Speaking of cool, I saw photos of a new sculpture downtown on Michigan Ave and Museum Drive. I saw it on the #lovelansing site. It is a huge stainless steel head with gears springing off the top pointing down to the towards museums. I do not know if it going to a permanent but it's kind of "Wow" look at that right now!
I was speaking of being part of the ring of wealth and population that surrounds Detroit of which Ann Arbor is a part. I know that Ann Arbor itself is a smaller city, but it is older and has a densely populated center, which makes it seem larger.
I'm not trying to correct you, but rather flesh out the facts. Which may be annoying, so I apologize. Anyway, Ann Arbor was made the county seat of Washtenaw in in 1827, and the home of U of M in 1837. Lansing was the made the state capital in 1847, and MSU was founded in 1855. To me, that's a pretty negligible difference in the grand scheme of things. There's little left from before 1855 left in this state.
What I'll essentially agree with is that the Ann Arbor has crushed Lansing and East Lansinng in city planning. While Ann Arbor benefited from having a centralized layout, I think the setup in Lansing has a lot of potential. For one Lansing has an actual drag/corridor as a result, Michigan Ave. You can actually go somewhere else besides downtown.
But there's no doubt that right now, downtown Lansing and East Lansing feel like definite works in progress, whereas downtown Ann Arbor is the real deal.
I was not annoyed! I guess that I may be just a bit jealous of Ann Arbor because it is nice there. It's where the Governor prefers to live! I am also a Spartan so it is difficult to say something nice!
On another subject, I saw a notice from the city asking people to participate in planning an amphitheater in Adado Park. I have said here before that it would be great if the amphitheater were designed to be visited at times other than during shows. A fountain, gardens, and landscaping could help create a place more interesting than just a stage.
Sounds like an advertising marketing issue or an observation bias. Lansing is what you make of it. Overall it has some excellent aspects and some items to work on but every place does.
@gbdlansing: I feel like in Ann Arbor, developments are always adding to downtown. In Lansing and East Lansing, it always feels like developments are replacing something. It's a small difference in mindset that makes a big difference in results.
@The_Lansing_Magnate On the subject of where Lansing will be in 10 years, it's a fun thing to think about for me so I'll take some guesses... I think that at this point the Michigan Ave corridor and downtown East Lansing are essentially sure bets to see an increasing amount of development if the local governments don't stand in the way too much, the growth in those two areas should be very impressive. REO Town and Old Town will both likely continue to grow and improve at a steady pace and I'd be surprised if there's not finally some significant new mixed use developments in both areas ten years from now. I think the southside will prove mostly stable for better or worse, S Cedar may go through a growth spurt though. In particular I'm really hoping to see a renovated Walter French and a mixed use node develop somewhere along Cedar St (I like the intersection with Holmes), it' d also be nice to see the Kmart property quickly reused.
What worries me is how well downtown west of the river will do, as has been discussed here before, it's been a little neglected as of late. I'd bet there will be a new building or two from LCC, I wouldn't be surprised if the State built a new building and there's still a possibility of a new City/county justice complex regardless of what happens with city hall, but those are all government projects. There hasn't been any luck getting new residential or mixed use downtown, I'm not sure if it's the developer's lack of faith or the bank's but hopefully someone takes a chance sooner rather than later.
As for all the businesses, galleries and all the other fun/cool things come with an increase in the number and density of people and disposable income. When your like Lansing and you have the state government, MSU, you're an emerging insurance hub and you have a very strong manufacturing sector I believe there's enough outside people and money coming in and out where it should be a case of 'if you build it they will come'. If you build it right anyways.
I stopped by to see the sculpture, and I found it to be very cool, and interesting to look at. It is easy to walk around it and seems to there to stay as it attached to the ground below the bridge. I would guess we will find out who paid for this at the dedication. I had heard nothing about the sculpture and it's very surprising that Lansing has put this down right in the middle of downtown. It is fun to turn the gears, and the polished steal really reflects the color of the sky very nicely. I am hoping that maintenance is going to ongoing, it is right on the sidewalk it will no doubt be vandalized.
@hood: I pretty much agree with you. When I was looking up the GDP of Lansing, I was impressed to see how well Lansing weathered the last recession. To have an economy diversified enough to pull that off in the Rust Belt is huge. Mid-sized cities with strong economies are hoovering up population right now from small and mid-sized cities that didn't make as strong of a transition into a 21st century economy. People want something familiar, but with more job opportunities. Lansing is positioned well to take advantage of that trend.
I meet a lot of people that moved to Lansing from cities like Jackson, Saginaw, Benton Harbor and equivalent places in Ohio and Indiana. I was talking to an urban planner recently and he viewed 500,000 people as the cut-off point for a metro area in the 21st century. If you're under that and you're not really close to a larger metro, it's going to be tough. Luckily Lansing is close enough to that number, and it can feed off some of the Detroit-Ann Arbor sprawl in Livingston. I know Lansing contractors get work out there quite a bit.
