So It Begins... Sterling Heights Sees Nation's Steepest Income Drop!

**fanniemae** · September-29-10, 09:33 PM

Sterling Hts was once considered one of the nicest, most safest places to live. The city made many a poll or national article. The BIG 3, General Dynamics, the old Chrysler missle plant were the anchors. A lot of those jobs are gone, we are left with one giant rust belt. There is a rash of b/e's. Garages, cars. I was in a pawn shop on Mound the other day. The place is full of new dvd's still in the wrapper. How did they get there? Hmmm... Tons of saws, garage stuff. GPS's, plenty of them. Why aren't the police casing these joints, taking down license plates? The police in Sterling Hts are making over 100 g's a year. They live in Shelby and Romeo. Almost none live in the city. There are a lot of businesses in the strip malls getting blocks thru the windows at night. One owner of a coney island I know said the police don't care, are not even looking for the culprits. His son , a former lab tech for the police, said the police made a fake attempt to get finger prints and totally screwed that up. The tech just sprayed some graphite to make it look like he was doing something. Claimed you can't get finger prints off the registers these days because of the material they are made of. If it were a murder investigation, I bet they would have gotten prints. Friend just pointed out to me a lot of the young newer cops do live in the Sterling Hts area proper. The older ones are in Algonac.

**mwilbert** · September-29-10, 09:34 PM

Focusing on Sterling Heights is missing the forest for one scraggly tree. Look at the county-wide income statistics for Macomb or Oakland or Wayne, or for the state as a whole. They are bad. This isn't about something that is happening to a particular city.

Sterling Heights is just an example of a city with little to distinguish it from a lot of other cities in the area, and therefore with little way to attract new people once it is perceived to be in decline. Once it gets into that category, you end up in a spiral of falling home prices and less affluent residents.

This is pretty much what happens everywhere where you have uncontrolled sprawl and low population growth, and it is what has happened to Detroit proper. The difference is that Detroit is big and there is stuff in Detroit that is unique in the area and people who are attracted to Detroit because of that stuff, so you have parts of Detroit that have a reasonable chance of rebounding. I've never spent much time in Sterling Heights, but I've never seen anything attractive enough to keep people there as the city crumbles around them, unlike Detroit. It would be a huge mistake to think that this is something specific to a particular city though; a huge portion of the Detroit area is covered with undistinguished towns, and as population falls they will all be competing for the [[admittedly large) segment of people who are happy living in undistinguished towns. Lots of them are going to lose out unless a higher percentage of people move into that segment, which seems contrary to current trends.

**fanniemae** · September-29-10, 09:43 PM

mwilbert, SH does have some very nice parks, bike trails. Utica Schools was once considered one of the best school districts in Michigan. You could play outside until the street lights came on. It was Beaver Cleaver land. It was part of the American Dream. I agree with the poster that poor city planning is responsible. The housing values are plummeting. The SH city cable channel , the zone enforcement code program is very sad to see. They show the homes that are foreclosed with weeds, stagnant pools, fallen fences, boarded up windows and worse. I don't know how the city can come back. It is sad.

**mwilbert** · September-29-10, 09:48 PM

I want to be clear that I am not saying Sterling Heights was never nice--never my cup of tea, but that's different.

What I am saying is that there isn't anything there that would stop someone from moving to Shelby Township. So they did, and will. Then the same thing will happen to Shelby Township in 20-30 years, assuming we haven't learned anything by then.

**Goose** · September-29-10, 10:59 PM

Originally Posted by bmcb

Goose-People living in North Shelby claim 23 Mile is the line between paradise and hell; those in Washington Twp say 26 Mile is the border and in Romeo, it's 28 Mile.... and they're all delusional

but they are all wrong, get the jump on the flight and hit the bricks past 32 Mile Rd., there you will find what you are looking for......

**Gistok** · September-30-10, 02:02 PM

.... some folks in Alpena think that Rochester Hills is Ghetto [[true story)...

**laurin** · September-30-10, 02:13 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

.... some folks in Alpena think that Rochester Hills is Ghetto [[true story)...

You cannot make a statement like that and not explain a bit.

