Capitol Park

**detroitmale** · July-29-09, 08:43 AM

Does anyone know what the plans are for capitol park? I'm hoping they find an investor to completely clean up and redo the park. Most of all, chase out all the homeless and bums that hang out there so citizens can enjoy the space.

**royce** · July-29-09, 10:13 AM

Detroitmale, you know, the homeless and bums are citizens too.

The problem that you are going to have in redeveloping the park is that the park[[for the most part still a DDOT station) is a meeting spot for the homeless, bums, and low-income residents who live in the apartments along Washington Blvd. Also, two party/grocery stores have opened up at opposite ends of Griswold that attract these individuals to the area as well. The homeless will always be with us. How to diminish the number of homeless is the 64 million dollar question.

Bearinabox · July-29-09, 10:31 AM

Originally Posted by French777

p.s Thanks for actually spelling it correct!

Are you serious? You think the correct spelling is C-A-P-T-I-O-L? Try sounding it out.

**GREENTROIT** · July-29-09, 10:50 AM

They were obviously referring to the spelling of Capitol and not Capital... But yeah, he misspelled it anyway in the title. It was a typo, as he spelled it correctly in the text of his post.

**izzyindetroit** · July-29-09, 10:51 AM

Model D posted plans this week.

http://modeldmedia.com/developmentne...itol20109.aspx

**Fury13** · July-29-09, 12:19 PM

Originally Posted by royce

The homeless will always be with us. How to diminish the number of homeless is the 64 million dollar question.

Round 'em up and ship 'em to Texas?

**jams** · July-29-09, 12:41 PM

I just started a thread about NYC providing one-way airfare to the homeless:

http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthread.php?t=1899

**buildingsofdetroit** · July-29-09, 09:00 PM

Wonder what the DEGC will do with the Capitol Park Building now that it owns it. That'd be quite the hole if it gets razed. Couple that with the Griswold Building going into bankruptcy a few months ago, the abandoned Farwell Building and the Stott struggling to hang onto tenants, and I'd say there's a lot of work cut out there.

**Gistok** · July-29-09, 10:23 PM

That computer generated image is reminiscent of the proverbial "putting a square peg into a triangular hole"...

I hope the final design respects the shape of that public space with some elegance to it, and not some PACMANesque layout.

**rjlj** · July-29-09, 10:42 PM

I hate to be a complainer, but I think the design shown in the Model D rendering is horrible. The location of the monument is bad, the Griswold sidewalk is walled off and there does not seem to be a nice gathering place. If you look at earlier pictures of the park when there was a fountain, it looked like a well designed place which seemed conducive to a nice social setting[[see attached). I don't understand the rational in this design rendering and hope it is not the final version.

**Rocko** · July-30-09, 10:25 AM

From The Detroit News

Thursday, July 30, 2009
Upgrades set for historic Detroit park

Jaclyn Trop / The Detroit News

Detroit -- Now that Metro Detroit's transit hub has moved to the nearby Rosa Parks Transit Center, Capitol Park is getting a facelift.

Plans call for new landscaping, lighting and signage highlighting the park's role in Michigan's early history. Construction for the project, a joint effort between the Downtown Detroit Partnership and the city of Detroit's Downtown Development Authority, is expected to start next month and conclude next year at a cost of $1.1 million, according to Malik Goodwin of the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., a quasi government agency that promotes projects in the city.

Improvements will be "largely aesthetic," he said. For example, visitors will be able to enjoy lunch or read a book on new park benches, he said.

"Now this park can become a different kind of location where people can relax and enjoy themselves, instead of being a terminus for travelers and transients," said Charles Merz, president of Merz & Associates, the Detroit firm hired to develop the project. The firm also completed the $43 million rehabilitation of Central High School and had a hand in developing parts of Hart Plaza.

Most of the buildings bordering the park are empty, and attracting new enterprises to the area will be a priority, Goodwin said. The Downtown Development Authority is offering several incentives for businesses to set up shop downtown.

A statue of Michigan's first governor, 24-year-old Stevens T. Mason, will be moved from State Street to Griswold Street. In addition, three very old ginkgo trees that were "around with the dinosaurs" will remain in place, according to Merz.

"As part of this rebirth of the park, we're going to unearth the story of Detroit's history, which will bring a lot of pride," Merz said.

The park, a triangle bordered by Shelby, Griswold and State streets, has been a hub for government and commerce since the early 19th century, before Michigan attained statehood.

A courthouse built on site in the 1820s became the state Capitol when Michigan was admitted to the union in 1837.

The building housed Michigan's first public high school after the capital moved to Lansing in 1847. The park served as a point on the Underground Railroad and the site has functioned as a transit station since 1955.

"There's just all this stuff cooking there," Merz said. "To think that this little teensy triangular park is a hub of history is incredible."

jtrop@detnews.com [[313) 222-2300

See link for a few photos:
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...c-Detroit-park

**French777** · July-30-09, 10:43 AM

No fountain in the plans?

