The Grand River?! You mean GR has a River?

[scottythe1nonly]

16 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

Grand Rapids Whitewater hires CEO to run the restoration project:

http://fox17online.com/2017/07/20/grand-rapids-whitewater-hires-ceo-has-led-river-project-in-georgia/

 

 

 

this is great news.  one more step forward!!!

[GRDadof3]

Lyons Edge Park ladies and gentlemen. How is this "substantially" better than what is there now? 

[GRLaker]

18 minutes ago, GRDadof3 said:

Lyons Edge Park ladies and gentlemen. How is this "substantially" better than what is there now? 

Zig zags make everything better. 

[wingbert]

22 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

Lyons Edge Park ladies and gentlemen. How is this "substantially" better than what is there now? 

[GVSUChris]

22 hours ago, GRLaker said:

Zig zags make everything better. 

Yeah, this is kind of ridiculous when you consider the cost vs. improvement. All they've really done is make the dock at water level into a zig-zag and then approach to it a ramp instead of those stairs...but honestly this doesn't jump out to me as any more "interactive" or "accessible" to/with the water than it already is...to borrow their language throughout this process. 

[arcturus]

The current level of the Grand River is a little over 3 feet.  The record crest in 2013 was nearly 22 feet.

How can you build any structure on it that isn't designed for retention yet has permanence and function?  Don't forget ice.

http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=grr&gage=GDRM4

 

[wingbert]

Did they look at every other mid to large size city that straddles a river, see what they've done to successfully rejuvenate their riverfront space and then say, "a zig zag walkway is the best solution!"?  It's not like this is uncharted territory.  There have to be tons of lessons out there on what has worked and what hasn't.

[GRDadof3]

7 hours ago, wingbert said:

Did they look at every other mid to large size city that straddles a river, see what they've done to successfully rejuvenate their riverfront space and then say, "a zig zag walkway is the best solution!"?  It's not like this is uncharted territory.  There have to be tons of lessons out there on what has worked and what hasn't.

Even the zig zag 3d perspective is off. It looks like it tilts toward the river in that one portion, dumping pedestrians right into the drink. 

Good thing a high priced national firm was brought in to work on this. 

[gvsusean]

quite uninspiring..... could've been a place, now its another section of boardwalk. With the other section that has the chain link fencing, I cant help but think this was a wasted opportunity. Draws nobody to the river.

[GRDadof3]

Anyone know who the mysterious "Unit 7" owner is and how that unit ended up with river frontage at Plaza Towers? City's filing an eminent domain lawsuit because negotiations have stalled to purchase the property.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2017/09/grand_rapids_to_use_eminent_do.html

[joeDowntown]

My brain immediately thought they must look something like this.

 

[joeDowntown]

An update on restoring the rapids. $16M of $40M raised so far. They hope to finalize plans in 2018 and start construction in 2019. 

Anyone know if they plan on a big push for public donations (us little folk)? 

http://www.grbj.com/articles/89070-river-project-inches-toward-goal

Joe

[scottythe1nonly]

On 9/27/2017 at 8:13 AM, GRDadof3 said:

Anyone know who the mysterious "Unit 7" owner is and how that unit ended up with river frontage at Plaza Towers? City's filing an eminent domain lawsuit because negotiations have stalled to purchase the property.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2017/09/grand_rapids_to_use_eminent_do.html

I think "unit 7" is the Condo Owners association

[GRDadof3]

1 hour ago, scottythe1nonly said:

I think "unit 7" is the Condo Owners association

Yes, I found that out later. And they're entangled in a big lawsuit with the city from the big flood, and the floodwall that is part of the lower levels of the parking ramp that was breached with water. 

[walker]

In the context of the rapids restoration project, a few days ago Mlive published this very good article about the history of the rapids:

grand river rapids

I am a little surprised no one posted it already (maybe they did somewhere else and I missed it.) 

One interesting thing is that there is a photo of an almost dry Grand River before the dams were built.  The story says that so much water was diverted for power plants that in the summer there wasn't much water flowing in the river until retention dams were built.  I wonder if this would be a problem again if all the dams were removed.

An Mlive commenter  on the article actually had something useful to add and that was this link to an old magazine article about the great log jam of 1883:

 STORY OF ONE OF THE MOST TERRIFIC BATTLES IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY

You may recognize the railroad bridge behind the old Baker Furniture factory on Ann Street where the jam broke through.  The current iron bridge looks like an identical replacement.

[Allison Slater]

I don't see how that would become a problem again because the canals that diverted water away from the river to be used for those factories no longer exist -- they've been filled in.

[GRDadof3]

http://fox17online.com/2018/03/09/454430/

Grand Rapids whitewater restoration moves forward with city, county, MSU land partnership

 

 

[WMrapids]

17 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

http://fox17online.com/2018/03/09/454430/

Grand Rapids whitewater restoration moves forward with city, county, MSU land partnership

 

 

The skate park actually surprised me

[Allison Slater]

Same. And under the highway feels so perfect for a skate park, too. I don't even skate and I'm pretty excited about that.

The whole thing looks pretty excellent.

[HomePortSupplyCo]

31 minutes ago, tSlater said:

Same. And under the highway feels so perfect for a skate park, too. I don't even skate and I'm pretty excited about that.

The whole thing looks pretty excellent.

Agreed.  Some of that neon colored down lighting under the freeway to light the skate park at night would be perfect.

[GR_Urbanist]

Now all they have to do is to do something about that power substation . It's pretty weird to have that sticking out between a park and the event pavilion.  Why is this even there?

 

At least try to shield it.

 

Edited March 13, 2018 by GR_Urbanist

[mpchicago]

10 minutes ago, GR_Urbanist said:

Now all they have to do is to do something about that power substation . It's pretty weird to have that sticking out between a park the event pavilion.  Why is this even there?

 

At least try to shield it.

 

1

If I'm not mistaken, at one time, there were plans to remove it.   It's amazing what we put on the river in the 20th century, parking lots and substations.  It really does need to go....WOS!

[Hoeks]

2 hours ago, tSlater said:

Same. And under the highway feels so perfect for a skate park, too. I don't even skate and I'm pretty excited about that.

The whole thing looks pretty excellent.

Agreed!   Boston has a great skate park under a freeway.   When I was there last, it was very busy.  

[discgrab21]

 

1 hour ago, Hoeks said:

Agreed!   Boston has a great skate park under a freeway.   When I was there last, it was very busy.  

Burside skate park in Portland is the most prominent example I know of.

[thebeerqueer]

3 hours ago, discgrab21 said:

 

Burside skate park in Portland is the most prominent example I know of.

Burnside is a super grity DIY park that has been there for decades. The neighborhood surrounding the park has really developed and is putting pressure on the city to curb some of the wildness and rawness of Burnside. Its interesting to watch that situation unfold. 

 

Shred the gnar!