This is quasi-related to the new city hall so I figured it fits best in this thread... The mayor is proposing a 3.9 mil 30 year bond to raise $175 million for a new police/courts/lockup facility and fire station upgrades. I'm not sure how I feel about this and I absolutely will be voting no on it if they don't provide more details, most importantly a specific location for the consolidated facility as I will not support a move out of downtown. I'm not really excited to add that much to my taxes, it has to be something that satisfies all the practical needs for the city on top of being a beautiful building and at a location that will benefit the city's future goals.
A 30 year millage is gonna be a no from me dawg, that is a really long time to have it run its course. I also don't like the lack of clarity on how and where and what the funds will be used for. Public safety sure, but the devil is in the details.
Part of me thinks that he is using this as an opportunity to put a huge millage up for passage when public safety is a voter priority moreso then usual.
Yup, the millage is just a flat out "no"' from me. It's too much money , even if they lumped in a restored City Hall at that budget I'm not sure I could support it. I also don't trust Schor to make good decisions and possibly not even to have the city's best interests in mind.
I don't like the thought of burdening city residents for 30 years. Most of the people voting on this debt will be dead or moved out of Lansing before it is actually paid off, the quintessential passing the buck. I also don't like selling the current city hall and agree that it could be retooled with the jail/fire/courts getting booted out. Having it be right across the street from the capitol building has real merit and shouldn't be discounted when considering the politics of it all.
As it stands it's a no vote from me. If they were keeping city hall and finding a new place to put police/fire/courts alongside a smaller and shorter term millage that has an actual fleshed out plan I could be supportive of it. So something entirely different.
I guess I don't hate his proposal for the building. I'm just not going to be very accepting of a proposal to move City Hall to an existing building or some run-of-the-mill new structure (I've heard the old LSJ building and the Victor Building mentioned, I'm very near the former to where my property would benefit and I'm still against it). If they propose moving it to their new public safety complex I'm definitely going to have to drag myself to some meetings to complain in person.
In a perfect world I'd like to see them do a site selection first (maybe the Constitution Hall lot, Tower Ramp, LCC Shiawassee lot, North Grand Ramp, S Capitol Ramp, Kalamazoo/Larch/Cedar lot are all decent options imo) then do a design competition. Select the best design that the budget can afford and enjoy a hopefully decent-good new city hall. They can't be afraid to bond out some extra money for the building itself and possibly even more for a parking structure.
...Continued from General Lansing Development Thread...
Meh. Without buying the lot next door, removing the parking and renovating it as plaza space I'm very so-so on this. At least after seeing the Boji's do a decent job renovating the Farnum Building I have some faith that they'll respect the historical integrity of the old building where I was pretty negative on them before.
Almost any realistic plan to move City Hall was going to get a shoulder shrug at best from me. If they buy the lot next door for a public plaza, along with future space to expand, I'll be content. If they don't do that then I'll probably remain mildly negative on this move.
This is all assuming that the new hotel in the old City Hall Building happens on schedule and is of the quality depicted. That going poorly could make this all a big mistake.
Yeah, "whatever" seems like the appropriate attitude towards this. I never understood the desire to leave behind the current City Hall, it never made sense to me and still doesn't. At least this isn't the LSJ building and at least it's a reasonably prominent location. Time will tell if this move is net-neutral or net-negative for downtown and the city.
I 100% agree on being against government entities using developers to build buildings. They have the architect already, just hire Christman to manage the project. It's not a hard choice given the building.
I am bit surprised by the reaction to this plan. It may not be the perfect solution, but I think it is pretty Lansing positive in using a historic building keeping City Hall downtown on Capitol Ave... I don't enough about the use of a private developer or what it is that the Bojis have done in the past to bring up these comments. I am really just happy that something awful was not planned. I was sure that the Mayor would nerd it up somehow!
I understand, I used to think the mid-century building was so cool with the fountain in the lobby and the huge modern spaces, if they asked me I would have kept the old stone City Hall before the '50's version was built. It was also a very interesting building. I guess we will have to make the best of the new plan, as long as they really do put a first-class hotel in the current building it will be OK with me.
Comments
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/2022/06/27/lansing-175-million-tax-proposal-new-public-safety-buildings-andy-schor/7747111001/
Part of me thinks that he is using this as an opportunity to put a huge millage up for passage when public safety is a voter priority moreso then usual.
As it stands it's a no vote from me. If they were keeping city hall and finding a new place to put police/fire/courts alongside a smaller and shorter term millage that has an actual fleshed out plan I could be supportive of it. So something entirely different.
In a perfect world I'd like to see them do a site selection first (maybe the Constitution Hall lot, Tower Ramp, LCC Shiawassee lot, North Grand Ramp, S Capitol Ramp, Kalamazoo/Larch/Cedar lot are all decent options imo) then do a design competition. Select the best design that the budget can afford and enjoy a hopefully decent-good new city hall. They can't be afraid to bond out some extra money for the building itself and possibly even more for a parking structure.
Meh. Without buying the lot next door, removing the parking and renovating it as plaza space I'm very so-so on this. At least after seeing the Boji's do a decent job renovating the Farnum Building I have some faith that they'll respect the historical integrity of the old building where I was pretty negative on them before.
Almost any realistic plan to move City Hall was going to get a shoulder shrug at best from me. If they buy the lot next door for a public plaza, along with future space to expand, I'll be content. If they don't do that then I'll probably remain mildly negative on this move.
This is all assuming that the new hotel in the old City Hall Building happens on schedule and is of the quality depicted. That going poorly could make this all a big mistake.
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2023/09/13/lansing-city-hall-masonic-temple-building-boji/70840514007/
I 100% agree on being against government entities using developers to build buildings. They have the architect already, just hire Christman to manage the project. It's not a hard choice given the building.
I am bit surprised by the reaction to this plan. It may not be the perfect solution, but I think it is pretty Lansing positive in using a historic building keeping City Hall downtown on Capitol Ave... I don't enough about the use of a private developer or what it is that the Bojis have done in the past to bring up these comments. I am really just happy that something awful was not planned. I was sure that the Mayor would nerd it up somehow!