I am not sure if this is a issue of obsolescence, but of the same low funding. I called the LPD the other day as two men were fighting on S Washington right in the middle of the day in and out of the traffic and with people walking by. From my view it looked like it was violent and maybe the police should stop the fight. The person on the phone did not seem very concerned and said they would send someone by. I have lived in a small town for so long I thought the police would be there right away, but they did not drive by until the fight was over and the guys had walked away in different directions fifteen minutes or more later. Some guy got killed with a sword just up the street last spring so something like this could have gotten worse. I was thinking maybe they don't have enough officers to respond quickly. I also thought it was kind of strange that maybe no one else may have called after seeing two guys fighting on the main block of REOtown.
I wonder how this is going to go. I think a downtown location would be more logical and would be a greater benefit to a greater number of people. The fact that county commissioners still seem open to exploring the downtown Lansing option is very good sign. Besides the 7 Block land, it also sounds as though expanding the Porter building is on the table, that may make the most financial sense of all (and it sounds like even if a new complex is built downtown or in Mason the Porter building will remain open).
I found it somewhat odd that part of the complaint was that a Lansing jail would be a hardship on police officers bringing people in from the SE side of the county - that's probably true, but I'm guessing a very large percentage of the people arrested are arrested in Lansing, right? If we're looking at a bunch of Lansing officers having to drive down to Mason, vs. the occcasional officer from SE Ingham having to drive up the Lansing, I think I'd pick the latter option.
It seems like there is always an anti-Lansing bias among officials outside of Lansing. Of course Lansing is the best place for a new jail. The same pattern of thought seems to come through when ever the state or county plan to build a new facility, it will always be cheaper to build in Dimondale ,or it's much closer to the highway in Dewitt. Now Mason is better because it's closer to Leslie and Dansville! The most recent example of this bias would be that legislator from Grand Ledge who thinks the new state police building is a total boondoggle and should be be named for the last governor as a testament to her poor job as governor. So it looks like some put politics before good sense, Lansing is the most reasonable place to put a new county correction facility and court building. Perhaps a small satellite station down in Mason could help the local officers.
Interesting reading the discussions above on the county offices in Mason vs Lansing.
There are some country functions housed in Lansing, such as the Human Services Building on Cedar street. Also, the consolidated 911 operations is on Jolly Rd (I believe it includes Lansing, E Lansing, and the rest of Ingham County).
Regarding the location of county seats, looking at a Michigan map again, and I'd say most county seats are not near the center of the county, rather in the county's largest city/population center. In the UP in particular, most county seats are in cities along Lake Michigan or Superior. Even in the lower peninsula cities such as Ludington, Muskegon, St Joseph, Saginaw, Bay City, Midland, Detroit, Grand Rapids, are not near the center. Of course other counties have the seat near the center. Point being, IF Lansing were the county seat, it would not make Ingham County unusual among Michigan counties.
My argument revolves around the fact that better than 3/4 of the county would be better served by a downtown Lansing location, we'd be paying for a majority of this facility, it's not as though we have no say so in where it goes or how it's built. In my opinion pretty much everyone in Ingham County north of 96 would be as well or better served by a downtown Lansing location versus a Mason location, many of the residents immediately south of 96 would also fall into to that category, including a significant chunk of Holt. I do think that it would be great if they could make a sort of satellite court/office work in Mason that would serve at least the more basic day-to-day needs of the communities south of there, I can't imagine it would take that much.
The total population of Ingham County is 280,000, the combined population of Lansing, East Lansing, Williamston, Lansing Twp and Meridian Twp comes in at just over 217,000 (77% of the county's population); if you add in Delhi Twp the number rises to 243,000 (87% of the county's population). Twenty-something percent of the county should not dictate how the county spends it's money or where it provides it's services, I'd even be willing to bet that the center of tax income is further north west than the center of population. It'd be wise for Lansing and it's immediate suburbs to take a stand on this issue, as important as this is from a downtown development perspective it's even more significant for those who will work there, go to court there, do business there and visit incarcerated family members there.
Very well said. I think that other Ingham county towns have automatic response that could be viewed as anti-Lansing or even a sort of jealousy. Another example would be deciding how and where to spend the trail and parks money. Many saying that Lansing's trails are getting too much even though it would be the tax payers of Lansing who fund the greatest majority of the trail fund and Lansing has the most used and most in need trails in the county. Lansing should have the best and most convenient county services even if they folks in Mason don't think so. There are obvious and simple reasons to put a new court and corrections facility in Lansing, we paid for it!
I noticed something of interest right in my old neighborhood. On the corner of Park Avenue and Hammond Street there was a large house that I would say was from the 1920's and was built before the majority of the houses on Park Ave.. It seems to have been abandoned on the googlemaps 2011 photo, and had been knocked down by at least by last year. Anyway they are building a new house on that lot, it looks really kind of cool and even seems to fit in the neighborhood. What I think is interesting is that it is the only place in Lansing I have seen a new house being built on a newly vacant lot. I was wondering if anyone else has seen new housing being built on vacant lots in older neighborhoods.
@gbinlansing I have seen some new houses go up on vacant lots in the city. The Land Bank was on a roll for a bit building houses on vacant lots they owned. I have seen some houses get built that weren't part of the Land Bank program but virtually all those were on the south west side of town on lots that were left empty from the initial development of the area.
@MichMatters I can't imagine there's any realistic chance of the owner being allowed to put a campground there, I'm glad the mayor is actively against the idea. I think putting a multi-family development there is a no brainer.
@gbinlansing The new builds on vacant lots that come to my mind are on Butler St just north of 496. There are about 6 or 7 if I remember. Built in the late nineties/early 2000s. I had the pleasure of being a teenage laborer on a few :) Rob Eschbach was the builder. The houses turned out great. The broader neighborhood (southwest corner of Downtown) has a lot of housing and good variety of options too. Any ideas on what could make this area better??? I think some small-scale retail could make the neighborhood more desirable...there's a little convenience store that always feels good going into. Actually, I could see a CVS doing great around here...especially being close to the freeway.
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There are some country functions housed in Lansing, such as the Human Services Building on Cedar street. Also, the consolidated 911 operations is on Jolly Rd (I believe it includes Lansing, E Lansing, and the rest of Ingham County).
Regarding the location of county seats, looking at a Michigan map again, and I'd say most county seats are not near the center of the county, rather in the county's largest city/population center. In the UP in particular, most county seats are in cities along Lake Michigan or Superior. Even in the lower peninsula cities such as Ludington, Muskegon, St Joseph, Saginaw, Bay City, Midland, Detroit, Grand Rapids, are not near the center. Of course other counties have the seat near the center. Point being, IF Lansing were the county seat, it would not make Ingham County unusual among Michigan counties.
The total population of Ingham County is 280,000, the combined population of Lansing, East Lansing, Williamston, Lansing Twp and Meridian Twp comes in at just over 217,000 (77% of the county's population); if you add in Delhi Twp the number rises to 243,000 (87% of the county's population). Twenty-something percent of the county should not dictate how the county spends it's money or where it provides it's services, I'd even be willing to bet that the center of tax income is further north west than the center of population. It'd be wise for Lansing and it's immediate suburbs to take a stand on this issue, as important as this is from a downtown development perspective it's even more significant for those who will work there, go to court there, do business there and visit incarcerated family members there.
@MichMatters I can't imagine there's any realistic chance of the owner being allowed to put a campground there, I'm glad the mayor is actively against the idea. I think putting a multi-family development there is a no brainer.