"Roosevelt Park Gets Some TLC"

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Roosevelt Park, the often overlooked green space in front of the Michigan Central Depot, is in the midst of a serious makeover. Coming soon to this would-be oasis along the hard edge of Michigan Avenue will be new trees, a "tulip promenade" and enormous capital letters that march across the grass and spell out "Roosevelt Park."
Even sexier, the park's name will light up at night with solar-powered Christmas lights


From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20101112/...#ixzz0WsUC8NKm

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I think this is awesome, I hope it winds up being something cool, and kept up

Good for them!! With any luck the trees will grow high enough to block the view of the MCD. ;-) I sincerely hope that the vandals and other dregs of society leave the park alone for others to enjoy.

It's a nice park and with any luck the amphitheater/skatepark space will be a hit. Even the Bridge people are noticing. Last week I went by the depot and some guys from the Bridge Co. were chopping down trees, and pulling weeds along the southern courts and they said it was because of all the things going on around the park.

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Originally Posted by mcsdetroitfriend

It's a nice park and with any luck the amphitheater/skatepark space will be a hit. Even the Bridge people are noticing. Last week I went by the depot and some guys from the Bridge Co. were chopping down trees, and pulling weeds along the southern courts and they said it was because of all the things going on around the park.

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LOL Maybe what should be done is a sign should be erected in Roosevelt Park saying something to the affect that "the dump next door is not in any way associated with the park so don't blame us". ;-)

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Originally Posted by marcwigle

Good for them!! With any luck the trees will grow high enough to block the view of the MCD. ;-) I sincerely hope that the vandals and other dregs of society leave the park alone for others to enjoy.

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I have a feeling that's exactly the opposite that Phil and Noah have in mind. It's to make MCD a backdrop to the park, and keep attention on it - hoping that beautifying the area around it will beautify MCD.

Funny that... it takes out of state folks to come here to work on the park as a doorstep to the "decrepit majesty" of the MCS.... something that the "tear that schitt down" crowd on this forum just absolutely hate..... they can't stand the sight of a landscaped ruin in Detroit.

The funny thing is that no other park in Detroit gets out of towners here to want to come here and help out. And if the MCS gets torn down... Roosevelt Park will likely end up as just another nondescript ignored park in Detroit.

Ironic that! ;)

Whats going on with the old Mercury Bar them....lofts?

There's already lofts upstairs there. Rumor has it there's going to be a new burger joint going in there

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Originally Posted by Gistok

Funny that... it takes out of state folks to come here to work on the park as a doorstep to the "decrepit majesty" of the MCS.... something that the "tear that schitt down" crowd on this forum just absolutely hate..... they can't stand the sight of a landscaped ruin in Detroit.

The funny thing is that no other park in Detroit gets out of towners here to want to come here and help out. And if the MCS gets torn down... Roosevelt Park will likely end up as just another nondescript ignored park in Detroit.

Ironic that! ;)

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Not exactly, besides Roosevelt Park, the Mower Gang is doing some fix-up work in some Detroit parks, and some corporations have installed playground equipment, etc. in a few neglected parks, such as Hope Park in Brightmoor area. Vanguard supposedly is fixing up medians along Outer Drive and area parks, etc. as part of their renovations going on at Sinai-Grace. Also some neighborhood groups do some tidying up of local parks and the Friends of Belle Isle do a clean up project, or they used to in the past. Give those people credit - they are largely volunteers trying to make some improvements to poorly maintained Detroit parks and deserve some kudos IMO.

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Originally Posted by kryptonite

Not exactly, besides Roosevelt Park, the Mower Gang is doing some fix-up work in some Detroit parks, and some corporations have installed playground equipment, etc. in a few neglected parks, such as Hope Park in Brightmoor area. Vanguard supposedly is fixing up medians along Outer Drive and area parks, etc. as part of their renovations going on at Sinai-Grace. Also some neighborhood groups do some tidying up of local parks and the Friends of Belle Isle do a clean up project, or they used to in the past. Give those people credit - they are largely volunteers trying to make some improvements to poorly maintained Detroit parks and deserve some kudos IMO.

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Yes I am aware of, and don't discredit the wornderful people that donate their time to Detroit Parks... including the Belle Isle Aquarium, Anna Scripts Whitcomb Conservatory, and Dossins Great Lake Museum.

It's just that those parks don't seem to attract as much volunteerism from out of state folks as the Roosevelt Park does... mainly due to the backdrop of the MCS.

Gistok, Roosevelt is an interesting phenomena, you are right, solely because of it's location next to MCS. In this case the outside attention is welcome and generating some outside assistance from the bridge company and last year wasn't it from Chrysler financial?

Isn't it interesting that Detroit has attracted so many out of state and foreign visitors in recent years because of our famed urban ruins? Much of the attention has even resulted in positive reporting such as the New York Times articles, the Johnny Knoxville videos, the Chattanooga urban revitalization team, and the artists doing the billboard at the old apt. building next to Roosevelt Park.

A small number of people are actually moving here to experience the apocalyptic type atmosphere, plus the dirt-cheap real estate prices. Who would have thought...

Kryptonite... exactly...

Unfortunately there's no real way to substantiate the number of visitors who visit the MCS from out of state. If the former Michigan Theatre is any indication... folks from around the world come here to check out our biggest ruins... sometimes entire architectural classes make field trips to Detroit.

I enjoy the fact that for once Detroit is being sought out as a source of music and art energy due to the current bleak economy and it's repercussions vis-a-vis urban ruins. And this time Detroit is being perceived as being artsy-cool by many out of towners and Europeans, we are not just bearing the typical negative image that we have endured for decades.

I am savoring the moment, I hope it lasts a couple years.

I can understand the feeling of many on this forum that the MCS should be razed, rather than left as a ruin.

But maybe if the windows were either completely knocked out, or better yet covered with plywood and a mirror finished plastic film... then the result would be a more appealing ruin....

Can't someone talk Maroun into lighting up MCS? We should treat it like the colesium since it attracts so many, it would be
really neat to have it lit at night.

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Originally Posted by preserve

Can't someone talk Maroun into lighting up MCS? We should treat it like the colesium since it attracts so many, it would be
really neat to have it lit at night.

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They've purchased solar powered LED lights that were supposed to go up in October but because of the movies filming in the fall they're going to wait until after winter...so I've been told...the lights going to highlight to columns.
It is so scary at night all dark like that. Really nerve wracking to drive by that place when the sun isn't out


Gistok I LOVE that idea!

Here's an image from Trier Germany... the oldest city in Germany. It shows the ancient Roman PORTA NIGRA [[Black Gate) illuminated at night. This was the "Northern Gateway" to the Roman Empire....

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-4828...-in-trier.html

View of the park...

Attachment 7882

Light it up