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New projects on the West Side


GRDadof3

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The whole Fulton Place site is fenced off now, including the small block of homes that are going to be torn down. 

 

I feel like the construction superintendent at Rockford on this job and the one at New Holland are gearing up for a race?

 

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Ground breaking invitations have been sent out. I can't remember the exact date.

 

Open for school year 2016.

 

You're totally right. That's the goal and "the only way this project was feasible".

 

Also, I was heading home down Bridge Street yesterday and spotted something cool at the new Harmony Hall. The big second floor, garage door style, window, was open and it looks like there will be some nice open air space up there. I'm super excited for that space to open.

 

Should be a busy summer on the Westside.

Edited by thebeerqueer
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Yes, that is an addition to the existing. 

 

I know that it's not currently built. My question is, is it actually going to be built as part of this project, or was it just added to the rendering to make it look prettier than the empty lot that is currently there?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well apparently there's a "new voice" for the gentrified class:

 

http://www.iftheriverswells.com/

 

And of course it was picked up by the media:

 

http://www.wzzm13.com/story/news/local/metro/2015/05/06/growing-pains-in-a-redeveloping-grand-rapids/70909872/

 

I do think it's an interesting discussion. I have to agree with Nola Steketee that usually the type of developments that are happening on the West Side do bring new jobs, the very thing that low income households need. But are they mainly retail/service jobs? The WEst Side has the advantage of having a huge area of employment around the Seward/American Seating Park area. Between American Seating, OST, Spectrum, the Widdicomb building filling up with employers, 560 5th Street, and Rockford's new HQ, there are quite a few high paying jobs that have been added to that area. Not to mention a lot of manufacturing jobs off of Alpine, Richmond and Turner.

 

I know that New Holland Brewing is actively recruiting people from the Bridge/Stocking West Side area to work in their new facility, which will create about 150 jobs (production, management, restaurant servers, bartenders, etc).

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Well apparently there's a "new voice" for the gentrified class:

 

http://www.iftheriverswells.com/

 

Gentrification is essential for these near-DT neighborhoods to ever get out of the 30-40-50 year slump some of them have been in. That's just the honest truth.

 

Much of the west side has looked like a dump for years. I would venture to say that 80% of the homes from Butterworth st. to Ann st. need to be demolished and replaced with apartment buildings seeing how many of them are unkempt rentals anyway.

 

People, like the ones that do that blog, seem just fine with the rundown look of these places, because somehow trashy = accessible for lower income people? Never mind that dingy neighborhoods do nothing for the people there other than reinforce cultural expectations that they are just human trash to go along with a trash area. Then people act surprised when you have generation after generation of failure and poverty?

 

And yes, many new buildings are not going to be section-8 or HUD homes. Sorry, but people with actual incomes need a place in the city too. And with those people you are going to get shops that cater to them, because they are going to want to do things outside of pawn shops, payday loans, fried food, and strip clubs. Sorry but poor people don't have disposable incomes, that's why there isn't much retail activity in these parts of town. And any business there tend to look shady on a sunny day.  

 

Low-income pockets of town need to be broken up, and the people mixed in with other income levels. The mindset of low expectations needs to be dissolved by bringing in people that actually give a crap about the area. If people that oppose development had shown more pride in where they lived, there wouldn't be a need for "outsiders" to come in and fix the place up.

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Since if left Grand Rapids is 2000, the city's neighborhoods have changed dramatically, for the worse.  Areas like Creston went from ok, to nearly awful, and middle class areas just to the north of Knapp have deteriorated as well. The same is true, to some extent, for areas like Indian Village on the SE side and Beckwith Hills on the NE side.

 

It's largely due to the downturn in the economy during the great recession, but people I think have changed as well.  When I was growing up on the NE side, many stayed in city, forgoing suburban districts, sending their kids to Catholic or Christian schools. Today those schools are struggling, and the next generation has decided to send their kids to suburban public schools.  Even during downturns in the economy, like in the early 80's, people didn't forget to take care of their homes and yards. These days people don't care or have the time to take care of their property, or don't even care to meet their own neighbors.  They care more about what's on TV, and what car they drive. There is lack of pride in where they live. People have a responsibility to take care their homes, and their neighbors. Why on earth would we not want to lift any neighborhood up?

