 
Jenniferl
Member
Username: Jenniferl
Post Number: 386
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, August 05, 2007 - 10:19 pm: |    |
Mackinaw wrote:
"I think that GP Woods is a police state. They are just locked down up there, and will pull anyone over for the smallest thing. GP Park police don't worry me. They are more realistic and down to earth, and let's face it, they need to be much more vigilant because of their location so close to well established crime, drug, and car theft rings. Policing = profiling, to a great extent."
A few years ago at WSU, we were having a discussion about the local cops and racial profiling. One of the white women in class worked in Grosse Pointe (not such which GP) and the cops kept pulling her over because she drove a beat-up old car. The black students were surprised to hear about a white woman getting the DWB treatment. IIRC, the consensus was that the Grosse Pointe cops profiled people according to race and class (or both), but that the Livonia cops only went after black people. |
Michmeister
Member
Username: Michmeister
Post Number: 216
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, August 05, 2007 - 10:20 pm: | |
Who are the Hmongs? I have been gone a while. |
Scs100
Member
Username: Scs100
Post Number: 1352
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, August 05, 2007 - 10:26 pm: | |
quote:Shit, I was at Dippin Dots on Mack the other day and saw 6 cars pulled over in roughly 20 minutes. What the fung is this all about?
A typical day on Mack... |
Danny
Member
Username: Danny
Post Number: 6323
Registered: 02-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, August 05, 2007 - 10:31 pm: | |
The Hmongs are Vietnamese mountian folks who left the Commie enforced country to live in the U.S.
A few Hmongs came to Detroit in the late 1960s as part of the immigration program. They settle around E. 7 Mile and Gratiot Ave. area. Today most of them are living in that area, but no full Hmong cultured community with their own shops and language. Also there are other Hmongs living in Harper Woods, Eastpointe, the 5 Snobbyvilles, St Clair Shores, Warren, Roseville, Clinton TWP. Sterling Heights, Macomb TWP Mt.Clemens and Harrison TWP. They are well hidden so try not to find them.
If you want to find very big Hmong community, go to St. Paul Minnesota. |
Jimaz
Member
Username: Jimaz
Post Number: 2852
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, August 05, 2007 - 10:57 pm: | |
There are some in Fresno, California too, or so I've heard. |
Pdombr
Member
Username: Pdombr
Post Number: 20
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, August 05, 2007 - 10:58 pm: | |
Danny knock off the Snobbyville shit. Not everyone who lives in the Pointes are snobs. Some of us are transplants from the D. |
Lowell
Board Administrator
Username: Lowell
Post Number: 4047
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, August 05, 2007 - 11:02 pm: | |
"Not everyone who lives in the Pointes are snobs."
Or rich either. |
Scs100
Member
Username: Scs100
Post Number: 1353
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, August 05, 2007 - 11:07 pm: | |
Yeah, look at me.  |
Chitaku
Member
Username: Chitaku
Post Number: 1533
Registered: 03-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, August 05, 2007 - 11:11 pm: | |
i thought you lived in scs? i lived on the 8 mack border and used all the gp businesses i like the village a lot too |
Scs100
Member
Username: Scs100
Post Number: 1354
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, August 05, 2007 - 11:11 pm: | |
The name was supposed to be misleading. I actually live in GP. |
Pdombr
Member
Username: Pdombr
Post Number: 21
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, August 05, 2007 - 11:15 pm: | |
Most residents of this area moved here for the school system. Thats why I stay. Lord knows it's not for the night life.
A lot of GP residents are average working class people. |
Mackinaw
Member
Username: Mackinaw
Post Number: 3480
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 12:19 am: | |
Oh, I remember the day early in my time on Dyes when I told Danny to knock off the "snobbyville" stuff...it won't go away. He has a moniker for everything. At least GP-ers aren't racists or Nazi's like Livonia folk.
Pdombr, you are correct. There's still an impressive number of super-rich and highly wealthy, but imagine a bell curve that favors household income 65k-100k, tailing off quickly below 55k (although many make less than this in W. GPP). That's not too far above average for American suburbia; I don't lump 'average' in for my description of many fellow GP-ers. Most are more sensible and a bit more intelligent than your average joe. There's a level of maturity associated with living so close to one of the most "dangerous" cities around. Likewise, it is sensible to live 6-9 miles away from downtown if you work downtown like many people there. I'd say that's long enough of a drive. Most people there laugh at their Oakland/Macomb county friends who have 30-60 minute commutes.
