Quote Originally Posted by Shollin View Post
The 80's. When I was younger it was never hip to live in Ferndale, and if memory serves me correctly, downtown Royal Oak was just a bunch of shuttered warehouses and small factories. They both continue to lose population and Ferndale's population loss is outpacing Hamtramck's loss. You're missing the whole point. It's about the potential. Someone realized the potential of the abandoned warehouses in Royal Oak and created a yuppie utopia. Before that it wasn't a desirable suburb. Hamtramck has the potential.
What? Little factories and warehouses? Yeah, those line Main and Washington. The reason Royal Oak and Ferndale has been losing population is because these were baby boomer suburbs. Their schools filled in the 50s to the 70s. But now, baby boomers have moved out to 100 Mile and Van Dyke and left their parents here, only to come back on Friday and Saturday nights. However, those children of the baby boomers, such as myself, are starting to move back into these communities, albeit at slow place. Downtown Royal Oak used to serve the Royal Oak community. It was, before the 90s, never a destination downtown like it is today.