2012 City Election The Big Picture

This an artist's rendering of the City precinct map.
Extra credit if you can convince a friend
or neighbor that it as early Jackson Pollock.

What do you see when you see this picture? Clue: it is not a Picasso. It is not something that an optimist will see one way and a pessimist another.  Clue Number Two: the rectangular shape is a dead give away. More clues.The colors are significant as is the up and down line but it is not a graph, or a mountain. Would you believe Vaughn Road intersecting with Long Lake, crossing  over to and then descending on Woodward ?

Well that is exactly what it is. The rectangle is of course the City of Bloomfield Hills.Note where Woodward ends ( in real life it really doesn't end but here it does because it ceases to  a be a boundary) and the little squiggly line that goes right,  starts at the Boulder Lane on the left and the Windemere-Kirkwood Ct Condominiums on  the right.The line  continues in an irregular shape as it skirts the lakes abutting the properties on Warrington Road before running to the City Limits less than an eight of a mile away. The yellow portion is Precinct One which votes at the City Hall Fire Station. The pink portion is Precinct Two which votes at of all things the Congregational Church or Birmingham which is actually at the corner of Cranbrook Road and Woodward.. If you amaze  a friend or neighbor with all of the above their first question is always "What's with bulge ? The bulge is Cranbrook, which is the largest property owner in the City. Lots of Land.  Few for the real estate adults registered to vote.The Northern precinct which abuts on the city's North, West and East side is even with Cranbrook bulge larger than the south.

This the real deal when it comes to Precinct Maps. You can find it on the City's web site under front desk >maps. The little dots that look like ants are really street addresses when you look closer 

We start our election coverage here because  as the five City Commission candidates began  their election day odyssey in  downtown Oz, a few but not too many, took  the opportunity  to contemplate the mysteries of the Universe. Because of it's proximity and immediate relevance the weird shape of the City's  precincts came to mind. You would think precincts would be square wouldn't  you ? Especially in the City of Bloomfield Hills which is a two by two and a half  mile rectangle. But then there is Cranbrook. and in lieu of a map,  imagining an imaginary intersection of Vaughn and Woodward works  in all but the most extreme cases. At the very least it will see you through the day. If you can't imagine just make like you are  praying. Anything inside your arms and hands pressed together is Precinct 2. Outside that everything is Precinct 1.Heading south on Woodward  all uncertainty ends at the real corner of Windemere (which excepting  an  uninhabited double back to avoid running through the middle of pint sized lakes) means that everything to South, West, or East is  Precinct 2. Clear ?

For the commission candidates it was not that they lacked knowledge of  the City but that they knew it all too well. Barbara Lane  in the North Precinct ?  Preposterous ! It's on Woodward south of The Cranbrook main entrance. You say Ridgewood Road which is literally on the other side of town and runs southwest  of Cranbrook all the way to Lahser is also in Precinct 1 ? You are putting me on !

For the five who desired elected status, a day of odd but interesting developments where knowledge was not always power, was about to unfold and be defined by numbers. Lots of numbers.