 

Like GR_Urbanist said, The mindset of low expectations needs to be dissolved.  I say bring on the gentrification!!!

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Since if left Grand Rapids is 2000, the city's neighborhoods have changed dramatically, for the worse.  Areas like Creston went from ok, to nearly awful, and middle class areas just to the north of Knapp have deteriorated as well. The same is true, to some extent, for areas like Indian Village on the SE side and Beckwith Hills on the NE side.

 

It's largely due to the downturn in the economy during the great recession, but people I think have changed as well.  When I was growing up on the NE side, many stayed in city, forgoing suburban districts, sending their kids to Catholic or Christian schools. Today those schools are struggling, and the next generation has decided to send their kids to suburban public schools.  Even during downturns in the economy, like in the early 80's, people didn't forget to take care of their homes and yards. These days people don't care or have the time to take care of their property, or don't even care to meet their own neighbors.  They care more about what's on TV, and what car they drive. There is lack of pride in where they live. People have a responsibility to take care their homes, and their neighbors. Why on earth would we not want to lift any neighborhood up?

 

Like GR_Urbanist said, The mindset of low expectations needs to be dissolved.  I say bring on the gentrification!!!

 

 

Some areas continue to age and deteriorate, while a lot of others seem to be seeing an uptick in investment (moreso in the last 2 years I've noticed).

 

There is a high level of unemployment and poverty in areas like the West Side. And these neighborhood residents need good access to good jobs. Employment is rather disbursed in this area, and highly concentrated in the burbs. A lot of good companies and employment agencies aren't even on bus lines.

 

But blogs like the one I linked to don't address any of that. The just sow division and resentment, and also paint a picture of things that aren't even true. I've heard several people say that the new Rockford developments on the West Side will actually pull college students out of the rental homes in the area, opening them up to other residents and low income families. 

 

I read a really interesting article that laid out the case that most of the time, gentrification is a "wash." It ends up not being as bad or as good as either side claims. I'll have to find it again. 

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Low-income pockets of town need to be broken up, and the people mixed in with other income levels. The mindset of low expectations needs to be dissolved by bringing in people that actually give a crap about the area. If people that oppose development had shown more pride in where they lived, there wouldn't be a need for "outsiders" to come in and fix the place up.

 

This is the irony for the protestors. The neighborhood is one of those with high concentration of poverty -- the sort of concentration which in other discussions leads to issues of inequality, income and racial. As to "astheriverswells" -- the voice is certainly familiar, even if anonymous. One can hear the same tones in the missives from mediamouse, or from the protests about the townhouses back of ICCF.

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This is the irony for the protestors. The neighborhood is one of those with high concentration of poverty -- the sort of concentration which in other discussions leads to issues of inequality, income and racial. As to "astheriverswells" -- the voice is certainly familiar, even if anonymous. One can hear the same tones in the missives from mediamouse, or from the protests about the townhouses back of ICCF.

 

Yes, I immediately thought of Jeff Smith and GRIID, especially when I read the About page. 

 

The whole East Hills bricks and anarchy thing turned out to be a bunch of white kids squatting in a vacant house in Grandville, and not some groundswell of the African American community as GRIID had everyone believe. 

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Yes, I immediately thought of Jeff Smith and GRIID, especially when I read the About page. 

 

The whole East Hills bricks and anarchy thing turned out to be a bunch of white kids squatting in a vacant house in Grandville, and not some groundswell of the African American community as GRIID had everyone believe. 

Where did that info come from?  I never heard a follow up to the East Hills issue?

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People intimately involved in he Eastown anarchist issue aren't aware of anyone being identified. ???

 

I can see that. No arrests were made and no charges were filed, as far as I know. It'd be public record if there were. Hearsay circumstantial. 

 

Are you saying you were intimately involved civitas and you hadn't heard anything? 

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