Mt. Clemens: What's the deal?

[nain rouge]

Macomb County, as we know, is the king of sprawl and home of the legendary Hall Road. People like to rag on Oakland County, but at least it has downtown Ferndale, Royal Oak, Birmingham, and Rochester - yes, even something like downtown Rochester would seem like a big deal in Macomb.

The only real respite from the sprawl in Macomb is Mt. Clemens, which has been the capitol of Macomb since 1818. Thanks to huge swell of interest in Mt. Clemens's supposedly unique mineral water in the late 1800s, Mt. Clemens became a major tourist destination dubbed "Bath City". Visitors from across the country arrived to heal themselves in the city's many bathhouses, undertaking treatment courses that sometimes lasted weeks. Before urban sprawl was a gleam in L. Brooks Patterson's eye, Mt. Clemens was built up some 25 miles north of downtown Detroit. It was a boom town, full of apartments and entertainment venues - it even had a raceway and a casino.

By the 1940s, though, mineral baths had fallen out of public favor. Significant advances in modern medicine led people to look to science instead of nature for cures. Though nearly all of the hotels and bathhouses associated with Mt. Clemens' glory days are now gone, a sizable downtown and a population of about 16,000 people still remains. Today, Mt. Clemens bills itself as the entertainment and dining capitol of company, and even gives people on jury duty at the county court a beeper so they can leave the courtroom and visit downtown.

In an era when downtowns and walkable communities are all the rage, it's worthwhile to ask why Mt. Clemens hasn't seen the same resurgence in interest the downtowns along Woodward have. Mt. Clemens' downtown comprises several city blocks, features a small urban park, and generally looks like you'd expect a downtown to look.

For a small community, Mt. Clemens is fairly progressive and forward thinking. In the early 1980s, the city had the foresight to not only create, but to pour considerable resources into a Downtown Development Authority [[DDA), which helped revitalize Mt. Clemens going into the 1990s. In addition, the city also has an art center, a very active historical society, was able to attract Oakland University's first satellite campus to its downtown, and is the most likely candidate for Macomb's planned Hands On Children's Museum.

Architecturally, Mt. Clemens has some real gems. St. Joseph's Sanitorium, one of the city's original bathhouses, still exists and is relatively well-preserved, although it's not utilized for any purpose currently. The Old Macomb County Building is a 219 foot art deco structure that is somehow a one-of-a-kind building in a metro region overflowing with art deco skyscrapers. Built in 1930s and 1940s, it's the center of Mt. Clemens' modest but real skyline. The imposing busts of warriors and sailors peak out from the top of the building, gazing over the city, and fanciful plaques dedicated to humanity's progress dot its outside walls. The historic, dense downtown is just a block away from the building, and its also a short walk away from neighborhoods with large Tudor, Craftsman, and Italianate homes built during the height of the Mt. Clemens Bath City era.

In the last few years, lofts and other residential spaces have even opened up in and around downtown, with some success. What more could you want? And yet, it apparently hasn't been enough. A recent report by Mt. Clemens' DDA stated that the city's downtown was showing "signs of distress". The 7-story Price Building nearby sits vacant with its window open, and its far from the only sign of vacancy. About three-fifths of the tenants in the downtown area are either restaurants or bars, taking up over 30 commercial spaces. This gives the downtown a touristy feel, and there is often an alarming lack of pedestrians because of the lack of proper mixed use - there's no reason for locals to visit the area on a frequent basis. People drive up to a specific bar or restaurant and then drive off afterwards.

Also, the DDA has been far from perfect at times. A huge part of what I imagine was once part of downtown is now a series of surface parking lofts situated behind what remains. Wouldn't one decently sized parking garage have been better? The areas around downtown could be more pedestrian friendly, too. There aren't many clearly designated crosswalks.

Finally, what I think is really hurting downtown Mt. Clemens is the lack of culture - and I'm not sure how they can fix that. Mt. Clemens has what feels like a working class and old person's kind of downtown. Which isn't necessarily problem, except for the fact that the downtown appears to be struggling to attract enough people on a regular basis. I realize that Royal Oak and et. al. are far from cultural meccas, but they at least maintain a thin veneer of culture. I suspect a big part of the cultural problem is the crime in Mt. Clemens. While Mt. Clemens isn't as bad as Detroit, it's noticeably worse than cities like Ferndale, and that probably discourages many of the more affluent Metro Detroiters from visiting.

So what do you guys think? Is there a way to turn Mt. Clemens into downtown hub equal to Royal Oak? Or is it stuck with what it is? I feel like Mt. Clemens has a lot of unfulfilled promise. It has a rich history and lots of warm, friendly people. I went bar hopping one night in Mt. Clemens and was overwhelmed with how nice everyone was, including the waitstaff. You don't get that impression in Oakland County's downtowns, where people tend to be a bit uppity. Then again, would making Mt. Clemens a more cultural place ruin that vibe?

And for the record - no, I don't live in Mt. Clemens, but I do live in Macomb.