PQZ · July-30-09, 12:27 PM

Originally Posted by buildingsofdetroit

Wonder what the DEGC will do with the Capitol Park Building now that it owns it. That'd be quite the hole if it gets razed. Couple that with the Griswold Building going into bankruptcy a few months ago, the abandoned Farwell Building and the Stott struggling to hang onto tenants, and I'd say there's a lot of work cut out there.

1. They don't own it yet
2. They are purchasing based on a deal worked through with a developer
3. The Farwell was about to be foreclosed upon but Higgins was able to move his ad revenue from the Borderick over there to keep control. Perhaps you can ask him waht he is going to do with it.
4. The Stott owners are reasy and willing to sell, but the project is stymied by exorbitant prices demanded by adjacent building owners whose parcels are needed for parkingt o suppor the Stott.

Yep, there is a lot of work to do there. Perhaps you'd want an agency that could pull of the Book Cadillac flexing its muscles down in there.

MIRepublic · July-30-09, 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by PQZ

Yep, there is a lot of work to do there. Perhaps you'd want an agency that could pull of the Book Cadillac flexing its muscles down in there.

Bitter and/or bitchy much? Go tell your bosses that they are being made fun of on the internet and see how much they care, k? What you need to do is grow a thicker skin and stop turning into a petulant, 11-year-old girl every time someone criticizes your employer.

**buildingsofdetroit** · July-30-09, 07:04 PM

Originally Posted by MIRepublic

Bitter and/or bitchy much? Go tell your bosses that they are being made fun of on the internet and see how much they care, k? What you need to do is grow a thicker skin and stop turning into a petulant, 11-year-old girl every time someone criticizes your employer.

I wasn't even criticizing the DEGC. I just openly wondered what it plans to do with the building now that it has an agreement to buy it [[it will pay more for this rundown building, by the way, than it will cost to raze the Lafayette).

**gnome** · July-30-09, 07:10 PM

Looks like PDQ is cursed with the notion he has a wit.

Too bad, I liked his inside info, but he sure does act like sand in the vaseline.

**Rocko** · July-30-09, 07:20 PM

They should move the old Merrill Fountain from Palmer Park down to C. Park. Solve the fountain problem, restore an important fountain from Detroit's past. Bingo.

**buildingsofdetroit** · July-30-09, 07:44 PM

Originally Posted by Rocko

They should move the old Merrill Fountain from Palmer Park down to C. Park. Solve the fountain problem, restore an important fountain from Detroit's past. Bingo.

THAT is a great idea, Rocko. You should e-mail Howes and Gallagher of the News and Freep and suggest they write a column lobbying the idea! I'd suggest calling the DEGC yourself, but, well, they eat babies. hehe

MIRepublic · July-30-09, 08:44 PM

I'd suggest not even writing Howes, at all. Knowing him, he'd write a column going off in some tangent about the use of taxpayer dollars or something. I'd doubt either of them would be interested, anyway, Howes even less than most.

**1KielsonDrive** · July-30-09, 09:39 PM

Did you ever think that if ?Captiol? Park was inhabited by Country Club [[say the DAC or Oakland Hills) people instead of homeless people, they'd be looking down on you like you're looking down on the homeless? Country Clubbers have more disdain for you than you have for the poor. I mean, you're as bad and undesirable to them as those homeless people are to you. Maybe this is practice for when you get that Country Club membership.

**Enduro** · July-30-09, 11:31 PM

You buy a hat like that and you get a free bowl of soup.

I've lived in Capitol Park. The homeless there need assistance, perhaps a shelter, a mental evaluation and, in a lot of cases, a warrant check. I've seen some terrible stuff going down there. Including fights, rape, prostitution [[performed in the park), crack smoking and dealing... And yes I called the cops on the rape, reported it and made a statement. No one ever called me back.

crawford · July-30-09, 11:35 PM

LOL, the "homeless" [[read: vagrants) are not in the situation they're in because they're poor.

You think if you go to Honduras or something everyone is acting like the vagrants in Capitol Park? Hell, they're better behaved than the yuppies at Somerset.

The park bums need mental help, substance abuse help, or both.

And a few need a jail cell.

**1KielsonDrive** · July-31-09, 01:56 AM

Yeah, the cops are definitely part of the equation. Unfortunately for the mentally ill, they'll be hauled off to jail [[assuming Detroit cops ever show up). Do you think homeless people know the cops are unlikely to ever show? I try to treat all street people with respect. It doesn't always work. I've found those who would work with me and those who are just too deranged to cooperate. I still try to maintain respect at all times.

**detroitmale** · July-31-09, 08:02 AM

Originally Posted by rjlj

I hate to be a complainer, but I think the design shown in the Model D rendering is horrible. The location of the monument is bad, the Griswold sidewalk is walled off and there does not seem to be a nice gathering place. If you look at earlier pictures of the park when there was a fountain, it looked like a well designed place which seemed conducive to a nice social setting[[see attached). I don't understand the rational in this design rendering and hope it is not the final version.

Please send this drawing to the DEGC. I agree, this was a much better plan with the fountain.