Chaldeantown is DYING!

[Danny]

Forty years ago, lots of Chaldeans families migrated to W. 7 Mile Rd. between Woodward Ave. and John R Rd. to set up set and moved into fewer neighborhoods. Now its downgraded to small one block village. There are few Chaldean owned markets, bakeries, ACC social services center and school, Church and community center left in the area. Years ago a new and improved Chaldean Town is supposed to be build, but lack to funding has failed. Today since most of the neighborhoods in the Detroit's North Side have turn into blighted brownfields and rows of vacant burn down homes, Other Chaldean families are thinking about moving to other areas in the suburbs. Could Chaldeantown be saved or be dead as Detroit's Chinatown, any thoughts?

[Det_ard]

There are significant Chaldean communities now in several suburbs so the clustering that occurs with immigrant groups can happen in the suburbs now. Add to that really low real estate prices in those suburbs and there's no financial need to live in Chaldeantown in Detroit. Plus that area has gotten a lot worse in terms of crime. Chaldeantown in Detroit is dead. It lives in various suburbs.

[bartock]

There is also that gargantuan eyesore in the form of the Wynans' church hanging over the northwestern edge of that area for the past several years now. Every few months, a crew goes out and works for a few days, as they did this summer for a time. Along with all of the other reasons already stated, I'm sure this perpetually unfinished construction project doesn't exactly discourage moving.

[One Shot]

Sterling Heights is coming alive.

[RickBeall]

Back in the 1990's you could drive along 7 mile, and all the signs were in Arabic. It was pretty amazing. Now it's just slums. Chaldeantown meet Chinatown.

[Hypestyles]

the Detroit-Works city revisioning efforts should include attracting immigrants from various countries to come to the city and settle.. africa, caribbean, latin america, middle-east, asia, etc.

[Neilr]

Several years ago DPS removed the ESL [[English as a Second Language) Program out of Greenfield Union School because there was no longer a need for that support service.

[Hermod]

Several years ago DPS removed the ESL [[English as a Second Language) Program out of Greenfield Union School because there was no longer a need for that support service.

DPS has enough trouble teaching English as a First Language.

[Left_For_Texas]

Chaldean Town is the most bombed out area in Detroit. [[At least it was when Google drove their Street View vehicle through there in 2009.) The amount of burned down and abandoned homes is amazing.

[GoGrixdale]

Chaldean Town is the most bombed out area in Detroit. [[At least it was when Google drove their Street View vehicle through there in 2009.) The amount of burned down and abandoned homes is amazing.

...a good reason why this area should be the first place to start a ‘proof of concept’ for reapportioning the city.

A revitalized Chaldean Town would go a long way to stabilizing the section of the North District west of I75 and east of Woodward. It would change the dynamic of the already existing , and proposed, 7 Mile & Woodward mass transit hub.

Although the residential makeup may never again be largely Arab the Arab cultural and retail community can more than thrive in the location. Greektown is a case in point. Residents, along with a good number of Ferndale-liens, would surely frequent comfortable and clean Middle Eastern restaurants and shops.

A Chaldean congregation might even find a good deal on a large unfinished church

[ragnarok1981]

Chaldean town is almost beyond redemption right now and that is why the Penrose Community project looks like the best bet for the area. Last month I drove through the area that used to be full of homes and it is now a few new homes that were built by Habitat for Humanity and the rest were burned out or just empty space. I live on the other side of woodward in Palmer Woods and I am amazed by the level of crime ocuring in Chaldean town. I look at the crimemapping.com website and there are arsons, assaults, robberies, etc. Residents in Palmer Woods are really worried that the crime is going to start migrating across woodward into our own neighborhood.
The other thing that is not helping the situation is that a gang called the Rolling 60's has moved into the area and they are spraying graffiti all over the place. I am sure that this gang is also responsible for a great deal of the crime happening too.
It seems to me that the only people left in Chaldean town are either too old or too poor to move away.

[DC48080]

There is also that gargantuan eyesore in the form of the Wynans' church hanging over the northwestern edge of that area for the past several years now.

I was wondering what the story was with that church. I call it the Tyvek Tabernacle for the acres of Tyvek vapor wrap that cover the building.

