Suburban Flight Continues [[Hoedown to Leave Downtown for Clarkston)

[Honky Tonk]

"Did you see the Hoedown?" "I didn't know she fell...."

[Bham1982]

No big deal. Might even be a net positive for downtown.

People on DYes get WAY to worked up about these things. Downtown events aren't that big of an economic boost, and the event moving somewhere else locally is basically a wash. Now residents don't have to deal with drunken hooligans, insane parking and trashed streets.

Healthy downtowns have strong everyday activity, and don't rely on special events for their daily vitality. Special events tend to chase away the regulars and lower quality of life for everyone else.

[401don]

No big deal. Might even be a net positive for downtown.

People on DYes get WAY to worked up about these things. Downtown events aren't that big of an economic boost, and the event moving somewhere else locally is basically a wash. Now residents don't have to deal with drunken hooligans, insane parking and trashed streets.

Healthy downtowns have strong everyday activity, and don't rely on special events for their daily vitality. Special events tend to chase away the regulars and lower quality of life for everyone else.

While I agree the Hoedown is no loss, to say special events don't enhance a city and lower the quality of life for everyone is ridiculous. People live downtown because they enjoy the vibrancy of events along with the other benefits. I'm planning to visit Chicago for a few days in July. When I looked online at what events were happening I was totally blown away by how many events of every kind that were happening all summer. To say these don't enhance Chicago as a tourist city or place to live is crazy.

[Bham1982]

WTo say these don't enhance Chicago as a tourist city or place to live is crazy.

Because you're speaking as a visitor.

Locals generally hate "special events". I live by the Dream Cruise and it sucks. Everyone on my street leaves during that week. They're spending all their money Up North, while drunken outsiders are pissing on our lawns and having sex in our back yards [[happened to a neighbor). The "economic boost" is for Charlevoix, not Birmingham. The restaurants in downtown Birmingham are actually empty that week, unless they're selling hot dogs and beer.

A family member used to live in Chicago, right on the lake, and she hated all those summer special events. It was one of the main reasons she left her lakefront neighborhood [[Lincoln Park/Lakeview area) as it was a terrible place to live if you were a regular family, and not some 23 year old looking to get laid or some suburbanite looking to watch fireworks or an air show or something.

Concerts in Lincoln Park get lame pretty fast with a 2 year old constantly getting woken up from the building shaking.

[TTime]

Because you're speaking as a visitor.

Locals generally hate "special events". I live by the Dream Cruise and it sucks. Everyone on my street leaves during that week. They're spending all their money Up North, while drunken outsiders are pissing on our lawns and having sex in our back yards [[happened to a neighbor). The "economic boost" is for Charlevoix, not Birmingham. The restaurants in downtown Birmingham are actually empty that week, unless they're selling hot dogs and beer.

A family member used to live in Chicago, right on the lake, and she hated all those summer special events. It was one of the main reasons she left her lakefront neighborhood [[Lincoln Park/Lakeview area) as it was a terrible place to live if you were a regular family, and not some 23 year old looking to get laid or some suburbanite looking to watch fireworks or an air show or something.

Concerts in Lincoln Park get lame pretty fast with a 2 year old constantly getting woken up from the building shaking.

I'll help you out here because I lived there for many years and have lots of friends and family that still do and you are way off. People who live in Chicago love the summer events schedule and there are too many events to break down all the specifics. There are a couple big events that locals avoid at all costs because they are simply too crowded and filled with tourists. In general the smaller block parties are all a great time and The Taste of Chicago would be considered an overcrowded mess.

[Bham1982]

I'll help you out here because I lived there for many years and have lots of friends and family that still do and you are way off. People who live in Chicago love the summer events schedule and there are too many events to break down all the specifics. T

Definitely not true in Lincoln Park/Lakeview. They hated that weekend stuff like the air show, fireworks, concerts, road races, bike races, etc.

