[tdhoneybee]

I currently live in Traverse City and need an alternative place in Northern Michigan on either coast, Upper or Northern-Lower peninsula that is clean, has beautiful water and nice trees. Organic groceries and a good quality of life with doctors and things like that are also important.

Traverse City has become way too touristy and too many people have moved in from all over. There is no housing here and it’s way too expensive. The traffic is insane in the summer and there are just so many accidents all the time. I’m really concerned about driving and surviving the summer without a serious wreck. All the shopping is crammed together in one area and Walmart has become a haven for criminals. The thing about Traverse City is it’s got one Walmart and one Target and if you don’t like them for whatever reason, you’re stuck. The winter is very gray and there hasn’t been much snow in quite a few years. This year the winter has been much nicer than normal because it’s been an El Niño year but still, it’s been hard to get through the winter here. Everyone lives here for the summer and then you get to the summer and there’s like no public boat access or nice beaches because everything is privately owned. What there is here for the public is few and far between and the access to it is so over crowded with hours long lines of people trying to launch their boats. The waterfront is completely congested no matter where you go, always lined with houses or businesses. Most places you’re just lucky to get peaks of the water. There really is no pathway along the water that you can just walk or ride your bike, it’s all houses and private property. The city does not have traffic lights where they desperately need them and you can literally get caught coming out of the Mercado building or trying to get onto US 31 and you will get stuck for, no kidding, literal hours if you’re in the wrong lane. By the wrong lane, I don’t literally mean you’re in the wrong lane but you’re just in a lane that will not allow you to ever get on the road because of the nonstop traffic that goes on for hours and hours. The city is not doing anything to curb this. In fact, they’re doing everything to make it worse. So many new hotels have gone up this year and so many new apartment buildings have been built and it’s all being used for Airbnb and tourism. The cost to do anything here, including going out to eat or just grabbing a coffee is insane. I am a high earner but this place is wrecking me financially. There’s no housing and the housing that is here and available is overpriced junk. For whatever reason my allergies have been awful this year, and my husband has developed asthma for the first time in his life as a 30 something. People are really insane about living here and it’s a place to live like any other place. The ER has 30+ hour waits. The area is not a safe as it once was and is now the cocaine capital of the United States. This shows in the summertime with the drivers because it’s extremely dangerous to be on the road as I mentioned before.

I just want a safer, quieter, calmer and cheaper type of place to live in Northern Michigan. Do you have any suggestions?

[CrowGirl]

You may find some good suggestions in this thread: https://www.city-data.com/forum/mich...-michigan.html

[michigan91]

Originally Posted by tdhoneybee

There really is no pathway along the water that you can just walk or ride your bike, it’s all houses and private property.

The beach itself is the walkway. There are no truly private beaches along the Great Lakes in Michigan. The public has the legal right to walk along the beach up to something like the high water line. If someone has a fence up on the beach, I would open it up or take it down without damaging it.