Community Corner
Last Chance to Vote: Is Ferndale Detroit's Best Neighborhood?
Curbed Detroit, a real estate blog, held the Curbed Cup contest to name the Detroit Neighborhood of the Year. Ferndale was on that list and has made it into the finals versus Lafayette Park.
It seems silly that Ferndale would not only be considered in a "Detroit Neighborhood of the Year" contest, but also potentially could win it.
That's exactly what may happen as Curbed Detroit, a website that writes about real estate and other things, held its 2011 Curbed Cup for Detroit Neighborhood of the Year contest in which Ferndale, the eighth seed, is "upsetting" every town it faces.
Five of the eight slots in the bracket were actual Detroit neighborhoods; one was the city of Hamtramck (nearly surrounded by Detroit) and the other two were Royal Oak and Ferndale.
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It shook out like this: Corktown (1), Downtown (2), Midtown (3), Hamtramck (4), The Villages (5), Lafayette Park (6), Royal Oak (7), and, finally, listed as an eighth seed, Ferndale.
The contest kicked off two weeks ago and Ferndale handily beat Corktown in the first round, getting 59.6 percent of the 1,241 votes cast. The next challenger was Hamtramck; that vote was a little closer but we still pulled out a victory by getting 52.3 percent of the 1,285 votes cast.
Find out what's happening in Ferndalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
That set up Ferndale for the finals versus Lafayette Park.
Lafayette Park was beautifully designed by famous architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. So, in terms of housing stock, it's pretty tough to match up against something like that. But we're doing it, and doing it well. As of Friday night, Ferndale was winning with 62.2 percent of the 938 votes cast.
It's funny to think that Ferndale will win a Detroit Neighborhood of the Year award, according to this website. Or, is it that funny? Maybe it's high time to start thinking about what Detroit is a little differently. Maybe it's time to brush with broad strokes and think about this as a region. Detroit is not an island and neither are the suburbs.
With that said, if Ferndale pulls out the win, I shudder to think what the Facebook status updates will look like the next day when it comes to the city vs. suburbs rhetoric that seems to have been so prevalent as of late.
In any event, to vote for Ferndale (or Lafayette Park if that's your bag), go here. Voting ends at noon Jan. 2.
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