They would regularly shut down LSD for "special events" meaning the surface streets were traffic hell, and my sister couldn't get downtown for work [[had off hours at a hospital). Alleyways would be blocked off, so people couldn't get their cars out, and street parking would be temporarily banned. Lincoln Park was frequntly unusable because the broke city rented it out for weekend events.

The nighttime drunken horde passing out on her building stoop, feet from where her baby fitfully slept, was an added "bonus", as were the regular muggings from troubled gay youth from the South Side, who congregated nearby.

She did like the neighborhood block parties, which were small-scale and locals-only. The big lakefront events suck, though, at least if you live nearby.

[Wintersmommy]

Well I for one will miss viewing the tailgating on the parking garage roofs. the most ideal people watching...sooo much fun watching people pee on the roof as if 1000's of workers in the towers above them couldn't see them...ahh the smell of urine and puke and hopping over the river of pee near my car...the good old days

[masterblaster]

Definitely not true in Lincoln Park/Lakeview. They hated that weekend stuff like the air show, fireworks, concerts, road races, bike races, etc.

They would regularly shut down LSD for "special events" meaning the surface streets were traffic hell, and my sister couldn't get downtown for work [[had off hours at a hospital). Alleyways would be blocked off, so people couldn't get their cars out, and street parking would be temporarily banned. Lincoln Park was frequntly unusable because the broke city rented it out for weekend events.

The nighttime drunken horde passing out on her building stoop, feet from where her baby fitfully slept, was an added "bonus", as were the regular muggings from troubled gay youth from the South Side, who congregated nearby.

She did like the neighborhood block parties, which were small-scale and locals-only. The big lakefront events suck, though, at least if you live nearby.

Roads getting blocked off, allies getting blocked off - these were not an issue with the Downtown Hoedown. In addition, at the locations of the downtown Hoedown - Hart Plaza, Comerica Park, and the West Riverfront Park - there are not that many nearby residents [[especially West Riverfront Park, which is surrounded by the river, parking lots, vacant lots, and industrial/small office buildings).

This is a loss for downtown.

The Woodward Dream Cruise is irrelevant to the Hoedown, because they are completely different logistically. The Hoedown takes place in a defined downtown location and took place over a weekend, while the Dream Cruise takes place over a 16 mile long stretch of Woodward Av adjacent to residential neighborhoods over a whole week.

You say the economic impact to Downtown is minimal, but I remember hanging out on a Saturday at the Craft Barrel House when the Hoedown was taking place last year, and a ton of people from the Hoedown came to that bar, and I am sure many other drinking establishments downtown. You could distinguish them because a lot of those people were wearing cowboy hats and cowboy boots.

[EastsideAl]

Definitely not true in Lincoln Park/Lakeview. They hated that weekend stuff like the air show, fireworks, concerts, road races, bike races, etc.

They would regularly shut down LSD for "special events" meaning the surface streets were traffic hell, and my sister couldn't get downtown for work [[had off hours at a hospital). Alleyways would be blocked off, so people couldn't get their cars out, and street parking would be temporarily banned. Lincoln Park was frequntly unusable because the broke city rented it out for weekend events.

The nighttime drunken horde passing out on her building stoop, feet from where her baby fitfully slept, was an added "bonus", as were the regular muggings from troubled gay youth from the South Side, who congregated nearby.

She did like the neighborhood block parties, which were small-scale and locals-only. The big lakefront events suck, though, at least if you live nearby.

And having all those events nearby has really hurt the value of those lakefront and Lincoln Park area apartments too.

[RO_Resident]

Because you're speaking as a visitor.

Locals generally hate "special events". I live by the Dream Cruise and it sucks. Everyone on my street leaves during that week. They're spending all their money Up North, while drunken outsiders are pissing on our lawns and having sex in our back yards [[happened to a neighbor). The "economic boost" is for Charlevoix, not Birmingham. The restaurants in downtown Birmingham are actually empty that week, unless they're selling hot dogs and beer.

This is why they can never have the Taste of Chicago, the Woodward Cruise, Traverse City Cherry Fest, and Charlevoix's Venetian Fest on the same weekend. Nobody would be there to staff the events.