Quote Originally Posted by Towne Cluber View Post
Erikd, likewise your assessment and comparison of Hazel Park and Ferndale is inaccurate and revisionist. The same certainly goes for any comparison with Royal Oak.

1. Ferndale, both north as well as west of its downtown in particular, has a much nicer stock of housing than anything found in Hazel Park.

2. Ferndale benefits greatly from its proximity to Woodward Avenue. John R in Hazel Park isn't even close.

3. The "traditional Main Street buildings" that you spoke of in Hazel Park consisted of outdated-then dilapidated-then abandoned Holiday Inn on one corner [[replaced with a CVS and Tim Horton's) and two strip malls that were torn down and replaced with another two strip malls.

4. Ferndale always had a core of traditional Main Street buildings whereas there was nothing even remotely close in Hazel Park.

In fact, Ferndale's resurgence benefited from the above mentioned points along with:

1. Narrowing 9 Mile in its main street downtown, reducing the speed limit there, adding parallel parking, and decorative landscaping.

2. The addition of bars/restaurants/some stores/a loft building catering to a younger population.

3. Marketing itself the the gay and lesbian population.

I'll respond point-by-point:

1. I will cede to your point of Ferndale having nicer housing stock in some areas, specifically north and west of downtown. The housing stock south east of downtown Ferndale is very similar to the adjacent neighborhoods in Hazel Park, but you are correct that that isn't the case for all of Ferndale.

2. Ferndale has benefitted recently from it's proximity to Woodward, but Hazel Park "benefitted" from I-75, and actually had much more new construction and investment in their downtown than Ferndale did for most of the second half of the 20th century.

3 & 4. Hazel Park had traditional main street buildings along John R and 9 Mile. Most of them were demolished to make way for the strip malls and Holiday Inn. Check out this picture of John R and 9 Mile from the 1950s: http://freepages.history.rootsweb.an...cal/9johnr.jpg

As far as your points on Ferndale's resurgence, I think we are pretty much in agreement. In recent years, Ferndale has invested in traditional storefront buildings and pedestrian friendly infrastructure, while Hazel Park has been investing in more strip malls and auto-centric developments.