Lafayette Building next on DEGC hit list?

[kraig]

Kraig keeps on managing to make it under the bar of low expectations. At this rate, his next post will be a challenge to a fist-fight like CYA and Bill Bonds did back in the golden days.

No, I'm challenging you to put up or shut up. You complain about the lack of historic preservation in the city, but when asked what you're going to do about it or given a suggestion what to do. You go right back to your whining and complaining. Face it, you and Feminick aren't going to mobilize shit but some more whiny ass posts.

[Fnemecek]

In other words, you're going to point the finger at the DEGC, give up without even trying and keep on whining? Same old, same old.

If that's what you call political activism then I suppose so. I call it playing the only card in the deck. We'll see come November whether or not the preservation community has been able to organize anything other than whiny posts.

In the meantime, I will leave you to come up with a list of pithy reasons why Detroit will be better if we spend another few million that we don't have to demolish the Book Tower.

[kraig]

If that's what you call political activism then I suppose so. I call it playing the only card in the deck. We'll see come November whether or not the preservation community has been able to organize anything other than whiny posts.

In the meantime, I will leave you to come up with a list of pithy reasons why Detroit will be better if we spend another few million that we don't have to demolish the Book Tower.

I think that Detroit will be better off trying to demolish any and all of the Packard Plant. That's where I'm going to focus my energies. If the City and the DEGC are in a mood to demolish. Why not focus them on what needs to be torn down?

[Fnemecek]

You can certainly make a compelling argument that the Packard Plant needs to come down as does the Lee Plaza. In fact, several prominent members of the preservation community have openly criticized the City of Detroit for not demolishing those buildings.

Unfortunately, they don't seem overly interested in doing so.

[kraig]

You can certainly make a compelling argument that the Packard Plant needs to come down as does the Lee Plaza. In fact, several prominent members of the preservation community have openly criticized the City of Detroit for not demolishing those buildings.

Unfortunately, they don't seem overly interested in doing so.

That just means I have to try harder, not give up.

[Fnemecek]

Good luck.

[Novine]

Kraig, I know you're too busy posting to impress us with your insider knowledge to read what anyone else has to say but I've already outlined 4 steps towards moving this issue away from the status quo. First, Demolition Jackson needs to let everyone know what's on the hit list. Many people won't agree with that list but at least everyone will be on notice of what he plans to take out with taxpayer dollars. Two, the DDA and other development agencies need to be held accountable for their slumlord behavior. Any abandoned buildings that they own needs to be secured against vandals and the weather. Why should the DDA be able to act like a slumlord and allow buildings they own to suffer demolition-from-neglect. It's not my job to do Demolition Jackson's job. He's paid plenty to do it. Or are we going to get a lecture from you on how it's our job to do the work that he should be doing?

[Novine]

"You guys sure know how to make a staunch Detroit advocate feel pretty unwelcome to the discussion..."

Try to be a big boy today. This is tame compared to what passes for politics in the city of Detroit. If you can't handle DY, you sure aren't going to be able to have an impact in the real world of city politics.

[kraig]

Kraig, I know you're too busy posting to impress us with your insider knowledge to read what anyone else has to say but I've already outlined 4 steps towards moving this issue away from the status quo. First, Demolition Jackson needs to let everyone know what's on the hit list. Many people won't agree with that list but at least everyone will be on notice of what he plans to take out with taxpayer dollars. Two, the DDA and other development agencies need to be held accountable for their slumlord behavior. Any abandoned buildings that they own needs to be secured against vandals and the weather. Why should the DDA be able to act like a slumlord and allow buildings they own to suffer demolition-from-neglect. It's not my job to do Demolition Jackson's job. He's paid plenty to do it. Or are we going to get a lecture from you on how it's our job to do the work that he should be doing?

You don't need to have insider knowledge to know that calling a man outside of his name [[Demolition Jackson) pretty much ends a conversation before it gets started. Respect is a two way street. I'm not going to lecture you on what job belongs to who. You are beyond lecturing. I'm simply going to follow through and try to see what I can do about the Packard Plant. I'll take it as far as I can. While I'm out trying to get something accomplished, I'm sure that you'll still be here crying about things that you can't or won't try to change.

[royce]

A crazy thought hit me when passing the Lafayette Building[[LB) today. What if the owners and investors of the Book Cadillac pressured the DEGC/DDA to tear down the LB because they don't want another building in the area competing with them for their condo units. Just a thought.

[pkbroch]

There is s good article on the FB in Preservation Magazine I just recieved in the mail,

http://www.preservationnation.org/ma...-demolish.html

[Huggybear]

Well, it is interesting that no one has thought of that. There has been a lot of discussion of how "people" wouldn't mind having an empty building next to their hotel room or luxury condo. But Royce, it is interesting that no one has looked into the views of the actual owners and investors in a $200mm project.

A crazy thought hit me when passing the Lafayette Building[[LB) today. What if the owners and investors of the Book Cadillac pressured the DEGC/DDA to tear down the LB because they don't want another building in the area competing with them for their condo units. Just a thought.