**casscorridor** · September-30-10, 02:57 PM

Looks like the burbs aren't sheltered by the shared fate of Detroit. The reality must be faced that Metro Detroit is one city, divided and fighting against itself. We have to work together to bring this city back. Many people will flee the region altogether to find a better life [[many already have) unless we work together to transform the city into a sustainable urban place with a strong vibrant core. We have all the resources to do it, but we just ignore the problem and hope things go back like the old days. Well they won't. But we all have a role individually and collectively in what our future will look like. It is up to us.

**Danny** · September-30-10, 03:02 PM

What! in a city with a population of 130,000 people! The second the largest suburb in Macomb County has its beautiful mostly white neighborhoods with jumbo size cookie cutter McMansions turn into a ghettohood since its income dropped.

I'll laugh to this HA HA HA!

WORD FROM THE STREET PROPHET

Because the Great Recession effects the middle class, turning them into welfare and food stamp recipients.

Neda, I miss you so.

**sirrealone** · October-01-10, 06:47 AM

I shake my head in sadness at the people who laugh with glee at news like this.

If Sterling Heights [[or *insert any other ring suburb*) declines, then what happens? Do they move away to avoid further decay? Probably. Where do they move? Most likely, it's not to the city of Detroit. Most likely, it's probably not even to another suburb. Most likely, it's not even going to be in Michigan.

So laugh it up, and make sure to wave to the moving van as it leaves Sterling Heights, because it'll surely have to pass through Detroit as it heads down I-75 on the way out of the state.

Still laughing?

**fanniemae** · October-01-10, 01:56 PM

Originally Posted by sirrealone

I shake my head in sadness at the people who laugh with glee at news like this.

If Sterling Heights [[or *insert any other ring suburb*) declines, then what happens? Do they move away to avoid further decay? Probably. Where do they move? Most likely, it's not to the city of Detroit. Most likely, it's probably not even to another suburb. Most likely, it's not even going to be in Michigan.

So laugh it up, and make sure to wave to the moving van as it leaves Sterling Heights, because it'll surely have to pass through Detroit as it heads down I-75 on the way out of the state.

Still laughing?

Sterling Hts is turning into Warren. Warren in the 60's was so fresh looking by all the new concrete, sidewalks and cheap housing with paper thin walls. Problem was it had no personality. Sterling Hts has the same personality. None. No real downtown center. Just square blocks of the same looking paper thin wall houses. There are the nice parks. Clinton River Park is a very nice neighborhood trail, biking park. Don't get me wrong, at one time SH was the ideal place to live for a lower middle class family . It still is not all that bad. Not great either. Beats Detroit and the ghetto. But it is a city declining. The housing values make the homeowners wince in pain. The population flight will level off in a few years. The housing values will not come back for many years even with inflation. Shelby Township has Stony Creek, Yates Cider mill. Off the top of my head, nothing comes to mind for SH. City planning at it's worst. During the late 1990's, early 2000's, the going was good, the city officials all got rich. Big salaries, great benefits. They still have most of those perks, while the city declined. Sadly , this is true in a lot of Michigan towns.

**Danny** · October-01-10, 02:27 PM

Will the last person in Sterling Heights please turn off the lights.

**fryar** · January-19-11, 09:40 PM

This reporting by the Freep seems relevant:

"Sterling Heights executive staff has agreed to a 4% reduction in wages and benefits this year. This is the third consecutive year the executive staff has agreed to reductions, bringing their total cuts to 10% over that period. The city council approved the cuts Tuesday.

The city is negotiating with its 11 other employee groups and expects to reach further voluntary agreements in the next few weeks.

Sterling Heights has seen its revenue decline over the last three years, primarily through declining property taxes and lower state revenue sharing. As a result, officials put in place $12 million in savings through a number of methods such as sharing services with neighboring communities, reducing staff, eliminating fixed pensions for some employees, outsourcing and reducing overtime."

**Hermod** · January-19-11, 10:12 PM

Sterling Heights shares a lot with Troy. They are both former townships that incorporated as cities to avoid neighboring cities "biting off chunks" through the annexation process. Neither has any kind of a recognizable village center [[closest was the little burg of "Big Beaver" in Troy Township on Rochester Rd just north 0f 16 Mile/Big Beaver).

