but that's more of it being a longer drive than I anticipated and not because of the D itself.

Emigrations, we've talked and agreed on a few things in the Indy forum about Indianapolis, and I'm glad you made a trip to Detroit to see it for yourself instead of basing your opinion off of the media. I don't mind people saying things such as the roads are horrible, because they are among the worst in the nation IMO, Wisconsin is up there as well. Crime is an issue in Detroit city obviously but it's not to the extent that the media makes it look like. Anyways I appreciate you saying that you didn't feel scared. Most people wouldn't feel scared if they visited and allowed reality to set it, it's not like everybody that takes a walk along Woodward gets jumped. I'm from Farmington Hills originally and plan on moving back to the Metro Detroit real soon.

I'm actually going up there this week, it's been since January since I've been back, but this is actually a meeting for a possible future job. XD XD XD.

It could be less traffic than expected because it was the weekend, it also depends on what time you were up there cruising around, but last time I was there I was on the lodge going towards downtown during the morning rush hour and it was a log jam. I really hope metro Detroit gets a mass transit system that effectively serves the entire metro, but who knows. The M1 rail line is a good start and I hope they keep working off of that, but that kind of system would benefit Indianapolis as well.

detwahDJ · 08-03-2014, 06:07 PM

animatedmartian · 08-03-2014, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emigrations

I saw ads for a country station as I went into Detroit. Laughed a bit at that. I think it was 93.1 Nash. I've heard of the EDM scene up there, which is supposedly quite good. Granted, I read the FREEP every day and follow the local news stations, and read a couple of books from LeDuff, so I have at least a cursory knowledge of what's going on.

To be frank, I have lived in a majority black community of South Carolina, but people were of the same culture, so it didn't feel that odd. Everyone was on the same page. This was odd - made me know what it's like to be in the minority.

I would be willing to go back on a three day weekend for the right thing.

I mean, it still seems like you have a very vague picture of the Metro Detroit area. While, I wouldn't expect you to be an expert on the area after one visit, you mustn't forget that Metro Detroit is a 4 million-person metropolitan area. There's a diversity of people and places here that the media rarely would ever point out. While it's not all condensed into the central city like metros of similar size or bigger, there's still a lot to find out about the area.

Though honestly, I don't get the vibe that you're not particularly interested and just wanted to see if the city met any preconceived expectation.

bmantx512 · 08-03-2014, 09:53 PM

"I was also very surprised to see that a number of houses were boarded up and abandoned in Troy/Royal Oaks."

Huh? Where exactly did you see that? Real estate is red hot in both of those cities. Royal Oak has one of the coolest downtown districts around and Troy is loaded with fortune 500 companies. Maybe you were lost.

MS313 · 08-04-2014, 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmantx512

"I was also very surprised to see that a number of houses were boarded up and abandoned in Troy/Royal Oaks."

Huh? Where exactly did you see that? Real estate is red hot in both of those cities. Royal Oak has one of the coolest downtown districts around and Troy is loaded with fortune 500 companies. Maybe you were lost.

I think he may have gotten those cities confused with maybe Pontiac or something?

belleislerunner · 08-04-2014, 06:55 AM

Glad you enjoyed it. Saturday was Ann Arbor's day to shine - there were 110,000 people in town for the largest soccer game ever in the US between Manchester United and Real Madrid - so a lot of folks were out there for the weekend, likely causing a decline in people downtown.

I had a couple friends from Toronto come into town for it, and we headed out there around noon Saturday and it was a zoo anywhere west of 23. Had dinner/drinks outside at Sidetracks in Ypsi - great place. Afterwards brought them back downtown, hit up D'Mangos, Beach bar at Campus Martius, the basement of Cornerstone Whiskey (EDM music), topped it off with schwarmas from Bucharest Grill. They were raving about they had no idea how cool Detroit was. Did brunch in Grosse Pointe and they hit the road around noon yesterday. Was a great weekend for entertaining. Come back any time.