Good to see. I thought it was strange how they make sure to mention that Eaton County is not in CATA's taxing district (everyone knows this), but doesn't bother to mention who is paying for the service. That would have been important to mention if you're going to drop that little (obvious) nugget in. lol
And, of course, the other questions are exactly what are they planning for the Northern Tier, and then which of the routes in Lansing are they talking about adding extra buses too? As we've talked about before, along the major routes, waiting times should really not be more than 15 minutes, and I'm talking about for peak and off-peak hours.
This week's City Pulse has a public notice requesting the submission of bids for the demolition of the old rickety, multi-story riverwalk behind the Grandview Plaza building at the southeast corner of Michigan and Grand. It was closed years ago, and was always an interesting structure. People used to use the lower level of it for fishing all the time. In fact, the whole funky westbank of the river, downtown in the core is pretty interesting.
Hopefully the lack of a riverwalk on the west side of the river will not be permanent. I'm hoping they restore it from Michigan to Kalamazoo whenever the next project goes up along that side of the river.
I'd imagine barring something I hadn't heard about that this is not a tear down and replacement. Were there some plan to make a uniform and official trail on the westbank, I'd have a bit more hope. But, I haven't even seen an inkling in any kind of riverfront plan that deals with this area. It'd really be awesome if they drove the trail through under Michigan via Wentworth Park, though.
This area has always interested me, and I've explored it a few times. I was behind Grand Tower and the old City Club years ago where this is this weird mix of walkways and backlot areas and just resting when I heard something beneath me. It was some homeless folks way down the embankment under me in a little dugout section of the riverbank. It's like a whole other little area back there that many people don't know about. There are quite a few areas like this along the river, like behind the Turner Dodge mansion. There were some old, unused wooden steps behind the place that were so old unless you were really looking you wouldn't see them that brought you all the way down the river bluff to the river. They blocked them off years ago. I imagine there must have been an old dock down there, too, at one time.
I've seen those wood steps before, I'm pretty sure I went down there, maybe by a different set of steps though. I also liked checking out some of the old foundations sticking out from the bank, especially the one or two behind the On the Grand rowhouses. One is a fairly large corner of a building sticking out about halfway down. It's funny that they didn't really tear everything out after the fires.
Not quite the same thing, but speaking of interesting places - I wonder if the city will ever reopen that bridge over the railroad tracks into north-central Potter Park. If I lived in that neighborhood I would definitely want that bridge open - otherwise it's quite the walk to get into the park. I've heard conflicting stories - one person told me that the bridge was closed just after someone jumped off it in a successful suicide attempt. Another person told me the city closed it at a time just after there had been several bridge collapses in the state.
I can't believe I've never know about this. lol Is that a bridge for auto traffic? I guess the road system in the park has changed quite a bit. I imagine it was closed to better regulate traffic flow if its an auto bridge. Otherwise, you'd have people in the neighborhood cutting through the park just to reach Pennsylvania, which would be a nightmare. If they ever were to refurbish it, I'd only do it as a pedestrian/cyclist bridge.
We had some friends that lived in that neighborhood. I feel like I remember using that bridge to walk to the zoo one time, but I could be mistaken. It would have been 6 or 7 years ago though, so maybe the access to it has changed.
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And, of course, the other questions are exactly what are they planning for the Northern Tier, and then which of the routes in Lansing are they talking about adding extra buses too? As we've talked about before, along the major routes, waiting times should really not be more than 15 minutes, and I'm talking about for peak and off-peak hours.
Anyway, the city is gooing to bring it down.
South Block by NewCityOne, on Flickr
Rickety by NewCityOne, on Flickr
This area has always interested me, and I've explored it a few times. I was behind Grand Tower and the old City Club years ago where this is this weird mix of walkways and backlot areas and just resting when I heard something beneath me. It was some homeless folks way down the embankment under me in a little dugout section of the riverbank. It's like a whole other little area back there that many people don't know about. There are quite a few areas like this along the river, like behind the Turner Dodge mansion. There were some old, unused wooden steps behind the place that were so old unless you were really looking you wouldn't see them that brought you all the way down the river bluff to the river. They blocked them off years ago. I imagine there must have been an old dock down there, too, at one time.