Over-crowded
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11/28/2009
Back in the 1970's and early 1980's, Rochester was a nice quiet little town that people lived in to get away from the craziness of other areas in Oakland and Macomb County. Like anything, other people caught on that it was nice, and "beat it to death" - everybody and there brother seemed to move up here. Big ugly Shopping centers were built everywhere along the main road (Rochester Road). Most of the land that was available to develop here has been used up, and there wasn't that much land to begin with in Rochester proper. Therefore, housing is crammed - people are packed tight in here. Developers tried to squeeze as much as they could in the tiny space they had to work with.
With this in mind, one major problem is that they did not plan things well. The roads were not widened to accommodate the doubling+ of the population. You can't have roads to fit 5,000 residents comfortably work when there are over 11,000 now. Therefore, traffic is HORRIBLE here, no matter what time of day you are on the road. Rochester Road is terrible - it needed to be widened, or have an island put in the middle. They didn't think this through, though. On top of it, the drivers are rude here and tailgate. It is just too crowded all the time.
Another thing I have noticed is that the people aren't particularly friendly here. But, this could be because I am so tense after driving around here, that I give off a bad vibe.
In short, I will move from here next year, and go back to southern Oakland County, where things are spread out a little more. Macomb County is nice too - they really planned things well there.
It is sad about Rochester: a good thing was ruined, because it was good. If you are a 100% people person, maybe you will like it here. I don't, and would move tomorrow if I could break my lease.
Crumby | Rochester Hills, MI