Even MSU has their name on more buildings in GR than they do in Lansing. It pisses me off that GR benefits from their wealthy families and institutions all trying to outdo each other with philantropy, and ours act like they don't even know about Lansing.
That said, I think I'm with hood on his comment about the community. Over the last few years I've become jaded by the community. Maybe I'm on /r/lansing too much, but there's just no vision, no initiative, and when something cool does come- you often hear more negative about it than positive; "Why no affordable housing instead of this XXX". The recent (lack of) discussion with Eastern is a great example. They can't think deeper than the surface.
There are remarkable individuals that volunteer and work in the trenches in Lansing, and we have some cool home-grown developers that have a vision that I hope comes to pass, but it seems like the average Lansing area resident is a small-minded descendent of Biddle City.
I understand that GR is bigger and richer than Greater Lansing, I would just like to see a little more imagination and excitement I guess in the projects we do have. There are exceptions but it seems to me that many projects are not really special or exciting to look at, I am thinking of the new stadium in GR. That looks pretty cool to me! I really do like our classic skyline and I'm not talking about glass towers, maybe just a first-class design in our projects instead of economy. I am "hoping" for a great design plan for the new City Hall!
@sabatoa Well said. I wish it were just a Reddit issue (there just seems to be a sort of Marxist political element over there) but the same attitude is present on Lansing-related Facebook posts and throughout the community in my anecdotal encounters. It's not uncommon that when I bring up something development related to friends/family/coworkers, especially new housing, they retort with something to the effect of "where do they think these people will come from? I typically respond with "growth", it's normal in most parts of the country.
I recently had an exchange with a pro-development Lansing Redditor who argued that the City Market debacle would have been best avoided by doing as Gillespie initially proposed, an outdoor market similar to Meridian Township's. This is a consistently PRO development person arguing in favor of the city having something that is less than the already embarrassing building we got, even when I suggest future alternatives all I get is unfounded assertions as to why nothing bigger or better could work here. It's depressing because if even the local champions of new development can't advocate for something better who will?
I agree with everything said. We shouldn't be lacking benefactors like we are. I'll also say I did away with following lansing reddit because it was so contrary to what I truly believed the community to be. Social media in general regarding Lansing has always seemed so far off from what I experience, the people I talk to and what friends views are. Maybe I'm out of touch, but I really find social media to be way off. The affordable housing argument for example...have they ever looked outside of Lansing. Lansing is extremely affordable. It's one of the things that keeps me here despite working in GR.
I think the Lansing Reddit is certainly out of touch. Facebook is more all-encompassing but I think people with more extreme views tend to share them more frequently, the audience for many individual pages/posts tends to be one sided. The proverbial echo chamber problem. My only beef with disengaging from such platforms (I post on Reddit, not Facebook) is that politicians do pay attention to such things and it inevitably affects their actions. Not speaking out carries long term risks.
While I do comment on this page and The Daily Kos rarely, I have been off of social media like Facebook since I was following a foraging group that became political when discussing where and what one should feel free about foraging wild plants and mushrooms! They advocated gathering in State and Nation Forests and Parks. It is OK to gather on posted property etc. One woman had gathered some Eagle feathers she had found, she later found that she was not supposed to gather raptor feathers, they belong to the State and only Native Americans are allowed to gather them. She wondered if she should return them to the woods and all the yahoos cried no way don't let the government and the DNR tell you what to do! There are enough things that trigger me these days, like tagging the brand-new beautiful bridge, I don't need to hear from people who bad mouth Lansing. Hey, we may not be Paris France, but we are "The Paris" of South-Central Lower Michigan, and it is a great place to live a happy life.
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That said, I think I'm with hood on his comment about the community. Over the last few years I've become jaded by the community. Maybe I'm on /r/lansing too much, but there's just no vision, no initiative, and when something cool does come- you often hear more negative about it than positive; "Why no affordable housing instead of this XXX". The recent (lack of) discussion with Eastern is a great example. They can't think deeper than the surface.
There are remarkable individuals that volunteer and work in the trenches in Lansing, and we have some cool home-grown developers that have a vision that I hope comes to pass, but it seems like the average Lansing area resident is a small-minded descendent of Biddle City.
I recently had an exchange with a pro-development Lansing Redditor who argued that the City Market debacle would have been best avoided by doing as Gillespie initially proposed, an outdoor market similar to Meridian Township's. This is a consistently PRO development person arguing in favor of the city having something that is less than the already embarrassing building we got, even when I suggest future alternatives all I get is unfounded assertions as to why nothing bigger or better could work here. It's depressing because if even the local champions of new development can't advocate for something better who will?