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And Detroit re-elected Kwame! The man has no shame. He thinks he owns the city. The idiot actually said he was "born to be the mayor of Detroit." Michigan is a beautiful state. Detroit is a huge cold sore sitting on mouth of southeast Michigan. Yes, it was once a great city - before Coleman Young became its mayor. The once beautiful mansions that sat so majestically on perfectly manicured lawns are now burnt out crack homes. It is a shame and very sad. However, it is very real. I have worked in downtown Detroit for the past 20 years. I have only seen the decay spread. Whatever efforts that are being put into reviving the city are not working. Drugs, crime and racism have taken over. Coming off the expressway onto Jefferson Avenue, just as you enter the city, there is a huge fist to welcome you (it's supposed to be the fist of Joe Lewis, however, since it's just a fist sitting on a forearm, how is anyone to know it belongs to Joe Lewis?) Although it's a very threatening sight, it does depict the "attitude" of Detroit. Thinking about moving out of Detroit? Run - run like the wind!!!
No kidding!! Everything you said is so true, it is SO depressing. People keep talking about the downtown, well, that's fine if you consider maybe 2 sq miles of a city to be something to brag about!
First time I went to Phoenix, I spent hours literally trying to FIND the ghetto! I ASKED people...and a couple of them asked me where I was from. When I said Detroit, they laughed and said "Oh, we don't really have it like that here!" I did find areas of South? Phoenix and areas where it looked like a few girls or transvestites were walking the streets, but try as i might, i couldn't find any area that frightened me. In fact, one odd thing i noticed is that even in the poorer areas, there was no litter on the ground!! I saw some beat up cars and lots of statues of the Virgin Mary guarding the front doors of homes, but NO litter. It still amazes me!
BTW, I was driving around at NIGHT and still felt safer in 99% of the Phoenix safer than what I drive through up here five days a week. You have to be VERY AWARE of your surroundings up here and as for my own safety impulses the only places that have ever compared to Detroit IMO were parts of LA and Miami.
I will also make a comparison about the emergency response and somebody can please correct me if I'm wrong:
Couple examples: The other day an off-duty Detroit police officer collapsed while shoveling snow in his driveway. The neighbors called 911 and after about a half hour nobody showed up so they were smart and called the police precinct and a squad car ended up taking him to the hospital. I don't think the ambulance ever showed up.
That is NORMAL in most of Detroit. Has been for many, many years. Even the paramedics are speaking out about how many people die needlessly due to this problem.
If the police are busy, sometimes it takes hours for them to show up. It is no joke, in Detroit, you BETTER get along with your neighbors and have a gun and a big dog.
I remember watching the serial shooter and serial rapist from Phoenix on the news and when one of them was finally caught, the FBI and some of the Phoenix area Police Chiefs were on TV singing the praises and hard work of the Phoenix PD. It stopped me in my tracks as this was something so unfamiliar to me that I wanted to ask: IS the PPD good and reliable?
My family moved there in 2001 and after 5 years not one of us could take it anymore. So, we moved back to 4 seasons and have never looked back at AZ. Don't miss it one bit! I had several different family members move to AZ to try it out and 4 out of 5 families felt the same as we did and had to move out. There's only one family member left there...for now.
Remember though that some of us (myself included) hate '4 season' weather-----and, this coming from a Wash DC native.
4 season weather?? Well, lets see. There's spring: maybe 1 month (May) of warmer temps & rain/snow mix through April. The last 2 years weve had baseball practice cancelled because of snow/cold in the last days of April into the 1st couple weeks of May. Summer: late June to September. It can be nice during this stretch, hot/humid. Fall: Oct/Nov my favorite. Winter: Nov to April. This seems to be a 2.5 - 3 seasons. I would miss the fall & a small portion of winter. Maybe the 1st few weeks. However, I can drive to winter/snow in AZ if I so wish.
No kidding!! Everything you said is so true, it is SO depressing. People keep talking about the downtown, well, that's fine if you consider maybe 2 sq miles of a city to be something to brag about!
First time I went to Phoenix, I spent hours literally trying to FIND the ghetto! I ASKED people...and a couple of them asked me where I was from. When I said Detroit, they laughed and said "Oh, we don't really have it like that here!" I did find areas of South? Phoenix and areas where it looked like a few girls or transvestites were walking the streets, but try as i might, i couldn't find any area that frightened me. In fact, one odd thing i noticed is that even in the poorer areas, there was no litter on the ground!! I saw some beat up cars and lots of statues of the Virgin Mary guarding the front doors of homes, but NO litter. It still amazes me!
BTW, I was driving around at NIGHT and still felt safer in 99% of the Phoenix safer than what I drive through up here five days a week. You have to be VERY AWARE of your surroundings up here and as for my own safety impulses the only places that have ever compared to Detroit IMO were parts of LA and Miami.
I will also make a comparison about the emergency response and somebody can please correct me if I'm wrong:
Couple examples: The other day an off-duty Detroit police officer collapsed while shoveling snow in his driveway. The neighbors called 911 and after about a half hour nobody showed up so they were smart and called the police precinct and a squad car ended up taking him to the hospital. I don't think the ambulance ever showed up.