[STEELWORKER]

Chaldeantown is in Oak Park. Some of the foreclosure in my area are being bought by new chaldean families.

[Danny]

The Penrose Habitat Housing was a start to fill the blighted brownfields north of 7 Mile Rd. But it is not doing any good to lure middle income folks into that area. If middle income folks sought that a Detroit neighborhood is a all black ghetto, they will not move in. Today when people think negative words of Detroit, they will think, too many blacks, high crime, bad schools, corrupt city leaders, Kwame Kilpatrick, Coleman A.Young, corrupt police force, Devil's Night, the 1967 "RACE" riot [[ in which its not a race riot), vacant and abandon buildings. So most middle income folks will not move into those areas in Detroit and forget about it. This is part of the human concept of logical syllogisticism and its going to take eons to change their human pysche.


Chaldeantown Business Association has tried their best to revitilze their W. 7 Mile Rd. corridor to 40 years, but unfortunately years of blight, corrupt school system, more poor blacks moving in, common house fires have cause many middle income Chaldeans to move to other places in the suburbs like Oak Park at 9 Mile Rd. from Wyoming Rd. to Coolidge HWY. [[ In which the Chaldeans don't care about that area anymore) Today Chaldeans area all over the Metro-Detroit Area will a lack of a cultural centered business corridor making it very HARD for them to find their own family markets, cafes and other social service agencies. If the Chaldeans know very well of what house or business district they going, then they got the hang of it. A Chaldean family just to adapt to wordly culturally imperfect American people that would cause them to lose their own culture in the coming years.

In the meantime Chaldeantown on W. 7 Mile Rd. to John Rd. needs to be saved. If not, it would be DEAD! just like Detroit's Chinatown. The Chaldeans should learn from the Detroit's Mexican/Hispanic, Irish, Greek, Yemenis, Begalis, Iranians and Lebanese about managing their businesses, homes and provide independent security against the yahoos and wild humans who are running in ghettos like a pack of feral dogs. The Chaldeans almost lost all of Northern Iraq and Southern Turkey to the racial Islam, but they must stand up and save their community before its gone for good.

[Danny]

Chaldeantown is in Oak Park. Some of the foreclosure in my area are being bought by new chaldean families.

They only going to be there for couple years until they find bigger spaces. They know that rest of the neighborhoods in Oak Park are going to middle to low income blacks.

[Stosh]

They only going to be there for couple years until they find bigger spaces. They know that rest of the neighborhoods in Oak Park are going to middle to low income blacks.

Your quote is NON SEQUITUR. Please refrain from illogical racial quotes please.

[GoGrixdale]

@ragnarok1981 - I’m young, live on that ‘other side of Woodward’ and the only thing I can’t afford is to believe that the area is beyond redemption.

Take caution in falling victim to the hype of the non-contextual crimemappers.com. I would argue that most of the violent crime reports are beggar on beggar or pimp on hoe. In the year I’ve lived 'over on this side' I've seen reductions in crimes against us homeowners.


I was going to question what the Penrose Project was. IMHO Habitat projects ultimately serve to make the contributors and builders feel good. They seem to be short term housing solutions and I don’t know of an instance where they sparked revitalization. We need development that takes into consideration factors beyond housing the poor.

Cultural Hubs [[to overuse a phrase) are not only worth saving but worth establishing.

[Detroitnerd]

The Chaldean community is just following the same sort of outmigration that several ethnic groups have. In Hamtramck, we've seen a lot of Poles leave and be replaced by different communities: Albanian, Serbian, Bangladeshi, Yemeni. Sounds like Seven Mile may be a little too far gone for that now, but a stream of new immigrants building on the past immigrants' experience is a net benefit for Hamtramck, at least.

