I just don't believe that MichMatters - in fact, I sort of wish I could. Lansing takes in enough money to have someone pick up broken glass in Adado from time to time. If they really can't find the money for that, then they're allocating money poorly, very poorly. We're talking about a basic service, not a major project.
I agree with MichMatters. The state has been cutting funding and it's evident through the need for neighboring municipalities to have to merge city services.
What may seem like a cheap cost to have someone maintain the parks is actually more costly because we're not just talking about one park (Adado) but many parks and streetscapes that are all missing their maintenance.
It's a shame that with the amount of taxes that are paid, we still have to rely on private sponsors for beautifying our cities.
There's a lot of government waste at the top that we don't even see on a daily basis, and it is causing our universities to continue to raise their tuition rates, cities to cut back on basic services, and other public institutions to find other ways to close the gap between the funding that they used to receive and what they get now.
It's not just "government waste." It's things like when you cut the business tax in 2011, accounting for over a billion dollars. It's cutting personal property taxes and income taxes and....This stuff has consequences. And, then when the state begins to grow like it has been for years, now, much less of that growth is being captured by the local governments and state governments. It's then about priorities, where you decide to spend what's left after the cuts, and then still having to take care of liabilities with a significantly smaller revenue stream.
We don't call it this, here, but the name of the game has been austerity, first out of necessity during the economic down times from 2006 to 2011, and from then on by choice. Michigan is now a "poor" state as it relates to per capita GDP. This isn't just some partisan talking point. Bridge Magazine did a whole detailed story on this a few months ago about how state government's decisions and ideology have kept the state's citites from capitalizing on what little growth we have.
Snyder said he wanted to make us more like Indiana, and, well, he accomplished that: A low tax, low service state; the problem with this model arises when you're also a low-growth state, which most mature states are. Whether you think that's a good or bad thing, that's what it is. What it means, though, is that people can't legitimately complain about everything looking bad if you back this kind of ideology.
I did not live here during the recent recession, but signs of how bad it was are still evident. The parks, the schools, and the roads all have had their funds cut and look like it. I think of President Obama's stimulus programs and how as soon as they could the repubs put an end to them. Just who and what suffers from these austerity fantasies? As with right now, it's the people who voted for these "conservatives". Government stimulus programs work and benefit the whole community. We have the proof before our eyes everyday that government austerity does not work. Does Snyder think a private company funded the building of the Mackinac Bridge? No one likes to pay taxes, but taxes are not an evil government stealing money from you, taxes support the commonwealth, and we are the commonwealth. Your taxes are spent on you.
Agree with the above statement. It's a give and take when it comes to lowering property taxes and offering subsidies or grants to bring in new business and growth.
Municipally owned parks seem to get the least amount of attention and $, followed by county and then state parks.
I personally would rather see fewer parks with more attention, upgrades and up-keep given to those that are heavily utilized.
Parks like Reutter, Adado and Durant are no-brainers to invest in. They are a reflection of not only the city, but the state and it's capital. It's shocking that you can walk literally 2 blocks from our capital building, and if you're luck to not sprain your ankle in a pothole before you get there, find yourself in a park littered with trash and weeds.
I called Brett with Lansing Park Services to talk through an idea offer a dog park in one of our existing downtown parks that has the space and infrastructure to support it. He took 3 weeks to get back to me, and then never responded past our initial conversation... a bit frustrating. If the city needs help and funding to maintain parks, use your most powerful resource. The citizens and community. If they're not bought it, no one else will be.
Speaking of parks and this current city administration not exactly being fans of them, the City Pulse has an article on how Bernero is trying to build a driveway to Groesbeck through Ormond Park on the northeast side. It really just goes to show what his priorities have been as it comes to parks. And, obviously, this isn't the first controversy as we've seen the sell-off of most of the other golf courses and some parks.
