"Follow General Motors' lead: Live in Detroit" From this Sundays Free Press

**iheartthed** · June-07-09, 11:12 PM

Originally Posted by Retroit

As usual, people fail to make the distinction between downtown Detroit and the rest of the city. How does living in the Millender Center compare with living on a typical street outside of downtown? Of course Detroit is a safe and beautiful city when you can live in an exclusive, security controlled high-rise. But try telling that to someone that lives on a street where 1/3 of the homes have been torn down, 1/3 are vacant, and 1/3 are inhabited by people who are repeated victims or perpetrators of crimes.

I don't get what point you are trying to make. Yes, Detroit has decay, and I don't think anyone has tried to deny that. And yeah, the Millender Center may not be representative of the average Detroit neighborhood, everybody gets that too. But you also can't find anything similar to the Millender Center in any of Detroit's suburbs either. So those who desire that type of environment should move to Detroit and live it.

Retroit · June-08-09, 12:09 AM

I think you did get my point based on your response. Yes, downtown has gotten better every year. That is great & wonderful. But you can't deny that the vast majority of Detroit has deteriorated at an alarming rate. Sure, Corktown is nice and there are other nice areas. But you have to look at the whole city in its entirety.

So my point is that Detroit's neighborhoods can be divided into 3 areas:

Downtown: nice if you can afford it and prefer that type of living
A few nice areas with very dedicated residents
A lot of struggling neighborhoods that no one wants to talk about because to do so means you must be a racist who hates Detroit and only want to discourage outsiders from moving to such a safe city.

**iheartthed** · June-08-09, 08:41 AM

Originally Posted by Retroit

I think you did get my point based on your response.

Unfortunately, the only thing that I got is that you had nothing useful to add to the discussion at hand.

crawford · June-08-09, 05:15 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

But you also can't find anything similar to the Millender Center in any of Detroit's suburbs either. So those who desire that type of environment should move to Detroit and live it.

What? Downtown Birmingham and Royal Oak have tons of condo and rental buildings, and, unlike Millender Center, they are surrounded by vibrant neighborhoods with tons of shops, restaurants and nightlife.

Millender Center is a government-subsidized 1980's apartment-hotel complex on top of a giant parking garage. It's mostly surrounded by offices and parking. Greektown is nearby, which is nice, but that neighborhood does not have comparable offerings to Old Woodward/Maple or Main/11 Mile.

If you want an urban lifestyle in metro Detroit, the best option for most people is probably the Woodward Corridor in Oakland County. Midtown around Wayne State is a possible second option. Lafayette Park and Corktown are possibilites. I would not include the Millender Center as a premiere example of an urban community.

**iheartthed** · June-08-09, 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by crawford

What? Downtown Birmingham and Royal Oak have tons of condo and rental buildings, and, unlike Millender Center, they are surrounded by vibrant neighborhoods with tons of shops, restaurants and nightlife.

Millender Center is a government-subsidized 1980's apartment-hotel complex on top of a giant parking garage. It's mostly surrounded by offices and parking. Greektown is nearby, which is nice, but that neighborhood does not have comparable offerings to Old Woodward/Maple or Main/11 Mile.

If you want an urban lifestyle in metro Detroit, the best option for most people is probably the Woodward Corridor in Oakland County. Midtown around Wayne State is a possible second option. Lafayette Park and Corktown are possibilites. I would not include the Millender Center as a premiere example of an urban community.

Uh, there is nothing in Birmingham or Royal Oak that is like the Millender Center [[or any other high rise downtown). The first and most glaring difference about the Millender Center, which neither Birmingham nor Royal Oak offer, is that it is connected to the People Mover. Yeah, it's a joke of a train system... But a joke of a train system is much more than none at all.

I will stop here before I strike up another Detroit vs. Suburbs war of the words.