Where would you rather live? - Metro Detroit Edition

[usroute10]

Originally Posted by Arthur Digby Sellers

Dearborn and it's not even close. Dearborn still has some beautiful neighborhoods on the west side, great attractions in the Henry Ford and some decent bars and restaurants downtown. Warren ranges from dumpy on the north end to hellish in the south end.

Thanks for your opinion. It is now your task to propose two more cities to "duel" against each other.

[Arthur Digby Sellers]

OK....

Redford vs. Wayne

[slowdawg]

Originally Posted by Arthur Digby Sellers

OK....

Redford vs. Wayne

Probably Wayne. It has some decent looking commercial and downtown stretches that offer a touch of character and most basic amenities. It also has a better mix of housing-bungalows, colonials, apartments, large vintage homes. Redford is mostly residential with some industrial, and lacking some of the old-fashioned charm of downtown Wayne. North Redford has a lot of cheaper, small,older houses. South Redford has a lot of nice-ish brick ranches and bungalows. All in all, Wayne seems to offer more for residents or Potential residents.

Plymouth or Rochester

[usroute10]

Plymouth or Rochester

This is a phenomenal comparison as both communities have several key common characteristics:

1. Affluent, havens for well-to-do families
2. Highly regarded public school system, two of the best in the metro area
3. Have vibrant, charming, small-town downtowns
4. Outside of the small downtowns and adjacent older neighborhoods, they are surrounded by extraordinary urban sprawl development and chain stores galore. Retail options abound.
5. They both are SMART bus OPT-OUT communities, which is bad for the region.

-Plymouth has more convenient north-south and east-west expressway access as M-14 and I-275 are right there, while Rochester only has M-59 near by.
-Rochester has tremendous access to outdoor activities (for SE MICH anyway) - Bloomer Park, Stoney Creek Metropark, Paint Creek Trail and Clinton River Trail all go through the city and adjacent Rochester Hills. Plymouth does have Hines Drive Park and Maybury State Park is a few miles to the north.

I would choose Plymouth due to its proximity to Ann Arbor and Detroit, a beautiful downtown with a great public square, charming Victorian-era houses along Penniman, and it being in Wayne County, which is an underdog county maligned by Oakland and Macomb.

Clawson vs St. Clair Shores

[Nattering Heights]

I prefer Macomb County, so St. Clair Shores checks that box, but the fish flies cover everything every spring and summer, there is always the risk of floods, and I don't swim or boat. I'll call it a draw.


Pelee Island or Windsor

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by usroute10

Plymouth or Rochester

This is a phenomenal comparison as both communities have several key common characteristics:

1. Affluent, havens for well-to-do families
2. Highly regarded public school system, two of the best in the metro area
3. Have vibrant, charming, small-town downtowns
4. Outside of the small downtowns and adjacent older neighborhoods, they are surrounded by extraordinary urban sprawl development and chain stores galore. Retail options abound.
5. They both are SMART bus OPT-OUT communities, which is bad for the region.

-Plymouth has more convenient north-south and east-west expressway access as M-14 and I-275 are right there, while Rochester only has M-59 near by.
-Rochester has tremendous access to outdoor activities (for SE MICH anyway) - Bloomer Park, Stoney Creek Metropark, Paint Creek Trail and Clinton River Trail all go through the city and adjacent Rochester Hills. Plymouth does have Hines Drive Park and Maybury State Park is a few miles to the north.

I would choose Plymouth due to its proximity to Ann Arbor and Detroit, a beautiful downtown with a great public square, charming Victorian-era houses along Penniman, and it being in Wayne County, which is an underdog county maligned by Oakland and Macomb.

Clawson vs St. Clair Shores

I agree with you on all fours. I would add Plymouth is out of the much more annoying traffic of the popular/trendy North OC area as well. IT is also closer to Kensington metropark. (and for me right next to my Dad who is in Lyon Township/Northville). We actually made an offer on a cool Victorian house on Penniman when we moved back to Michigan, but they would not negotiated and the yard was much smaller than we wanted so it did not go anywhere. We also briefly considered buying and restoring the big white house on the park right in town. However it was priced so high there would not be enough left to restore it. It was converted for commercial use, so we would have had to rip out parking lot and put in a yard again. Also it might be a bit too crazy being right in the center of town like that. Had we known the recession was coming, we might have waited and been able to pull it off.

[JulianaMoon53]

This is an older thread, but very interesting.
So, here we go.

Redford or Roseville?