Is Ann Arbor part of Detroit? (Warren, Flint: living in, shop, agricultural)

[timeofseasons]

Originally Posted by JmanAA

I think Ann Arbor is a great city to have in the Detroit area (metro or not), and I think the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti area combined really do provide an alternative for those living in Southeastern Michigan. Detroit is a great city for live performances and theatricals with the Fox Theater and the Masonic Temple, but Ann Arbor certainly takes the cake in film with the Ann Arbor film festival. Detroit has professional sports while Ann Arbor has (or use to have) excellent collegiate sports with the Michigan Wolverines. East Lansing is only an hour and a half north of Ann Arbor if you're alittle...Green . Detroit does have some nice festivals (that I never went to) such as the Jazz/Blues festival, culinary festival (forget the name of it), Electronic festival, etc., which are all cool, and Ann Arbor has the largest street art festival in North America (literally) known as the Ann Arbor Art Fair. In alot of ways, Ann Arbor is like a smaller San Francisco, and I think that's one very special think Ann Arbor brings to the Detroit area. Ann Arbor, as many of you know, is very liberal, progressive, certainly very educated and prosperous (even though I was poor when I was growing up there), artsy, vibrant, gay-friendly, doesn't have the racial tensions that are apparent in parts of the Detroit metro, good city for interracial dating, etc.

Ann Arbor is also home to the annual "Hash Bash" (first Saturday of every April), and has some of the most relaxed and lenient marijuana laws in the nation (last I checked, you'll only get a $20 ticket for possession of marijuana). Ann Arbor use to be home of a "Folsom-typed" event known as the "Naked Mile" that took place on South University and started out as an annual UofM tradition among some of the graduating seniors, but got waaaaay too out of hand with the large crowd that it attracted (ten thousand people, believe it or not) along with misconduct from some of the spectators, and they had to, sort of, shut it down. As mentioned, there's Ypsilanti nearby that offers an edgier alternative to the Ann Arbor vibe (if you've hung out at both cities, you'll know the difference).

My point, Ann Arbor is a great city that offers alot of very interesting things in Southeastern Michigan. I think Ann Arbor does benefit from Detroit, but I also think Detroit (and it's inner ring suburbs) also benefit from having Ann Arbor nearby. I should mention that Ann Arbor is also a very "Green" city. Hell, in my household, we never thought twice about recycling all of our papers and cardboard and glass and everything else we could recyle, and leaving it in the designated recycling bins on the curb to be picked up, and we were of the less-prosperous kind. So that tells you how progressive Ann Arbor is, and how progressive and forward-minded us Ann Arborites are.

First I would like to state that much of what you described is what is expected of a college town like Ann Arbor, Madison, Iowa City, East Lansing, Evanston ( yes it's apart of the Chicago metro as is Aurora), Boulder and the list goes on. Qualities that you are describing are it's college town aspects. I also should note that Ann Arbor is in no way comparable to the world class city San Francisco.

I've never thought of AA as part of the Detroit Metro.

It was only when I became slightly interested in Metro Detroit, that I realized that AA is somewhat considered like that to Metro Detroit people.

If you are from anywhere else in the State, AA and Metro Detroit are two very distinct different places.

I live in the Lansing area ( and Iowa City) and everyone I know throughout the state agree and have always known Ann Arbor as part of Detroit metro. As I've mention above, the only difference between the two is Interstate 275.

[citygirl182]

Ann Arbor is its own little city. I mean, it is located close to Detroit but it is technically too big to be a suburb. It has its own downtown, and people that live in Ann Arbor don't say "I'm from Detroit" since Ann Arbor is very well known.

[timeofseasons]

Originally Posted by citygirl182

Ann Arbor is its own little city. I mean, it is located close to Detroit but it is technically too big to be a suburb. It has its own downtown, and people that live in Ann Arbor don't say "I'm from Detroit" since Ann Arbor is very well known.

Aurora, Joliet, Naperville, Elgin and plus are all larger than Ann Arbor and considered apart of the Chicago metro. The city of Chiago has nearly 3 million people but metro well over 8 million. It doesnt matter if Ann Arbor has about 100k people, it's in Detroit metro.

[313Weather]

Originally Posted by timeofseasons

it's in Detroit metro like Lansing-East Lansing.

I disagree with Lansing. It's like Peoria to Chicago.

[timeofseasons]

Originally Posted by 313Weather

I disagree with Lansing. It's like Peoria to Chicago.

Oh ofcourse, Lansing-East Lansing is not in the Detroit metro, Lansing-East Lansing is its own little metro but I'm stating that Ann Arbor is to Detroit as East Lansing is to Lansing.

[canudigit]

Detroit and its suburbs that make up the Detroit metro area are all contiguous. There is a large amount of rural, open area between the western most suburbs like Canton or Plymouth and Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor is its own entity. Greater Washtenaw is not greater Detroit.

[Bhaalspawn]

Yes. I think Ann Arbor is part of the Detroit metro region. It just isn't very far away and has excellent freeway access. There's little in terms of distance and driving time to prevent people from Ann Arbor from doing things in other parts of the Detroit metro area and vice-versa.

[Ypsi the Clown]

Originally Posted by J'aimeDesVilles

Thanks to all of you for your responses.

It seems so far everyone feels it is not part of metro Detroit. I'm kind of surprised. I expected a more even split.

Interesting point about Ypsi Tuebor. Perhaps because I live near Ypsi and often go into Canton (which is definitely in metro Detroit) my perspective is skewed.

I think the UM presence definitely plays a large part in A2's autonomy. Still, from a media standpoint A2 doesn't have a leg to stand on and is very much connected to the metro area.

Looking forward to more postings!

Detroit is east of Ann Arbor,,,Ypsilanti is east of Ann Arbor;therefore, Ypsi is metro detroit.

Also, Ypsilanti is referred to as the "Corridor of Detroit"(as well as is Belleville). Then following is the "Gateway of Detroit" and that is composed of Romulus and its surrounding cities(Wayne, Inkster, Canton, Westland etc.).

The "corridor" is where the detroit area begins, which is the Ypsilanti/Belleville/Willow Run area, following that is the "gateway" which is specifically Romulus because the airport is the "gateway" to get into the city from outside the state.

giant ass ann arbor just happens to be next to ypsi and is convienient for people in Ypsi to work, go to school, or see some Big Ten football.

The "county" difference doesnt matter. It's all about east/west north/south.

I hope this helps!

[Chicagoland60426]

Originally Posted by 313Weather

Yes & No, Ann Arbor's health & future is dependent on Detroit's economy. Ann Arbor shares Detroit's NWS and generally utilizes Detroit's media stations.

It's like Rockford to Chicago.

But Rockford have its own news media. Not just a local newspaper, but the "9 o'clock news" with local anchors telling the stories and weathermen just like any stand alone metro. Is Ann Arbor independence on that level?http://www.wrex.com/

Similar to Ann Arbor, there is a large enough patch of mostly countryside(Boone County) that seperate us from Rockford and the same for Milwaukee. Now that I mention it, its kind of cool to be only 90-100 miles away from another major city and metro.

[Roy Heizer]

No.