Old news articles about downtown plans

**MSUguy** · August-27-11, 07:00 PM

One of the interesting things you can do with goggle news is look back at newspaper archives. While most of the large newspapers are pay-per view, many of the smaller ones are not and they have a ton of AP and UPI articles on Detroit. Given that DY tend to be dominated by talk of downtown's past and future. I thought it's interesting to look articles that would've been posted in DY if existed in say the 1970's.

Particularly given the criticism of the city's redevelopment efforts at the time with ReCen and pedestrian plaza etc. What was surprising that even as soon as it opened others saw it as possibly being a mistake. Another thing were the amount bretty brazen crimes downtown I was aware Cobo Hall incident, but I was unware a mob of 1,500 looting downtown stores. Or that then governor has order extra freeway patrols to stop stranded motorist from getting robbed.

Detroit Police Tighten Security Aug 18, 1976

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...+detroit&hl=en

Detroit Unveils Riverfront Plan Nov 24, 1971
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...+detroit&hl=en

Bevy of Projects Aim at Downtown Revival
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...+detroit&hl=en

World Tallest Hotel Opens to Mixed Reviews in Detroit

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...+detroit&hl=en

Will Center Save Detroit? April 22, 1977

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...+detroit&hl=en

Mob Goes on Spree in Detroit-July 22 1972
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...+detroit&hl=en

Detroit Stadium Plans Fizzle- Feb 1, 1971
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...+detroit&hl=en

JL Hudson Weighs Closing Detroit Store July, 18, 1978
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...+detroit&hl=en

Tigers Sign Lease for New Domed Park Jan 13, 1972

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...+detroit&hl=en

Detroit Loses Boy Scout Convention Aug 30, 1976

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...it+crime&hl=en

Parents Tell of Warning to Slain Girl

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...+detroit&hl=en

Detroit Will Have Trolley Oct 22, 1973
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...+detroit&hl=en

State Police to Patrol Freeway in Detroit Aug 27, 1976
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...it+crime&hl=en

Parking Lot Given New Lease: Nouguchi Joins Detroiter Revelling in his Artistry
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...+detroit&hl=en

Detroit Renaciasance Center: Huge Investment or Just A Fortress

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...fortress&hl=en

**Huggybear** · August-28-11, 12:00 AM

Detroiters are living in the Matrix.

**Bigb23** · August-28-11, 04:53 AM

One of the interesting things you can do with Google news is look back at newspaper archives. While most of the large newspapers are pay-per view, many of the smaller ones are not and they have and a ton AP and UPI articles on Detroit.

Just that point is good to remember. It seems nowadays that news sites are nothing but advertising media whores. While everybody needs to make a buck, I have a problem with a site that will slam us with Flash Media while you just load one article to read.

**Bigb23** · August-28-11, 05:05 AM

Remember the day when you had to physically walk in to a Library and ask to use the Microfiche system? Thank you Google, that we can access this stuff at home - at will, anytime.

**Bigb23** · August-28-11, 05:48 AM

Here is a site for old news. I have to admit that I'm a news junkie.

http://tinyurl.com/3z7quxf

**Bigb23** · August-28-11, 06:10 AM

Monkey Wards - Thanks MSUguy

Attachment 10538

**Huggybear** · August-28-11, 09:04 AM

Originally Posted by Bigb23

Remember the day when you had to physically walk in to a Library and ask to use the Microfiche system? Thank you Google, that we can access this stuff at home - at will, anytime.

Hmm... all of this stuff has been computerized in the movies for years. About time for the real world to catch up. Now, where can I score one of those massive, completely transparent computer screens?

**Brock7** · August-28-11, 11:37 AM

Thanks for pointing out the google news archives MSUguy. It also brings up the relevant snippets in pay-per-view articles at the Free Press archive that you wouldn't see just doing a search at their site. It makes it easier to tell if the article is worth purchasing.

http://www.google.com/search?num=100...++&btnG=Search

http://www.google.com/search?num=100...it&btnG=Search

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Se...rce=newspapers

**Bigb23** · August-28-11, 11:53 AM

Hmm... all of this stuff has been computerized in the movies for years. About time for the real world to catch up. Now, where can I score one of those massive, completely transparent computer screens?

*********************
Attachment 10541S

Sabre not Sabre. I'll never stop laughing at that show.

