Previous entry: « Attack of the Crayfish!!! |
'West Bloomfield and Troy: Where it's not happening'
'West Bloomfield and Troy: Where it's not happening'
The Detroit Free Press is running a series of articles "exploring Gov. Jennifer Granholm's idea that Michigan needs to create 'cool cities' to keep young people from moving away." This series has been running for a few weeks or so, and they are up to Troy and West Bloomfield, of which they say:
It would be something of a stretch to call Troy and West Bloomfield "cool."
OK, some would consider it an outright lie.
I don't even live there and it makes me want to move away. Have they run out of cool cities already, so that they have to cover this? Maybe there are good things about Troy and West Bloomfield. Let's keep reading.
Troy and West Bloomfield are representative of many affluent communities in Michigan that simply don't need coolness to prosper. Housing values soar and strip malls multiply like gerbils despite the fact that both communities essentially pull their shades by 11 p.m.
What's that I hear? Is it the sound of young Troy-and-West-Bloomfieldites picking up stakes?
Between 1990 and 2000, the number of 20- to 34-year-olds in Troy declined by 12 percent. In West Bloomfield, a community of 65,000 residents and 26 lakes, the drop was 20 percent.
Despite this trend, there has been little movement in either community to create the kind of defined, downtown entertainment hub that has brought young professionals -- and their wallets -- to Birmingham. One obvious reason for that is Troy and West Bloomfield have no downtowns. These communities are products of the auto age. They're geared for driving and parking, not walking. And they are filled with handsome brick homes and well-manicured yards, with subdivisions sporting vaguely English-sounding titles like Chatfield Commons. The artist lofts, smoky clubs and odd little shops seen in cities that evolved before the car are nowhere present. In their stead, Troy and West Bloomfield have chain restaurants, Linens 'n Things and Home Depot. [...]
In West Bloomfield, township officials are discussing the creation of a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood filled with shops and restaurants. [...]
Troy is likewise proud of its newly constructed community center, skateboard park and aquatic center, which have drawn teens and young professionals from the malls, at least for a while. [...]
The community center features an indoor pool and mini-water park and a huge health club. It also has a teen room, with a home-theater system, foosball, pool and air-hockey tables and video equipment. Though any teenager with aspirations of coolness will surely wince at the "This Place Rocks!" banners the city has plastered to the walls. [...]
I would like to point out that the previous sentence isn't really a sentence.
Troy officials say they hope to supplement these facilities one day with a conference center, hotel, amphitheater, butterfly garden and in-line skating paths.
For now, though, both communities seem content to stand outside the velvet rope of hipness and and have little desire to emulate Birmingham and Royal Oak.
So in the end, we come to the conclusion that Troy and West Bloomfield are cool because they have no young people and are packed with chain restaurants. Apparently this is what Michigan has to offer.
srah - Monday, 21 July 2003 - 1:43 PM
Tags: discovered
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.srah.net/mt421/mt-pings.cgi/2484
They had a decent bit on Dearborn last week, but I'm soooo biased against Dearborn (not for any good reason, just because I have family and a "friend" from there that I really can't stand) that they'd have to go a LONG damn way before I'd be inclined to go there and hang out.
I'm a little surprised to read about the population-decline trend, though, because I feel like I run across a fair number of people my age-ish that are moving to Troy and WB, because it is so darned suburban and supposedly more affordable than living in the coolest parts of RO or B'ham.
Of course I wouldn't want to live in Troy or WB, but that's just me. I don't even want to live in MI anymore, but that's only because it doesn't have the jobs that I want.
Where was I going with this?