The community forum was great yesterday. The vision is to make Holmes/Pleasant Grove the "downtown" of SW Lansing and the first baby step is building a town square/public art space in the parking lot at that intersection.
This is the location of the park:
It's not huge, but it will feature a metal sculpture by the artist that organizes the Oldtown Scrapfest (David Such). He says he anticipates the piece to be 12-15 feet high.
What a great plan! I think the town square or four corners is a good way to create an urban village within the greater city. I think Holmes and MLK would also be a good area to re-think. It does not have to be such a mess. There are neighborhoods full of people who live in that area and could support a new town [village] center there as well.
That was one of the issues Adam Hussein brought up- that the corridors of the South Side look rough and are lagging, but hidden behind the corridors are strong neighborhoods full of people that currently leave the neighborhood when they need to shop.
Speaking of corridors that need attention, Saginaw through the West Side needs to be rethought.That stretch of Saginaw really represents the next step in revitalizing Lansing. You've got Old Town on the North Side, REO Town on the South Side and Michigan Ave on the East Side. Saginaw needs to become the anchor for the West Side.
For starters, it's time to turn Saginaw back into a two-way street if possible. I think if you did that, improved the streetscaping and established some sort of economic incentive to lure in a small business or two, you could quickly get some real momentum going. Of course that'd take money that Lansing possibly doesn't have, but still... it's something to consider.
A few years back when the "complete streets" ordinance was being debated, there was a focus on this section of Saginaw. It's how we ended up with the bike lane, but discussing turning the corridor to two-way was also discussed as was taking out a lane for on-street parking.
What makes this more complicated than it should be is that Saginaw/Oakland and Cedar/Larch are actually part of the state highway system. So, it's hard enough to get this stuff done when you're just dealing with a single entity (city/township), but you throw in MDOT and it makes everything stretch out even longer. I think it took quite a bit of cojoling just to get the bike lane.
But yeah, having grew up where all of these streets cross, I'd eventually love to see a MAJOR reworking of them given that they make up the northern and eastern borders of downtown. I abhor, for instance, the block of Saginaw between the and Larch. The sidewalks on the south side of the highway/street are so narrow you feel like you're walking in the street. The street lighting leaves much to be desired, and there is not a single tree or tree lawn on this entire stretch. It's a terrible entrance to the downtown area, and the QD on the corner takes up the entire block with nothing but asphalt on its eastern end.
Oh, but back on the portion between MLK and Pine, the city rezoned the entire area a few years back as an "overlay" district, which does things like reduce parking requirements and encouraging mixed-use development. Downtown and REO Town were also rezoned in this fashion (overlay districts). It really just takes one developer coming in to get others interested. So far, that hasn't happened.
It is unfortunate that both Saginaw and Oakland serve as a state highway is some ways, because it changes the mission of that urban neighborhood street into a high speed one way highway it's propose to move traffic as fast as possible. I for instance have been wanting to try the New Orleans style restaurant there on the west side but I am always zipping by keeping up with traffic and don't make that turn. There are already small business areas along there that could benefit from slower two way traffic, and I could see it being like REOtown, small urban "village centers" at several areas along Saginaw. I have never seen anyone using the bike lane on Saginaw. We have 127 and 496 if you want to get through Lansing quickly, it would seems like we could tame these state highways a bit without causing too much trouble. The state highways that also serve as Main Streets in small town Michigan are two way and have 25mph speed limits. Why not Lansing?
I have used the bike lane on Saginaw! And it amuses me greatly that it ends with a "share the road" sign. Like I'm going to bike in traffic on Saginaw. Like anybody actually wants people biking in traffic on Saginaw. Often I turn as the bike lane ends onto the river trail. If I stay on Saginaw for some reason you can bet it's on the sidewalk.
lol, you got it. I've used the bike lane quite a few times. Love it. But there is no way I'm risking my life on East Saginaw on the street. That area is so incredibly pedestrian unfriendly it's not even funny. I don't even like to walk the sidewalk there.
I remember Councilwoman Yorko telling me that they'd tried to get this extended further east, but forgot exactly why she told me they didn't get any further. I'll try and email her and see what she says. I know it'd be tricky orienting it between Larch and Penn just because the railroad viaduct splits the street, but there is really no reason why they couldn't continue the trail east of Pennsylvania and have it directly connect to the one on Grand River at the East Lansing border.
Wow you guys are brave! It looks to me like there is enough room there to create a protected bike lane. Maybe some kind of bike lane overpass at the RR crossing or to take walkers and bikers over to May Street, go down May to Maryland and back to E. Saginaw. I know we have talked about a cross town bike/walking path here before, I had not considered using Saginaw Street but maybe the State would help to fund it along their State highway. I have noticed they are building bike paths along with the repaving projects on 127 north by Ithica and Alma.
Looks like the city council formally granted a special land use permit to Summit Street Development to develop it's 522-unit development up at the Motor Wheels complex. It's so bizarre we're this far into the process, and the developers have said absolutely nothing about what this development is going to be. It hasn't even been leaked to the media. At 522-units, this would be by far the largest residential development in Lansing in decades. It's nearly one-and-a-half times larger than SkyVue as it concerns the number of units.
