I noticed a project beginning in Rutter Park on Capitol Ave. It looks like the city is building a large playground in Rutter Park right in front of the fountain. I find this disappointing to build a playground in the middle of downtown in our only formal Victorian-style park. I hope I am wrong but I fear this will be another "substation garden" that no one visits. I am pretty sure the only folks who will use this playground equipment are the adult men who spend their days in Rutter Park. I would bet money that I see those guys on the swings before I see any kids. I know the library is right across the street and more people will soon be living in the area but where are the kids who might use this playground?
They are citing COVID, but the truth is that there was significant public backlash to this. Anyway, they want to add two additional levels to the Gannon ramp on campus, instead.
@MichMatters I'm glad there's no ramp going there but if it remains a surface lot for decades then I'd rather have had the ramp. I can't imagine LCC using all the land they currently own anytime in the foreseeable future, I'd really like to see them sell off this lot or one of their properties at Washington and Shiawassee.
@gbdinlansing I'm very disappointed in the playground at Reutter Park. I don't think it's an appropriate park to put a playground in to begin with but the placement of it is absolutely horrible. I don't really think there's a lot of families in that area either, I'm sure they could have found another park that could have used that equipment much more.
I think that there are a lot of nice things they could have done to improve this park and a playground was about the last. Honestly, if I see and hear kids playing there I will be happy, but I kind of hate when Lansing does stuff like this, erect these kinds of useless structures like the newspaper kiosks, the pavilion in the cement courtyard by the Lansing Center or the spiral wall and the steal "band" structure in Adado Park come to mind. What I fear will happen is that no one at all will use the park anymore and it will just look dumpy. The money spent there [if it was city money] could have been used to get the fountain working full time.
Just to be clear, there was public outreach for how to redeveloped Reutter Park. From the LSJ in October:
It's also an area in flux, with more than 300 new market-rate apartments planned for Reutter's immediate vicinity.
City officials plan to host a community forum, possibly this fall, about the park's future. Ideas run the gamut from installing playground equipment to hosting activities, like yoga.
Lansing officials are adamant about one thing, however: There are no plans to drive homeless people or the people who serve them from the park.
One design, presented by the city during a recent meeting with advocates for the homeless, would draw upon the criss-crossing sidewalks that divide the park into four sections.
One quadrant, for instance, could serve as a park for dogs to play off leash. Playground equipment and a small amphitheater could sit in a quadrant bordering West Kalamazoo Street and an open space could play host to temporary events, like concerts, near Townsend Street.
Crucially, the city's proposal also includes a fourth quadrant designated as a "human services area." That's where nonprofit groups like Cardboard Prophets could continue to set up tables for handing out sacked lunches and offering other assistance to the homeless.
History:
Decades ago, the park had a seedy reputation as a magnet for prostitution.
A 1972 Lansing State Journal article with the front-page headline "Hookers Troll Reutter Park for Victims" described the park in colorful and, by today's standards, politically incorrect language.
"As the night darks, the gushing fountain is turned off, and the little park — where during the day men sun themselves and secretaries eat their lunches — comes alive with prostitutes, pimps and homosexuals," the article read.
It's apparently always been a park in flux with varying uses.
I did write the mayor with several recommendations, and he said he would keep them in mind. I was thinking more formal with more gardens and landscaping where people might like to hold a marriage ceremony or pose in front of the working fountain for pictures of their visit to Lansing. I do not want to kick anyone out of the park, but I think River Street Park would be a better place for an adult day park. I also understand that there will soon be a lot more people perhaps with kids living Downtown, I hope there will be a lot of people using the park but I fear it will still be mainly adult men who need a place to spend the day that uses the park. They do not keep me from enjoying the fountain the few days it is running but for whatever reason, there may be, many women and parents with children will not use the park if there are groups of adult men present. The article you posted pretty much ended the use of Rutter Park for many families. I vividly remember reading this in the LSJ, I was 16 and like most people had no idea this went on down there in the middle of the night. So once everyone read this there were traffic jams cruising around that block with people trying to get a look at the prostitutes and homosexuals "oh my!". That lead to the end of that sort of activity in that area. Then the park was now thought of as a dangerous place and pretty much abandoned by most folks. If a new playground changes that Great!
@MichMatters I considered going to one of those meetings, I wish I had. I thought it was discussed on here but I can't find it. I've always wanted to see Reutter Park become a well maintained formal park, there's many beautifully maintained examples of these formal square style parks in older cities across the US. It's one of the only parks in Lansing that I would argue against having something like a playground or a dog park in. I guess it's done now, we'll see if the playground ends up bringing families to the park when more of the planned apartments are completed, if it does it may be worth having there.
Yeah, Reutter Park was built as a monumental park/square. Playgrounds in these kind of parks are tacky. I'm not even a fan of the one Durant Park, which is similiar. But at least that's one is in a residential neighborhood, mostly. That said, since it's there, I hope it gets used and I assume it will be being across from the library, and there are actually quite a few families with children still living along western Lenawee and Hillsdale near the park.
Comments
LCC scraps plans for Capitol Avenue parking ramp after pandemic changes the circumstances
They are citing COVID, but the truth is that there was significant public backlash to this. Anyway, they want to add two additional levels to the Gannon ramp on campus, instead.
@gbdinlansing I'm very disappointed in the playground at Reutter Park. I don't think it's an appropriate park to put a playground in to begin with but the placement of it is absolutely horrible. I don't really think there's a lot of families in that area either, I'm sure they could have found another park that could have used that equipment much more.
History:
It's apparently always been a park in flux with varying uses.