Quote Originally Posted by 1953 View Post
Seriously, who is doing the planning in this town? Why do we keep demolishing the great old buildings that shape our communities? Its one thing to demolish a dilapidated building, but another to intentionally empty out and render useless the wonderful buildings that shape our principle commercial districts. This has to stop. Detroit has plenty of vacant land for those who desire green space. Woodward Avenue, if anywhere, should be a thriving commercial hub, with dense, mixed-use developments along its sides for as many miles as it stretches. It is our main street and abuts so much green space its ridiculous! Stop ruining Detroit you thoughtless developers!
You hit the nail on the head. I like the idea of integrated green spaces, but this demolition of a really nice stretch of shops in a city appallingly lacking street level activity sucks. The fact a nondescript Subway is left in the scheme is all the more depressing and insulting. Wayne University should lead by example but is instead erasing interesting architecture. Rehab would cost less and
landscaping one of their huge parking lots on another part of campus would surely do more to enhance the area. This nice stretch on Woodward should be helped out, augmented by helping small businesses locate in these buildings instead of being rooted out. Students would be better served, and so would the university. Why cant Wayne state fund that kind of initiative. Why put up bulwarks against the city? There should be sidewalk cafes all around the campus streets. If Burlington Vermont can do it, so can Detroit. Burlington is a gem, it even feels like a rich city because it is filled with people on its major street which was turned into a pedestrian mall. There will always be ample parking anyway, that is never a problem.