@david_shane, you make a good point about the parks maintenance and while it's such a simple idea I had never really thought about it myself and just kind of gave up on maintained parks. Growing up we always lived by a park and going to them now it's just disappointing. Even Frances park, other than the gardens, seems to have declined. It's always amazed me how many of our neighborhoods are situated around parks and how the city could just forget these gems.
Anyways, the idea of student groups assisting I like. Not just LCC either, why not davenport or even the few students left at Cooley? I got my degrees in the Detroit area and despite not even being in the city we constantly had student groups doing community outreach, planting trees, park maintenance, etc. It's interesting to me now why that isn't as prevalent here in Lansing. It's amazing how quickly one small group can spruce up a park and the impact it can have.
Final side-note on that, has anyone noticed its much more than just the parks? It seems growing up the roads, obviously, were in better shape but even down to weeds in cracks, edging along the curbs, overgrown vegetation, litter, etc. There are so many areas it seems like vegetation is taking over and giving a forgotten look. I'm not sure if it's the city not enforcing ordinances or just cut backs. Again, it's a small thing that makes a big impact I feel like. This could all just be in my head but I was just curious if anyone else had noticed this.
I don't know if the city takes care of this area but the Cedar Street & 496 area is one place that seems be be getting less care each year. It looks like they did at one time as there are flowers and plantings that would look nice if they cleaned them up. Also at Moores Park the boarded up picnic pavilion is disgraceful. OK, it needs repair and upkeep are they planning to do it? Moores River Drive by Frances Park is crumbling at several places right in front of the park and the river access/walk. All winter I wrote about that area but at least as of last week there are still water filled pot holes. The water gardens along N. Washington Sq. need to be cleaned out, there are half dead trees and plants. There are 12 tree ports "holes" along W. Ionia that have no trees. All of these things and more would seem to be with in the city capacity to take care of but they are not. I noticed they have sponsors for the hanging flower baskets downtown, maybe they could get some tree and road sponsors.
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.
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.
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 noticed the signs are similar to the one at St. Joe and S. Washington depicting buildings that are not there. I wonder about that project[St Joe] it was talked about a while back but I never saw anything but the sign.
Comments
@david_shane, you make a good point about the parks maintenance and while it's such a simple idea I had never really thought about it myself and just kind of gave up on maintained parks. Growing up we always lived by a park and going to them now it's just disappointing. Even Frances park, other than the gardens, seems to have declined. It's always amazed me how many of our neighborhoods are situated around parks and how the city could just forget these gems.
Anyways, the idea of student groups assisting I like. Not just LCC either, why not davenport or even the few students left at Cooley? I got my degrees in the Detroit area and despite not even being in the city we constantly had student groups doing community outreach, planting trees, park maintenance, etc. It's interesting to me now why that isn't as prevalent here in Lansing. It's amazing how quickly one small group can spruce up a park and the impact it can have.
Final side-note on that, has anyone noticed its much more than just the parks? It seems growing up the roads, obviously, were in better shape but even down to weeds in cracks, edging along the curbs, overgrown vegetation, litter, etc. There are so many areas it seems like vegetation is taking over and giving a forgotten look. I'm not sure if it's the city not enforcing ordinances or just cut backs. Again, it's a small thing that makes a big impact I feel like. This could all just be in my head but I was just curious if anyone else had noticed this.
I don't know if the city takes care of this area but the Cedar Street & 496 area is one place that seems be be getting less care each year. It looks like they did at one time as there are flowers and plantings that would look nice if they cleaned them up. Also at Moores Park the boarded up picnic pavilion is disgraceful. OK, it needs repair and upkeep are they planning to do it? Moores River Drive by Frances Park is crumbling at several places right in front of the park and the river access/walk. All winter I wrote about that area but at least as of last week there are still water filled pot holes. The water gardens along N. Washington Sq. need to be cleaned out, there are half dead trees and plants. There are 12 tree ports "holes" along W. Ionia that have no trees. All of these things and more would seem to be with in the city capacity to take care of but they are not. I noticed they have sponsors for the hanging flower baskets downtown, maybe they could get some tree and road sponsors.
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.
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.
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 noticed the signs are similar to the one at St. Joe and S. Washington depicting buildings that are not there. I wonder about that project[St Joe] it was talked about a while back but I never saw anything but the sign.
And Froggy will still play often, and the Unicorn will live on!