Livonia - nice? (Detroit, Sterling Heights, Ann Arbor: houses, neighborhoods, private schools)

[Beetuna]

Hi all,

Apart from passing Livonia on the highway, and maybe driving down one of the main streets that go through it once or twice, I'm not all that familiar with it.
Can someone give me some thoughts on what the 'nice' vs 'not so nice' areas of Livonia are? Or maybe it's all nice? Or maybe it's mostly nice, with one spot that's a deathtrap? I really don't know. But I hope you can tell me!

Thanks!

[Coldjensens]

No part of Livonia is horrible that I know of. The north side tends to be nicer than the south side. In the south there are loads of 1930s-1940s tiny brick houses (700-1200 s.f.). Still it is reaonably clean and safe. The neighborhoods are decent. As you head north, the homes get larger and nicer.

Livonia has no downtown. It has a few strip malls here and there. Various business are scattered about. There is plenty of shopping and dining. Although Livonia is generally considered a "nice" suburb, there is nothing really special about it and nothing wrong with it. It is just a place with houses and some businesses in it. There is a decent sense of community in many of the nieghborhoods.

Livonia is nicely located. It is a short trip to Downtown Detroit or Ann Arbor. It is close to Metro Airport. You can escape to the country fairly easily. It has great freeway access (94, 96 and 275).

The schools are pretty good. They used ot be good to great, but they have fallen a bit recently. Still it is not a palce where you need to worry about private schools as the only good option.

Livonia is simlar to nearby Canton. Canton is newer and more subdivision rather than neighborhood oriented. Personally I prefer Livonia. It has more character and people seem to be more community focussed, but that will vary from neighborhood to neighborhood (or subdivision to subdivision in Canton). Part of Canton is in the Plymouth/Canton schools district which has generally very good schools.

I do nto think that oyu will find an part of Livonia that is a "deathtrap"

[LivoniaMi]

I would say that no part of Livonia is horrible. But, there are some areas nicer than others. Which does hapen to be the north end. The biggest issue in Livonia is with the city seeming to want the most Wal-Marts of any city along with empty storefronts. They have so many vacant stores, and are still building new ones.

[Bhaalspawn]

Livonia is OK and might be able to offer affordable middle and lower-middle class housing and decent schools. There's nothing to me that really sticks out about it. I don't think it has a particular character to it; it seems rather bland. It isn't as nice as Northville or its Oakland County neighbors to the north that benefit from an abundance of lakes (Farmington Hills, Novi, West Bloomfield, Walled Lake, Commerce Township, etc.).

[zthatzmanz28]

Originally Posted by Beetuna

Hi all,

Apart from passing Livonia on the highway, and maybe driving down one of the main streets that go through it once or twice, I'm not all that familiar with it.
Can someone give me some thoughts on what the 'nice' vs 'not so nice' areas of Livonia are? Or maybe it's all nice? Or maybe it's mostly nice, with one spot that's a deathtrap? I really don't know. But I hope you can tell me!

Thanks!

Rather monochomatic.

Neighborhoods are nice for the most part.

No SMART bus since the Super Walmart opened.

Schools are better than most in the immediate area.

[LivoniaMi]

Originally Posted by Bhaalspawn

Livonia is OK and might be able to offer affordable middle and lower-middle class housing

There are more types of housing than those you listed.

[Northsider 248]

Livonia seems like a nice place. I've only been there a few times, but it's pretty similar to Sterling Heights for comparison. Housing, traffic, urbanization; all very similar. It borders with Westland, but even looking on street view you can tell that that's not even a bad part of the city until you hit the Middlebelt.