History
Sterling Heights
was incorporated as a city in
1968. Prior to that it was known as
Sterling
Township
. There was already
a small village named Sterling in Arenac County, so the word "Heights"
was added to the township name to satisfy a state law that prevents
incorporated municipalities from having the same name. "Sterling
Oaks" was another name under consideration for the
new city
.
Christopher Galeczka, the 1995 winner of the National Geography
Bee (now known as the National Geographic Bee), is a native of
Sterling Heights
.
Rapper Eminem briefly lived in the city in 2000.
The
city is home to the Freedom Hill county park, located on
Metro Parkway
(
16 Mile Road
) east of
Schoenherr Road
.
Freedom Hill began hosting concerts in 1999 in its 7,000-seat, outdoor theater.
Several residents near the park began complaining about the loud music coming
from the amphitheater. The complaints led to a long legal battle between
Sterling Heights
and
Hillside Productions, which runs the theater, over the theater's impact on the
neighborhood.
In 2001,
Hillside Productions filed suit in state and federal courts, accusing city
officials of conspiring to interfere in its operations. In March 2004, the city
settled out of court, agreeing to pay
Hillside
$31 million. As part of the settlement,
Hillside
built a 14 foot (4 m)-high sound wall and a huge roof to cover the
pavilion seating area. It remains only partially enclosed. Concerts resumed, as
did the complaints of neighbors.
Sterling
Heights
then sued three of its insurance carriers who
refused to compensate the city for its $31 million payment. In 2006, the city
settled with two of the three insurers.
In the
summer of 2006, it became publicly known that the city was considering amending
its fire
code to include a requirement that all businesses post a premises
identification sign in English, in order to facilitate the ability of first
responders to locate an emergency call. On July 13, 2006, the city received
a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union of
Michigan (ACLU) expressing its viewpoint that the English-language requirement
for business signs was discriminatory.
The
August 2006 issue of Money magazine listed
Sterling Heights
as No. 19 on its list of the
90 "Best Small Cities" to live in.
Sterling Heights
was ranked the sixth safest city in the
U.S.
with a population between 100,000 - 499,999, according to Morgan Quitno's 2006 analysis of
crime rates.
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