Home invasions in Oakland County vs. Detroit proper

[Islandman]

This thread is funny. It's all like, "I WOULD move into Detroit if the police were better, but, like, too bad your police suck, because I'll be paying my taxes to the city where the police work. Like, get your act together, Detroit, if you ever hope to be a success like us."

Why so funny?

First, I'm willing to bet my modest fortunes that you are never, ever going to move to Detroit anyway. Dangling provisos like that before Detroit is silly. You are in the suburbs because you like them and belong there and that's fine. Knock it off and be realistic.

Second: Detroit doesn't need to attract you as a resident. It needs to attract people who value cities in the first place, and they come from all over the world and may set down here, but they notice that it's such a divided region where the city is beset by redlining, a concentration of social ills, lots of low-income people, crime, and more, and that pretty much everybody who's not in Detroit is comfortable to keep those problems away from them, in the city. So they look at the region and say, "Why would I choose a big city where the whole region uses it as their toilet? Why not go to Berlin or New York or San Francisco or San Jose where the region understands that a city is an economic driver?" So, yeah, that's pretty funny.

Finally: Speaking nationally and globally, nobody chooses to move to a place anymore based on police or fire coverage. They might choose NOT to move there based on LACK of those things, but nobody says, "Gosh, Emily, the police and fire coverage in Sterling Heights is AMAZING! We should pack up the fam and move the 560 miles THERE!" The truth is, a lot of suburbanites enjoy Detroit's shortcomings because it makes them feel better about the, frankly, totally uncosmopolitan place they live in. Bigger houses, wider roads, more powerful trucks! But no new museums. No exciting performance spaces. No edgy artists. No world-class opera. A real lack of history. A paucity of historic architecture. Whatever Detroit's shortcomings, most of suburban Detroit is regarded as lacking culture, a sort of checkerboard of malls, factories and aging subdivisions strung together with gas stations and power centers. And that's OK if you want to be a bedroom community for a city, but it's not going to draw any significant cohort of people to live there. So, yeah, that's kinda funny too.

Anyway, in Hamtramck, my police response time is about five minutes. Fire too. We ought to have such excellent response times. It eats up more than half the city's budget.

Great post DN. True on all points.

How about it Gpwrangler?

Hamtramck has great policing. Response times are great [[2 sq. mile city), as I have found when I lived there as well. Gonna move to Hamtown?

[bailey]

Great post DN. True on all points.

How about it Gpwrangler?

Hamtramck has great policing. Response times are great [[2 sq. mile city), as I have found when I lived there as well. Gonna move to Hamtown?

I don't quite understand this call out of GPwrangler, is Hamtramck Detroit now? Besides, I think there's a pretty good argument that most of GPP [[and much of the GPs minus maybe anything in the Shores) is as "urban" as Hamtown. In fact I'd stack GPP against most of Detroit proper. The fact getting willfully ignored here [[which Bham did point out) is if one is all about "urban" living there is a tiny fraction of Detroit proper that would actually resemble "urban" the rest of it is miles and miles of single family houses.

Detroit doesn't need to attract those who "value cities" it needs to attract people [and more importantly EMPLOYERS] that have chosen to sequester themselves in Hamtramck...or Oak Park..or Harper Woods....or Royal Oak...or Ferndale... or any of the other inner ring suburbs that are practically indistinguishable [[in terms of "urban") from what is found in most of Detroit proper.

[Bham1982]

there is a tiny fraction of Detroit proper that would actually resemble "urban" the rest of it is miles and miles of single family houses.

Exactly. There are like two square miles out of 140 that could credible be classified as "urban", at least in the sense of the term as commonly used worldwide; and even there, it's more of an urban facade than an actual functionality [[case in point- prior to Noel Night went to Detroit Artists Market right on Woodward in Midtown, except, oops, there's no entrance from Woodward, you need to enter from a parking lot in the back).

Detroit isn't appreciably more urban than typical American older suburbia and so it's unlikely this will make a huge difference in its prospects going forward.

[Islandman]

I don't quite understand this call out of GPwrangler, is Hamtramck Detroit now? Besides, I think there's a pretty good argument that most of GPP [[and much of the GPs minus maybe anything in the Shores) is as "urban" as Hamtown. In fact I'd stack GPP against most of Detroit proper. The fact getting willfully ignored here [[which Bham did point out) is if one is all about "urban" living there is a tiny fraction of Detroit proper that would actually resemble "urban" the rest of it is miles and miles of single family houses.

Detroit doesn't need to attract those who "value cities" it needs to attract people [and more importantly EMPLOYERS] that have chosen to sequester themselves in Hamtramck...or Oak Park..or Harper Woods....or Royal Oak...or Ferndale... or any of the other inner ring suburbs that are practically indistinguishable [[in terms of "urban") from what is found in most of Detroit proper.

Not calling him out, just a response to his own comment that he would move to Detroit IF ONLY there was good policing and crime was low, and that these are the only items that prevented him from doing so. I'm with DN on the fact that that is not the only reason he would not live there, and to state otherwise is being disingenuous.

I wasn't speaking about urbanity at all, although I agree that is probably also a factor. Sorry for the confusion.

[Gpwrangler]

Not calling him out, just a response to his own comment that he would move to Detroit IF ONLY there was good policing and crime was low, and that these are the only items that prevented him from doing so. I'm with DN on the fact that that is not the only reason he would not live there, and to state otherwise is being disingenuous.

I wasn't speaking about urbanity at all, although I agree that is probably also a factor. Sorry for the confusion.

If you were right I would have moved to 26 mile road. I'm a stones throw literally from Detroit. The two Detroit houses were much nicer than what I ended up with. All needed lots of work.

Almost forgot to add, the deciding factor was lack of police response and the fact that alarms on homes are not responded to. It was simple as that. It's not unreasonable.

[Gpwrangler]

Great post DN. True on all points.

How about it Gpwrangler?

Hamtramck has great policing. Response times are great [[2 sq. mile city), as I have found when I lived there as well. Gonna move to Hamtown?

I liked Hamtramck.

[Islandman]

Understood. So what made you choose GP over 26 Mile Road? Just curious.

So why so close to Detroit and all those liberals?

[Gpwrangler]

Understood. So what made you choose GP over 26 Mile Road? Just curious.

So why so close to Detroit and all those liberals?

I prefer the liberals to the northern suburbs mentality. Many of my family members are in or very near Detroit. [[I'm not liberal)

By the way, I prefer urban. Never liked mowing big lawns or competing with neighbors for nicest house etc.