How's Harper Woods These Days?

[Danny]

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!!!

[MrMichigan]

Just yesterday 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!!!

Shut up Danny

[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.

[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.

[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!)

[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.

[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.