No, there is parking. And, no, this isn't really like the mall because it's reversible to allow in emergency vehicles and/or different programming for different times of day. I don't think there'd be anymore pushback here against it than it was in Detroit.
But, also, even if it were a mall, I think people took the wrong lesson from the failure of these pedestrian malls. The issue wasn't the malls themselves, but that downtown living wasn't really a thing when these were happening. Not saying they'd be totally successful now, but they'd actually have built-in customers.
There's parking in the projects you referenced or plenty of parking in Lansing? I can completely agree to the latter portion lol.
I think that's a fair differentiation from the mall. I mean a mall could be designed for such, but this option is much more open to that. I think that's also a fair statement about pedestrian malls being developed at a time when downtowns were already failing. I do worry that downtown Lansing isn't quite lively enough, yet, for this to be successful (despite how much I want it to be).
That said, I have to say that I've noticed a lot more people than normal wandering around downtown outside of office hours, and it's been nice. Still not a lot, but its something. I'm particularly talking about more non-homeless/transient folk. Hoping more housing brings more of that and maybe soon we can have some more current and innovative streetscapes.
Yes, I know there are businesses that want the parking in front of their door, I think that the street is wide enough to have vehicle traffic, the alley in East Lansing is still a one-way street and although it is not very attractive it serves as a pedestrian and vehicle way. Also, there is only one business in downtown EL, 7-11 that has free parking in front of their business, and yet other places seem to be doing pretty well. I could see parking on the cross streets and back alleys expanded businesses could offer a rear entry, and short time loading and pick-up spaces on the street for delivery and take-out. I think that S. Washington Sq is broken, it looks dated with the old newspaper kiosks on every corner that to me are really an eyesore, the sidewalks are broken and uneven in many places and come from many different times. The trees need attention, they would look so much better with the dead limbs trimmed. Another sign of being broken are the empty store fronts. I know I always have dreamed of a better Lansing, I guess I'm just a dreamer!
Count me amongst those who doubt the potential success of pedestrianizing S Washington. The lack of density in today's downtown wouldn't give me a lot faith in any pedestrian mall working, S Washington in particular is so wide that I just don't see it working the way that some other examples do. Although the side streets downtown are also pretty wide maybe they'd work better, I feel like being a little narrower would help the feel of such a corridor.
I think with more people living downtown soon those few blocks will have one of the ingredients for an urban neighborhood village. S. Washington could have vehicle lanes, I know they would not really want to be totally pedestrian "mall". I don't know if it is because the brick paved street is not great for driving on, but there is not much traffic on the street, I just think if it were more pleasant to be down there, people and businesses would come, I don't think we will ever have a big retail district, or a restaurant row but we could have a much nicer downtown than we do now. thanks for responding!
The new Chevy dealership building going up on E. Michigan Ave. is a pretty nice-looking building and quite large. I could see a similar building as a new passenger terminal building out at the airport. [like that would ever happen] I would have liked it better if it were located at the front of the lot next to the street but of course that is where the new cars will be displayed. There seems to be some sort of activity going on in the surface lot right next to Howard St., it would be nice to see something built on the corner.
Council agenda for next week has over a dozen make-safe-or-demolish of demolish orders on it for dilapidated buildings. I remembe reading in the Pulse some weeks back that they've streamlined the process to make it go more quickly, so perhaps the mayor - who referred these - is clearing out the backlog of the structures that have been on the list for years.
What was notably absent from the agenda for the last meeting of the year was the zoning code amendments. I wonder what's happened? They were apparently discussed in the Committee on Development and Planning on Wednesday, and I thought usually this stuff gets approved and sent to the next council meeting.
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But, also, even if it were a mall, I think people took the wrong lesson from the failure of these pedestrian malls. The issue wasn't the malls themselves, but that downtown living wasn't really a thing when these were happening. Not saying they'd be totally successful now, but they'd actually have built-in customers.
But, mostly, it's about vision or lack thereof.
I think that's a fair differentiation from the mall. I mean a mall could be designed for such, but this option is much more open to that. I think that's also a fair statement about pedestrian malls being developed at a time when downtowns were already failing. I do worry that downtown Lansing isn't quite lively enough, yet, for this to be successful (despite how much I want it to be).
That said, I have to say that I've noticed a lot more people than normal wandering around downtown outside of office hours, and it's been nice. Still not a lot, but its something. I'm particularly talking about more non-homeless/transient folk. Hoping more housing brings more of that and maybe soon we can have some more current and innovative streetscapes.
What was notably absent from the agenda for the last meeting of the year was the zoning code amendments. I wonder what's happened? They were apparently discussed in the Committee on Development and Planning on Wednesday, and I thought usually this stuff gets approved and sent to the next council meeting.