This has been an issue in Metro Detroit, too, since the ice storm. Detroit Edison went through upscale Birmingham, for instance, and was just plain clear-cutting people's trees. I don't know enough about the issue to really make a judgement on it, but the line from the utilities is always that underground lines fail just as often and are harder to access when there is a problem and also harder to pinpoint the problem because of it. It'd be interesting to see a study on this. I do doubt this, because where I live in the city we rarely lose power when most others do, and I've always chalked it up to the fact that most of the cables are buried, but it's mostly based on a gut feeling.
Speaking of trees, despite being over there all of the time, I finally got to see the trees cut at Red Cedar for myself, and sympathize with the folks who had no idea what was going on. It honestly does look like a slaughter, as if they were mowed down in place, because they haven't started hauling off the trunks yet far as I can tell. It's just heatening to know that there is a method to this madness, that this was not the result of disease or something short-sighted, but rather development is about to take place and all of the trees will ultimately be replaced somewhere else on the site.
The cutting of the trees was an indirect subsidy to the developers since the developers would have had to pay for it if the property had been sold to them already. Does anybody know what the hold up is on the sale taking place?
The only thing that seems kind of off about the Red Cedar trees is that they where cut down before the land has been transferred or sold. It is interesting that there is concern for the rare bats that roosted there, and that was the reason they cut them. In an odd way that gives me hope that these guys really are interested in making this place an environmentally cooperative development, whether forced by mandate or not. I just wish they would get on with it. I would hate to see that we cut all those trees and nothing happens there.
Another walk down the river trail I noticed that there is demolition work going on at the "Knapp's Warehouse" which I hope indicates they are beginning the redevelopment of that building. They have also processed about half of the pavement pile that sits next to that building. I wonder how or if they plan to use the new mountains of dirt.
Was around Old Town for the first time in awhile. Not sure how long it's been there, but immediately north of the Red Cedar Friends Meetinghouse (Quakers) just north of Clinton off of Turner is a Salon and Spa that looks to be a new construction. I think it may be part of the old freight depot which stands on the site. It's set back from the road. I've always wondered about this stretch of Turner south of North Street and north of the development of Old Town. It's one of the more striking mish-mashes of redevelopment and visual blight you'll find with all kinds of funky zoning and land uses. I also noticed a old house on the westside of the street is red tagged and looks like it'll be brought down. I'm not really sure what to do with this area of the street. There are certainly some very old houses that could be saved, but man have they been lived in rough.
Also, they are redoing the rail crossing on North Street in between Turner and Clinton. I keep hearing that Friedland is going to get rail service, again, so this may be part of that.
Notes from REOtown, there is a new shop in one of the "octagon window shops" that is going to sell re-purposed furniture, they add art to old pieces. In the shops next door there is a rehearsal or maybe recording studio in one and they are gutting the next. Hack's Key Shop is all moved in and has repaved the parking lot, it looks great. I wish some more business owners would do the same. They can't blame huge potholes in their lots on the city. Down on South Street on the west side of Washington they are redeveloping a nice brick building, they have painted a nice mural on the wall and replaced the windows[I don't really like the new windows] it seems like a salon/spa is going in there but I am not sure of that. I have also noticed a lot of folks visiting the sunken garden, they mostly look sad.
Of course right after I was praising the key shop for repaving their parking lot, they tore out the cedar trees on the north side of the lot. While I understand it was to make the building more visible, I always hate to see green paved over with black. There were already maybe 12 parking spaces there and many more on the street,while I hope they do well, I can not imagine 15 or 20 cars parked there at one time for key customers. Sometimes I think our city should be called "Lansing the city of parking lots"
The architects proposed a new facility joining all three units — the jail, court and administrative offices — in a complex next to where the jail is currently located. Lansing officials have been pushing for a facility in downtown Lansing that would replace the one in Mason, but the architects saw that option as too costly, especially with a relatively new $4 million kitchen that could be saved and incorporated into the new building.
There was this, too:
Also pitched was $51.6 million in other improvements and enhancements to the Lansing Police Department and 54A District Court located in downtown Lansing.
Daniel Redstone, the architectural firm’s president, said the Lansing Police Department and the 54A Distrct Court are “functionally obsolete.” At City Hall — the court is there and the Police Department is next door — operations are “scattered and disconnected.”
The report said at least two sites in Lansing have been identified as possible sites for a joint police and court facility. There were no specifics.
LPD "functionally obsolete". Reminds me I was walking to catch a bus downtown a few months ago and came across someone laying on the sidewalk... just homeless I think, but after walking another couple of blocks I figured perhaps I should do something. So I walked to LPD downtown, as I was almost there, but it was after hours, but they have a phone in the entryway that connects with dispatch. So I picked it up and just let them know my concern... but the fellow I was talking to kept saying "sorry, you're breaking up". This was a call from a landline phone in their own lobby. Wonder how often someone uses it.
I am not sure if this is a issue of obsolescence, but of the same low funding. I called the LPD the other day as two men were fighting on S Washington right in the middle of the day in and out of the traffic and with people walking by. From my view it looked like it was violent and maybe the police should stop the fight. The person on the phone did not seem very concerned and said they would send someone by. I have lived in a small town for so long I thought the police would be there right away, but they did not drive by until the fight was over and the guys had walked away in different directions fifteen minutes or more later. Some guy got killed with a sword just up the street last spring so something like this could have gotten worse. I was thinking maybe they don't have enough officers to respond quickly. I also thought it was kind of strange that maybe no one else may have called after seeing two guys fighting on the main block of REOtown.
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Speaking of trees, despite being over there all of the time, I finally got to see the trees cut at Red Cedar for myself, and sympathize with the folks who had no idea what was going on. It honestly does look like a slaughter, as if they were mowed down in place, because they haven't started hauling off the trunks yet far as I can tell. It's just heatening to know that there is a method to this madness, that this was not the result of disease or something short-sighted, but rather development is about to take place and all of the trees will ultimately be replaced somewhere else on the site.
Also, they are redoing the rail crossing on North Street in between Turner and Clinton. I keep hearing that Friedland is going to get rail service, again, so this may be part of that.
There was this, too:
I bet neither of those sites is downtown.