I have not thought about the signal lights being on over head wires, except when I see them swinging in the wind. It seems like Delta Twsp. agrees and they have mounted the lights on huge steel poles. It is interesting to me that out of town people would note this as being kind of out of date. I agree that the whole over head wire systems needs to be put underground, for safety,cost, and aesthetic reasons. It could be combined with an overall street and sidewalk reconstruction that is needed through out the the city.
I often use Kalamazoo to get over to E.L. and have thought it would be the best place for a direct urban bike route from downtown to East Lansing. It would be really great if they make a true separated lane, I think there would be enough room on that street.
The new house on Elm street is interesting, a very simple design that they have put up very quickly. The house sits on piers and looks very different from the neighbors, I like it, it's just really different and is being built in a really unexpected place.
Say - are the rents for restaurant space downtown just too high? Was just thinking there are places on the Washington Square strip that I'm pretty sure have been vacant the entire 5.5 years I've worked at LCC. There's no need for that - there IS demand downtown, the place is quite busy at lunchtime at least and has some customers at other times. Yet places come and go regularly - and, as I said, these long-term vacancies that are hard to understand. Is it really better for a landlord to sit on a property for years than to offer it for a bit less?
I can't think of too many storefronts on Washington Sq that have been vacant that long, I know the old Michigania at the SW corner of Washington & Michigan has, the Hallmark store may have been closed that long also. Any others?
I've been very disappointed with the city's lack of attention to the areas west of the river, it really seems that they've ignored the core part of downtown. There definitely needs to be more residential on and around Washington in order for it to succeed, I also think that there really need to be more storefronts on Grand, Capital and the east-west cross streets in between in order for downtown to ever feel complete. How can the capitol city of the state with a metro of around half a million people have what is essentially a one-street downtown? The core of downtown Lansing has two contiguous, double-sided blocks of retail: the 100 and 200 blocks of S Washington. That's just embarrassing for a city of our size and no matter how successful the Michigan Ave corridor becomes it can never rival a thriving downtown with however many square blocks of retail packed into a tight area.
For comparison: The area bounded by Capitol/Grand and Shiawassee/Lenawee contains about three miles of street frontage, about equal to Michigan Ave from Grand Ave to where it joins with Grand River Ave. I wish the city would understand the importance of getting more storefronts downtown that aren't facing South Washington.
We have a real "Town Center" downtown, unlike Eastwood, they charge to park downtown. As for shopping that was the problem for many people as far back as the 60's. Free parking for shoppers and visitors could help. There are very few storefront type buildings on any side street, Grand Ave [which is in terrible shape] is mainly parking lots and ramps from Kalamazoo to Saginaw. There are areas where an apartment building could be built. Just because we built a parking ramp in 1970 something does that mean we can never knock it down. Parking ramps and lots have the best addresses in the whole city.
Think of downtown as an urban village, a place where people live, work and shop. Develop what I call doing your neighbors laundry economy. I pay you to do my laundry, you use that money to go to lunch and tip your waiter, he uses that money to buy groceries and a beer at the pub and so on. I think that is one thing that is missing from the downtown economy. You can sort of see that kind of thing in Old Town, people in place spending their time and money in their neighborhood. If a business is able to add hours in the evenings and on weekends they have to employ people and that in turn creates business for the neighborhood.
They could also take better care of the trees and landscaping. Like at LCC, more green more trees and more flowers. The trees on S. Washington are in need of pruning the many dead branches. Fill the streets with flowers, and flags and banners. Create the feeling that there is something happening and it changes every week. Upgrade the side walk cafe seating areas to make a real feeling of an outdoor room, not just some tables and chairs on the sidewalk. In winter cover outdoor seating something like winter "cabins" to keep the sidewalks full of people. Re-brick the flatten the street. Open store fronts and apartments on the back streets or alleys. The backs of many buildings offer an authentic urban scene, and have been less remodeled over the years.
Those are *really* great ideas @gdbinlansing. I also really like the idea of a protected bike lane down Kalamazoo.
When I was living in Brooklyn, NY there was a protected two-way bike lane down Flushing Ave with cement barricades separating it from traffic. Local artists were assigned different sections and were able to make their own canvas out of it. The cement barricades don't take up much space, are easy to install, and make riding in the bike lane feel very safe.
The city could make it more expensive to own a surface lot in the downtown district perhaps by requiring fencing,walls,or landscaping around the lots to block the view of the cars parked there and beautify street space. It is ironic that parking has such power and percents in our city. I think the worst case of this is when they tore down the theater portion of the Michigan Theater for parking. Maybe some day that land will be too valuable to dedicate to surface parking. Some much larger multi-deck parking structures on the edges of downtown, with lower rates and shuttles downtown would be attractive to commutators and visitors. Maybe in the Cedar Larch corridor to the north and south.
The city could also affect parking by removing the meters downtown in trade for some shared payment that the property owners downtown pay (or just make it free like everywhere else in the city).
Just to add to your "the land is valuable for parking, even though it isn't urban-valuable" point - I work at LCC and do NOT drive there. The faculty contract guarantees all faculty a parking spot, and if you give it up the college will give you... $500 per year. Which seems insane to me (but hey I'll take it), but shows you how much parking land downtown can be worth. I know LCC doesn't have enough parking that "they own", they actually pay the AF Group to use some of their ramp.
I think one way to expand ridership would be to expand night time and weekend service. Many people work nights and weekends, many people do their shopping on the weekend. Maybe they could use a smaller fleet on buses on the off peck hours. I think that some routes should be run 24 hours. I have said here before lots of more modern stop shelters that offer a safe comfortable place to wait for the bus. Maybe the stops could have countdown clocks stating how many minuets until the next bus and wifi. Make taking the bus easier than driving your own car. Repave and maintain bus routes first, giving passengers a smooth ride would increase ridership. Change the perception that people take the bus only because they "have to".
