The map seems so poorly thought out,I have to remember I guess that Frandor was a huge field and really was the edge of town. I can not remember if there was a neighborhood were 127 runs through, or if it was in Lansing Township. I think a business association or some kind of private authority could come together and really help pull the edges of Frandor together[cross city limits], build better streets and sidewalks.Have better zoning use and signage rules, and add landscaping for beauty and drainage.
It'd just be easier for Lansing to annex that section of the township. Of course, they'd have to get in the buy-in from the businesses, but either an annexation or 425 tax-sharing agreement would be preferable. That area is a mess, and since it's a township, they aren't going to pay to put in proper sidewalks. Annexation for the city has usually been out of the question since Lansing was so fiscally unhealthy for years. But with the city much more fiscally healthy, now, and in a better situation than Lansing Township, I wonder what kind of argument Lansing could make that would appeal to the business owners in that section of the township? The sticking point with annexations to a city is that you're taxes will go up, and that hasn't changed, so maybe I'd sell that putting in sidewalks would offer better access to their businesses particularly with hundreds of new residents coming to SkyVue.
I view the annexation of the section of Lansing Township south of Michigan near 127 as an absolute necessity for Lansing. Virtually that entire portion of the township, including infrastructure, is run down and will have an increasingly negative effect on the surrounding areas of the city if left unchecked. In the short term I think annexing that piece of land is realistic and should be a priority, perhaps the Groespeck portion of the township would also be candidate for annexation in the not-too-distant future.
Jeez, I knew about the western end of Lansing Township and the areas near Eastwood, but I didn't know that there were sections south of Michigan and on the other side of 127.
There are four pieces of Lansing Township on the east side of the metro. The other one is a section south of East Lansing that contains part of an MSU experimental/research farm.
I think the fact that the township basically ignores those little neighborhoods on the east side has to do with race and class, they have nice side walks over in Waverly they just repaved W Michigan Ave. I often go to the the Village Party Store and the Eastside Fish Market, and drive down those streets. Lots of people live in those little houses, and I think they deserve to be part of the city. The contrast between Mifflin and say Hayford is remarkable. They did recently knock down [maybe it fell down] one of the saddest looking houses next to the asphalt company. There was a family living there until last spring.
They are starting to apply to exterior treatments on the building. On the north east corner charcoal colored rectangle panels. I am hoping for the best, it will be hard to overlook this building if it is less than the best.
I heard an interesting comment about the Sky Vue, in that they received tax incentives from Lansing with the understanding they would provide hundreds of construction jobs, and then did not hire any local contractors. It looks like the only local people who are making any money over there are the hired pickets. I believe they after the fact, changed their target market to all students from mixed. This seems at the least ingenues to except tax breaks from the people of the city of Lansing and build a building built by outsiders for temporary student residents, whom I would say the majority would be Chinese students who will go back home after college. It is great that students come here from all over the world, but I am not sure we should be subsidizing a company to build and profit from a building no one from Lansing will live in.
I don't think it is fair to say that the majority of students living in Skyvue will be Chinese. Chinese students make up just over 10% of MSU's undergraduate population (East Asian influx slowly changes East Lansing), so if you project that percentage on to the residents of the building I wouldn't expect them to occupy more than just over 10% of the building.
There are definitely in-state families that can afford to spend a lot for their children to live in nice housing (think Metro Detroit and Grand Rapids metro area), as well as out-of-state students who are already paying more than double the tuition to attend MSU. Students are also taking on far more loans than they did in previous generations and will be using the money from those loans towards paying for higher-end apartments (I definitely think this is a terrible idea for students to make, but there is a significant number that *are* deciding to do so).
Purely anecdotal, but I'm around to the various student apartments fairly often and there is definitely a disproportionate amount of Chinese students living in the newer/higher-end complexes. They are the ones driving the Lamborghini's, Mclaren's, Maserati's, etc... I've heard many mentions about the importance of "prestige" in Chinese culture, appearances are important to them so they put their kids in expensive cars, clothes and high end housing. It's come to a point where I really wonder what will happen if MSU begins losing out on these Chinese students, I'd bet they're having a sizable impact on the local economy, especially the student housing market.
Comments
Gross.
Lansing Township Map by NewCityOne, on Flickr
There are definitely in-state families that can afford to spend a lot for their children to live in nice housing (think Metro Detroit and Grand Rapids metro area), as well as out-of-state students who are already paying more than double the tuition to attend MSU. Students are also taking on far more loans than they did in previous generations and will be using the money from those loans towards paying for higher-end apartments (I definitely think this is a terrible idea for students to make, but there is a significant number that *are* deciding to do so).