Oh, calm down. If someone else can say
then I can be proud of our non-Bush electoral history.
Driving from Ohio to Michigan, I always noticed that there was a lot more visual pollution on the Michigan side of the border; billboards, high-rise signs, and the like. The roads were also pretty bad.
I’m really impressed by Grand Rapids. It’s among one of the cleanest cities I’ve ever been to; even more so than anyplace in Colorado or Canada. Decent little downtown, nice neighborhoods, low cost of living. There’s the odd vibe from the presence of Amway, but I didn’t see any of the in-your-face hardcore conservativism that I’ve encountered in places like Colorado Springs; politically the place seemed rather middle-of-the-road. Kalamazoo is also okay.
$200k, seriously?! Move to Wayne where you can get one for $40k at most. 
I grew up in Detroit. Even Detroit has its places of beauty almost universally overlooked. The northwestern quarter and the UP are astonishingly lovely. Michigan does not completely suck. And it has been economically and socially down for so long that it expects nothing from the rest of the country. When the Southwest dries up and the rest of the country’s economy collapses, Michigan will still be lurching along, from habit if nothing else.
My first post. Sorry if it seems cranky. I get tired of the hate for Detroit.
Re: Detroit, my best running buddy was from Detroit. As we ran along Chicago’s lakefornt he often commented on how you would NEVER see single women running alone in a similar manner in Detroit.
Almost all of the Japanese , German, and Korean auto mfgs. have located in southern (non-union) states-like Mississippee, Kentucky, Alabama, etc.
It seems that having the UAW is the kiss of death now-would any non-unio automaker ever chance locating in Michigan?
I would rather have a non-union job (at $20.00/hour), than NO job at union rates!
But you can buy booze anywhere and cash your check on just about any street corner.
BOT,
Detroit is a hole. A third world city in a 1st world nation. It will be something again, but it won’t be in my lifetime. If I could afford to buy up the dirt cheap land in Detroit now, like that developer guy is doing, I would, so that my Grandchildren and great grandchildren would have a voice in How Things Are Run and Stuff. ( and you bet your butt knitting would be somehow involved into the whole collective mess.)
I was listening to the radio and apparently gambling is on the docket for several cities in our state. Port Huron, Flint, Benton Harbor, Saginaw(?) Muskegon and one other that I missed. Everyone of these cities is a HOLE. Decimated by the auto industry and object and abject poverty. Crime is huge, huge, huge problem is all of them. Yes, gambling is JUST WHAT THESE RAT INFESTED HOLES NEED TO FIX THEIR PROBLEMS!
All the news (local and global) reports is Detroit crap. I haven’t watched the news in 15 years.
Once away from those areas, we have a fantastic state. Seriously.
Whatever your interest we have it here:
Sports: 4 professional sports teams. ( three if you don’t count the lions.) Comerica Park (Tigers) is fekkin’ awesome and a thing of beauty. Ford Field is something to behold even in the Lions suck more than my vaccuum. The Wings are awesome and near impossible to get tickets too for what 20 years now, so YAY for them, the only decent and positive thing in our state besides beer. I don’t know crap about basketball and haven’t attended a pro game since the 80’s.
Hunting: It is a religion in November during Deer Hunting Season and some guys carrying their religion year round for all kinds of animals.
Fishing: See those lakes that surround us, you probably will never even make it to the big ones for fishing because there are so many little lakes and rivers to fish in. ( I am not a fisherman, but one of friends, who could easily be my male twin because he is such a dorkwad, is Mr. Fisherman. He knows it all about the fish. You gots a question about fish and when and where, he knows it. And other hunting stuff too.)
Boating: We have the largest boat registration in the world. What is more fun that sitting on a boat on a hot summer day drinking and watching the skanks go by? Putting up a chair by the boat launch and watching the arguments happen! That is a day in itself! Pack a lunch.
Winter: Skiing, snowmobiling and ice fishing are the day time things. Euchre is at night and mandatory. Take monday off to recover from drinking too much. Drinking helps with the SAD.
Education: WE can read now in Michigan and have indoor plumbing everywhere! U of Michigan is the Harvard of the Midwest. One of the finest medical schools in the world. (and the most pompass sports fans, IMHO.) Michigan State has redeemed itself from a PaRtY w)o! school to being a force unto itself and having a basketball program that Michigan would kill itself for. Wayne State, located in Detroit, offers an outstanding medical program (at a fraction of the cost, so I am told.) that is gaining a national reputation and street cred for being in DTW. Michigan Tech ( hi Athena) is for the cold, the brave, the Engineering types in the UP. We offer ALOT in edumacation.
Shopping: Oh*. good Lord and Flying Spagetti Monster *do we have Shopping! **It is our Culture here! *** It is the culture of the Burbs of Detroit with Somerset Mall ( Swanky Swanky stuff) and a buttload of other malls to fill your shopping jones. We have outlet malls to put you into a frenzy and Great Lakes Crossing (somewhere inbetween a mall and outlet and it’s large, wear comfy shoes.) to cater to your needs. You want antiques, we gots it. You want trendy. We gots it. If you want Thift stores, I am your gal. If you want to shop Michigan, drop me a line. seriously.
