Work Begins/Continues Across Midtown

[casscorridor]

Actually, your small town center thought isn't bad. If Detroit needs anything, it's more walkable areas. That's what I loved about growing up in the Lafayette Park area. I wouldn't mind seeing some type of fountain or pond built in a few of the midtown areas.

I don't really see Lafayette Park [[which often times includes Elmwood Park) as very walkable. When it was built, it destroyed one of the oldest and densest neighborhoods in the city at the time. It was built to compete against developments in the suburbs which were all the rage.

I explored the area at night recently and I was more scared than any other neighborhood in the central city. Something about it being suburban in form made it very scary to me. Everything beyond the orgional van der Rohe apartments look run down, like there hasn't been a single update since it was built... weeds growing up from every crack, broken concrete and ugly pre-fab suburban apartments. And its especially scary with all the random dead ends and fences blocking access to pedestrians. It feels like a maze, and and it feels like it'd be easy to get stuck in some dark dingy corner.

Not to mention Lafayette park is the reason why Downtown and Greektown just randomly end. You got a dense vibrant, walkable block and then you randomly run into a freeway and a bunch of suburban apartments.

In short... Lafayette Park = worst neighborhood in central Detroit, in my humble opinion.

[kraig]

I don't really see Lafayette Park [[which often times includes Elmwood Park) as very walkable. When it was built, it destroyed one of the oldest and densest neighborhoods in the city at the time. It was built to compete against developments in the suburbs which were all the rage.

I explored the area at night recently and I was more scared than any other neighborhood in the central city. Something about it being suburban in form made it very scary to me. Everything beyond the orgional van der Rohe apartments look run down, like there hasn't been a single update since it was built... weeds growing up from every crack, broken concrete and ugly pre-fab suburban apartments. And its especially scary with all the random dead ends and fences blocking access to pedestrians. It feels like a maze, and and it feels like it'd be easy to get stuck in some dark dingy corner.

Not to mention Lafayette park is the reason why Downtown and Greektown just randomly end. You got a dense vibrant, walkable block and then you randomly run into a freeway and a bunch of suburban apartments.

In short... Lafayette Park = worst neighborhood in central Detroit, in my humble opinion.

You couldn't be more wrong. First off, you're looking at probably one of the least, if not the least, foreclosed areas in the city. Given the apartments, condos and co-ops there, that's a very good thing. Besides, I'm talking about how the neighborhood used to be. There was a Farmer Jack and Perry Drug Store along with shops, small eateries, the public library, a dentist's office and doctor's office and a police mini-station on Chene & Lafayette.

On Lafayette & Orleans, there was an okay Spartan store, Boxseat Video, Sala Thai, the Paris Cafe and Richard's Drug Store. All of us in that neighborhood grew up walking to the stores, being able to get prescriptions filled, walking to school [[Chrysler & Duffield elementary schools, Whitney Young & Miller middle schools and Martin Luther King Jr. high school), walking to greektown and the Renaissance Center.

Hell, anyone 35 and up from that neighborhood can brag about walking downtown, going to the movies [[Adams, Fox, Madison, Grand Circus, Plaza), shopping at Hudson's, Crowley's, Kresge's, Hughes & Hatcher and Colonial Merchandise. Hanging out at Nikki's Pizza and Yassoo's ice cream and walking down to the ethnic festivals every weekend for 5 months out of the year.

There's still more walking going on in that neighborhood than most other places in the city. The only thing that's slowed it down was the idiot owner of the Lafayette/Orleans Plaza kicking out viable businesses in order to do a BS remodeling job.

Navarre Place, Mies Van de Rohhe, Lafayette Towers, 1300, Hyde Park, Crescent, Town Square, Franklin Wright, Ralphe Bunche, Town Square, Huntington Place, the Old Pavilion, hey, I'll even thow in the King Homes. Worst neighborhood? You must be out of your f***ing mind. That's one of the best neighborhoods in the city. Especially considering that this area is the least demanding as far as resources go.

And with a handle like casscorrider, if you're not afraid of walking your own neighborhood at night, I know you're not afraid to walk down there.