Something's up: Uniroyal Tire Site
From aboard Diamond Jack's River Tours today I noticed a small fleet of 3-4 backhoes/bulldozers within the old Uniroyal Tire Plant site on East Jefferson near the Belle Isle Bridge - at least two of the big rigs were active in felling large trees along the water within the site. Are things finally starting to move forward at this location? Seems kinda silly to cut down all the trees, some of which are now well over 20 years old, just to plant new silly ones. Anyone know what's up?
Side note: This is the last weekend of Diamond Jack's public tours for the summer, so if you've been meaning to go but haven't yet, you have till this Sunday at 3:30 to make it happen or put it off till next June!!
Fanciful, Fun, Unrealistic Ideas of Mine
Okay, let me preface this- before I get flamed by all- that my ideas in this post ARE unrealistic, and not a proposal for the city to spend money doing... It's just what would do if I had the money and the power to do it...
With the Uniroyal site finally being cleared of contamination [[well, work to that affect starting), I would propose to make it into a second "Cultural Center" in the city, dedicated to the sciences. I would put a natural history museum, planetarium and aquarium there, as well as relocate the Detroit Science Center [[dedicated to being a kid's museum about the application of math, science, and technology), and relocate a vastly larger Dossin Great Lakes Museum there. I think they could all be fit on a campus there, with centralized parking. It would make it a better destination for tourists, and drive up pedestrian traffic along Jefferson and the Riverwalk.
Whereas the new Cultural Center would be dedicated to the sciences, the old one could focus on the arts and history. Where the Science Center was, I would put a museum of Native American History [[the one in DC is AWFUL and uninformative; if I were a native American I'd be peeved). I would like to see as well a Detroit Musical Heritage Museum [[I love the Motown Museum, but Detroit's musical story began ages before Motown, and continues to this day; maybe it could be adjacent to the Motown Museum). Also, I think a Michigan History Museum could be built adjacent to the wonderful Detroit History Museum. I know there's one in Lansing, but more people would visit one here.
If anyone's got a few billion sitting around, and not know what to do with it...
pictures
Why not move the Giant Uniroyal Tire to that location?
How about moving the Giant Uniroyal Tire to that location and altering it back to its original configuration as a Ferris Wheel? Not only would that add a sweet attraction to that end of the RiverWalk, but it would also pay homage to the history of that site.
I would also rebuild the World's Largest Stove, and put it at its original location at the entrance to Belle Isle.