East Detroit to Eastpointe

[Danny]

Yes, East Detroit was change to Eastpointe because the media's use of the word East Detroit as in east side of Detroit due to the crime problems. Plus the housing stock in Eastpointe looks like Detroit's east side. Of course the word " pointe" was added to have the suburb compare to the Grosse Pointes. Once the Old Irish settlement of Erin Township now a mixture of middle to lower class/low income Whites, Hmongs, Arabs and Blacks [[especially Italians).

Eastpointe remains to this day a quiet bedroom suburb with a growing black community along Gratiot Ave. and Kelly Ave. from 8 Mile Rd to 9 Mile Rd. from the Warren border to St Clair Shores. The street signs have a shamrock located the right side. East Detroit High School and a sporting team called the "Shamrocks" and a historic wooden schoolhouse on 9 Mile Rd. near Gratiot. It's downtown is bedroom size with a developed stip mall located on the left hand side of Gratiot Ave. and 9 Mile Rd. and the area has a new city hall. Eastpointe once have a 18 hole golf course called Ridgemont located on E. 8 Mile Rd. to Toepfer Rd. and from Virginia Rd. to David Rd. It was bought by real estate developers to build a "Levittownesque" brick ranch homes and wood frame duplexes and Appalachian style no basement wood frame homes along Lincoln Rd. just a block south of Toepfer Rd. Eastpointe's ethnicity was mostly Irish than a became a fast growing Italian community when a became part of "Little Italy" Then by the late 1990s, lots of blacks mostly from Detroit quickly move to the neighborhoods north of E. 8 Mile Rd from Gratiot Ave. to Toepfer Rd. to Kelly Rd. Today they represent 20% of Eastpointe's population and growing fast.

[gnome]

Great post Danny.

This year I had the pleasure of giving Danny a ride home from the DY picnic. On the way home we drove through several neighborhoods. Danny gave me a complete ethnographic history for each neighborhood going back to the turn of the last century. It was pretty amazing, like reading a census breakdown by zip-code. Very detailed.

He would point out a particular landmark, tell me about what kind of people use to lived there, what they did, when they moved and who moved in.

Danny knows his migration patterns.

[gnome]

On the subject of the ED/EP name change... most folks don't understand that East Pointe is in Macomb County, not Wayne. They took the name East Detroit when "Detroit" symbolized strength, quality and hard work. When the Chalmers Bros turned the eastside into a fetid pit of poo, the wise citizens of East Detroit voted to change their name to East Pointe.

Seems like democracy in action. Did they pick the new name in the hope to gain some of the reflected glow from theit tonier neighbor, sure. Big deal. That was the same reason behind their original name.

Birmingham got its name from a city in England, Livonia from New York and, in turn, a region of Lithuania, ... Romeo from an oversexed Italian teen. Most cities get their names from somewhere else. Places that they wish to emulate. Who wants to be named after a poo pit when they can be named after a safe, clean and peaceful enclave?

[Bong-Man]

When doing business as 'East Detroit', the city couldn't even use a p.o. system. All one had to do was mention the word 'Detroit' to national vendors and all transactions instantly became cash. That's what happens when you consistantly fail to pay your bills for over 120 days. It took quite a while for 'Detroit' to earn that national reputation, and it wasn't easy....but somehow they accomplished it. The school district had the same problem, and I'm surprised they haven't changed their name for the same reason.

[Danny]

Eastpointe today is becoming a unsustainable suburb for this reason:

1. Real estate agents are determine to lower property rates to lure low income families [[ especially Hmongs and Blacks) to those certain parts of the neighborhoods. Those parts are from E. 8 Mile Rd. from the borders of Warren to St. Clair Shores and to Toepfer Rd. along Gratiot Ave. This have cause lots the Middle Class whites that were mostly mix of Irish, Italian and bit of Polish and German decent to move futher to northern parts of Warren, Sterling Heights, St. Clair Shores, Macomb TWP. Shelby Township and parts of Clinton TWP. The real estate owners had been doing this experiment for 20 years just to lure middle class white out of the area which it claimed to be normal as a urban ghetto.

It's working like a racial charm. Go to the Eastpointe neighborhood and see it for your self. If you have see about 5 to 10 blacks in the area cleaning up their lawns or barbequing in their backyard or a group of 5 black kids just walking down the street doing their own thing. Then you know that suburban neighborhood has lost it normal appeal. Same trend is happening to other inner ring suburbs in the Metro Detroit area.

[Retroit]

Kid Rock made a song about this early in his career. It samples a Billy Joel song and has some punk style parts in it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ihpgi5BSwSA

Everybody's talking about Kid Rock, fuck um, cause he's still Robert Ritchie to me.

