Quote Originally Posted by corktownyuppie View Post
I'm curious about what you state about the attitudes in Birmingham. How did you arrive at the conclusion that Birmingham residents outraged about taxes and apathetic about public transit? It's not that I don't believe you, I had just never heard it put in those terms before.
Taxes in Birmingham are really, really high compared to "peer cities", and residents believe Birmingham schools and services are the same or worse. I hear this constantly from neighbors, and you see a similar theme from the online comments in Birmingham Eccentric [[newspaper).

Birmingham Schools generally trail Bloomfield Schools, yet we're being taxed a lot more than in Bloomfield Schools. Services are the same as in neighboring communities, yet we're paying a lot more. Assessments are way up, and I don't see the rise in sales comps.

This is relevant because it's why folks move to Birmingham in the first place. The whole appeal is schools and community, in a walkable format. They aren't moving here for the same reasons someone moves to Corktown, or Midtown, or even Royal Oak.

Birmingham thinks of itself as more of a walkable Bloomfield Hills than a snobby Royal Oak. I don't know if that makes sense, but I think it speaks to a disconnect between traditional snobbytown values "schools+community" and revitalizating inner suburb values "sustainable+diverse". Birmimgham is the former, but some folks in city govt. think it's the latter.