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What makes the Michigan forum so successful?


MJLO

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Me too. :D

I think I found out about this forum by finding some old pictures of Chicago, and then learning that there was a whole UP website. Being from GR, naturally I gravitated there.

I agree with GRDad -- at least when I lived there, people in GR really had nothing to do with Detroit (which meant not only the city, but also the metro area.) I suppose that is more true now. And, if you read the GR Press editorial pages, they raise a constant war cry about the West Side of the state being screwed by the East, at least in terms of state funding.

I think that city rivalries are natural. I lived in Chattanooga one summer, and one Chattanoogan that I knew used to refer to Knoxville as "Noxiousville." I am sure that folks in Knoxville had and have choice names for the capital of Southeast Tennessee.

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well I think it's a little different than Chattanooga, and Knoxville. They are similar in size, and region. Grand Rapids and Detroit are much different not just by the fact that Metro Detroit is a major international city, dwarfing Grand Rapids. They are also light years apart culturally, I'd say Grand Rapids and Detroits differences, would be more akin to a Philly/ Pittsburgh type of way.

this post has been edited and spell checked for LA Dave ;)

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well I think it's a little different than Chattanooga, and Knoxville. They are similar in size, and region. Grand Rapids and Detroit are much different not just by the fact that Metro Detroit is a major international city, dwarfing Grand Rapids. They are also light years apart culturally, I'd say Grand Rapids and Detroits differences, would be more akin to a Philly/ Pittsburg type of way.

Uh -- it's PittsburgH.

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  • 2 weeks later...

And Grand Rapids acts as a progressive region, whereas Detroit falls apart in miserable fragments. That's probably the biggest cultural difference, IMO.

Culturally Detroit is much more progressive and libral than GR, Detroit is far more democratic and libral than the GR region which known as being quite conservative and votes that way too.

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Indeed, it may be so, but I was referring more to the city/suburb relationship that scars the Detroit Metro as well as the state of Michigan.

Yah, I would say that collectively, GR is more "forward-thinking" than the Detroit area when it comes to urban planning, transit, regional cooperation and all that stuff. Gotta be careful with the word "progressive". ;)

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Yah, I would say that collectively, GR is more "forward-thinking" than the Detroit area when it comes to urban planning, transit, regional cooperation and all that stuff. Gotta be careful with the word "progressive". ;)

I would say Detroit definately falls behind on regional cooperation, but thats largely due to the city of Detroit itself, I think the suburbs aren't as bad with it. Also with transit Detroit lags pretty severly, but I'm not so sure that GR is much better, and I don't know enough about urban planning in either to give an opinion, but I know that there are plenty of urban developments going up in Detroit's suburbs and at least a few in GR's.

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I disagree. Detroit is actually doing quite well given its circumstances. From my point of view, suburban Detroit touts itself as being so rich and wealthy, which is true, so where is all the "success"? Instead, all we really see is uncontrolled sprawl. Detroit is actually reaching out to the suburbs and some of the suburbs reaching in to Detroit, but at the end of the day, there's little cooperation by elected officials and other power-holding officials. I think that's where the corruption lies, and then you add on top of that all the little petty things that the news media exploits, and you have a pretty sad take on what really could be a progressive region.

I'm not saying I blame the suburbs, but if they claim to be so powerful, then why aren't they driving our economy out of the downward spiral we're in? Other powerful economies throughout the USA take responsibilities for their economic conditions, but they are usually central-city focused places like Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, LA, Houston, etc...

(this is just my heavy-winded opinion). :)

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THe suburbs aren't powerful largly due to the fact that they are only townships, and as Lmich is well read on, townships in Michigan are almost as powerful as incorporated cities but not powerful enough to make real policy. Also, I was reffering more to the older suburbs, like Royal Oak and the other ones that used to be seperate cities.

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That was my point. Townships in MI have too much power. Who lives in them? The wealthy who are taking over former agriculture land and the lower-to-middle class. This is in addition to the wealth of the middle burbs too (ie, the Bloomfields, the Novis, the Birminghams, etc...)

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"Progressive" is a tricky word. It does not necessarily coincide with "liberals". Remember, Teddy Roosevelt is considered one of the great progressives, and he was a rather conservative politician. That being said, GR is a much more progressive metro area than Detroit in terms of regional cooperation, environmental friendly design, transit, etc.