The same holds for Harper Woods people, it's just that their income bell curve peaks at a lower household income, and they have an uncanny love of ranch houses (but so do people in the GP North district )
Jenniferl, I can totally see that discussion unfolding at Wayne State, that great mixing bowl of students from all corners of metro Detroit... |
Pdombr
Member
Username: Pdombr
Post Number: 22
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 12:33 am: | |
Thanks Mackinaw, apparently being aware of your community and having standards makes one snobby.
I think I saw something a while back on the news about Livonia being the most segregated community in the area. At least the Pointes and Harper Woods has a lot of diversity. |
Mackinaw
Member
Username: Mackinaw
Post Number: 3483
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 12:47 am: | |
Well, not a lot by national standards, but pretty good by local standards. Not everyone looked like me at my high school. That was good enough. Plus you have wide variations in income among families at the public schools, and this adds an interesting element of diversity. I had never set foot inside any one of the clubs in GP. Some of my friends grew up at these clubs. Someone living near Jefferson was presumed to be far richer than someone near Mack, but we all still got along with each other. Seems like in modern suburbia you can actually differentiate and segregate amongst other people more readily. "Oh, you're from that subdivision? Our's is so much nicer...we have three car garages..." Even though there is a gradient of income increasing toward the lake in GP, there is no patent income stratification like there is in modern subdivisions, where each different tract has a "target" buyer-type.
The next census will show a small but noticeable increase in the black population in GP Park, and a very noticeable increase in Harper Woods and GP Woods. GP Park, as you probably know, attracts many immigrants (Albanian these days).
I'm wondering what the % of Chinese is in HW, and how many worshippers at that Mosque live in HW? |
Rhymeswithrawk
Member
Username: Rhymeswithrawk
Post Number: 856
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 3:52 am: | |
I thought I'd take a shot & start a thread regarding the city of Harper Woods for any & all who might be interested. I've searched the internet high & low and cant seem to find much about my little town. So feel free to discuss/comment!
Never heard of it. Sounds woody, though. |
Dave70
Member
Username: Dave70
Post Number: 4
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 8:09 am: | |
Well it's good to hear that the shops are in good shape.
Just driving by, that strip looked pretty shabby.
Like it needs a good cleaning/face lift. lol It was still nice looking at least in the early 90s I recall.
Then I remember Polla's market, and an italian bakery, Bike shop, Merit drugs, hardware store, offices for dentists or doctors, TJs diner, maybe a shoe store or shoemaker... etc. |
Mauser765
Member
Username: Mauser765
Post Number: 1740
Registered: 01-2004
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 11:06 am: | |
"A few Hmongs came to Detroit in the late 1960s as part of the immigration program."
The largest population of Hmongs outside of their native lands (they are a country and nationless people) is currently in southern Warren. The primary industry trade that they do in the area is nail shops. Like the one at Eastland that you can smell a mile away.
I didnt personally mean to bash any residents of the Pointes - hell, some of my best friends....
Naw really, I work in those communities all the time, the peeps are usually quite charming.
Heres another alarming trend in Harper Woods, a HUGE surge in pitbull breeding. They considered local ordinances, but realized that they already had them and just dont enforce them. (Thats usually the case when people want new laws, even the Fed)
When my grandparents bought this land, Harper Woods was not incorporated yet - it was Gratiot Township, but not all of it. The surrounding communities fought over the land and wanted to absorb it - Detroit, East Detroit, Grosse Pointe Woods. The city hall flag has a plaque that reads "Gratiot Township". If you go inside they have a few photos of the original farm houses and such, as well as the drive in theater that used to be near here.
My mother remembers Eastland as a field, and across 8 mile was very wooded. North of that was "the boonies". The residents of this area fought bitterly against the Interstate 94 project which cut the land area in half, and quite obviously lost.
When I was a kid I remember this city as picture perfect and manicured, like a city of pristine dollhouses. In the winter, the city would plow sidewalks with a little snow plow machine. My mother and uncle recall digging up sea shells and indian arrowheads and pottery shards in the backyard.
In 1967 the Army Corp of Engineers did a study on the massive shrinking and sinking of the region. The results were not good, they said "sorry folks".
First thing I did here was demolish and rebuild the front porch. I could find no porch on my street that was not replaced or that did not show the same damage from sinking. Then I had to repair foundation issues caused by sinking and shrinking ground. This time of year the ground dries up and shrinks, pulling away from the foundation.
