Belanger Park River Rouge
NFL DRAFT THONGS DOWNTOWN DETROIT »



Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 38

Hybrid View

  1. #1

    Default Detroit's Historic Washington Blvd. Renamed John Conyers Blvd.

    Is this in the works/ I have read it. To celebrate his 50 years in Congress. Would this be a permanent rename?

    I thought all this was over now that monica went to jail. She was the champion of renaming Jefferson or the Tunnel or something, as I recall.

  2. #2

    Default

    Ha! Let's rename a street for a congressman when it's already named for a president! Whatever!

  3. #3

    Default

    I expect this to be one of those honorary designations. The green and white sign will remain, with a brown and white sign below it bearing the honorary designation. It's too much of a burden on the residents and businesses on a street to expect them to change all letterhead, mailpieces, ads, etc.

  4. #4

    Default

    I love how Grand Boulevard was named General Motors Boulevard...in honor of the company that flattened the neighborhood there...and Berry Gordy Boulevard...in honor of the guy who moved his business to LA...it was fine as JUST Grand Boulevard, thank you.

    When does Lonnie Bates get a Boulevard?

  5. #5

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by poobert View Post
    I love how Grand Boulevard was named General Motors Boulevard...in honor of the company that flattened the neighborhood there...and Berry Gordy Boulevard...in honor of the guy who moved his business to LA...it was fine as JUST Grand Boulevard, thank you.
    I don't think General Motors flattened New Center. It was all built new in, like, 1910-1920, when New Center was pretty much empty, right?

  6. #6

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Detroitnerd View Post
    I don't think General Motors flattened New Center. It was all built new in, like, 1910-1920, when New Center was pretty much empty, right?
    Yeah, I meant Poletown, which is straddled by EGB. I don't really know, or care, where "General Motors Boulevard" and "Berry Gordy Boulevard" begin and end either.

    Didn't we used to reserve this shit for dead people, not just those dead from the neck up?

    I have done much for this city and believe there should be a Poobert Boulevard.

    [[disclaimer: I am a Democrat but Mr. Conyers doesn't appear to be high-functioning anymore)

  7. #7

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by poobert View Post

    When does Lonnie Bates get a Boulevard?
    He already has a school named after him its one of the few jewels that DPS has. But thats it, I don't want anything else named after him and if they renamed the school as well I would be ok with that.

  8. #8

    Default

    [QUOTE=poobert;303607]I love how Grand Boulevard was named General Motors Boulevard...in honor of the company that flattened the neighborhood there...

    The old General Motors actually did quite a bit to revitalize this New Center area. My memory is starting to fail me on the time frame, but in the late 1970s or early 1980s, the company purchased nearly all the residences on Pallister, Delaware & Bethune [[between Woodward & Second Ave.). They were stripped to the studs and completely renovated each one including new garages. This did spur some conversion of some rowhousing into condominiums and construction of new condominium units on both sides of Second Ave. GM was attempting to lure employees into the area. it had hoped that this would spread up through Seward & Virginia Park, but it never happened.

    The old GM did a lot more for the area in which it was located than most other businesses within the city

  9. #9

    Default

    The area you're talking about is called New Center Commons, and it is very nice.

    Further east, the area they flattened was called Poletown. It's now mostly a prairie and a giant wind-swept parking lot with an auto plant in the middle of it, which has never employed anywhere near as many people as they promised it would back when they were convincing the city to do their dirty work for them at the taxpayers' expense.

  10. #10

    Default

    [QUOTE=goirish1966;303938]
    Quote Originally Posted by poobert View Post
    I love how Grand Boulevard was named General Motors Boulevard...in honor of the company that flattened the neighborhood there...

    The old General Motors actually did quite a bit to revitalize this New Center area. My memory is starting to fail me on the time frame, but in the late 1970s or early 1980s, the company purchased nearly all the residences on Pallister, Delaware & Bethune [[between Woodward & Second Ave.). They were stripped to the studs and completely renovated each one including new garages. This did spur some conversion of some rowhousing into condominiums and construction of new condominium units on both sides of Second Ave. GM was attempting to lure employees into the area. it had hoped that this would spread up through Seward & Virginia Park, but it never happened.

    The old GM did a lot more for the area in which it was located than most other businesses within the city
    General Motors did do a lot of renovations and new residential building in the area around their former HQ in New Center... "New Center Commons" was one such area that they revitalized.

    Now granted that the North Poletown site was razed for the Poletown plant, and I won't deny that folks were forced from their homes... but the neighborhood was pretty much half de-populated by then anyway. Had it survived it would likely today look like the South Poletown area around the now closed St. Stanislaw Church on the south side of I-94.... the neighborhood is a no-mans land that is nearly de-populated of inhabitants.

    It was however the Eminent Domain taking of the North Poletown land that got the State Supreme Court [[and later ballot initiative) to end Eminent Domain for any private use. So now a new car plant or other large land user [[such as a new Hockey Arena) become extremely expensive, since the only way to obtain large tracts of land is to pay whatever the seller demands. Ditto for the stalled Aerotropolis commercial park that was planned for next to Metro Airport.

    The only way now to decimate a neighborhood [[via Eminent Domain) like they did North Poletown, is if it is for a real public use.... such as the on-again-off-again public DRIC bridge downriver of the Ambassador.Bridge.

