Bloomfield Hills & Rochester Hills... vs West Bloomfield

[us66]

Originally Posted by [JS]

C&G tends to print papers for very unrelated communities for some reason, probably circulation and availability of news. Examples:

- Hazel Park and Madison Heights. Two communities extremely diverse from eachother that only share a Chamber of Commerce.

- Ferndale and Pleasant Ridge. Extreme income disparity as well as a lack of any shared community or government services/programs whatsoever.

- Berkley and Huntington Woods. Again, income disparity, lack of shared services, huge architectural differences.

Even though there's geographical similarity, there's not much similarity otherwise as far as architecture, economy, demographics, et cetera. While the others in that post are very good points, the newspaper doesn't quite prove it.

Maybe so, but the C&G papers are not great for news...they're only good for three things: coupons, the crime report, and giving the mailman something to complain about as he delivers them. If you consider them advertising with a bit of community news, then it makes sense that they have neighboring, if different, areas. I'm pretty sure the Advertiser Times that Harper Woods gets is shared with Detroit 48205 and/or 48224.

[#Littledog]

Hi, I moved out of state over 20 years ago so my opinion might be outdated...I agree with the previous post-Bloomfield Hills is a beautiful area but very uppity. You will feel constant pressure to keep up with the Jones's unless you're into that kind of thing.

[goshem]

Troy High is probably one of the best high schools in Michigan.

[marie]]

I lived in Toronto, San Jose California, travelled around quite a bit, I have a 3.5 year old and a 5 year old that attend Catholic school in Royal Oak and we live in Clawson (big mistake--but we can bike to Royal Oak and are central to all of the neighbourhoods and highways)...we love culture, arts, events and this is my opinion....

Royal Oak---very strong school, more Democrats, arts and walkable metro type downtown, pockets of great neighbourhoods, namely Vinsetta Boulevard and a few others. Catholic schools and other Blue Ribbon schools. Look at living in and around Woodward between Huntington Woods and down towards Birmingham (it is a long stretch of road that has nooky neighbourhoods on either side, remember pockets of great homes and then not so great). All these names of cities meanwhile they are right next to each other and no bigger than a four by six block radius that is why I suggest living in and around Woodward around this area...your near all of them!
Clawson--skip away from Royal Oak but very conservative and a lot of older type people live there who do not like change at all, hence the lack of change, they have children things but nothing like Royal Oak...Clawson was going to become a part of Royal Oak at one time. I wish it would have happened! The beauty of this area is that it is centrally located. They have a Catholic school in the area and strong school of choice public schools. They are working on developing their small downtown as they realize that they are falling behind and businesses aren't coming in.
Troy--very strong schools, suburban sprawl, nice homes in central troy near summerset mall. You have to drive everywhere to get anywhere. It isn't bike friendly. Too vanilla for me.
Birmingham--anyone who could live there would as it is safe, luxurious and affordable now in this market as the price of homes have dropped but not by much they have held market value pretty well. They have a swank downtown that has great nooky shops and you can stroll and have fun. Sort of reminds me of San Francisco. (International Academy I think it is called and it was voted BEST in the nation it is a public school, you'll have to look it up)
Ferndale--a strong gay community with a flare for different.
Bloomfield Hills-suburban sprawl for wealthy ($500,000+)..Cranbrook is their private school (look it up)
Gross Point--Royal Oak for the upper middle class, Ligette is their private school (look it up)

What is a great idea is to find a store you absolutely love and then find out where it is located...many stores do a demographic profile and then open shop there. So if you like Whole Foods for instance they ahve one in Rochester Hills and one near Birmingham. The mind set and consumer profile then is found in that area...Whole Foods you have organic and such....people who live in the area are of the same mind set...take care of themselves, have higher disposable income, are conscious of and knowledgable regarding organics and what it does for the body....etc.

I hope this helps.

RENT FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! then buy a home to find out what you like

[Sarah0214]

Anyone can tell me the difference between Bloomfield Hills and Bloomfield township? Thanks a lot for your unput.

[animatedmartian]

Not a whole lot really other than size. Bloomfield Township partly surrounds Bloomfield Hills and it's pretty unnoticeable when crossing from one into the other. At the very least, the most distinctive thing about Bloomfield Hills is Cranbrook which is a highly prestigious educational community. That and maybe the mansions are a little more bigger and there are more notable residents in Bloomfield Hills.

Otherwise, both feed into the same school district, mostly, and both have very high property values.

[Jimmy252]

Yea, Bloomfield Twp and Bloomfield Hills are two totally separate municipalities with their own city services (Police/Fire/Government). True, they do fall into the same school district, but they are two separate entities that share the name Bloomfield, much like Farmington and Farmington Hills or Rochester Rochester Hills. I think Bloomfield Twp and the Hills share a postal code too, which is why people that actually live in the Township say they're in the Hills when they're really not. But like animated said, it would be unnoticeable when crossing from one to the other.

[DTWflyer]

Bloomfield Hills and Bloomfield Township are separate municipalities / units of government but are often grouped together in terms of their identity.

Bloomfield Hills is a small, but exclusive, municipality with its own police/fire and elected officials. It is small in size, 2 miles x 2.5 miles, with is only real commercial district (if you can even call it one) centered around Woodward Ave & Long Lake Rd. Homes are generally large estate-like homes on large park-like lots, of at least 2+ acres. There are no public parks in the city and very few amenities offered to it residents. There are multiple private clubs in the city - Bloomfield Country Club, Bloomfield Hunt Club, Stonycroft, a Womens' Club, and so forth. Cranbrook, the educational campus consumes a sizable piece of property in the city with its private schools and educational community. Bloomfield Hills is mostly within the Bloomfield Hills School District, except for the the southeast portion south of Lone Pine and east of Cranbrook that is within the Birmingham School District. Bloomfield Hills is highly exclusive, older -the average age of residents is over 65, and people tend to be rather private.

Bloomfield Township, was historically a township section within Oakland County that as it developed and grew, incorporated into a city-like municipal government. They too have their own police/fire/elected officials. Bloomfield Township roughly consumes the area west and north of Birmingham out along 14 Mile to Inkster to South Blvd to Adams Rd on the east (with a large donut-hole in the middle of Bloomfield Hills. Bloomfield Township is more typical of 1950s-1970s era homes on medium to large lots. Some areas like the "Village" have more estate-like homes, there are other areas where you can find colonials, large sprawling ranches, mid-century modern, lakefront living, funky 1950s era Brady-bunch houses, and even smaller bungalow. Parts of Bloomfield Township tend to be more like what you might find in Troy, or Birmingham.
Bloomfield Township does have some shared services with Bloomfield Hills, like a very nice library. Bloomfield Township falls within multiple different school district attendance boundaries. The center core of the township attends Bloomfield Hills Schools, while the majority of the southern, eastern, and southwest portions of the city fall within the Birmingham school district. A small corner in the northeast I believe way go to Avondale, and then there is a small portion in the far north that attend the highly undesirable Pontiac Schools. Similar to Bloomfield Hills, very few public parks, but a significant number of private country clubs, membership-only swim clubs, or private neighborhood associate lake access parks.

From a commerical and entertainment pespective they tend to all use the same places. The commerical corridor along Telegraph Rd - at Square Lake, Long Lake, and Maple tends to be for both municipalities. Somerset Collection (mall) in Troy is the primary shopping mall for the area. Downtown Birmingham is the de-facto entertainment district for the area. Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, and Birmingham all tend to get lumped together from a socio-economic, real-estate market, and standard of living perspective in Metro Detroit.