**iheartthed** · August-28-11, 02:48 PM

Originally Posted by MSUguy

Detroit Renaciasance Center: Huge Investment or Just A Fortress

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...fortress&hl=en

Absolutely prophetic. It's interesting that they contrasted Lincoln Center and Rockefeller Center against the Renaissance Center. During the time that the Ren Cen opened, NYC was on the verge of bankruptcy, and in far worse financial shape than Detroit. Fast forward 35 years and both Rockefeller and Lincoln Centers are stunning successes, versus the virtual failure of the Renaissance Center.

**noggin** · August-28-11, 07:23 PM

After incidents like this I can understand the thinking of building the RenCen as a fortress. The people with money were probably terrified of building downtown. Ultimately it was a bad decision.http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...+detroit&hl=en

**adamjab19** · August-28-11, 07:53 PM

whatever happened to the domed Tiger stadium?

**canuck** · August-28-11, 07:54 PM

It was a bad decision because of how they designed and built it. I am hopeful though, because they spent a whole lot of money correcting some big mistakes. Plenty of complexes of that size around the world had rehabs for dumber mistakes. The biggest problem with the Ren-Cen was the lack of a transit hub there and at major points downtown to facilitate access and stop the easy transition from office to homebound car travel. This to me remains one of the stickier points in downtown liveability.

**DetroitPlanner** · August-29-11, 09:09 AM

Originally Posted by canuck

It was a bad decision because of how they designed and built it. I am hopeful though, because they spent a whole lot of money correcting some big mistakes. Plenty of complexes of that size around the world had rehabs for dumber mistakes. The biggest problem with the Ren-Cen was the lack of a transit hub there and at major points downtown to facilitate access and stop the easy transition from office to homebound car travel. This to me remains one of the stickier points in downtown liveability.

The RenCen was a transit hub. Ever go there around quitting time? The place was surrounded by busses on its ring roads. I do agree it is much better now than it was with the barriers gone, but there is no longer a ring road for the busses to congregate on.

**wilderness** · August-30-11, 08:53 AM

Originally Posted by Bigb23

Just that point is good to remember. It seems nowadays that news sites are nothing but advertising media whores. While everybody needs to make a buck, I have a problem with a site that will slam us with Flash Media while you just load one article to read.

In many instance these ads are Java-generated, and all it takes is to turn Java-off in your browser.

**gnome** · August-30-11, 11:31 AM

Slightly off topic, but...

I get the feeling that most folk do not understand that those concrete bunkers in front of the RenCen were "chillers". They were part of the heating/cooling for the building and it was not until smaller cooling units were invented, could they remove those barriers.

It seems most folks think they were a design element, and as such, intentionally built to wall off the city from the complex. That was not the case. Yes, they were ugly and they did "bunkerize" the complex, but they did have a function.

**cmubryan** · August-30-11, 11:59 AM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Absolutely prophetic. It's interesting that they contrasted Lincoln Center and Rockefeller Center against the Renaissance Center. During the time that the Ren Cen opened, NYC was on the verge of bankruptcy, and in far worse financial shape than Detroit. Fast forward 35 years and both Rockefeller and Lincoln Centers are stunning successes, versus the virtual failure of the Renaissance Center.

Despite its issues, I wouldn't called the Ren Cen a virtual failure. Maybe if the year was 1995, we could agree it didn't do what it was supposed to do but if you compare the valley of 1995 to 2011, it has come a long way. The Ren Cen riverfront plaza area is gorgeous, the Ren Cen still has restaurants, stores and Detroit's only movie theatre. These would probably not exist elsewhere downtown. Plus it has undoubtedly added some modern design to the Detroit skyline.

The hotel forced other local hotel operators to step up their game to compete in the late 1970s or shut down and also brought some convention business downtown that would have went out to the burbs otherwise. While others may argue that the Book Cadillac and Shelby shut it's doors cause they could not compete with the Ren Cen hotel, lets face it, they were already on their way out. The Ren Cen hotel was just the final nail in the coffin.

**iheartthed** · August-30-11, 12:53 PM

Originally Posted by gnome

Slightly off topic, but...

I get the feeling that most folk do not understand that those concrete bunkers in front of the RenCen were "chillers". They were part of the heating/cooling for the building and it was not until smaller cooling units were invented, could they remove those barriers.

It seems most folks think they were a design element, and as such, intentionally built to wall off the city from the complex. That was not the case. Yes, they were ugly and they did "bunkerize" the complex, but they did have a function.