Comments
Speaking of cool, I saw photos of a new sculpture downtown on Michigan Ave and Museum Drive. I saw it on the #lovelansing site. It is a huge stainless steel head with gears springing off the top pointing down to the towards museums. I do not know if it going to a permanent but it's kind of "Wow" look at that right now!
I was speaking of being part of the ring of wealth and population that surrounds Detroit of which Ann Arbor is a part. I know that Ann Arbor itself is a smaller city, but it is older and has a densely populated center, which makes it seem larger.
I'm not trying to correct you, but rather flesh out the facts. Which may be annoying, so I apologize. Anyway, Ann Arbor was made the county seat of Washtenaw in in 1827, and the home of U of M in 1837. Lansing was the made the state capital in 1847, and MSU was founded in 1855. To me, that's a pretty negligible difference in the grand scheme of things. There's little left from before 1855 left in this state.
What I'll essentially agree with is that the Ann Arbor has crushed Lansing and East Lansinng in city planning. While Ann Arbor benefited from having a centralized layout, I think the setup in Lansing has a lot of potential. For one Lansing has an actual drag/corridor as a result, Michigan Ave. You can actually go somewhere else besides downtown.
But there's no doubt that right now, downtown Lansing and East Lansing feel like definite works in progress, whereas downtown Ann Arbor is the real deal.
I was not annoyed! I guess that I may be just a bit jealous of Ann Arbor because it is nice there. It's where the Governor prefers to live! I am also a Spartan so it is difficult to say something nice!
On another subject, I saw a notice from the city asking people to participate in planning an amphitheater in Adado Park. I have said here before that it would be great if the amphitheater were designed to be visited at times other than during shows. A fountain, gardens, and landscaping could help create a place more interesting than just a stage.
Sounds like an advertising marketing issue or an observation bias. Lansing is what you make of it. Overall it has some excellent aspects and some items to work on but every place does.
@gbdlansing: I feel like in Ann Arbor, developments are always adding to downtown. In Lansing and East Lansing, it always feels like developments are replacing something. It's a small difference in mindset that makes a big difference in results.
@The_Lansing_Magnate On the subject of where Lansing will be in 10 years, it's a fun thing to think about for me so I'll take some guesses... I think that at this point the Michigan Ave corridor and downtown East Lansing are essentially sure bets to see an increasing amount of development if the local governments don't stand in the way too much, the growth in those two areas should be very impressive. REO Town and Old Town will both likely continue to grow and improve at a steady pace and I'd be surprised if there's not finally some significant new mixed use developments in both areas ten years from now. I think the southside will prove mostly stable for better or worse, S Cedar may go through a growth spurt though. In particular I'm really hoping to see a renovated Walter French and a mixed use node develop somewhere along Cedar St (I like the intersection with Holmes), it' d also be nice to see the Kmart property quickly reused.
What worries me is how well downtown west of the river will do, as has been discussed here before, it's been a little neglected as of late. I'd bet there will be a new building or two from LCC, I wouldn't be surprised if the State built a new building and there's still a possibility of a new City/county justice complex regardless of what happens with city hall, but those are all government projects. There hasn't been any luck getting new residential or mixed use downtown, I'm not sure if it's the developer's lack of faith or the bank's but hopefully someone takes a chance sooner rather than later.
As for all the businesses, galleries and all the other fun/cool things come with an increase in the number and density of people and disposable income. When your like Lansing and you have the state government, MSU, you're an emerging insurance hub and you have a very strong manufacturing sector I believe there's enough outside people and money coming in and out where it should be a case of 'if you build it they will come'. If you build it right anyways.
I stopped by to see the sculpture, and I found it to be very cool, and interesting to look at. It is easy to walk around it and seems to there to stay as it attached to the ground below the bridge. I would guess we will find out who paid for this at the dedication. I had heard nothing about the sculpture and it's very surprising that Lansing has put this down right in the middle of downtown. It is fun to turn the gears, and the polished steal really reflects the color of the sky very nicely. I am hoping that maintenance is going to ongoing, it is right on the sidewalk it will no doubt be vandalized.
@hood: I pretty much agree with you. When I was looking up the GDP of Lansing, I was impressed to see how well Lansing weathered the last recession. To have an economy diversified enough to pull that off in the Rust Belt is huge. Mid-sized cities with strong economies are hoovering up population right now from small and mid-sized cities that didn't make as strong of a transition into a 21st century economy. People want something familiar, but with more job opportunities. Lansing is positioned well to take advantage of that trend.
I meet a lot of people that moved to Lansing from cities like Jackson, Saginaw, Benton Harbor and equivalent places in Ohio and Indiana. I was talking to an urban planner recently and he viewed 500,000 people as the cut-off point for a metro area in the 21st century. If you're under that and you're not really close to a larger metro, it's going to be tough. Luckily Lansing is close enough to that number, and it can feed off some of the Detroit-Ann Arbor sprawl in Livingston. I know Lansing contractors get work out there quite a bit.