How's Harper Woods These Days?

[Towne Cluber]

Ferndale black population is near 8 Mile/RO Township, and basically an extension of Detroit. Rest of Ferndale is lily-white. Birmingham and RO have very small Asian populations, unlike neighboring communities. Bloomfield Twp Asian population is well west of Woodward [[in fact well west of Telegraph) fitting the pattern.

Southern Oakland Communities along Woodward:

Pleasant Ridge is 94.7% white, and 1.9% black
Huntington Woods is 96.0% white and 1.0% black
Berkley is 93.3% white and 3.0% black
Birmingham is 92.3% white and 3.0% black

In contrast, Farmington, W. Bloomfield have large black populations, Troy, Farmington and Novi have large Asian populations, and W. Bloomfield has a huge Chaldean population. Obviously Southfield, LV, OP, and RO Twp are majority black.

Basically none of these "off Woodward" communities are more than 70% or so white, while the "on Woodward" communities tend to be 90%+ white.

Not sure about the rest of your post, as I obviously referred to resident population, not whether someone at a gas station happens to be nonwhite.

You don’t get to count communities east/west of Woodward for having larger minority populations while at the same time discount the minority populations of communities right along Woodward.

“Presence” doesn’t obviously mean “resident” and you clearly stated the former not the latter. Furthermore, minorities can work/patronize more than just gas stations!

[MrMichigan]

You don’t get to count communities east/west of Woodward for having larger minority populations while at the same time discount the minority populations of communities right along Woodward.

“Presence” doesn’t obviously mean “resident” and you clearly stated the former not the latter. Furthermore, minorities can work/patronize more than just gas stations!

It was pretty obvious that Bham meant the resident population when he talked about presence.

[Danny]

Shut up Danny

It's all in the news. I can't even walk down Beaconsfield St. anymore.

Harper Woods looks nice, not a single sign of open torn up abandon buildings and houses. Now a trace of blighted neighborhoods. But when you sell your homes folks who don't know how to keep inside of their homes up, they will mess up the outside of their homes. It happen in most Detroit ghetto hoods. I grew up in those hoods when it went from kids playing the streets until the streetlights come on until kids selling drugs and robbing people in the streets until the street lights come on.

[Margarite]

It's all in the news. I can't even walk down Beaconsfield St. anymore.

Danny, I live in Harper Woods and walk my dog on Beaconsfield every single day without incident. I refuse to live in fear and consider every other person walking on the street a threat.

[One Shot]

Danny, I live in Harper Woods and walk my dog on Beaconsfield every single day without incident. I refuse to live in fear and consider every other person walking on the street a threat.

There’s a saying called “asking for it”

[Jason]

I used to have family that lived in Harper Woods. Recently I was back there again and the blocks I was on looked EXACTLY the same as they did 15 years ago. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but it was like a time warp. Except the occasional person I saw was black instead of white.

However, I see more homeless people begging along the freeway in Harper Woods than I do in Detroit. But I also see homeless people all throughout Macomb County.

I haven't been inside of Eastland itself in years. But the hardware store outbuildings seem the same as always.

Grosse Pointe North is still one of the best high schools in the state, and Harper Woods is a great opportunity to access that without a lot of money. Harper Woods High is not good. South Lake High School in Saint Clair Shores was garbage 15 years ago [[totally incompetent administration and deadbeat teachers with zero accountability) and I'm sure it's worse now. Grosse Pointe Schools is an oasis.

Grosse Pointe is one of the few places in the entire east side of the metro area that has any sustainable future imo. Almost everything else is badly built tract housing, and unpleasant commercial corridors, with no intrinsic positive qualities. In 30 years Hall Road is going to look like Gratiot and Sterling Heights is going to look like Eastpointe, and future generations will keep on having the "move away and then visit decades later to see your childhood home abandoned" experience.

[eastland]

Anyone been to the Nona's pizza on Kelly since they moved from Harper? Looks like there is bullet-proof glass in the place.

[One Shot]

Anyone been to the Nona's pizza on Kelly since they moved from Harper? Looks like there is bullet-proof glass in the place.

Brave move for sure. Damn good slices tho!!!

[Maof]

Anyone been to the Nona's pizza on Kelly since they moved from Harper? Looks like there is bullet-proof glass in the place.

That was our go to pizza joint! Do you know where they moved to?

[One Shot]

That was our go to pizza joint! Do you know where they moved to?

Did you even read what your responding to??
Try google!

Is it still the same owners?

[Maof]

Did you even read what your responding to??
Try google!

Is it still the same owners?

Yes, misread it and I know what my options are. What do you care how i get my answer! Bye

[eastland]

Not sure of the sidestreet; I think it's about 5 blocks north of Moross on Kelly.

[Danny]

Danny, I live in Harper Woods and walk my dog on Beaconsfield every single day without incident. I refuse to live in fear and consider every other person walking on the street a threat.

Then be careful.