I think we all know that they had a function... And I think we all also know that there was absolutely another way of implementing that function without creating the "bunkers".

**iheartthed** · August-30-11, 01:10 PM

Originally Posted by cmubryan

Despite its issues, I wouldn't called the Ren Cen a virtual failure. Maybe if the year was 1995, we could agree it didn't do what it was supposed to do but if you compare the valley of 1995 to 2011, it has come a long way. The Ren Cen riverfront plaza area is gorgeous, the Ren Cen still has restaurants, stores and Detroit's only movie theatre. These would probably not exist elsewhere downtown. Plus it has undoubtedly added some modern design to the Detroit skyline.

The hotel forced other local hotel operators to step up their game to compete in the late 1970s or shut down and also brought some convention business downtown that would have went out to the burbs otherwise. While others may argue that the Book Cadillac and Shelby shut it's doors cause they could not compete with the Ren Cen hotel, lets face it, they were already on their way out. The Ren Cen hotel was just the final nail in the coffin.

If the purpose of the Ren Cen was to suck energy out of downtown then it was an overwhelming success. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the building, and I do recognize it as Detroit's most visible landmark... But it was a failure at reviving the city then and now. GM has done what could be done to open the building up, and that looks great. But they just saved it from being an unattractive, walled off bunker, brought it up to being just an ordinary urban group of skyscrapers. It doesn't anchor any type of development in the neighborhood like Rockefeller Center or Lincoln Center, and I don't see how it ever could considering the limitations of the original design.

**cmubryan** · August-30-11, 01:42 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

If the purpose of the Ren Cen was to suck energy out of downtown then it was an overwhelming success. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the building, and I do recognize it as Detroit's most visible landmark... But it was a failure at reviving the city then and now. GM has done what could be done to open the building up, and that looks great. But they just saved it from being an unattractive, walled off bunker, brought it up to being just an ordinary urban group of skyscrapers. It doesn't anchor any type of development in the neighborhood like Rockefeller Center or Lincoln Center, and I don't see how it ever could considering the limitations of the original design.

Did the Ren Cen really suck the energy out of downtown or was downtown's vitality pretty much diminished already?

**Detroitnerd** · August-30-11, 01:57 PM

Let's see:

In the 1970s, you have shrinking demand for a stable amount of office space in downtown Detroit. Luckily, the businesses that are still there generate a certain amount of street traffic, allowing many of the shops to eke out an existence.

So what do you do? Naturally, you build a few million square feet of Class A office space in a building designed to be defended from a riot, and with lots of parking and tubeways so you never need to walk on the street.

Businesses leave the classic office towers for the fortified arcology, foot traffic flags and more stores close down.

A brilliant redevelopment strategy. Thank you, Detroit city fathers.

**iheartthed** · August-30-11, 02:06 PM

Originally Posted by cmubryan

Did the Ren Cen really suck the energy out of downtown or was downtown's vitality pretty much diminished already?

The vitality of downtown was diminished, of course... But the Ren Cen certainly didn't make the case for why downtown should be viewed as vital [[which was its purpose, no?)... like say Rockefeller Center.

**Detroitnerd** · August-30-11, 02:29 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

The vitality of downtown was diminished, of course... But the Ren Cen certainly didn't make the case for why downtown should be viewed as vital [[which was its purpose, no?)... like say Rockefeller Center.

Rockefeller Center is an interesting place, the height of art deco, with many purposes -- part plaza, part meeting place, part office tower, part recreation [[ice rink) -- and all fed with its very own subway stop underground. Rockefeller Center adds to the city around it and is connected to the city around it.

Ren Cen is brutalist architecture with an arcology mentality, almost designed to be a city within a building. It arguably takes away from the city around it and is disconnected from the city around it.

**swingline** · August-30-11, 09:40 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Absolutely prophetic. It's interesting that they contrasted Lincoln Center and Rockefeller Center against the Renaissance Center. During the time that the Ren Cen opened, NYC was on the verge of bankruptcy, and in far worse financial shape than Detroit. Fast forward 35 years and both Rockefeller and Lincoln Centers are stunning successes, versus the virtual failure of the Renaissance Center.

Lincoln Center is enjoying a "Renaissance" [pun intended] today only thanks to an infusion of $1.2 billion - that's billion with a "B" - over the past few years to pay for renovations that spruced up the theaters and mostly cured the myriad failures of the complex's public spaces. Detroit was far from alone in the 60's and 70's in committing urban planning blunders.