The one that is related to the Granger family (trash and construction) at least graduated from Holt. He'd never mentioned Sexton, always Holt. Which I thought was odd, as I grew up over by Dwight Rich and it was my understanding the Grangers lived over there as well, which would suggest Rich and Sexton. Doesn't seem far fetched that he may have gone to both I suppose, other than the era and school of choice not being as prevalent. Only reason this stuck with me is because I should've gone to Sexton but went to Holt. He liked that we had the Holt connection. I had the "pleasure" of working with him for a short time.
Not that any of this really matters, just thought I'd bring it up lol.
Maybe there are really two Gary Grangers! There was no school choice in those days, you went to the school in the district where you lived, so maybe his family had a house out in Holt. Does Gary G own vacant rundown buildings down there as well? I think he may have failed civics class and has no pride in his hometown. OK enough about him!
Nothing much in next week's council agenda. It looks like all of the New Vision Lansing's approvals for their brownfield plan should be completed by early-to-mid December. In other news, our 5-year city parks millage is back up next year, so they have to approve it for the ballot. There is also the "show cause" hearing for the Walter Neller Building, so demolition should be coming on that soon unless Granger wants to drag this out in court, which doesn't appear to be the case. A piece of info you find in the show-cause hearing materials is the city estimates it'd take $2.5 million to fix up the building so that it'd be in compliance. The photos in the hearing materials are pretty gnarly.
I really have to look into the details of how the city has been spending the parks millage money before I support it. I've been quite disappointed in the parks, the best things that have happened have been funded through the county millages, private donations and/or state appropriations. Moores Park Pool, the playground at Adado, the beach/sculpture/lighting at Lansing Shuffle, the soccer/baseball facilities at Ferris Park, new Fenner/Bear Lake paths, Potter Park improvements and the upcoming Fish Ladder Music Park... None paid for by the city. Reutter Park's Fountain was down most/all summer and Cherry Hill Park is an embarrassment, those are my two closest parks. There's never been any discussion of bringing back the Washington Ave ice rinks. I'm not voting for a millage renewal to get the results I've been seeing.
Does anyone know of anything the city has done without these extra funds besides replace playground equipment?
Parks millage - like a lot of city millages - isn't really for capital projects, but rather to help with maintenance. It was put in place after the Great Recession when a lot of revenue sharing to the municipalities was cut.
Was looking through property records, and it looks like the Baryames sold their commercial property at the southeast corner of Grand and Kalamazoo to the housing commission, so that gives the entire block over to them for Riverview 220. This gives them a bit more leeway with siting the building, as the current proposal does have what I'd consider a site plan that leaves something to be desired. Hopefully, this puts what I'd assume will be a lot combination to require them to site the building at the corner.
I know there was concern about a small part of the northeast corner of the site being in the flood zone, and getting control of the northwest corner takes care of that concern.
I was at a neighborhood meeting with the housing commission, both buildings are being built as we saw in those blue renderings, there's a small chance they may change colors up. They have no plans for the Baryames property besides using it for construction staging. I asked about city hall and it appears that it may end up sitting mid block on Lenawee, be 3-4 floors and have plenty of surface parking (apparently our meeting next month will have a city official to discuss that in more detail). On top of all that there's either a lot of skepticism or a lot of cynicism amongst LHC officials, and apparently local developers, on the future prospects of the New Vision developments. All bad news for my neighborhood today.
Regarding the parks millage: I'll have to see the text of the renewal proposal, I don't think I'm going to be supporting it given the results I've seen.
I'm really trying to stay optimistic about the city's future but it's getting difficult. The next 2-4 years are going to determine so much. I'm not sure if I'll stick it out to see.
I read in the LSJ online that the Grangers are planning to tear down their building on Grand Ave. starting in March and kind of hinted that they may be planning something for that space. The photo in LSJ.com was kind of funny with this wicked old grinder driving by the boarded-up building! Dare I say, Welcome to Lansing! [Jesting!]
I didn't read any hints in that story, and nothing we haven't talked about here or in the media (i.e. the city hall proposal). If something was planned, the city wouldn't be tearing down the building for them; they'd be doing it themselves. As I read it, this whole thing is the city basically telling them that they've dragged their feet too long on this - they've been after them for years to secure the building - and that they are finally ready to pull the trigger on this.
Comments
Not that any of this really matters, just thought I'd bring it up lol.
Does anyone know of anything the city has done without these extra funds besides replace playground equipment?
I know there was concern about a small part of the northeast corner of the site being in the flood zone, and getting control of the northwest corner takes care of that concern.
Regarding the parks millage: I'll have to see the text of the renewal proposal, I don't think I'm going to be supporting it given the results I've seen.
I'm really trying to stay optimistic about the city's future but it's getting difficult. The next 2-4 years are going to determine so much. I'm not sure if I'll stick it out to see.