[1KielsonDrive]

Chaldeans are like previous waves of immigrants. They come to the US, settle in an area that's affordable and friendly, usually with others that preceded them. As they assimilate and get work or businesses, they move on to better neighborhoods. In Detroit's case, that usually means going way beyond the city's borders. I worked at Shenandoah Country Club on Walnut Lake Road [[16 Mile Road), in far West Bloomfield, a few years ago. It was a Chaldean owned, private country club with a public golf course. Southfield Manor [[Telegraph and 11 Mile Road) was also owned by the same Chaldean Association, [[now the CIAAM, formerly the CIA). The George family [[Melody Farms Dairy) was the big money behind those clubs. The neighborhoods were traditionally Jewish. There are two synagogues across the street from Shenandoah and a new one built at Orchard Lake and Walnut Lake Roads. It took a lot of coordinating to manage traffic during their respective holidays and big events and outings at Shenandoah. Not to mention soothing personal and religious issues. I worked fellowship meetings between local churches, synagogues and businesses at the club. Various religious, political factions came to the bar and left their newspapers and literatures, very tensely, at opposite ends of the bar. They managed to work everything out. Shenandoah now is the home of the Chaldean Cultural Museum and is the largest country club facility in the Detroit area, thanks to the vision and generosity of the George family and the support of Chaldeans and Iraqis in the Detroit area. They also have a large presence living in the immediate area.

[Zacha341]

I've noted the severe down turn... I mean it really getting bad near John R. and the decline is only made worse by the sharp contrast of community west of Woodward [[Sherwood Forest, Green Acres, Palmer Woods). My car broke down off of 7 and John R at night... Good times. and I had to really be mindful of myself awaiting the tow truck. I used to go to a fruit market on seven mile. Now I would never get out of my car in that area.

There are some Chaldean merchants, social organizations etc. and communities now in Southfield/ West Bloomfield. A few in Hamtramck along with a small Yamenese population. A very tiny sprinkling in east Dearborn, which of course has the largest Muslim middle-east community in the US...

There are significant Chaldean communities now in several suburbs so the clustering that occurs with immigrant groups can happen in the suburbs now. Add to that really low real estate prices in those suburbs and there's no financial need to live in Chaldeantown in Detroit. Plus that area has gotten a lot worse in terms of crime. Chaldeantown in Detroit is dead. It lives in various suburbs.

[Zacha341]

Good points. The 'newest' immigrant to that area outside of that new church 'in progress' structure is urban blight prarie-land and the whistling wind blowing thru abadoned houses, many burned-out not even boarded up. Though there are a few HFH homes sprinkled here and there......

The Chaldean community is just following the same sort of outmigration that several ethnic groups have. In Hamtramck, we've seen a lot of Poles leave and be replaced by different communities: Albanian, Serbian, Bangladeshi, Yemeni. Sounds like Seven Mile may be a little too far gone for that now, but a stream of new immigrants building on the past immigrants' experience is a net benefit for Hamtramck, at least.

[Zacha341]

Yes, if only the obviously more solid community of the west of Woodward and seven could extend the east... Now with the state fair gone it is even more of a challenge one could argue. What happened to the Meijer store development in that area? Did they get cold feet?

@ragnarok1981 - I’m young, live on that ‘other side of Woodward’ and the only thing I can’t afford is to believe that the area is beyond redemption.

Take caution in falling victim to the hype of the non-contextual crimemappers.com. I would argue that most of the violent crime reports are beggar on beggar or pimp on hoe. In the year I’ve lived 'over on this side' I've seen reductions in crimes against us homeowners.


I was going to question what the Penrose Project was. IMHO Habitat projects ultimately serve to make the contributors and builders feel good. They seem to be short term housing solutions and I don’t know of an instance where they sparked revitalization. We need development that takes into consideration factors beyond housing the poor.

Cultural Hubs [[to overuse a phrase) are not only worth saving but worth establishing.

[Zacha341]

Oh yes, I forgot about that... there are about 4 businesses along the Collidge and 9 mile intersection that I go to sometimes.

Chaldeantown is in Oak Park. Some of the foreclosure in my area are being bought by new chaldean families.

[Danny]

Your quote is NON SEQUITUR. Please refrain from illogical racial quotes please.

I actually went through the neighborhood for the last 20 years. I know the pattern. Also you haven't look carefully from the factual data from U.S. Census and M.I.M.I.C. demographics at Wayne State University Centers of Urban Studies or other demographers in various websites. Years ago I study along with Professor Hyde in tracking ethnic races moving to one place to another and our urban theories were right on the money. Therefore my comments does follow.


WORD FROM THE STREET PROPHET

I do my homework in the streets.

Neda, I miss you so.

[kraig]

After prolonged years of not being provided adequate public services, people that can afford to move will move. It's that simple.