[jerrytimes]

I'm white and just moved here. I'm four houses outside of Grosse Pointe on the east side of Harper. A friend of mine live by Kelly and doesn't have any problems. It does seem that the vast majority of crime is by the Detroit borders. Before I lived here, I lived at 15 mils and Jefferson in Clinton Township near the Harrison Township border. There was a ton of crime there and feel much safer here. Plus, I'm closer to downtown Detroit!

[kathy2trips]

Try doing this: Go on Trulia, Zillow or any of the real estate sites and query homes for sale in 48225. Then look at the houses and see how many of them offer photos of the inside of the house. You can always tell: the long-time residents and those who bought the house, renovated and flipped - it always have nice interior photos. Those that were neglected by uncaring, valueless people never do. [[PS: I love the photos of the un-renovated kitchens and pink & black bathrooms. Please leave those alone!)

[Danny]

I'm white and just moved here. I'm four houses outside of Grosse Pointe on the east side of Harper. A friend of mine live by Kelly and doesn't have any problems. It does seem that the vast majority of crime is by the Detroit borders. Before I lived here, I lived at 15 mils and Jefferson in Clinton Township near the Harrison Township border. There was a ton of crime there and feel much safer here. Plus, I'm closer to downtown Detroit!

Of course the are some problems on 15 Mile Rd just east of the Gratiot Ave. When those projects were built since the 1960s lots of low-income black folks started to move there.

[kathy2trips]

Just recently there has been car windows being shot at by bb guns in some Harper Woods neighborhoods. H.W. police are looking for those hoodlums.

Be worried Grosse Pointe folks!!!

This thread is making this old-time neighborhood girl quite depressed, indeed. I've heard enough venting; how about some solutions?

My first childhood home was at the house my bricklayer father built for my grandparents in Detroit, just 150' from the HW-Detroit border at Kingsville. Years later, I moved back with my grandparents while I was finishing up at WSU and my parents moved to Texas.



Not to say there wasn't the occasional crime in in around HW. In August 1957, a guy who lived on Woodcrest went on a crime spree and it was front page news in big headlines. He robbed and beat several people on the street, including a 16 yr old girl working at a dry cleaners on Kelly Road before hanging himself in a garage of a vacant house just inside Detroit. Then there were the three "yutes" from HW and GPW who robbed a J.L. Hudsons sales clerk of $1.14 while she was walking home. from work. This crime also sported giant front page headlines.

The crime in HW today appears to be more frequent and insidious. What can be done? Well I have a few ideas.

1) Get rid of "open enrollment" at HW schools. It's just importing another school districts problems into their own. Not enough kids in school? See #4 & #5.

2) Closed Circuit Video cameras mounted on streetlights, buildings and everywhere possible, including Eastland, schools and the shops along Kelly. Enable HW police to monitor the cameras on public property in real time, with a computer command center on Kelly Road, which needs police presence anyway. All homeowners should have them too. Crime loves anonymity. Not only is it a preventive measure, but it's proof when a crime has been committed.

3) HW needs to supplement its income. They can't rely on Eastland for revenue. What entity could HW create that has an inherent demand? My idea: a municipal crime lab. Cases all over the country are sitting on shelves because there aren't enough facilities to test evidence. Municipalities that can't afford to pay HW for their services appeal to their states, which are happy to do so, just to get their pending caseloads cleared.

4) Limited residential redevelopment. Some of the housing in HW was put up in a hurry post-WWII just to give vets a place to live. The worst of these should be torn down and new, yet mid-century modern styled housing should be built, in keeping with the [[whatever is left of the) vintage charm of the area.

5) Limited commercial redevelopment. Any new construction or renovations should be in keeping with the mid-century vibe of the area. Folks LOVE these kind of neighborhoods and this would be a big draw on so many levels.

[stasu1213]

I feel that something creative should be done to the Eastland Mall site if the mall is razed. Some suggested that a Public Safety building should be put on the land. I think that it could be a mixture of public safety/retail/Cineplex. That area could generate revenue for Harper Woods. More independent stores and restaurants could open along Harper Avenue and parts of Kelley. You are right. Get rid of open enrollment for Harper Woods. Encourage home buying instead of renting. Whomever purchase a home in Harper Woods should be made to live in it instead of flipping it or renting it out to Section 8 or low income. Get rid of stores that attract hoodlums and troublemakers from Detroit if Eastland was to make a comeback. Block clubs should be reestablished having weekly or bi-weekly meetings every month about the going on in the city. Make the homes affordable so that the average working person whether blue collar or white collar including those from the art community could afford them. More art galleries and other entertainment or hobby venues should open in Harper Woods.

[eastland]

Looks like Nona's has closed already.

[bust]

how about some solutions?

Kathy, those are some interesting ideas. Except when I think of architecture in Harper Woods, aside from Eastland I think of the post-WWII stuff put up in a hurry. Where are some examples of the mid-century modern architecture people love? I don't doubt there aren't a few, but I'm struggling to remember them. And even if I'm mistaken, I wouldn't suggest a developer should be limited to any particular historical style. Build the best you can with what makes sense today.