Reviews & Comments
Ann Arbor, MI
Downtown life -
3/9/2008Ann Arbor has an unusual downtown. The concentration of restaurants and coffee shops makes is very pleasant. The uspcale restaurants are more expensive than comparable places in San Francisco, and the student eateries are pricey relative to Berkeley. These prices fall pretty quickly as one gets away from the city center, but so does the ambience.
The biggest problem with downtown as a place to live is that it lacks some of the conveniences within walking distance that one finds in other residential urban environments. Most noticeably, a nearby public green space, local grocers (outside of Kerrytown), a hardware store, and a laundromat. More high density housing in the center would help to support this and would certainly be in demand. And the amount of parking is ridiculous.
A good city planner would get rid of the surface parking lots (keep the parking structures of course), and develop some high density housing, together with a little green doggy-park, and a commerical space with a grocer, hardware store, and laundromat, like any decent neighborhood in a major city.