NorthEndere · January-20-11, 04:57 AM

Maybe aesthetically. But, functionally, Sterling Heights is a lot more like Livonia and Warren. These three all became industrial powerhouses along major rail lines with huge industrial corridors as industry left Detroit; it's why all three are the only cities in the area with over 100,000 [[well, Livonia has likely fallen a bit below that). All three of these are major auto manufacturing suburbs. If Sterling Heights wants to see its future if it continues as-is, it can look at the other two, which are slightly older and more matured.

**ghettopalmetto** · January-20-11, 08:57 AM

Incomes are dropping in Sterling Heights? PANIC! Better pack-up and move to a plowed-under orchard in Romeo before things get REALLY dicey!

**Hermod** · January-20-11, 09:33 AM

It is strange that Sterling Township had no real villages or other population centers. While the Michigan Central RR ran right through the township from the middle of the 19th century, none of the older official guides [[looked in 1893, 1910, and 1916) note any station stops between Warren and Utica. Shelby Township, Macomb Township, and Ray township had identifiable villages to serve the surrounding farmers. It would appear that Sterling just exploded into suburbia.

**Mikeg** · January-20-11, 10:34 AM

Originally Posted by Hermod

It is strange that Sterling Township had no real villages or other population centers. While the Michigan Central RR ran right through the township from the middle of the 19th century, none of the older official guides [[looked in 1893, 1910, and 1916) note any station stops between Warren and Utica. Shelby Township, Macomb Township, and Ray township had identifiable villages to serve the surrounding farmers. It would appear that Sterling just exploded into suburbia.

According to my 1895 plat maps, the Utica MCRR station was actually located in Sterling Twp. It was on the southeast side of Greeley St. and the RR tracks. The Utica village limits ran west down the center of Greeley St., then north along the RR tracks.

The south end of Sterling Twp. was serviced by the Spinnings Station. which according to my 1875 plat map was located on the MCRR just a hundred feet or so south of the township line [[now 14 Mile Rd.) in Warren Twp. This station was adjacent to the property owned by Charles Spinnings in the 1870s. About three-quarters of a mile farther south was the Glenwood Station, which serviced Warren Village.

Sterling Twp was surrounded on all four sides by the villages/communities of Utica, Cady's Corners [[located at Moravian and Utica Roads), Warren Village and Big Beaver. They were all in close proximity to the township's borders and no Sterling Twp. resident needed to travel more than about three miles to get to a population center for their commercial and social needs.

The earliest commercial developments in Sterling Twp. occurred during the 1920s and were located either near the Twp. Hall on Van Dyke at Plumbrook or along the Clinton River and its tributaries. Most of these were recreational developments such as golf clubs, picnic grounds, etc. since the twp. was now within easy driving reach of city residents.

The earliest residential developments in the Twp. occurred in the late 1950s and early 60s and were in the southwest corner of the Twp. near Warren Village and in the areas east of Van Dyke between the Twp. Hall and Utica.

Industrial development came to Sterling Twp. in the early 1950s and was confined to the corridor in the sections along the RR track. The fact that there are virtually no residents living in the 5 sq. miles of the corridor south of 19 Mile Rd. makes it difficult for certain types of commercial uses to thrive along Van Dyke as well as Mound Rd.

The city of Sterling Heights has always operated lean and their property taxes reflected that. Now that the property values are falling and because they were on the knife's edge to begin with, they have to react quickly to reduce the costs of providing services - and to their credit, they are doing exactly that.

**Hermod** · January-20-11, 10:56 AM

Originally Posted by Mikeg

According to my 1895 plat maps, the Utica MCRR station was actually located in Sterling Twp. It was on the southeast side of Greeley St. and the RR tracks. The Utica village limits ran west down the center of Greeley St., then north along the RR tracks.

The south end of Sterling Twp. was serviced by the Spinnings Station. which according to my 1875 plat map was located on the MCRR just a hundred feet or so south of the township line [[now 14 Mile Rd.) in Warren Twp. This station was adjacent to the property owned by Charles Spinnings in the 1870s. About three-quarters of a mile farther south was the Glenwood Station, which serviced Warren Village.

Sterling Twp was surrounded on all four sides by the villages/communities of Utica, Cady's Corners [[located at Moravian and Utica Roads), Warren Village and Big Beaver. They were all in close proximity to the township's borders and no Sterling Twp. resident needed to travel more than about three miles to get to a population center for their commercial and social needs.