Comments
I have not thought about the signal lights being on over head wires, except when I see them swinging in the wind. It seems like Delta Twsp. agrees and they have mounted the lights on huge steel poles. It is interesting to me that out of town people would note this as being kind of out of date. I agree that the whole over head wire systems needs to be put underground, for safety,cost, and aesthetic reasons. It could be combined with an overall street and sidewalk reconstruction that is needed through out the the city.
I often use Kalamazoo to get over to E.L. and have thought it would be the best place for a direct urban bike route from downtown to East Lansing. It would be really great if they make a true separated lane, I think there would be enough room on that street.
The new house on Elm street is interesting, a very simple design that they have put up very quickly. The house sits on piers and looks very different from the neighbors, I like it, it's just really different and is being built in a really unexpected place.
Say - are the rents for restaurant space downtown just too high? Was just thinking there are places on the Washington Square strip that I'm pretty sure have been vacant the entire 5.5 years I've worked at LCC. There's no need for that - there IS demand downtown, the place is quite busy at lunchtime at least and has some customers at other times. Yet places come and go regularly - and, as I said, these long-term vacancies that are hard to understand. Is it really better for a landlord to sit on a property for years than to offer it for a bit less?
I can't think of too many storefronts on Washington Sq that have been vacant that long, I know the old Michigania at the SW corner of Washington & Michigan has, the Hallmark store may have been closed that long also. Any others?
I've been very disappointed with the city's lack of attention to the areas west of the river, it really seems that they've ignored the core part of downtown. There definitely needs to be more residential on and around Washington in order for it to succeed, I also think that there really need to be more storefronts on Grand, Capital and the east-west cross streets in between in order for downtown to ever feel complete. How can the capitol city of the state with a metro of around half a million people have what is essentially a one-street downtown? The core of downtown Lansing has two contiguous, double-sided blocks of retail: the 100 and 200 blocks of S Washington. That's just embarrassing for a city of our size and no matter how successful the Michigan Ave corridor becomes it can never rival a thriving downtown with however many square blocks of retail packed into a tight area.
For comparison: The area bounded by Capitol/Grand and Shiawassee/Lenawee contains about three miles of street frontage, about equal to Michigan Ave from Grand Ave to where it joins with Grand River Ave. I wish the city would understand the importance of getting more storefronts downtown that aren't facing South Washington.
We have a real "Town Center" downtown, unlike Eastwood, they charge to park downtown. As for shopping that was the problem for many people as far back as the 60's. Free parking for shoppers and visitors could help. There are very few storefront type buildings on any side street, Grand Ave [which is in terrible shape] is mainly parking lots and ramps from Kalamazoo to Saginaw. There are areas where an apartment building could be built. Just because we built a parking ramp in 1970 something does that mean we can never knock it down. Parking ramps and lots have the best addresses in the whole city.
Think of downtown as an urban village, a place where people live, work and shop. Develop what I call doing your neighbors laundry economy. I pay you to do my laundry, you use that money to go to lunch and tip your waiter, he uses that money to buy groceries and a beer at the pub and so on. I think that is one thing that is missing from the downtown economy. You can sort of see that kind of thing in Old Town, people in place spending their time and money in their neighborhood. If a business is able to add hours in the evenings and on weekends they have to employ people and that in turn creates business for the neighborhood.
They could also take better care of the trees and landscaping. Like at LCC, more green more trees and more flowers. The trees on S. Washington are in need of pruning the many dead branches. Fill the streets with flowers, and flags and banners. Create the feeling that there is something happening and it changes every week. Upgrade the side walk cafe seating areas to make a real feeling of an outdoor room, not just some tables and chairs on the sidewalk. In winter cover outdoor seating something like winter "cabins" to keep the sidewalks full of people. Re-brick the flatten the street. Open store fronts and apartments on the back streets or alleys. The backs of many buildings offer an authentic urban scene, and have been less remodeled over the years.
When I was living in Brooklyn, NY there was a protected two-way bike lane down Flushing Ave with cement barricades separating it from traffic. Local artists were assigned different sections and were able to make their own canvas out of it. The cement barricades don't take up much space, are easy to install, and make riding in the bike lane feel very safe.
The city could make it more expensive to own a surface lot in the downtown district perhaps by requiring fencing,walls,or landscaping around the lots to block the view of the cars parked there and beautify street space. It is ironic that parking has such power and percents in our city. I think the worst case of this is when they tore down the theater portion of the Michigan Theater for parking. Maybe some day that land will be too valuable to dedicate to surface parking. Some much larger multi-deck parking structures on the edges of downtown, with lower rates and shuttles downtown would be attractive to commutators and visitors. Maybe in the Cedar Larch corridor to the north and south.
Just to add to your "the land is valuable for parking, even though it isn't urban-valuable" point - I work at LCC and do NOT drive there. The faculty contract guarantees all faculty a parking spot, and if you give it up the college will give you... $500 per year. Which seems insane to me (but hey I'll take it), but shows you how much parking land downtown can be worth. I know LCC doesn't have enough parking that "they own", they actually pay the AF Group to use some of their ramp.
I think one way to expand ridership would be to expand night time and weekend service. Many people work nights and weekends, many people do their shopping on the weekend. Maybe they could use a smaller fleet on buses on the off peck hours. I think that some routes should be run 24 hours. I have said here before lots of more modern stop shelters that offer a safe comfortable place to wait for the bus. Maybe the stops could have countdown clocks stating how many minuets until the next bus and wifi. Make taking the bus easier than driving your own car. Repave and maintain bus routes first, giving passengers a smooth ride would increase ridership. Change the perception that people take the bus only because they "have to".