Originally Posted by
nain rouge
When Detroit turned into sprawl, Oakland County managed to capture most of the professional class [[look at all the office space in Southfield and Troy). As a result, Macomb County had to aggressively court industry. Many of the major roads in Macomb County are lined with industrial buildings.
Industry has always been a huge part of Metro Detroit, and it's no secret that industrial workers aren't known as great patrons of the art. The DIA is essentially an institution that caters to the professional class, and it's creation was a mere offshoot of the incredible wealth Detroit's business magnates created back in the day. So why are you surprised that the hardy, working class voters in Macomb County didn't overwhelmingly support a DIA millage? It doesn't really fit the personality of the county. I love the DIA, but let's be a little understanding here. Or are some of you simple too good for industry and industrial folks?
As far as the whole exurban development trend, Oakland County has been just as bad as Macomb County. Oakland County was just lucky that the downtowns of cities like Ferndale, Royal Oak, and Birmingham developed before the sprawl reached critical mass. Otherwise, Oakland County has followed the same blueprint as Macomb County.
In Macomb County, Mt. Clemens was the closest traditional downtown to the encroaching sprawl, and it was preserved in the grid. The rest of the downtowns were farther north, in Romeo, New Baltimore, and etc., where the economic activity of the county was traditionally centered. The historic villages of Warren [[yes, it does exist, on Mound between 13 & 14 Mile) and other cities were dinky farming outposts, hardly something that could significantly alter a suburban blueprint. Utica's traditional downtown doesn't even encompass one whole block.