Lake St. Clair Needs to Finally Become a True Asset for the Inner Ring Suburbs

[nain rouge]

More public access in the area would be great, but the residents deserve to be able to enjoy the parks that their tax dollars helped pay for and maintain. That would not be possible if 4 million Metro Detroiter's had access to those tiny parks.

All this talk of parks is shifting the tone of the conversation away from my main points. Look at my original post. I believe the word park only appears twice, and one of the times is in reference to Hazel Park. While opening up access to the tiny parks in the Pointes and St. Clair Shores to nonresidents would be beneficial for the region as a whole, it's far from what I'd ideally want. I want the coast opened much more than that.

But on the topic of park access: Hey, maybe you're right. Perhaps every city in Metro Detroit with a couple square miles to its name should block nonresidents from as much access as possible. Hell, cities in the inner ring should put toll booths on the roads along the borders, because people who don't pay taxes in those cities don't deserve to use the roads for free. It's just ridiculous to expect small old Hazel Park, for example, to continue to keep its roads open for all 4 million Metro Detroiters without tolls.

But to be serious, I would like to see our shoreline treated as a regional asset, and that could very well mean spreading out the tax burden more. But that opens up a can of worms - if Grosse Pointers expect us to pay to get in their parks, I'll be expecting them to pony up for the parks and other regional assets in Detroit, too. Fair is fair.

I don't understand what all the consternation is all about. If you want lake access move to St. Clair Shores or one of the Pointes.

It's not ridiculous for me to think that someone living 5 miles away from Lake St. Clair should be able to have some kind of access to the lake without having travel over double that amount of miles. These territorial couple square mile cities are artificial constructs and relics of a bygone era. We have to recognize that we all have a stake in this region's health, and that possessiveness is damaging in the long run. St. Clair Shores and the Pointes aren't exactly what they used to be, and part of that has to do with the deterioration of the cities around them. Making the shoreline a regional asset would improve the standing of living for all the eastern inner ring suburbs, which too often feel soulless and restrictive, and would entice more people to live in them. We could all be proud of Lake St. Clair.

Look, if you want the lake all to yourself, I think you should move farther north. The fact is that St. Clair Shores and the Pointes are part of a large band of suburbs, and are hurting the rest of the band by blocking off the lake. It's simply bad business.

Especially with funding as it stands right now. I do like that you compare a small area of 50k residents or so to a city the size of New York but again you avoid the comparing apples to apples[[try finding water access in some of "Fiefdoms" outside of NYC).

The inner ring suburbs as whole have hundreds of thousands of people. If we worked together, we could afford to open up the shoreline. And I'm not talking about turning the whole thing into a park necessarily. Just make it open, so you can touch the water if you want.

[JBMcB]

It's not ridiculous for me to think that someone living 5 miles away from Lake St. Clair should be able to have some kind of access to the lake without having travel over double that amount of miles.

If lake access is that important to you, moving five miles to St. Clair Shores doesn't seem unreasonable.

If there is that much demand for people from Roseville to hang out on the lake, they can team up with Eastpointe and whomever else, cough up a [[probably sizable) millage, buy a chunk of land and build their own park.

I think you'll find that most people don't care. I don't - I like the lake and all but I'm happy going to the pool. Besides, the grounds pass for the Edsel house is cheap and the views of Lake St. Clair are spectacular there - it's where I'd go if I want to hang out on the lake and don't feel like driving to Metro or Belle Isle.

[p69rrh51]

If lake access is that important to you, moving five miles to St. Clair Shores doesn't seem unreasonable.

If there is that much demand for people from Roseville to hang out on the lake, they can team up with Eastpointe and whomever else, cough up a [[probably sizable) millage, buy a chunk of land and build their own park.

I think you'll find that most people don't care. I don't - I like the lake and all but I'm happy going to the pool. Besides, the grounds pass for the Edsel house is cheap and the views of Lake St. Clair are spectacular there - it's where I'd go if I want to hang out on the lake and don't feel like driving to Metro or Belle Isle.

So right!! But in all this there is hardly any mention especially by nain about the bigger picture the shoreline from the mouth of the river to the bridge or so. There is 8-10 miles of shoreline. Why don't you want improve the access there? The impact to the metro area would be far greater there than anywhere in the city. Also why are you not ranting about all the Oakland Co. lakes and access there? Its a very similar situation to the eastside. Hazel Park is closer to some the lakes but no crying about the lack of access there? Wouldn't access to those lakes improve your theoretical ideal city?

[KJ5]

Legalize fishing on Lakeshore!

[p69rrh51]

Legalize fishing on Lakeshore!

Is the fishing along the shore that good? I only see anglers out at specific points along the GP shoreline but they are all out a bit in the lake.

[mikefmich]

Legalize fishing on Lakeshore!

I used to fish onshore at Moross & Lakeshore on a regular basis. Yeah, we caught them.