I continue to wish they'd restore Washtenaw St or at least reserve it for a pedestrian ROW, there's no reason the 7 block property should be developed as a monolithic building. I'm not sure if the newly created parcels adjacent to here will be deep enough for a separate development. The land should probably be combined with the 7-block land but that'd be a hard pill to swallow as long as Eyde controls it, given their track record there.
I'm not sure what could practically be developed on the narrow lots created between Ottawa & Ionia and Kalamazoo & Lenawee, I'm all for a RFP for those properties to see what people come up with. It's probably safe to say the area behind the Hall of Justice will stay with the State, lets hope they do something cool with it as part of the new Capitol Complex park project.
That's certainly a disappointment, I don't like the idea of having a 50'+ greenspace in the ROW that doesn't do anyone much good and will almost certainly end up poorly maintained. It doesn't make sense.
You can't get there from here! I have never seen so much road work being done all at the same time, I have started to take the CATA bus which is a quite relaxing way to get downtown from EL.
I made my way over to the Jerusalem Bakery just in time to see them cutting the 40-year-old trees down in front of the church. What a shame it is that they could not find a plan that included saving at least some of them. Unless they plant mature trees and a lot of them it will be a long time before it looks like a shaded avenue. I know this is a great improvement [despite the tree cutting]and I am looking forward to seeing it finished. In my mind this should be the nicest and smoothest street in the city.
I took a little detour down Hazel to take a look at the Holmes Street School conversion, and I think it looks really good, they made it look more like a nice apartment building with nice windows and doors, outdoor lighting, a large outdoor deck in the back, and even color matching A.C. window units. It is evident that these features had a lot of thought put into them. The parking area had many cars, so it seems like a lot of people have already moved in there. I wonder if there are still plans for another building in the school yard behind the building. BTW the street is still a moonscape.
@MichMatters I do not have enough knowledge on this. My theory is that Riverfront Dr. came up because of the name change but there is a different process for that so I don't know. It looks like the rest of the decertifications is just Public Service cleaning up their inventory. All of those areas are either paper streets/unpaved or part of private property (Rivershell and Seager). Mitch.Whisler@lansingmi.gov will be able to give you the correct answers.
My guess is that residents nearby prefer the boulevard to remain and have voiced their opinions. The damage has already been done, why go back to a center lane that nobody in this city can use properly? If people obeyed traffic laws here, I wouldn't be so opposed to the concept.
I struggle with which I prefer. Initially, I hate seeing the boulevard go. I also see the arguments for reverting back to what it was. As a Westside resident, I think I prefer the boulevard option ultimately, so I appreciate they're at least looking at other options. They've really excluded an entire community up until now. Andy Kilpatrick has been a nightmare to work with, in my opinion, to get anything good done for neighborhoods in terms of traffic. Speaking from experience when living elsewhere in the city.
I guess my biggest concern with removing the median is that we're just going to end up with an even larger Eyde eyesore and suburban looking state complex. If more development were tacked on to this for all that new space, I'd be a lot more supportive. I'd love to see some decent commercial development along thar corridor, or even better, mixed use.
I have seen a few Tik-Tok videos of people complaining about how this road when it was widened displaced communities of color in the area, and they seem to be upset that reducing the road/boulevard size is disrespectful to the memory of that.
@mindbender That's the kind of logic I've almost come to expect out of people these days. I truly hope there's not a large contingent of people that think like that, this city's (and world's) future won't be very bright if so.
I'm mildly in favor of the narrower boulevard. My objection is to the city not selling off the excess green space. To me the main reason to narrow the road is to better integrate the neighborhoods on the west side of the street with downtown, for that to happen you have to encourage urban development on the east side of the street.
The idea that the current road should be kept unchanged as some kind of a commemoration of the neighborhood that was once there is not logical. It is kind of like what happened in Detroit when a businessman wanted to plant tree farms on some of the tons of vacant land there, and some people got all upset saying it was a land grab etc. I could see a Green Way along this new strip of land with some stands of trees, gardens, and plazas in a linear park, perhaps a smaller version of the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston. That project spurred development of the neighborhoods that were once divided by an elevated highway.
people complaining about how this road when it was widened displaced communities of color in the area, and they seem to be upset that reducing the road/boulevard size is disrespectful to the memory of that.
Comments
I'm not sure what could practically be developed on the narrow lots created between Ottawa & Ionia and Kalamazoo & Lenawee, I'm all for a RFP for those properties to see what people come up with. It's probably safe to say the area behind the Hall of Justice will stay with the State, lets hope they do something cool with it as part of the new Capitol Complex park project.
I took a little detour down Hazel to take a look at the Holmes Street School conversion, and I think it looks really good, they made it look more like a nice apartment building with nice windows and doors, outdoor lighting, a large outdoor deck in the back, and even color matching A.C. window units. It is evident that these features had a lot of thought put into them. The parking area had many cars, so it seems like a lot of people have already moved in there. I wonder if there are still plans for another building in the school yard behind the building. BTW the street is still a moonscape.
I struggle with which I prefer. Initially, I hate seeing the boulevard go. I also see the arguments for reverting back to what it was. As a Westside resident, I think I prefer the boulevard option ultimately, so I appreciate they're at least looking at other options. They've really excluded an entire community up until now. Andy Kilpatrick has been a nightmare to work with, in my opinion, to get anything good done for neighborhoods in terms of traffic. Speaking from experience when living elsewhere in the city.
I guess my biggest concern with removing the median is that we're just going to end up with an even larger Eyde eyesore and suburban looking state complex. If more development were tacked on to this for all that new space, I'd be a lot more supportive. I'd love to see some decent commercial development along thar corridor, or even better, mixed use.
I'm mildly in favor of the narrower boulevard. My objection is to the city not selling off the excess green space. To me the main reason to narrow the road is to better integrate the neighborhoods on the west side of the street with downtown, for that to happen you have to encourage urban development on the east side of the street.
Peak lunacy.