The earliest commercial developments in Sterling Twp. occurred during the 1920s and were located either near the Twp. Hall on Van Dyke at Plumbrook or along the Clinton River and its tributaries. Most of these were recreational developments such as golf clubs, picnic grounds, etc. since the twp. was now within easy driving reach of city residents.

The earliest residential developments in the Twp. occurred in the late 1950s and early 60s and were in the southeast corner of the Twp. near Warren Village and in the areas east of Van Dyke between the Twp. Hall and Utica.

Industrial development came to Sterling Twp. in the early 1950s and was confined to the corridor in the sections along the RR track. The fact that there are virtually no residents living in the 5 sq. miles of the corridor south of 19 Mile Rd. makes it difficult for certain types of commercial uses to thrive along Van Dyke as well as Mound Rd.

The city of Sterling Heights has always operated lean and their property taxes reflected that. Now that the property values are falling and because they were on the knife's edge to begin with, they have to react quickly to reduce the costs of providing services - and to their credit, they are doing exactly that.

I agree, the townships around Sterling seemed to have quite a few settled places. In addition to the ones that you have mentioned, there was Warren Village [[goes back quite a ways in history), Disco, Waldenburg, Meade, and Washington.

Sterling Twp just never had any[place that even looked like a town center.

As you noted, it is the home of several golf clubs in addition to quite a few public parks.

As a modern "anchor" facility, you have to include Lakeside Mall.

Mr. Houdini · January-20-11, 04:25 PM

Originally Posted by izzyindetroit

as Detroit goes, so does the rest of the country starting right here at home.

It used to be that way, but not anymore. I think what's happening in Michigan is solely a Detroit Metro Area phenomenon.

GUSHI · February-02-11, 01:55 AM

Originally Posted by goose

hall rd. Was the new 8 mile rd., get north of hall rd. While you could, now, it appears as if it's too late and anyone left will be stuck with decreasing home values, increased crime, deteriorating infrastructure, and poor quality schools....

It happens....

it happening in shelby

**Novine** · February-02-11, 05:14 PM

Almost everything posted here about declining incomes, property values, government revenue, etc. could be said about every suburb of Detroit. It's not something unique to Metro Detroit but it's hitting our communities harder, as the economic downturn is hitting Michigan harder. It's easy to see the future for these second-ring suburbs. They are following the same path as Southfield and Warren and Dearborn Heights. There is no option to hope for the return of the "growth machine" because they don't have enough vacant land to generate enough property tax growth to make a difference. Suburbs that rely on the same strategies they've used for the past 30 years are doomed to decline.

DetroitDad · February-02-11, 06:40 PM

But the same can not be said about the greater downtown area, which has also seen significant demographic shifts/mixes with age, income, and race.

Originally Posted by Novine

Almost everything posted here about declining incomes, property values, government revenue, etc. could be said about every suburb of Detroit. It's not something unique to Metro Detroit but it's hitting our communities harder, as the economic downturn is hitting Michigan harder. It's easy to see the future for these second-ring suburbs. They are following the same path as Southfield and Warren and Dearborn Heights. There is no option to hope for the return of the "growth machine" because they don't have enough vacant land to generate enough property tax growth to make a difference. Suburbs that rely on the same strategies they've used for the past 30 years are doomed to decline.

**mwilbert** · February-02-11, 11:14 PM

But the same can not be said about the greater downtown area, which has also seen significant demographic shifts/mixes with age, income, and race.

I expect that places with unique selling points will hold up better. The problem with Sterling Heights is that is a generic suburb, and there is no reason to live there rather than another generic suburb that is 20 years younger. For all of downtown's problems, if you want to live in that type of environment, there aren't a lot of alternatives in Metro Detroit.

**Mikeg** · February-02-11, 11:49 PM

Originally Posted by mwilbert

......The problem with Sterling Heights is that is a generic suburb, and there is no reason to live there rather than another generic suburb that is 20 years younger.......

Sterling Heights is a "generic suburb"?

How many other "generic suburbs" have businesses that employ a total of 58,000 workers - 15,000 of them in the manufacturing sector - and the tax base that comes along with it? [source, 2009 data]