Old Hudson, Lafayette Building sites planned as downtown gardens

[j to the jeremy]

Well, the City of Detroit never engages engineers to evaluate existing structures anyway. Why start now?

OK, fair enough haha.

Still, its unfortunate that the percieved need for parking downtown outweighed a more versatile use for a piece of land that could have been sold in parcels eventually, or to multiple uses. I bet having a low-to-mid rise streetwall all along Woodward, with some sort of smaller park space behind it would have been an attractive option by now. If we're only talking grass, not deep soil, do you have the weights used for that? I think part of Detroit's problem is that we either want to sell off big sites for development, or consolidate smaller ones to make huge sites. [[DTE Campus, etc.) Most investments in Michigan right now are made by small companies, local businesses, and entrepreneurs.

[Detroitnerd]

Just preserve the parcel for now. Eventually, someday, a developer will likely fill in the streetwall. As usual, local leaders trying to cover up their incompetence. The building was outdated, they said. It closed. The building was an eyesore, they said. It had to be ripped down. Now the EMPTY LOT is an eyesore and they want to do something that is completely impractical and incompatible for the site.

[DetroitDad]

Urbanism... urban.... urban is the key word that is desired by those who live Downtown.

This idea is the equivalent of building several suburban tri-levels and colonials on the sites.



Of course, the garage would be underground, so as to not clutter up Woodward.

[Gistok]

Maybe this will take care of the annoying problem of homeless people asking others for change...

I can see it now walking down a Downtown street....

A street person walking up to you..."hey buddy... wanna buy some turnips?.... cheaper than Eastern Market... and much fresher... I just picked these myself not more than 2 minutes ago.... see they still have the dirt on them... or how about some carrots?"....

[Marc]

Detroit Dad, It's too bad they tore down Kowloon Walled City...you would have loved it, SUPER urban. Definitely no gardens. http://peeba.gfxile.net/roskaa/kowloon_walled_city.jpg

Shenzhen China, a city of 4.5 million [[6x Detroit's Population) and has an urban garden farm project. Check it out, tell me how bad it is.
http://inhabitat.com/an-urban-farm-s...t-of-shenzhen/

Bottom Line is this:
1. It will look better than the explicative that is already there.
2. It's not going to collapse the parking garage because the project isn't run by the city and therefore full functioning individuals will be involved in the planning process.
3. A corporation is footing the bill and the labor, so no tax dollars are being spent. [[accept for maybe the extra police force needed at soon to be infamous 2011 Garden Riots, where the city fought back against green)
4. Having a garden at the end of the street will always trump having a vacant lot at the end of the street, no matter where you are.

[NorthEndere]

This sh%t is just getting out of hand, now. I'm all for community gardens and urban farming, but to be promoting such a thing on not just the most premiere commercial lot probably anywhere in the city, but atop an existing, functioning parking garage just seems to be a cynical giving-up couched in rosy, hollow rhetoric.

Whether the garden will or will not be easy to move if development comes is kind of beside the point. What this screams is that this lot is not valuable enough to be developed in any real way for the forseeable future. This is essentially horizontal mouthballing, and to announce this right as the new disappointing Census numbers just helps with the idea that Detroit's been defeated, so defeated that a prime downtown lot literally a block from the bustling center of downtown Detroit can't support development for the forseeable future.

How is ridiculous is this? They might as well just stick up a billboard on the lot that reads: "Detroit, you're through" and call it a day.

[Detroitnerd]

Detroit Dad, It's too bad they tore down Kowloon Walled City...you would have loved it, SUPER urban. Definitely no gardens. http://peeba.gfxile.net/roskaa/kowloon_walled_city.jpg

Shenzhen China, a city of 4.5 million [[6x Detroit's Population) and has an urban garden farm project. Check it out, tell me how bad it is.
http://inhabitat.com/an-urban-farm-s...t-of-shenzhen/

Bottom Line is this:
1. It will look better than the explicative that is already there.
2. It's not going to collapse the parking garage because the project isn't run by the city and therefore full functioning individuals will be involved in the planning process.
3. A corporation is footing the bill and the labor, so no tax dollars are being spent. [[accept for maybe the extra police force needed at soon to be infamous 2011 Garden Riots, where the city fought back against green)
4. Having a garden at the end of the street will always trump having a vacant lot at the end of the street, no matter where you are.

Nobody here is arguing against urban gardens. Nobody here is arguing against philanthropy. Nobody here is arguing about a vacant lot; the lot itself is occupied by a large underground structure.

