I rode down to the new park yesterday. It was a beautiful sunny day, there was one guy down there playing his guitar by the river, but it was pretty empty. I was a little surprised to see the fire place has gas logs. I know that a real wood fire would be more difficult to operate but the wood smoke scent and real wood burning could have been nice. The gas logs were not on. I think it looks very nice but now they need to get people down there to animate the place. Push carts/food trucks at lunch time could give people a reason to go there and stay to eat lunch. Maybe a sandcastle building contest, out on the Cape they truck in the extra sand for the contest then truck it away. A beach volleyball league and tournament could bring people there on a regular bases. I would just like to see this park succeed and it's need people to do that.
Thanks for the evening shots. It is so great to see what it looks like at night and to see people down there. The forest and the bridge are really beautiful.
If the number of people milling, chilling, strolling and sitting atop downtown Lansing’s new riverfront perch, Rotary Park, last week is any indication of things to come, the 2-week-old park may have accomplished a feat that has eluded the city for decades.
In urban planner lingo, it has activated the waterfront.
Size-wise, it’s a small park, but the privately funded project marks a decisive moment in the city’s ongoing pivot to the river. By now, everyone recognizes the Grand River — once the city’s backyard industrial cesspool — as the city’s lifeblood and centerpiece.
Rotary Park bids to become a hub of riverfront activity.
The backbone of the park is a few hundred feet of crisp concrete embankment, stepped down to river’s edge for duck ogling, fishing or close-up ripple contemplation. For a higher view, bays with tables and umbrellas poke out of the embankment like the prows of little ships. To the south is a fancy new kayak landing and dock.
This is really good news to see that people are using the new park. Not to brag!!!:} but they did tell me that my submission to the "penny for your thoughts campaign" to create an illuminated forest and pathway was going to be part the plan for the new park! I am very happy about the way it looks and people like that feature of the park. I think a lot of people live near by and will now enjoy this upgraded area of the riverfront.
I've been waiting to see this story forever. For those of us who've lived here for some time, we've known about the prevelance of black squirrels in East Lansing, and this article goes into the history of why:
The Midwest is prime habitat for the black squirrel, which has long thrived at MSU and also in Battle Creek's urban areas. In both cases, that's thanks largely to the Kellogg family.
Local lore says the eccentric Dr. John Harvey Kellogg or his cereal magnate brother, Will Keith Kellogg, introduced them to southern Michigan.
But it's not quite that simple.
As for how the black squirrel arrived on Michigan State's campus, that can be attributed to the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station, not to its famous namesake.
W.K. Kellogg deeded his experimental farm, located north of Battle Creek in Ross Township, to the Michigan State College of Agriculture in 1928.
Wilber "Joe" Johnson, chief wildlife biologist at MSU's Kellogg Biological Station, reportedly trapped black squirrels at the complex in 1958 and 1962 and released them at MSU's main campus at the request of its then-president John Hannah, who thought the species to be unique.
Apparently, red squirrels are far more destructive than grey squirrels.
Thank you for posting this, it is always good to have my memory confirmed by the State Journal. When I was a kid I only saw black squirrels at MSU when we would go out to feed the ducks, and in Albion where my Grand Father lived. There were no black squirrels over in my Quentin Park neighborhood or in Frances Park. When I moved back to Lansing I even took pictures of the black squirrels at MSU as I had not yet learned that those squirrels could be found almost everywhere in the Lower Peninsula and were no longer unique. I have all three colors of squirrels in my woods up by the Au Sable river. The other day I saw a small flock of large Blue Jays dive bombing a little black squirrel that was crossing the yard. That was something I had never seen before, and I'm not sure why Blue Jays would attack a squirrel, I was guessing that they wanted the acorns the squirrel was carrying? Jays don't eat squirrels do they?
gbd - although blue jays are opportunistic feeders that will eat a wide variety of seeds, scraps, and bugs, and baby birds, they probably don't eat animals as large as a squirrel. Squirrels, however, are serious egg predators... so I'd guess those jays were chasing that squirrel away from their nest(s).
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Another shot from the Wieland twitter account:
Really beautiful.
I rode down to the new park yesterday. It was a beautiful sunny day, there was one guy down there playing his guitar by the river, but it was pretty empty. I was a little surprised to see the fire place has gas logs. I know that a real wood fire would be more difficult to operate but the wood smoke scent and real wood burning could have been nice. The gas logs were not on. I think it looks very nice but now they need to get people down there to animate the place. Push carts/food trucks at lunch time could give people a reason to go there and stay to eat lunch. Maybe a sandcastle building contest, out on the Cape they truck in the extra sand for the contest then truck it away. A beach volleyball league and tournament could bring people there on a regular bases. I would just like to see this park succeed and it's need people to do that.
Evening views of Rotary Park from the mayor's twitter:
Thanks for the evening shots. It is so great to see what it looks like at night and to see people down there. The forest and the bridge are really beautiful.
Early reports from Rotary Park
Rotary Park brings diverse crowd downtown
If the number of people milling, chilling, strolling and sitting atop downtown Lansing’s new riverfront perch, Rotary Park, last week is any indication of things to come, the 2-week-old park may have accomplished a feat that has eluded the city for decades.
In urban planner lingo, it has activated the waterfront.
Size-wise, it’s a small park, but the privately funded project marks a decisive moment in the city’s ongoing pivot to the river. By now, everyone recognizes the Grand River — once the city’s backyard industrial cesspool — as the city’s lifeblood and centerpiece.
Rotary Park bids to become a hub of riverfront activity.
The backbone of the park is a few hundred feet of crisp concrete embankment, stepped down to river’s edge for duck ogling, fishing or close-up ripple contemplation. For a higher view, bays with tables and umbrellas poke out of the embankment like the prows of little ships. To the south is a fancy new kayak landing and dock.
Really nice read.
This is really good news to see that people are using the new park. Not to brag!!!:} but they did tell me that my submission to the "penny for your thoughts campaign" to create an illuminated forest and pathway was going to be part the plan for the new park! I am very happy about the way it looks and people like that feature of the park. I think a lot of people live near by and will now enjoy this upgraded area of the riverfront.
Why are there so many black squirrels at MSU?
Apparently, red squirrels are far more destructive than grey squirrels.
Thank you for posting this, it is always good to have my memory confirmed by the State Journal. When I was a kid I only saw black squirrels at MSU when we would go out to feed the ducks, and in Albion where my Grand Father lived. There were no black squirrels over in my Quentin Park neighborhood or in Frances Park. When I moved back to Lansing I even took pictures of the black squirrels at MSU as I had not yet learned that those squirrels could be found almost everywhere in the Lower Peninsula and were no longer unique. I have all three colors of squirrels in my woods up by the Au Sable river. The other day I saw a small flock of large Blue Jays dive bombing a little black squirrel that was crossing the yard. That was something I had never seen before, and I'm not sure why Blue Jays would attack a squirrel, I was guessing that they wanted the acorns the squirrel was carrying? Jays don't eat squirrels do they?