Anyway, I'd still write Brett. Whether something is done or not, the more people complain the more things get light shown upon them. Look at what happened with Ormond Park. You want to be on the record when the sh%t hits the fan as having been on the right side of things. As long as people aren't contacting their city government, they can claim plausible deniability. They can always say "Well, we never really got any complaints."
Complain. I'm going to right the parks department abou the trash in the old fountain at Riverfront Park, today.
Demmer has sold it's North Lansing Plant to Loc, a company that does similar work. Good to hear this. Loc plans to add another 100 jobs within the next year.
Demmer had been in the business of supplying military equipment and vehicles to the government, but now wants to focus on supply parts for the aerospace industry and stamping for the automotive industry. So, it's a win-win for both companies and the workers at this large plant in north Lansing.
Hadn't heard that about Demmer. Got to tour their plant near Old Town once (a pretty rare thing, I think), saw lots of military Hummer parts and forward-operating-base shelters under construction. Neat work. Huge, very fast and rather frightening welding robots.
I do not know if the Mayor grew up in Lansing, maybe if he did he might understand how much every neighborhood loved it's parks and how much our lives took place in a Lansing park. We also had schools in each neighborhood that fostered a better sense of community. At Barnes Avenue School right about now they would be having the Ice Cream Social that they had every year. People from the whole neighborhood would come by for games and cake walks,ice cream, old fashion stuff like that. I know if the Mayor had participated in such events in Lansing he would not so easily sell off our parks and schools.
I guess I hadn't been down this way in awhile, but I noticed "for sale" signs up on the lot at the corner of Washington and Lenawee where the mayor was trying to push forward a new city hall. Apparently, Peter Allen + Associates out of Ann Arbor (PTAllen.com) is the agent for the property. They have some mock-ups of the block on their website.
Also, the old NAPA auto parts store across from the Lansing Brewing Company is having some structure built onto the back of it. It looks like it will house something mechanical in nature. If I had to guess, I'd say it's some satellite to the brewery, but I really have no idea.
Comments
I just don't believe that MichMatters - in fact, I sort of wish I could. Lansing takes in enough money to have someone pick up broken glass in Adado from time to time. If they really can't find the money for that, then they're allocating money poorly, very poorly. We're talking about a basic service, not a major project.
I agree with MichMatters. The state has been cutting funding and it's evident through the need for neighboring municipalities to have to merge city services.
What may seem like a cheap cost to have someone maintain the parks is actually more costly because we're not just talking about one park (Adado) but many parks and streetscapes that are all missing their maintenance.
It's a shame that with the amount of taxes that are paid, we still have to rely on private sponsors for beautifying our cities.
There's a lot of government waste at the top that we don't even see on a daily basis, and it is causing our universities to continue to raise their tuition rates, cities to cut back on basic services, and other public institutions to find other ways to close the gap between the funding that they used to receive and what they get now.
It's not just "government waste." It's things like when you cut the business tax in 2011, accounting for over a billion dollars. It's cutting personal property taxes and income taxes and....This stuff has consequences. And, then when the state begins to grow like it has been for years, now, much less of that growth is being captured by the local governments and state governments. It's then about priorities, where you decide to spend what's left after the cuts, and then still having to take care of liabilities with a significantly smaller revenue stream.
We don't call it this, here, but the name of the game has been austerity, first out of necessity during the economic down times from 2006 to 2011, and from then on by choice. Michigan is now a "poor" state as it relates to per capita GDP. This isn't just some partisan talking point. Bridge Magazine did a whole detailed story on this a few months ago about how state government's decisions and ideology have kept the state's citites from capitalizing on what little growth we have.
Snyder said he wanted to make us more like Indiana, and, well, he accomplished that: A low tax, low service state; the problem with this model arises when you're also a low-growth state, which most mature states are. Whether you think that's a good or bad thing, that's what it is. What it means, though, is that people can't legitimately complain about everything looking bad if you back this kind of ideology.