Even more ironic is that many people have blamed the name change on racism, but then go on to complain that the city has gone downhill since the "you know whos" moved in. Pretty pathetic.

[MIRepublic]

Seems like democracy in action. Did they pick the new name in the hope to gain some of the reflected glow from theit tonier neighbor, sure. Big deal. That was the same reason behind their original name.

Actually, it is a big deal. It's really rather shallow and silly, especially if it's centered around little more than simply reacting to the health of a neighboring community. So, if the Pointes ever rottened they'd latch on to some other posh community? At the end of the day, it's reflects the running that everyone seems to be involved in. Get skitish about your neighborhood? Solution: run to 15 and then 16 and then 20 Mile road. Get skitish about your communities image? Solution: change its name.

Perhaps, Detroit and Michigan need to change their name, because, changing the name of something fixes the problem, right? Metro Detroit is a clusterfuck of crazy philosophies, ideas, and experiments. Everyone outside would be laughing if it weren't so sad. Eastpointe is still East Detroit, accept now it's still declining just like everywhere else in Metro Detroit. But, now you've got a posh new name! How's that working out? Eastpointe; bless its little heart.

Really, does no one else see how silly this is? It's bad enough for a city to change its name when it's not in reaction to the health of a nearby community. It's just insult to injury when it's reactionary. You latch onto someone when their up, and then dump 'em when they are down. What a great neighbor.

[ASR89]

IMO, the award for "Stupidest name change" goes to Westland, for naming their city after... the Westland Mall. When I was little, I just thought my home city was named Westland because it was just far west in Wayne County. Personally, I would have kept "Nankin / Nankin Township". That was a time in which Livonia wanted to annex Westland's land, which the mall was going to be built upon. The citizens voted to become a city and the rest is history. Seriously, after a mall? lol

[Bloomfield Pills]

Reminds me of those idiots who wanted to rename Downriver "Metro Shores." Or the Cass Corridor "Midtown."

A fart by any other name...

[jerrytimes]

How many of you have been to Eastpointe lately? True, it's not as nice as it was 20 years ago, and true, there are a bunch of forclosed houses there, as there are in many suburbs of Detroit. But since when did it turn into a slum? I live in Roseville, I work in Eastpointe often and it's far from a slum.

[MIRepublic]

I saw one forumer refer to it as a slum [[former resident Patrick) in this entire thread. Is that who you're talking to?

[gnome]

LMichigan, since you're just trying to pick another fight, I'll just try to answer your concerns.

it is a big deal. It's really rather shallow and silly,

The good folks of East Detroit confabbed over this name-changing stuff for 10 years. 10 years of debates and town hall meeting and polling and yelling and bitching and everything that goes along with democracy.

In the end they chose Eastpointe. Democracy is not always pretty, sometimes it is darn ugly, but in the end the people of Eastpointe decided to turn away from a rotting hulk of a city and move towards something smaller and slightly less dangerous.

Now, to me that doesn't seem silly; silly is changing your town's name to Truth or Consequences, Arizona or Dish, Texas.

But maybe that's just me.

[rjk]

I saw one forumer refer to it as a slum [[former resident Patrick) in this entire thread. Is that who you're talking to?

I've seen a few threads on Eastpointe in which it gets slammed pretty harshly.
I can't help but wonder if some of it comes from the cities rejection of the Detroit name because it seems unduly harsh. From my limited perspective of the area it seems like a decent community.

[jerrytimes]

I saw one forumer refer to it as a slum [[former resident Patrick) in this entire thread. Is that who you're talking to?

I am. It just irritates me that Eastpointe gets a bad rep because it has a little more crime than it used to. It isn't much crime at all, and most of the crime isn't violent crime. The city is still nice. My grandparents owned a home on Tuscany untill 2003 and everyone acts like their neighborhood looks like hell now. I completely disagree. The only thing in their neighborhood that isn't so eye pleasing is a couple of forclosures.

[EMG]

To put it short and simply, the residents wanted no association with crime-ridden/corrupt big city Detroit.

Bingo. I particularly remember that at the time, those in favor of the name change particularly cited an article which had been posted in the U.S. News and World Report [[and I think this may very well have been a major key to actually getting the movement off the ground) that discussed Alter Road as a dividing line between the rich and poor, and there was a line in that article that read something like, "Alter Road, where the wealthy suburbanites of Grosse Pointe exist cheek by jowl with the poorest slumlords of East Detroit."

Never mind the fact that "East Detroit" was nowhere near Alter Road. The comparison helped get enough East Detroiters - er - Eastpointers - sufficiently incited for the name change to succeed.

