The reason that there is no public movie theater or big box retail here is that we don't want them here.
Emagine wanted to build a theater in the Village a few years ago and that idea was quickly squashed. There is a very nice 2 screen movie theater in Windmill Pointe Park that shows first run movies and is open to residents only.
We don't want a Walmart, Kmart, Home Depot, Lowes, Meijer or other "big box" retail here. That is what Hall road or Big Beaver Road is for.
As far as restaurants, there are plenty of fine restaurants here. Marais, The Hill, DaEduardo, Antonio's, Rockefeller's to name a few.
As for taxes, the total millage for homestead property in G.P.F is 48.0095 mills [[2014 rate). The total for your beloved Birmingham is 45.2097 [[2014 rate), not a significant difference. Detroit's 2014 rate is 68.7896. Now, who has the "sky high" taxes again? We are more than happy to pay the taxes that we do in order to receive the superior city services and police protection that we receive.
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/ta...e_480472_7.pdf
And by the way, our home is appreciating nicely. But that does not matter too greatly as we are not considering selling any time soon. My family likes it here. We don't need the major traffic congestion, latest and greatest flash in the pan-will be closed in a year trendy restaurant or miles and miles of strip malls of Oakland county.