I did not live here during the recent recession, but signs of how bad it was are still evident. The parks, the schools, and the roads all have had their funds cut and look like it. I think of President Obama's stimulus programs and how as soon as they could the repubs put an end to them. Just who and what suffers from these austerity fantasies? As with right now, it's the people who voted for these "conservatives". Government stimulus programs work and benefit the whole community. We have the proof before our eyes everyday that government austerity does not work. Does Snyder think a private company funded the building of the Mackinac Bridge? No one likes to pay taxes, but taxes are not an evil government stealing money from you, taxes support the commonwealth, and we are the commonwealth. Your taxes are spent on you.
Agree with the above statement. It's a give and take when it comes to lowering property taxes and offering subsidies or grants to bring in new business and growth.
Municipally owned parks seem to get the least amount of attention and $, followed by county and then state parks.
I personally would rather see fewer parks with more attention, upgrades and up-keep given to those that are heavily utilized.
Parks like Reutter, Adado and Durant are no-brainers to invest in. They are a reflection of not only the city, but the state and it's capital. It's shocking that you can walk literally 2 blocks from our capital building, and if you're luck to not sprain your ankle in a pothole before you get there, find yourself in a park littered with trash and weeds.
I called Brett with Lansing Park Services to talk through an idea offer a dog park in one of our existing downtown parks that has the space and infrastructure to support it. He took 3 weeks to get back to me, and then never responded past our initial conversation... a bit frustrating. If the city needs help and funding to maintain parks, use your most powerful resource. The citizens and community. If they're not bought it, no one else will be.
Speaking of parks and this current city administration not exactly being fans of them, the City Pulse has an article on how Bernero is trying to build a driveway to Groesbeck through Ormond Park on the northeast side. It really just goes to show what his priorities have been as it comes to parks. And, obviously, this isn't the first controversy as we've seen the sell-off of most of the other golf courses and some parks.
Anyway, I'd still write Brett. Whether something is done or not, the more people complain the more things get light shown upon them. Look at what happened with Ormond Park. You want to be on the record when the sh%t hits the fan as having been on the right side of things. As long as people aren't contacting their city government, they can claim plausible deniability. They can always say "Well, we never really got any complaints."
Complain. I'm going to right the parks department abou the trash in the old fountain at Riverfront Park, today.
Demmer has sold it's North Lansing Plant to Loc, a company that does similar work. Good to hear this. Loc plans to add another 100 jobs within the next year.
Demmer had been in the business of supplying military equipment and vehicles to the government, but now wants to focus on supply parts for the aerospace industry and stamping for the automotive industry. So, it's a win-win for both companies and the workers at this large plant in north Lansing.
Hadn't heard that about Demmer. Got to tour their plant near Old Town once (a pretty rare thing, I think), saw lots of military Hummer parts and forward-operating-base shelters under construction. Neat work. Huge, very fast and rather frightening welding robots.
I do not know if the Mayor grew up in Lansing, maybe if he did he might understand how much every neighborhood loved it's parks and how much our lives took place in a Lansing park. We also had schools in each neighborhood that fostered a better sense of community. At Barnes Avenue School right about now they would be having the Ice Cream Social that they had every year. People from the whole neighborhood would come by for games and cake walks,ice cream, old fashion stuff like that. I know if the Mayor had participated in such events in Lansing he would not so easily sell off our parks and schools.
I guess I hadn't been down this way in awhile, but I noticed "for sale" signs up on the lot at the corner of Washington and Lenawee where the mayor was trying to push forward a new city hall. Apparently, Peter Allen + Associates out of Ann Arbor (PTAllen.com) is the agent for the property. They have some mock-ups of the block on their website.
Also, the old NAPA auto parts store across from the Lansing Brewing Company is having some structure built onto the back of it. It looks like it will house something mechanical in nature. If I had to guess, I'd say it's some satellite to the brewery, but I really have no idea.