You want to enrich your brain and these are MANDATORY VISITS: we have the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit Science Center, Henry Ford Museum & Green Field Village and, Frankenmuth ( any part of it. Come hungry, leave bloated.) Then go to one of our hundreds of bars and delete all that learnin’ with a fine microbrew.
If anyone ever has any questions about Michigan. Drop me a PM or an email. If I don’t know, I know people who do. We love our state and are all fully vested in this place.
*translation: balls in.
Oh, and let me point out that US News has rated my beloved Michigan State as the Number One university in the nation in nuclear physics, displacing MIT.
Well, this thread has done nothing to displace my desire to move back. Even having been gone 20+ years, I still miss it. I miss they way your nose hairs freeze up when you walk outside, I miss the crunch crunch crunch of walking on old snow, and I miss having real seasons that pass. Ah, Michigan. I still want to move back even after seeing that indeed, most of Michigan sucks now. You don’t see the blight from your toasty little cabin in the woods, by the lake. Right? Right.
Don’t forget we also get most of the major theatrical productions coming to detroit as well, either in the Fisher Theater, the Masonic Temple theater, or other places. We can’t host them all at once like on Broadway, but they do come through. The fine Arts are definitely represented in and around Detroit.
And you don’t really even have to go “way up north” to get the beauty and serenity. Mid michigan works perfectly fine, towns like West Branch and Tawas City have perfect blends of serenity and charm. It’s a couple hours from the Detroit 'burbs, and is fantastic.
It’s in fact more complicated than that (and in fact, Honda has facilities in Ohio which is not a right-to-work state, but is also not unionized). Ford used to have a huge plant in Georgia, which is a right-to-work state, but yet was unionized. Right-to-work states don’t prevent unions. If enough workers are unhappy enough, they can organize their plants anywhere in the country. All right-to-work does is protect the workers’ interest if they choose to not associate themselves with the union. In a union state, if you don’t want to be in the union, you’re still forced to pay them.
What happened to Port Huron? I grew up there, and definitely wouldn’t call it a hole (at least, the parts north of the Black River extending into Ft. Gratiot). In ordinary circumstances I would go there a couple of times per month, although being where I am now, it’s been almost a year. I didn’t know about the casino proposals; what the heck are they trying to accomplish? Draw the Canadians who already have their own (ugly) Casino in Pt. Edwards/Sarnia?
In Ann Arbor they call Harvard the Michigan of the East.
Yeah, that’s what I meant. 
It’s just urban decay, from the last drive-thru I’ve had. My Aunt and Uncle live about 10 miles north of PH and the drives down into PH are a big wake up call. There is no industry there, AFAIK, except tourism and anything to do with boating/manufacturing.
I only just heard about the casinos on the docket a couple days ago and had to laugh, because before they listed the cities, I knew they would be the holes of our state. (Romulus was on the docket, but taken off. Personally, you need to be able to gamble while stuck at the airport.) They cannot fix the problem, so they throw glitter and money at the problem. See how much Detroit is improved with the casinos? I’ve never heard of a casino going into wealthy areas.
I was born and raised in Michigan, lived in my beloved adopted hometown of Ann Arbor for 7 years, and have been living on the East Coast for about 2 years. I miss it like crazy, my beautiful state. I know the economy’s bad, because both of my parents have been alternately laid off (my Dad is the remaining employee on a former team of 120). I know it snows a lot, but believe me, compared to Philadelphia, Michigan can handle its shit when it comes to snow. Out here the whole world falls apart.
I didn’t realize how spoiled we were in SE Michigan regarding Middle Eastern and Mexican food until I came out here. I’ve yet to find anything that can compare.
Ann Arbor is my heart and soul. I’ve never found a place I loved more. New York and Philadelphia can’t compare to me. It’s a special place, it’s where I went to Art Fair every year from the age of seven, where my parents worked, where I spent every weekend as a teenager, where I attended school after years of dreaming, where my husband proposed to me… the most important parts of my identity were formed in Ann Arbor.
I would go home if I could.
Wish I could feel that passion for my alma mater town, Ypsilanti. 
Hey, I lived in Ypsi for two years. Every time I see that massive penis it warms my heart. Anyway, where do you think all that authentic Mexican food comes from?
Yeah, but weren’t Flint and Benton Harbor really bad for DECADES? At least Flint’s got the School for the Deaf.
I know they have gambling in Gary Indiana and East Saint Louis, and the last I heard they were still shitholes.
I only lived in MI from 1955-1963, age 3 to 11, but I loved living there and have very fond memories of growing up in the 50s in Michigan. We lived in: Morenci, Comstock Park, Manistee (my very favorite place :)) and Interlochen before returning to the east coast in 63 (my Dad was - indeed still is although retired now - a minister). I’d love to be able to retire to a place in Michigan, most likely Manistee. It’s so beautiful there; I learned to swim in Lake Michigan! And there’s so many interior lakes, omg, it’s just amazing. Admittedly, the snow and cold can be a minus, but having lived through several blizzards in the DC area this past winter, I think I could stand it! LOL
I realize the economy is not so hot there, but by gosh, Michigan is still a beautiful place. “I want to go back, I want to go back, back home on the farm, far away from harm, with a milk pail on my arm …”
Well, we have the largest Middle Eastern and Polish population outside of those respective areas, though, Polish cusine is no where to be had AFAICT. We also have a large concentration of Finns in da UP and Germans because of Daimler and other automotive stuff.