[Lorax]

When you boil it down to brass tacks, there are only two reasons to demolish the Lafayette Building- pressure from the Book Cadillac, since the LB is currently an eyesore right across the street, secondly, the kickback to DEGC from the 1.4 million dollar demolition contract. There are no other reasons.

Detroit always seems to find the money when it comes to the demolition [[rather than stabilizing) of large single buildings.

If we had some real investigative journalism, they would no doubt discover how the taxpayer's money is being spread amongst corrupt politicians.

[Huggybear]

I don't work there, so I can't transmit your questions/comments/demands.

Huggybear, I have some questions for your bosses at DEGC. Can you get an answer to question #1 and explain the malfeasance demonstrated by #2?

1. Demolition Jackson and his cohorts have to identify today the buildings they have no intent on preserving.

2. Every other building owned or controlled by the DDA must be secured and protected so that it's viable for future use when the economic conditions or other factors make that feasible. That includes improving the street level view so that passer-bys don't have to be subjected to plywood panels or other visual atrocities.

[ghettopalmetto]

When you boil it down to brass tacks, there are only two reasons to demolish the Lafayette Building- pressure from the Book Cadillac, since the LB is currently an eyesore right across the street, secondly, the kickback to DEGC from the 1.4 million dollar demolition contract. There are no other reasons.

Detroit always seems to find the money when it comes to the demolition [[rather than stabilizing) of large single buildings.

If we had some real investigative journalism, they would no doubt discover how the taxpayer's money is being spread amongst corrupt politicians.

OR, the DEGC is really as stupid as they seem.

[Novine]

"I don't work there, so I can't transmit your questions/comments/demands. "

How it is that you manage to transmit the DEGC talking points back here to DY?

[staticstate]

any ideas when this is all going to happen? It seemed that once the decision on Tiger Stadium went down, so did the building. Pretty darn fast.

[Detroitnerd]

Intriguing theory that the B-C operators want to snuff competition. I don't know if that's true, but it pertains to something I've long noticed here. People don't want competitors here. They want monopolies. They don't understand the multiplier effect that comes from lots of independent operators and businesses in one area. Instead, they want to do it in this kind of corny, outdated way, the way they used to do it in the movies: Some idiot architect walks into a room of asshole businessmen and unveils some drab and uninspiring tower that needs to be surrounded by lots and lots of parking, with nary a competitor in sight. At this point, that's an outmoded modernist nightmare, but our catatonic, regressive leaders still think that way! In other words, I wouldn't be surprised.

[Huggybear]

"I don't work there, so I can't transmit your questions/comments/demands. "

How it is that you manage to transmit the DEGC talking points back here to DY?

Why do you assume that any perspective that disagrees with your position originates from within DEGC? Somebody on the outside must be seeing it DEGC's way. Like, say, three successive mayors.

What I have been seeing in every discussion is intellectual McCarthyism, the orthodoxy being that it's self-evident that anything historic should be saved and that demolition can only be the result of an irrational thought process. There is some window-dressing in the form of the hortatory statement and the fiat [["it would be nice if someone could..." "If I was in charge, I would") and the simple guess [["it couldn't cost more than $xxx to do A, B, C"). Maybe there is a rational thought process. It's easy to attack when you know that no one with inside information is going to risk his job in responding.

But in the end, it's just the bully pulpit, isn't it?

[Novine]

"Why do you assume that any perspective that disagrees with your position originates from within DEGC?"

I've never assumed anyone here was speaking from inside DEGC except for you. Your comments have tracked with the DEGC talking points. You've also made it clear with comments that you have access to inside knowledge on these projects. If you want to claim that you're not with DEGC, no one is going to be able to show otherwise. But I think your past comments say otherwise.

[davewindsor]

So with the Lafayette, how many buildings will have been demo'd for saving the Book Cadillac?

[Huggybear]

Depends on whether you are counting vacant lots or sheer demolitions.

- Two buildings [[People's Outfitters and the triangular building on the corner that used to house a Taco Bell) were demolished and replaced by the Griswold project [[originally garage+condos but for the conceivable future a garage only).

- One vacant lot on Washington [[vacant for 40 years) was replaced with the three- [[or four?) story Book-Cadillac annex. You can see this lot in Detroit 9000, at the beginning of the movie.

If you throw the Lafayette Building into the BC mix, then you have three demolitions but zero net new vacant lots from the BC project.

[Detroit500]

It seems to me that the remodel of the Book Cadillac has really screwed everything up for the DDA. All of the other high-profile development being done is near the riverfront area, yet now you have this Washington Square area that would need to share some of the spoils as well.

I noticed you can still call to rent space in the Book Building/Tower the other day. In some ways, I'm surprised that there are no takers, and in most ways, I'm not surprised at all.

[Rocko]

"The appearence of a pocket park"... means they can put up another chain link fence with a woven mat on it of the city of Detroit landmarks... just like what's surrounding the Lafayette now... It doesn't have to be a park, it just has to sort of kind of resemble one.

Sad day for downtown Detroit and the smile of Michigan Ave. with another tooth knocked out.

[Eric]

"We regret much of what we've built; we regret much of what we've torn down. But we've never regretted preserving anything." - Daniel Sack