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ProSense

(116,464 posts)
Wed Aug 29, 2012, 05:59 PM Aug 2012

About Ann Romney's hometown? Welcome to Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

About Ann Romney's hometown? Welcome to Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

by Spud1

<...>

The "our town" to which Ann (née Davies) Romney refers is Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Detroit, and consistently ranks as one of the top five wealthiest cities in the United States with population between 2,500 to 9,999 and has the highest income of any city outside of California, Florida or Virginia. The median family income is now over $200,000, and about half the residential property is valued at more than one million dollars. It was no different in the 1960's - the disparity to surrounding communities may have been worse.

Ann Davies' "high school" was then known as the Kingswood School for Girls, part of the Cranbrook Schools, one of the nations most prestigious prep schools (certainly the best that Michigan has to offer). Mitt Romney went to the Cranbrook School for Boys, just across the lake from Kingswood. Cranbrook is a gorgeous campus that includes a science academy, art museum, and graduate school for fine art, on land that was originally the estate of George Booth, the founder of the Detroit News.

Today, tuition for grades 9 through 12 is $28,300 ($10,000 more for boarding students).

Why did Ann Romney not mention any of this in her address? Read the portion of her speech above again; she attempts to portray her upbringing as if she was part of the cast of It's a Wonderful Life, a folksy remembrance of picket fences and sidewalks full of good citizens on an evening stroll where people sit watching from their porches.

Nothing could be further from the truth - there is no "downtown" in Bloomfield Hills, nor are there traditional neighborhoods with sidewalks. There are large mansions with stone walls and iron gates, where everyone drives since there is nothing within walking distance.

This false picture that Ann Romney painted last night is simply one more part of a campaign meant to fool the electorate, to portray Mitt Romney as a regular guy. I'll bet you, my friend, $10,000 that many are willing to believe it.

(In full disclosure, I grew up about five miles from Bloomfield Hills, and had a high school friend whose father was the last headmaster of the Cranbrook School for Boys.)

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/29/1125387/-About-Ann-Romney-s-town-Welcome-to-Bloomfield-Hills-Michigan




16 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Fire Walk With Me

(38,893 posts)
1. Oh dear, this explains much. (I'm from Michigan.)
Wed Aug 29, 2012, 06:04 PM
Aug 2012

However, I have met good people from BH. And does she know what the economy has done to her hometown and surroundings?

Siwsan

(26,123 posts)
9. Hey, my grandfather was a Welsh coal miner - where's MY money!!!??!
Wed Aug 29, 2012, 06:21 PM
Aug 2012

I come from a long, long line of Welsh coal miners. I should be set for life. I think I need to look into this!!

Terra Alta

(5,158 posts)
4. it's clear Ann knows nothing about how the average American has to struggle
Wed Aug 29, 2012, 06:08 PM
Aug 2012

to make ends meet. She, like her husband, was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. She can pretend to relate to us "little people" but that's all she is, is a pretender. The American people will surely see her as such.

michreject

(4,378 posts)
15. I don't think that BH has went for any rethug candidate
Thu Aug 30, 2012, 08:18 AM
Aug 2012

in any national election. Ever.

Good, solid Democratic community. They raise a lot of money for Democratic candidates.

 

southernyankeebelle

(11,304 posts)
6. Someone should ride around the old neighborhood and film where she lived and went to school.
Wed Aug 29, 2012, 06:12 PM
Aug 2012

Then put it on youtube.

11 Bravo

(23,921 posts)
7. Yeah, but in high school she once had to wear LAST YEAR'S designer jeans!
Wed Aug 29, 2012, 06:13 PM
Aug 2012

The poor dear was permanently scarred by that, but she gained an enduring understanding of the trials and tribulations facing "you people".

Viva_La_Revolution

(28,791 posts)
10. OT, but I got a pair of Gloria Vanderbilt jeans in 7th grade
Wed Aug 29, 2012, 07:05 PM
Aug 2012

this was back in the very early 80's when they had just come out. My stepsister in CA gave them to me and when I got back home to my little corntown, you should have seen the glares I got from the 'rich girls' cause even their daddy's wouldn't buy them a pair of hunderd doller jeans. It was a tasty bit of payback for their bullying behavior. thanks for reminding me

nc4bo

(17,651 posts)
8. Why ProSense, do you mean dear Lady Ann doesn't have a Cinderella childhood to tell us about?
Wed Aug 29, 2012, 06:15 PM
Aug 2012

I am so disappointed. From the way she was talking last night, I'd thought she and Mittsy had to resort to dumpster diving and picking aluminum cans off the side of the road for $'s.



A/R/R LIE.

Wednesdays

(17,211 posts)
11. For 31 years I lived just a few miles away from Bloomfield Hills
Wed Aug 29, 2012, 07:17 PM
Aug 2012

The OP's assessment is quite accurate.

jsmirman

(4,507 posts)
12. I didn't realize this wasn't well known
Wed Aug 29, 2012, 07:18 PM
Aug 2012

I've been to Detroit, and during college I think we performed in Bloomfield Hills.

I'm a Wolverine fan, as well, so I know that whole area.

It's a wealthy as hell suburb, period.

Canuckistanian

(42,290 posts)
13. Hey, that's the place where Michael Moore filmed "Roger and Me"
Wed Aug 29, 2012, 07:56 PM
Aug 2012

It's where the president of GM, Roger Smith lived.

Such a humble little neighborhood.

Festivito

(13,452 posts)
14. Bloomfield Hills was new money in the 60's. Detroit Lions practiced at Cranbrook School's field.
Thu Aug 30, 2012, 07:45 AM
Aug 2012

New-money families tend to be a little on edge about money, whereas old money families tend to be a little more secure about themselves and their place.

A couple decades ago, the Detroit Lions moved to a new Dearborn football practice facility. (That certainly did not improve their game.)

Cranbrook, where Kingswood and Cranbrook schools reside is a city unto itself and had an army of paid gardeners with only a few residents. One, Henry Booth, married a Scripps offspring of the Scripps newspapers. That was the Republican paper when Republicans in Michigan were the party of diverse openness and an even playing field for business trying to dispel the national Republican party that nurtured US into the great depression. Ole Henry was one of the last newspapermen of that bygone era. At 80 he'd hop the fence if he forgot his house key. He was a fine fun man.

Henry is gone now. His kids have nice houses. The paper is sold to some supercilious consortium. The artist community envisioned lives on, albeit in a pricey way. I had one kid from my high school get a scholarship to go there.

Next door in Bloomfield, the nouveau riche have gained a generation or two of having money. Both the Lions and the economy took a bad dip and make slow recoveries.

Ganja Ninja

(15,953 posts)
16. Hell just go take a look at it on Google Maps.
Thu Aug 30, 2012, 09:00 AM
Aug 2012
https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en

I grew up in Oakland County Michigan. Bloomfield Hills is ritzy. The homes are huge as well as the lawns around them. Take a good look a Cranbrook. It's like some kind of ivy league college.
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