Comments
The community forum was great yesterday. The vision is to make Holmes/Pleasant Grove the "downtown" of SW Lansing and the first baby step is building a town square/public art space in the parking lot at that intersection.
This is the location of the park:
It's not huge, but it will feature a metal sculpture by the artist that organizes the Oldtown Scrapfest (David Such). He says he anticipates the piece to be 12-15 feet high.
Renderings of the proposal options are here.
What a great plan! I think the town square or four corners is a good way to create an urban village within the greater city. I think Holmes and MLK would also be a good area to re-think. It does not have to be such a mess. There are neighborhoods full of people who live in that area and could support a new town [village] center there as well.
That was one of the issues Adam Hussein brought up- that the corridors of the South Side look rough and are lagging, but hidden behind the corridors are strong neighborhoods full of people that currently leave the neighborhood when they need to shop.
Speaking of corridors that need attention, Saginaw through the West Side needs to be rethought.That stretch of Saginaw really represents the next step in revitalizing Lansing. You've got Old Town on the North Side, REO Town on the South Side and Michigan Ave on the East Side. Saginaw needs to become the anchor for the West Side.
For starters, it's time to turn Saginaw back into a two-way street if possible. I think if you did that, improved the streetscaping and established some sort of economic incentive to lure in a small business or two, you could quickly get some real momentum going. Of course that'd take money that Lansing possibly doesn't have, but still... it's something to consider.
A few years back when the "complete streets" ordinance was being debated, there was a focus on this section of Saginaw. It's how we ended up with the bike lane, but discussing turning the corridor to two-way was also discussed as was taking out a lane for on-street parking.
What makes this more complicated than it should be is that Saginaw/Oakland and Cedar/Larch are actually part of the state highway system. So, it's hard enough to get this stuff done when you're just dealing with a single entity (city/township), but you throw in MDOT and it makes everything stretch out even longer. I think it took quite a bit of cojoling just to get the bike lane.
But yeah, having grew up where all of these streets cross, I'd eventually love to see a MAJOR reworking of them given that they make up the northern and eastern borders of downtown. I abhor, for instance, the block of Saginaw between the and Larch. The sidewalks on the south side of the highway/street are so narrow you feel like you're walking in the street. The street lighting leaves much to be desired, and there is not a single tree or tree lawn on this entire stretch. It's a terrible entrance to the downtown area, and the QD on the corner takes up the entire block with nothing but asphalt on its eastern end.
Oh, but back on the portion between MLK and Pine, the city rezoned the entire area a few years back as an "overlay" district, which does things like reduce parking requirements and encouraging mixed-use development. Downtown and REO Town were also rezoned in this fashion (overlay districts). It really just takes one developer coming in to get others interested. So far, that hasn't happened.
It is unfortunate that both Saginaw and Oakland serve as a state highway is some ways, because it changes the mission of that urban neighborhood street into a high speed one way highway it's propose to move traffic as fast as possible. I for instance have been wanting to try the New Orleans style restaurant there on the west side but I am always zipping by keeping up with traffic and don't make that turn. There are already small business areas along there that could benefit from slower two way traffic, and I could see it being like REOtown, small urban "village centers" at several areas along Saginaw. I have never seen anyone using the bike lane on Saginaw. We have 127 and 496 if you want to get through Lansing quickly, it would seems like we could tame these state highways a bit without causing too much trouble. The state highways that also serve as Main Streets in small town Michigan are two way and have 25mph speed limits. Why not Lansing?
I have used the bike lane on Saginaw! And it amuses me greatly that it ends with a "share the road" sign. Like I'm going to bike in traffic on Saginaw. Like anybody actually wants people biking in traffic on Saginaw. Often I turn as the bike lane ends onto the river trail. If I stay on Saginaw for some reason you can bet it's on the sidewalk.
lol, you got it. I've used the bike lane quite a few times. Love it. But there is no way I'm risking my life on East Saginaw on the street. That area is so incredibly pedestrian unfriendly it's not even funny. I don't even like to walk the sidewalk there.
I remember Councilwoman Yorko telling me that they'd tried to get this extended further east, but forgot exactly why she told me they didn't get any further. I'll try and email her and see what she says. I know it'd be tricky orienting it between Larch and Penn just because the railroad viaduct splits the street, but there is really no reason why they couldn't continue the trail east of Pennsylvania and have it directly connect to the one on Grand River at the East Lansing border.
Wow you guys are brave! It looks to me like there is enough room there to create a protected bike lane. Maybe some kind of bike lane overpass at the RR crossing or to take walkers and bikers over to May Street, go down May to Maryland and back to E. Saginaw. I know we have talked about a cross town bike/walking path here before, I had not considered using Saginaw Street but maybe the State would help to fund it along their State highway. I have noticed they are building bike paths along with the repaving projects on 127 north by Ithica and Alma.
Looks like the city council formally granted a special land use permit to Summit Street Development to develop it's 522-unit development up at the Motor Wheels complex. It's so bizarre we're this far into the process, and the developers have said absolutely nothing about what this development is going to be. It hasn't even been leaked to the media. At 522-units, this would be by far the largest residential development in Lansing in decades. It's nearly one-and-a-half times larger than SkyVue as it concerns the number of units.