Quote Originally Posted by kraig View Post
Actually, your small town center thought isn't bad. If Detroit needs anything, it's more walkable areas. That's what I loved about growing up in the Lafayette Park area. I wouldn't mind seeing some type of fountain or pond built in a few of the midtown areas.
I don't really see Lafayette Park [[which often times includes Elmwood Park) as very walkable. When it was built, it destroyed one of the oldest and densest neighborhoods in the city at the time. It was built to compete against developments in the suburbs which were all the rage.

I explored the area at night recently and I was more scared than any other neighborhood in the central city. Something about it being suburban in form made it very scary to me. Everything beyond the orgional van der Rohe apartments look run down, like there hasn't been a single update since it was built... weeds growing up from every crack, broken concrete and ugly pre-fab suburban apartments. And its especially scary with all the random dead ends and fences blocking access to pedestrians. It feels like a maze, and and it feels like it'd be easy to get stuck in some dark dingy corner.

Not to mention Lafayette park is the reason why Downtown and Greektown just randomly end. You got a dense vibrant, walkable block and then you randomly run into a freeway and a bunch of suburban apartments.

In short... Lafayette Park = worst neighborhood in central Detroit, in my humble opinion.