Grosse Pointe Park sits uncomfortably next to Detroit, torn between a waspy past and changing demographics. Today, it has the highest percentage of black residents of all the Grosse Pointes, with 10% of its population black and 85% white. As recently as 2000, it was not even 3% black.
But even if it is considerably more diverse than the other nearby Grosse Pointes (Grosse Pointe Farms is 95% white), it still stands in stark contrast to an almost 83% black Detroit. The difference is economic too: Grosse Pointe Park’s median household income is well over three times that of Detroit.
An informal door-to-door survey by Diverse GP, a group of residents seeking to address the rift between Detroit and Grosse Pointe, found that one in four Grosse Pointe Park residents was in favor of the sheds, one was indifferent, and the rest – roughly half – wanted the shed taken down.
For Diverse GP member Hans Barbe, a piano teacher who was raised in Grosse Pointe Park but now lives in Detroit, the market sheds were representative of an elephant in the room.“Frankly, growing up, I didn’t even question the strangeness of crossing Alter Road [one of the best-known roads separating Detroit and Grosse Pointe Park]. It’s like you go through some crazy inter-dimensional vortex,” Barbe said.