As for the whole Michigan/UP thing. I think it is just a reflection of how much people in Michigan love their cities. Even people who live in the burbs still love to take pride in the cities, even if they won't admit it.

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THe suburbs aren't powerful largly due to the fact that they are only townships, and as Lmich is well read on, townships in Michigan are almost as powerful as incorporated cities but not powerful enough to make real policy. Also, I was reffering more to the older suburbs, like Royal Oak and the other ones that used to be seperate cities.

Are you familiar with the Michigan Townships Association? They are probably one of the most, if not the most, powerful lobbies in Lansing. They have their hand/voice in almost any land use issue that is being debated.

It's not that the Detroit suburbs aren't powerful and can't make policy, it's that there is no cooperation among the suburbs. Even organizations such as the Michgan Suburbs Alliance to this point have little say in regional policy. And it doesn't matter how much the suburbs get along, if Detroit isn't with them, then it doesn't mean a thing.

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As for the whole Michigan/UP thing. I think it is just a reflection of how much people in Michigan love their cities. Even people who live in the burbs still love to take pride in the cities, even if they won't admit it.

Yes, I totally agree with you. You touch upon a very important subject. The whole purpose of suburb creation was for people fleeing the central city to form their own communities far enough away from the corruption, filth, disfunctional inner city, yet close enough to reap every benefit the city provides without having to pay for it...or be burdened from it. That's the way our system is set up and that's the way it will continue to be...at least for the near future.

So, now you have people fleeing the suburbs because they are "too urban". YES, that tone has been stated many times here in the Detroit area. Since the next "ring" out of the suburbs is traditionally township, THAT'S where the latest and greatest are ending up. And they are putting up their guards as if to say no one else can follow because the suburbs are not welcome where we are fleeing to.

The irony behind this is 3 years down the road when those new township settlers ban together to build themselves a downtown and start to complain that there's no retail, infrastruture, or services reaching them. Since they are the richest, their voices are heard first.

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  • 1 month later...

Michigan has passed Florida today to become the second most posted in state on UP. Just a tad bit of useless info, but I think it points to the great representation we have in our state on this forum. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

a lot of people from detroit have pride too, and there are many forums about Detroit that are very active besides Urban Planet.And who said that GR was taking away from Detroit?And also, im pretty sure the cityof GR's population has been falling, although its starting to level off.

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Maybe because people from Grand Rapids take pride in their city, and are therefore active posters? Maybe because people love downtown and are excited when new developments are announced? I don
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The Grand Rapids forum, is a kind of super forum. But AMCfan, The Detroit forum is very active on this site too. And the other Michigan subforums are fairly active. It's not JUST Grand Rapids, it's the entire state has great representation. I really don't like all this east/west talk that goes on in here sometimes. Detroit is a GREAT city. It has it's problems, but the architecture, and history are absolutely captivating. It's easy to do a little Detroit bashing. But do a little homework man, the Detroit forum is one of the busiest city subforums on the site. And that's amazing when you consider all the websites out there just dedicated forums to Detroit. I didn't title this thread why is the Grand Rapids section so successful. The whole state has taken off on here.

Thanks for setting us straight Matt! :thumbsup:

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I'm glad someone did, because I'm increasingly seeing quite a few disturbing instances of people going beyond civic pride to petty city boosterism. I hope we can keep that to a low, as that kind of attitude can really turn off a lot of potential forumers to this board. It's unfortunate to see a little bit of success go to certain people's heads when they talk about their city, if you know what I mean.

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What makes the MI forum so successful is that MI is such a great state! Whether your from the old school rust belt side of Detroit, Flint, Saginaw, etc. or your from the center of the state Lansing, or from the 'new side' GR, K-Zoo, etc. Regardless MI is a GREAT STATE! Having left MI and lived all over the country you ALWAYS know you're at home when you've met somebody else from MI. You can always relate to the same things, miss the same things, reminice about the same things...Most people I've met from MI always have a desire somewhere deep down to go back 'home'. You just don't find that with many other places. I can name several places where people from there come in contact w/each other and you would think they are from different planets, let alone the same state/city. But MI...you always know when you've run into a fellow Michigander!

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