Last month I fretted over the comparatively minor crime spike and, when coupled with some anti-Police legislation, wondered whether it was a bellwether of Ann Arbor being on the road to Portland or San Francisco-style degradation.
The usually inept Ann Arbor News has even caught on, cataloging the wave of 11 homicides in the area. I will not make any observations about the character of these crimes; you can do that for yourselves. I will point out that only half of them were perpetrated in what I would consider good, relatively safe places in the area, one was even out near and to the south of Dexter. The rest were in points east (Ypsilanti, Ypsilanti Township, Superior Township) where such occurrences are much more to be expected. There is a sarcastic localism that anything east of US-23 is Detroit, but maybe Detroit is reaching further west.
The jury is still out about degradation. If we start seeing headlines like this --Double amputee shot in back of head is among ‘rash of panhandler victims’ in Detroit -- we'll know it's time to bail. On the other hand, if police blotters veer in this direction -- Northern Michigan woman attacks man with toilet cleaner -- we'll know we're going in the right direction.
Possibly related: Perennially one of the top ten places to live, Ann Arbor has slipped to #65 in this survey.