That is NORMAL in most of Detroit. Has been for many, many years. Even the paramedics are speaking out about how many people die needlessly due to this problem.
If the police are busy, sometimes it takes hours for them to show up. It is no joke, in Detroit, you BETTER get along with your neighbors and have a gun and a big dog.
I remember watching the serial shooter and serial rapist from Phoenix on the news and when one of them was finally caught, the FBI and some of the Phoenix area Police Chiefs were on TV singing the praises and hard work of the Phoenix PD. It stopped me in my tracks as this was something so unfamiliar to me that I wanted to ask: IS the PPD good and reliable?
The police dept and fire department responses are excellent here. I'm very familiar with it in Gilbert. My wife had an emergency one evening and the fire department and the medical ambulance were here within 5 minutes.
The police department response is equally fast. They do have their priority responses, but they will get to the routine responses as quickly as possible.
When a young girl was attacked here last year, the pd responded within minutes, and a helicopter was also dispatched. Unfortunately the attacker got away, but the pd did their job.
They also called a community meeting at the local library within days of this incident to discuss the situation and the progress with concerned community members.
I believe the fast response and pro-active position of the pd may be one reason why the crime rate is low in this city.
Where are you from in MI? Have you listed your home yet & if so, any action yet?
8 minutes from Detroit, East side, not far from the Grosse Pointes. Recent transplant out of the "D."
We're planning on renting it to relatives once we leave. I'm so sick of it here, if I had to depend on selling in this market, I'd probably get a bleeding ulcer over it! We've already made our peace with the fact that we will lose money on it and just trying to get things situated and ready to go by end of year at latest.
Honestly, the weather alone has me ready to go tomorrow! I've been in Phoenix in the summer and I liked it.
I will not move anywhere that has: snow, ice, hurricanes, a minority of white people, crazy-high taxes or Kwame Kilpatrick. We thought about Vegas but we didn't like it enough to MOVE to.
I'm worried that Phoenix will be too cold for me at night in the winter!! Heck, up here my feet don't even warm up until July!
I HATE the cold, and like you said, it IS either cold or humid/hot here most of the year. However I disagree with you on the month of November. Sept and Oct are usually great, but as for November: It's nice IF it is sunny and not too cold, but it seems like more and more November is just one long cold, grey day that never ends until Christmas. It feels to me as if the whole world is dying. Not kidding, it reminds me of WWI movies.
I think if you look up the work "bleak" in the dictionary, I think there is a photo of Detroit in late November. (Can you TELL it depresses me??)
Oh, wait, wait, wait, I can't stop there!! Then when "spring" (scoff) finally comes to Detroit...in like May,...maybe April... if we get a really nice day, we're all out there driving with the radio cranked and the windows down at 52 degrees and I always end up sick! (But, the first sunny days feel SOOOO good) I remember having to cover tomato plants at night in late JUNE.
Then once it just gets really nice and we get the flowers planted, here comes good ole humidity to give me summer long nasal issues (which I never have in Phoenix) and 24/7 retreating to air conditioning. I really find those nights of 88 degrees and 98 % humidity that almost makes you puke particularly entertaining . Yes, sometimes we DO get pretty summers,...if you don't mind mosquitoes and fish flies, which I abhor.
Today is sunny and all I want to do is walk outside and look for signs of crocuses pushing through the soil. Which would be a difficult as there is about 10 to 20 inches of snow covering everything except the sidewalks! Then there are the potholes and i really must remember where i saw that "worst pothole" thread. People still wonder what happened to Jimmy Hoffa...humpf!!...dude, he probably fell in a dang pothole!!!
Don't even get me started on my thoughts of ice and freezing rain, and not being able to find any bags of rock salt at the hardware stores, because if I start typing, it just may crash the entire WWW!
Most of the winter I feel like a crack-head jonesing for drugs when the weather breaks for even a minute:
"Oh my God!! OH MY GOD!!! Stop the car! STOP the carrr!! I think I see the sun!!!"
I admit very late spring and early-mid autumn (IF sunny) are very nice, especially the cider mills and pumpkins and Halloween decor, but those other 9 or 10 months...holy sh!!!
Hey, if you ever want to have fun, try picking people up at Metro Airport and driving them over by City Airport and pulling up to a house and saying "'Well, here we are!!" They will NOT get out of the car!!
Sorry, I'm bad. I need more sunshine.
Last edited by Sunvixen; 03-10-2008 at 03:20 PM..
Reason: Needed even more smiley-faces
We have been considering moving to the Phoenix area if we can sell our house up here. We have even thought about renting it out and moving since the outlook here isn't very good (understatement) and we've had enough of this cold, grey weather to last ten lifetimes.
Been out to visit many times, and simply LOVE it there.
I'd love to hear from transplants from anywhere, but especially Michigan. Do you have any regrets? Is there anything special to keep in mind? (I've been told not to move in the summer since you won't acclimate well to the heat, is that true?)