What is the argument about? An inappropriate idea for an important downtown parcel that displays a stunning ignorance of cities, the parcel itself, its history, and what is there. That's all.

[mpow]

It is a great idea. What other city can say they have a community garden downtown? This could be a center piece for the whole city to get inspired about gardening.

history respected?
maybe they should cover it with an ancient ice sheet then.

Come on, this is a temporary blimp of a fantastic and continuing Detroit story.

[j to the jeremy]

See, time and time again, the story is that the site's history makes it special. Yes it's an incredibly prime location, one of our best, but most retail development is happening in Midtown and on streets with lower rents than Woodward. And the other side that keeps on coming up is that somehow declining population means that the city will never bounce back. These census numbers are no surprise. There was a thread on here a few years ago where the general consensus among dYes'ers was a bottoming out around 500,000, followed by an increase was very likely. I think people need to get over the idea that Detroit will be a global city any time soon. It's OK to be a booming regional hub, and frankly, unless we get our regional politics in order, we won't even achieve that in the next 20 years.

I think being open to a garden downtown is a stunning turnaround for a city government that was considering fining and punishing community garden creators in 'hoods just a few years ago under Kilpatrick and Cockrel.

[Detroitnerd]

I think being open to a garden downtown is a stunning turnaround for a city government that was considering fining and punishing community garden creators in 'hoods just a few years ago under Kilpatrick and Cockrel.

Actually, the city government is still quite difficult for community gardeners to deal with. The Georgia Street Collective has been trying to obtain legal stewardship of the lots it gardens, and the city has quoted it prices that are prohibitive. No, the city is still very backward toward community gardens, unless you're working through one of the major groups.

Of course, if you want to start a community garden where nobody lives, on an unsuitable site, where it could offer a slight possibility of window-dressing for their failed demolish-it-and-they-will-come strategies, well, that's just fine with them. In short, idiocy prevails.

[Detroitnerd]

It is a great idea. What other city can say they have a community garden downtown? This could be a center piece for the whole city to get inspired about gardening.

history respected?
maybe they should cover it with an ancient ice sheet then.

Come on, this is a temporary blimp of a fantastic and continuing Detroit story.

Oh, jesus. Come up with any crazy fuckin' plan these days and there are always a few fools to crow about it.

The slabs can't take the load.

The site is already occupied by a garage.

It was intentionally left with girders intact for a future build, essentially an underground mothballing.

And you want a "community" garden where there are almost NO RESIDENTS TO TAKE CARE OF IT?

Shit, man. Go donate your money to another RoboCop statue.... jesus christ ...

[j to the jeremy]

Actually, the city government is still quite difficult for community gardeners to deal with. The Georgia Street Collective has been trying to obtain legal stewardship of the lots it gardens, and the city has quoted it prices that are prohibitive. No, the city is still very backward toward community gardens, unless you're working through one of the major groups.

Of course, if you want to start a community garden where nobody lives, on an unsuitable site, where it could offer a slight possibility of window-dressing for their failed demolish-it-and-they-will-come strategies, well, that's just fine with them. In short, idiocy prevails.

I share your frustration that corporations seem to get whatever they want, and neighborhoods are systematically disinvested in by their own government.

[jackie5275]

Apparently, Compuware has a garden on that spot. I've not seen as I've not been in that area recently,but heard on WWJ this morning Compuware was having like a dedication ceremony today. Reportedly, they've already grown 200 lbs of veggies that were donated to Gleaners.

[Detroitnerd]

Apparently, Compuware has a garden on that spot. I've not seen as I've not been in that area recently,but heard on WWJ this morning Compuware was having like a dedication ceremony today. Reportedly, they've already grown 200 lbs of veggies that were donated to Gleaners.

That's cool. So, at $400,000, so far the cost of vegetables comes to $2,000 per pound. Now THAT'S how the DEGC does community gardening. Hahaha. Brilliant.

[kraig]

That's cool. So, at $400,000, so far the cost of vegetables comes to $2,000 per pound. Now THAT'S how the DEGC does community gardening. Hahaha. Brilliant.

$2,000 per pound sounds like something that was grown at Chene and Mack. Or maybe that's what was being smoked when this brilliant idea was proposed. At least Gleaners is benefitting from this stupidity. Although, the City could have had a lot more gardens yielding a lot more food had they planted gardens in other locations.