I have been wondering about the BWL move to the west side. I have not been that way in a while, are they building a new complex over there? I have not noticed any construction at the S. Penn. site. It is an industrial site[ has it been vacant for years?] but I was hoping the area would be redeveloped into a mixed-use area with maybe some housing next to the river. I remember there was some talk about that in the past. I would think that a recycling center would be an ugly big box-type building, maybe they will repurpose the buildings already there, anyway I'm not sure how I feel about a recycling center right in the middle of town next to the River Trail. My first thought is ugly stinky and dirty. They do try to hide the recycling operation in Old Town [ Ye Olde Scrap Dump] but the piles of scrap metal and bundles of cardboard are still visible while driving by. I can think of several sites in town that would be a better place for this kind of development.
This site looks like a better fit for a recycling facility, it is about as out of sight as you could hope for. It would be great if the BWL turned their area into a parkland, I'm sure they will most likely plan to have an industrial park there.
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?
@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.
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.
The construction of the new Lake Trust Bank branch at St. Joe and S. Washington branch has begun, lots of digging going on. I hope it is a good looking building, a bank branch is not very exciting but it is nice to see a building going up on a former surface parking lot. I did not note whether they took out the nice row of trees that were blooming there just the other day. I hope not. I expect they don't stand a chance!
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@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.