    I will admit that I don't know how the level of depopulation of the 2 neighborhoods compare to each other.

  11. #11

    Default

    Isn't Dexter or Davison, or some other street around there, named after Elijah Muhammed?

  12. #12

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by eno View Post
    Isn't Dexter or Davison, or some other street around there, named after Elijah Muhammed?
    Linwood up by Central High

  13. #13

    Default

    Grand Boulevard at that time was a mixture of apartments and large homes. If you ever get a chance, pop into the Fisher Building lobby and look in the dispaly cases that show the history of the building. They show what was on the sites of the current office buildings.

  14. #14

    Default

    I got you. Yeah, well, history is written by the victors. Sigh ...

  15. #15

    Default

    This is really dumb. Who would want to live or work on "John Conyers Boulevard"? Who even wants to see the signs on the posts while walking around? Even if a person thinks he should be honored, I can't imagine anyone wanting Washington Boulevard to be renamed.

    I think it's fine to name a road after him somewhere but it shouldn't be one of the most prominent streets downtown, it should be a smaller street, and ideally it should somehow connect to something he's accomplished.

  16. #16

    Default

    Poobert you made my day.

  17. #17

    Default

    Besides, I thought we were supposed to name everything after Ronald Reagan now.

  18. #18

    Default

    Would it becombe Conyers Ally instead of Boulevard?

  19. #19

    Default

    What John Conyers Bvld! after Washington Blvd, I don't think so! When black folks took over Detroit city services after 1975, they want to name the streets ans public places after famous black leaders.

    1. George Custer Elementary is Thurgood Marshall Elementary because Custer is a racist!

    2. Myrtle Street is Martin Luther King Blvd.

    3. 12th. Street is Rosa Parks

    4. Linwood from Clairmount to W. Grand Blvd is Elijah Mohammed Bvld.

    5. W Grand Blvd. from Rosa Parks to John C. Lodge FWY is Berry Gordy Bvld.

    6. There's Mae C. Jemison Academy.

    7. Malcolm X Academy

    8. Rosa Parks Transit Center

    9. Coleman A. Young Municipal Building

    10. R. Phillip Randolph Vocational Technical Center.

    11. East High School is Martin Luther King High School

    12.Burroughs Elementary School is George Crockett Academy.

    What's next Cobo Hall to Bing Hall.

  20. #20

    Default

    I challenge anybody to produce any official act naming Detroit City Airport as Coleman A Young Airport. I think that was a fast one somebody pulled at some point.

  21. #21

    Default

    i want functional government/services.. street names are of tertiary concern..

  22. #22

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Hypestyles View Post
    i want functional government/services.. street names are of tertiary concern..
    Crap like this is cheap and makes it look like the government is doing something. Do you have any idea how many official days of recognition, history weeks, and commemorative streets, parks, and monuments are registered?

    One day when I was attending WSU, I was feeling particularly masochistic so I strolled through the law library and started reading the congressional register. I swear every other act was naming something after someone. It must eat up half of the scant time they work cooking up naming legislation.

  23. #23

    Default

    Perhaps everyone would like the banality of attending school at PS362 or living at the corner of D and 99th street.

    Such designations, while seemingly meaningless, add to the history and culture of a place, and provide perspective from whence we come. Think of 12th street in Detroit that became Rosa Parks Blvd after the rebellion of 1967.

    Besides these are the things that keep historians, cartographers, and urban planners employed...who would want to truncate these industries.

    btw...CAY airport was enacted by the Detroit City Council. Record to be found in the City Clerks office...and Conyers Blvd will be a blue-signed designation

  24. #24

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Zulu Warrior View Post
    btw...CAY airport was enacted by the Detroit City Council. Record to be found in the City Clerks office...and Conyers Blvd will be a blue-signed designation
    Thanks, ZW. I always wondered about that. Do you remember if it was posthumous?

  25. #25

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Hypestyles View Post
    i want functional government/services.. street names are of tertiary concern..
    Symbolism does matter -- although I agree with your priorities.

    Symbolism speaks to the soul of what makes our city tick. It tells us, and others what is important to us. George out, and John in? Bad message. Bad symbol.

    Two rules:

    1) You should only rename numbered, generic streets -- such as 12th to Rosa Parks. You might rename a street called 'Joe' when its next to 'Ed'. But you should almost never rename a street that already honors someone or some event.

    2) NEVER rename anything after someone until they're dead. After death, they can do less to embarrass you.

    There's little doubt that George Washington did more for us than John Conyers. Even if you admire the man -- and I don't.

Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Instagram
BEST ONLINE FORUM FOR
DETROIT-BASED DISCUSSION
DetroitYES Awarded BEST OF DETROIT 2015 - Detroit MetroTimes - Best Online Forum for Detroit-based Discussion 2015

ENJOY DETROITYES?


AND HAVE ADS REMOVED DETAILS »





Welcome to DetroitYES! Kindly Consider Turning Off Your Ad BlockingX
DetroitYES! is a free service that relies on revenue from ad display [regrettably] and donations. We notice that you are using an ad-blocking program that prevents us from earning revenue during your visit.
Ads are REMOVED for Members who donate to DetroitYES! [You must be logged in for ads to disappear]
DONATE HERE »
And have Ads removed.