[grphxman1]

I grew up and have lived the majority of my 54 years in EAST DETROIT. The name change came about like most ballot initiatives. There was one guy [[whose name escapes me now) who collected signatures to have it placed on the ballot again, and again, and again. It was defeated 3 or 4 times but eventually this guy and the people behind him wore the voters down. I also think they benefited from the people to whom East Detroit meant something dying or moving on. The newer residents didn't have the same attachment to the city's name and history.

[kryptonite]

Does anyone remember reading about residents of the Grosse Ptes being a bit disgruntled about the ED/EP name change? I was living in the Warren/Outer Drive area of Detroit at the time of the name change campaign and vote. I read somewhere that GP residents were not happy because they did not particularly care to have East Detroit changed to a name that would associate the Pointes with ED. Amusing, I thought at the time.

[Locke]

It is very interesting from a financial perspective how much the 'Detroit' in 'East Detroit' actually affects the quality of the school district. East Detroit Public Schools recently brought two municipal bond issues to the market; only one of which was able to be completed. The issue that could not be complete was significantly impacted by a lack of interest due to the name.

Outside of the city, when brokers and individual investors saw the 'Dirty D' word on the prospectus of the bond issue, they immediately turned away and looked at the next opportunity. Personally, I heard feedback and received questions about 'where in Detroit that the EDPS was', or 'what are the differences between the DPS and EDPS'. To a person unfamiliar with the area, it sounded just as the name says 'East Detroit'.

Right now, with the way investors play cautious and are skittish about putting money in questionable investments, the name directly affected the District's ability to refinance debt and save the taxpayers some money. The other bond issue that was completed and sold for capital improvement funding, did not compare well to other similar bond issues [[lower demand = higher interest rates) as investors required a higher risk premium to invest in a 'Detroit' credit. I believe it is fair to say, if the District would have also changed its name to 'Eastpointe', the taxpayers would be having to cough up considerably less money to fund the Districts debt.

[sumas]

Actually, I think names have a big impact on associations with the affected community. I live in East English Village and remember when we voted on a new community identity. The dumbest suggestion was Grosse Pointe View. Don't recall if East Pointe was a suggested name. Area identity, I think is a great idea, at least in Detroit. Detroit sprawls over lots of land and covers lots of different socio-economic areas.

Renaming Cass Corridor to Midtown was brilliant. As a Wayne State student I spent a lot of time down there. Cass Corridor was known for it's crime, drunks, druggies and flop houses. By creating a new identity, it is now associated with upscale youth, townhouses, lofts and the university.

In Detroit proper, lots of communities are calling themselves villages. Also cool. From 1907 until roughly the late 1920s the city annexed many villages. Each community has its own history and the urge to maintain identities is important.

Detroit in its heyday was a very fine city. Great transit, wonderful schools, tremendous services and a large population, meaning a good tax base. That is no longer the case. Won't surprise me a bit if it splinters and shrinks, it just can't sustain its size any longer.

EastPointe just picked a stupid name which gave it no identity at all. Never heard before that it's name was originally Halfway. I did know that Gratiot was an Indian trail to Mt. Clemens. Thanks to all who contribute historical data. I find it so interesting.

[Meddle]

I did know that Gratiot was an Indian trail

You'd be surprised how many roads in this country were originally Indian trails.

[Onthe405]

I did know that Gratiot was an Indian trail to Mt. Clemens.

Yes and No. Gratiot [[like Grand River, Michigan, Jefferson, and Woodward) was part of Pierre Charles L'Enfant's "sunrise" wheel spoke design for the city, which was based loosely on his other famous project---the layout of Washington, DC. Undoubtedly there was an Indian trail somewhere on the riverfront of what is now Detroit, outward toward Mt Clemens and probably on to Pt Huron. However, it would not have followed the perfectly geometric angle as it exists today.

[Lowell]

I disliked that change because it exacerbated the divisiveness of our metropolis. Our greatest weakness arises from the collective inability to see ourselves as one city and share our common the burdens and benefits. Sad but true for now.

It was embarrassingly pathetic. Forgetting the ridiculous fact, cited above, of its being west of the Pointes the wannabee suck-up of trying to to cast themselves in with the cache of the Grosse Pointes is laughable -- almost worthy of a Beverly Hillbillies episode.

The waste of tax dollars did not change anything other than making their community a laughing stock and poor metro team player. Shame on them.

Too bad because, otherwise, it is a pleasant community.

[STEELWORKER]

I went to school there K-12 and my dad owned a house there for twenty years. I liked the name change once they changed it property values went up immediately. I at the time felt they should have changed it to something that had more of an identity like Halfway or use the original name of Erin Township. I went to EDHS and it was funny when I would wear my lettermen jacket everyone would ask me where it was in Detroit. It was a decision to move away from a bad image of Detroit always being in the news there was never a difference between it and detroit when there was a news story on the eastside of detroit.