We are almost done building the new high school, as the old one is shattered and sinking. It will be demolished soon. Ive worked in the old school numerous times, and the walls all have zig zag cracks everywhere, like somebody dropped a hard boiled egg on the ground. |
Newport1128
Member
Username: Newport1128
Post Number: 83
Registered: 05-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 11:15 am: | |
Mauser, Grosse Pointe Woods has the same problem with porches, driveways and foundations sagging and cracking. I understand it's because the land was once a marsh and, rather than divert the small streams that created it, they just filled in the land and built houses. |
Newport1128
Member
Username: Newport1128
Post Number: 84
Registered: 05-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 11:23 am: | |
Danny: "The School district fo Harper Woods is now joined to Grosse Pointe Woods"
When did that happen? The northern end of Harper Woods has been in the Grosse Pointe school district for many years. The kids there attend Poupard Elementary, Parcells MS and Grosse Pointe North HS. The rest of Harper Woods (south of about Allard) was Harper Woods Schools. |
Meaghansdad
Member
Username: Meaghansdad
Post Number: 25
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 11:41 am: | |
I grew up on the Eastside, so I'm keenly aware of the racism that blacks have (and continue) to suffer in Harper Woods. But with the real estate market the way it is, and the black middle class doing as well as they have since the boom period of the plants, Harper Woods will be predominantly black in 10 years.
As clear as it is for residents to see, the city government has to have forecasted this.
Having said that, political attitudes will be forced to change. No longer will these racists police officers be free to run rampant and harass poor black children at Eastland Mall, they'll be forced to interact with Black professionals who make twice as much and have enough education/soft skills, and understanding of the legal system to advocate for themselves.
My wife and I recently purchased a home in Harper Woods on Danbury Lane. I must say that I couldnt be happier. We couldve afforded to move wherever we chose, but decided on this location because of its proximity to everything, the excellent city services (I can actually RECYCLE!!), and the diversity. |
Dan_the_man
Member
Username: Dan_the_man
Post Number: 21
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 11:46 am: | |
Newport, it never did happen. Danny seems to have gotten some false information from somewhere. |
Dan_the_man
Member
Username: Dan_the_man
Post Number: 22
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 11:48 am: | |
Hey Meaghansdad, I too am a Danbury resident. |
Iheartthed
Member
Username: Iheartthed
Post Number: 1300
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 12:05 pm: | |
^That sinking thing is a problem in northwest Detroit too. Probably not as bad as the northeast side though... |
Meaghansdad
Member
Username: Meaghansdad
Post Number: 27
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 12:12 pm: | |
Dan_the_man,
We recently moved into the darker (grey or green) home in the middle of the block. Were you involved in the block sale? |
Mackinaw
Member
Username: Mackinaw
Post Number: 3487
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 12:38 pm: | |
The sinking problem was probably caused by rushed building and poor planning in the 50s. I've never heard of that problem in the southern/western Pointes or the lower east side, and many of these neighborhoods were built on marshy ground (Windmill Pointe and the Fox Creek neighborhood, i.e.). |
Mauser765
Member
Username: Mauser765
Post Number: 1741
Registered: 01-2004
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 2:00 pm: | |
"Harper Woods will be predominantly black in 10 years. "
Id put that more at about 18 months. Id also guess that the house values are still as high as they are because of all the african americans moving in. The houses are still selling - slowly but steadily.
St Clair Shores has even worse sinking and drainage problems. When I was about 1 our basement there filled to the top step more than a few times. I remember stories of my grandfather removing motors from the appliances in the basement and baking them to dry the water out. My brother kept asking why he couldnt play in it. ....ew. Lets just say it wasnt all rainwater.
Meaghansdad and Dan_the_man - sfunny, I also met my neighbor while on this forum, and he lived right behind me ! He recently evacuated tho. |
Meaghansdad
Member
Username: Meaghansdad
Post Number: 32
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 2:03 pm: | |
Mauser,
Are you in HW? |
Patrick
Member
Username: Patrick
Post Number: 4779
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 2:10 pm: | |
Danbury Lane? I knew a kid who lived at the end but moved not long ago. bwasn't there a bad murder not long ago on Danbury? |
Mauser765
Member
Username: Mauser765
Post Number: 1742
Registered: 01-2004
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 2:19 pm: | |
Lochmoor Street |