Any information would be appreciated!!
The overall traffic in the Maricopa County area, specially Phoenix is unbearable. I'm from So. Cal and I never thought I'd be thankful to drive here. I decided I do not want to move there. Generally, people leave in the summer, too hot! If you buy a home there, please be very carefull who you buy from. I've just had a complete nightmare with D R Horton. They cancelled my contract because they neglected to obtain a disclaimer from my husband (divorcing. It hurts), lay blame on everyone but themselves, threatened to keep my 3k deposit, but changed attitude when I got tough w/them. However, they told me that they would build me another house after my divorce was granted. I told them that sounded like discrimination. If they hadnt' waited 2 hrs before closing to obtain it, I would be in my lovely new home now. Extremely bad customer service I received. It was not worth using all of DR Horton business facilitators. Unethical, underhanded, and complete conflict of interest. All things work out for the best, but this is one battle worth fighting. Rent for a few months if you can. That is what I am going to try to do in the future before buying away from home. Hope it all goes well for you. Truly
Sunvixen, hillarious post. All true. Its funny you mentioned the "WWI" weather reference. I have a long commute to work (Det - A2) & was thinking along the same lines just yesterday, cold, grey, desolate, WARZONE for half the year! Driving through Detroit on a daily basis really gives you a stark reality of what this place has been & what its becoming. The weather only makes things worse. I know the Phoenix area is certainly not utopia, but its different. In my case, different is good, change is good, a new life is good.
I'm in the GP/HW area & my wife & I are contemplating waiting until next spring (2009) to list our home or just tossing up a sign now. They keep talking recovery in 2009. I guess I'm hoping for the impossible, but I need to recover a few bucks just to make the trek across the country with a wife & 2 young children. Unfortunately, we dont have any friends or relatives to rent our home to. They all moved to PHOENIX years ago! My best friend moved his young family to NC last year & my sisters moved to FLA 2 years ago. Last one out turn off the lights?
Fortunately, my inlaws have done very well for themselves out in AZ & have offered lots of support when we decide to come. My s-i-l has a huge place in the best part of Mesa & will let us stay rent free as long as we need. As well as use their car, watch my kids & offer monetary support if need be, THATS HUGE! Although, I wont take a penny from them. The plan is after staying with them for a month or so, to rent a house for 6 mos -1 year, and then talk about buying. Also, my s-i-l is a Mortgage broker & her husband is a home inspector. Also, the other sis lives in Gilbert, has done very well for herself & her husband is a Mesa cop. So, all in all, we've got good peeps in the area that know the area, well!
G.P.Steve, I agree with you about Sunvixen's post.
Sunvixen, great funny post! You sure brought back memories for me about where I grew up in the midwest. The weather and bugs are why I don't want to ever move back there. Even when we visit family and friends there in the summer, we often have to wear pants (rather than shorts) and a light jacket during the day because the temperature can be cool. And even on "hot" days, I sometimes want to wear those "warmer" clothes so that I don't have "wear" mosquito spray all over.
Sunvixen, hillarious post. All true. Its funny you mentioned the "WWI" weather reference. I have a long commute to work (Det - A2) & was thinking along the same lines just yesterday, cold, grey, desolate, WARZONE for half the year! Driving through Detroit on a daily basis really gives you a stark reality of what this place has been & what its becoming. The weather only makes things worse. I know the Phoenix area is certainly not utopia, but its different. In my case, different is good, change is good, a new life is good.
I'm in the GP/HW area & my wife & I are contemplating waiting until next spring (2009) to list our home or just tossing up a sign now. They keep talking recovery in 2009. I guess I'm hoping for the impossible, but I need to recover a few bucks just to make the trek across the country with a wife & 2 young children. Unfortunately, we dont have any friends or relatives to rent our home to. They all moved to PHOENIX years ago! My best friend moved his young family to NC last year & my sisters moved to FLA 2 years ago. Last one out turn off the lights?
Fortunately, my inlaws have done very well for themselves out in AZ & have offered lots of support when we decide to come. My s-i-l has a huge place in the best part of Mesa & will let us stay rent free as long as we need. As well as use their car, watch my kids & offer monetary support if need be, THATS HUGE! Although, I wont take a penny from them. The plan is after staying with them for a month or so, to rent a house for 6 mos -1 year, and then talk about buying. Also, my s-i-l is a Mortgage broker & her husband is a home inspector. Also, the other sis lives in Gilbert, has done very well for herself & her husband is a Mesa cop. So, all in all, we've got good peeps in the area that know the area, well!
Your in-laws moved here and did well and you haven't moved here yet? WHAT IS KEEPING YOU??? What I wouldn't do to have family around...
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We've already made our peace with the fact that we will lose money on it and just trying to get things situated and ready to go by end of year at latest. 
. We thought about Vegas but we didn't like it enough to MOVE to. 
(Can you TELL it depresses me??) 
(But, the first sunny days feel SOOOO good
I need more sunshine. 
Be careful what you wish for!!!
Get down here!
