Ann Arbor vs. Detroit (map, place, bigger, population)
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Ann Arbor has the Univeristy of Michigan, while Detroit is the Motor city and home to Ford and General Motors. One city is bustling admist the recession, and the other has one of the highest unemployment rates in the U.S. Nevertheless, both cities are great places. Choose which Michigan city, Ann Arbor or Detroit, you would live in, if such opportunity arose. Plus, why would you pick this particular city over its peer?
Ann Arbor due to being one of the most safest and populated suburbs of Detroit. It also consist of a great university ( University of Michigan). The city of Detroit is just dangerous ( one of the nations highest crime rate).
Ann Arbor is a suburb of Detroit. It is a very nice suburb that has a good city center (thanks to the University) and character of its own--it feels like a small city, with institutions of its own like the university and Zingerman's Deli, but it still relies on Detroit. Theoretically, I'd always prefer to live in the big city than in the suburb, but Detroit isn't really the most urban city, and there might be a vibrancy in Ann Arbor that there isn't yet in Detroit. Still, I'd be interested in giving Detroit a shot.
I would definitely choose Ann Arbor. Having grown up in the region, I really don't view Ann Arbor as a suburb of Detroit. The city is truly independent, and if anything, is it much more connected to Ypsilanti, Saline, and Dexter than what you would consider to be true Detroit suburbs like Grosse Pointe, Ferndale, or Dearborn. Really I view Plymouth as kind of the cut off city between the two regions.
Back on topic. Ann Arbor is a really vibrant town that offers something great to both students and residents of the city. There is really a great blending of the two communities. While the city is smaller (a little over 100,000) it still has great restaurants, a very nice downtown, an extensive library system, and a diverse population. The Ann Arbor region also has solid public transportation (another reason I separate it from the Detroit suburbs) which can take you easily around the area.
Detroit has some cool areas, but if I ever moved back to Michigan permanently, I would probably move to Ann Arbor.
Ann Arbor due to being one of the most safest and populated suburbs of Detroit. It also consist of a great university ( University of Michigan). The city of Detroit is just dangerous ( one of the nations highest crime rate).
Ann Arbor is not a suburb of Detroit. They are so far apart, and separated by counties as well as miles and miles of forest and swamp that I can't see any evidence being brought forth for that argument's support. Anyone who's ever undertaken that god awful trip down that freeway by the airport-- I want to say that it's I-96 or I-94-- has spent enough time in the car to know that Ann Arbor is in no way, shape or form associated with Detroit.
As to the person who claimed that Ann Arbor relies on Detroit... I understand that these two cities are relatively unknown by many, but jesus. Detroit's a tax sinkhole that rapes Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids, Birmingham and every other profitable city in Michigan for money. It's approaching or has already surpassed 18% unemployment. The two cities are as disassociated as London and Milan.
Ann Arbor is an amazing little college town; there's nothing quite like it. It's like a much smaller Boston without the subway system. Unfortunately you do have to deal with the University of Michigan-- I went to the real Harvard of the Midwest, UofM, and that's the University of Chicago-- but it's still a very unique town.
Ann Arbor definitely isn't an inner-ring suburb of Detroit. It's true that the direct connection is tough to see along I94, but if you take a route like Michigan Ave./Highway 12 through Ypsi and then south of Canton, it is more apparent.
The thing is, Detroit's suburbs are an incredible work of sprawl. They roll out from downtown in endless waves of "mile roads" and standalone chunks of suburban development. Ann Arbor did not start out as a suburb of Detroit, but as Detroit crept westward, it eventually became one, geographically.
However, it isn't a reliant suburb, even on the other suburbs. Economically, it is largely independent of Detroit - or even Lansing, since the university is increasingly able to fund its own operations with minimal state contributions, via endowments. Not to mention the massive medical infrastructure, which includes a VA hospital and a hospital campus in nearby Superior Township.
Both cities have a lot to offer if you know where to look. Both have great places for sports, dining, drinking, and a nearby airport. That being said, I'd say Ann Arbor, only for its safety (both physical and economical).
Ann Arbor relies on the University of Michigan and therefore has been able to survive this crisis while the rest of the state has suffered. Ann Arbor does have some crime although it is mostly within the student housing area.
The funny thing about Michigan is that it's biggest city is one in which if you don't live or work, that you rarely if ever go to. I think that it is the only major city in a state for which this can be said. The same goes for the city of Flint, Michigan as both are in dire straights. Although one of the best sports cities, the pistons play in Auburn Hills and until recently the Lions in Pontiac which are well outside of DT Detroit. Now with two new stadiums they are trying to revitalize downtown and it has gotten safer but noone in their right mind aside from attending a sporting event would be caught dead after dark in DT Detroit or Flint for that matter they are really that bad! Good Chance you'll get stuck up. The worst neighborhoods in the D are atrocious and are practically deserted aside from the criminal enterprises in control of the neighborhoods. Detroit was a city and still is a city with a lot of heart. I hope things change for the better.
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