It's Checkpoint Charlie Time at Rosa Parks Transit Center.

**Danny** · May-23-25, 03:04 PM

Due to all the messy hang outs, infighting. D-DOT has decided to put checkpoints in the interior waiting area at the Rosa Parks Transit Center. most of time patrons are only allowed to for quick bathroom breaks or purchase bus passes and ask security personal for information. No one is to hang inside or sit in the lobby benches until further notice.

Since the center open in 2010 the area slowly got messy. The bathrooms were mess up, the outdoor sail tarps are gone, pigeons are everywhere leaving their poop. if Rosa Parks were alive and sees this mess, she will be shocked. I would like to see the Downtown Detroit Transit Center repair and restore. But still keep the Checkpoint Charlie inside and outside to keep the riff raffs down.

Any thoughts of improvements?

**stasu1213** · May-24-25, 06:40 AM

I never thought that it was a good idea building that transit center in the first place. The center was doomed from day 1. Former May Dave Bing had tried closing the lobby and had riders to wait outside for the busses due to the continuing trouble the center was having. The police station in the basement of it which closed was ineffective in deterring crime occurring at the Transit center. A much more simpler building should had been built without the sailboat canopies

**K-slice** · May-25-25, 04:18 PM

It's a detrimanet to the area, it should be torn down and redeveloped as something that contrbutes to downtown. Bus stops downtown? Sure. A giant open air facility that attracts vagrancy, indecent behavior, and activly hurts the value of neighboring real estate? No...

**Zacha341** · May-25-25, 08:03 PM

^Yes! Time to remove this and develop something else.

**canuck** · May-27-25, 06:59 AM

Originally Posted by Zacha341

^Yes! Time to remove this and develop something else.

Zat mean no more bus hub, though? If not, where do you move the station to, and what kind of difference would that make? It seems to me more security presence is key to any problematic location where commuters congregate. Certain parks and stations are bound to attract vagrants and potential crime, but does it mean we nix the infrastructure, give up on service for the few bad apples?

**Zacha341** · May-27-25, 01:08 PM

^ Sadly as social order continues to melt down in the US [though we're fairing much better than other large cites!] you cannot have enclosed bus stations/ transit centers without aggregating problems.

Remove the canopy and make it more open-air, bench seating with the bars every other seat to keep people from sleeping - with steep angles. Shallow scooped hood coverings for some weather protection perhaps.

As a former bus rider I learned fast it was best to stand alone at a stop rather than under an full shelter where crowds can degrade fast and you're a captive to what you see, smell, hear or experience.

**canuck** · May-28-25, 02:48 AM

^One of these days there will appear some aggressive looking Robocops from Boston Dynamics et al to serve and protect in sketchy public places.

If we’re willing to be served burgers and fries by a cyborg-ette, might as well go full tilt with pepper spraying drones and other fancy things that scream dystopia.

**401don** · May-28-25, 07:17 AM

Originally Posted by canuck

^One of these days there will appear some aggressive looking Robocops from Boston Dynamics et al to serve and protect in sketchy public places.

If we’re willing to be served burgers and fries by a cyborg-ette, might as well go full tilt with pepper spraying drones and other fancy things that scream dystopia.

Maybe they could put Robo Cop there? Is he still buried under a pile of apples at Eastern Market?

**stasu1213** · May-28-25, 06:50 PM

There were busses that had laid over at Time Square before the Rosa Parks Transit Center were built. That could had remained.

**canuck** · May-29-25, 03:34 AM

Originally Posted by 401don

Maybe they could put Robo Cop there? Is he still buried under a pile of apples at Eastern Market?

Lol. Not to mention AI was science fiction backbin the eighties. They could fix him up, spray some WD40, add some neural nets to the guy and voilà!

**Rocket** · May-29-25, 06:07 AM

Originally Posted by canuck

It seems to me more security presence is key to .....

Security does nothing if the police don't have the power/budget/jail space to arrest vagrants. The vagrants either just stay there and laugh at security/police, or they walk away and come back 20 min later.

If the police could arrest the vagrants and put them in a cell for a couple days, then security would be effective. No alcoholic or drug addict wants to go through the shakes in a jail cell, they'll go elsewhere.

**canuck** · May-30-25, 12:12 PM

@Rocket/

I can’t disagree with you there. The revolving door isn’t much of a disincentive.

**K-slice** · May-30-25, 01:58 PM

Originally Posted by canuck

@Rocket/

I can’t disagree with you there. The revolving door isn’t much of a disincentive.

It's no disincentive at all.

**ABetterDetroit** · May-30-25, 07:12 PM

Rocket is correct. It’s unfortunate that the justice system has to be the nut hut but the fact remains it is. Give them the tools they need since that is the reality.

**canuck** · May-30-25, 09:03 PM

Originally Posted by ABetterDetroit

Rocket is correct. It’s unfortunate that the justice system has to be the nut hut but the fact remains it is. Give them the tools they need since that is the reality.

Yes, no reason why homeless/addicted people who happen to be in that situation for whatever reason are able to hijack a public place, with impunity.

Why should a transit user be punished for someone else’s behaviour in a park or central gathering place? Just look at McArthur park in Los Angeles and what has happened there in the past couple of years. It’s become impossible for families to frequent what was once a major oasis in the city.

NYC managed years ago to turn Bryant Park into a beautiful setting where for fort years it had been a den of addicts and very dangerous. It is now one of the best city parks in the US. It’s possible to turn things around with authority, and good design. I think Rosa Parks is not a bad design, on the contrary. It adds another contrasting element in downtown Detroit. In tha sense, it is valuable and necessary.

**Wesley Mouch** · May-30-25, 11:02 PM

Originally Posted by canuck

...snip...

NYC managed years ago to turn Bryant Park into a beautiful setting where for fort years it had been a den of addicts and very dangerous. It is now one of the best city parks in the US

....snip...

So we know how to do it. But do we have the will?

Mostly, in the last few years since the BLM fraud, the answer is 'no'. We do not have the will. We demonized police as racists, and it made some people feel better. But it did not cleanup one transit center nor park.

We just have to de-prioritize the absurd 'ACAB', and simply enforce good behavior in our public spaces.