Traverse City

[Ka3kab]

Sure it did.

Are you saying that the people in TC are a bunch of NIMBYs?

That people are fighting new things coming to town? Why do they do that? Sometimes I wish I could pack up all the NIMBY's and move them to there own island. That way they could all sit around and be grateful that nothing ever happened and nothing ever changed.

DOWN WITH NIMBY'S!

Oh my god, it's rediculous. Some bonehead will buy a parcel a couple of miles out of town, build a $500,000 house on it and then complain when someone else does the same thing behind them. Or even better, my house sits two blocks from train tracks, which get used about 2 or 3 times a week. There are people that have lived in these houses in my neighborhood for years and complain about the tracks being there and want them moved. Sprawl's going to happen, but it can be controlled and if you really hate it, move to Calumet or Ironwood.

[dtown]

yeah, i mean, how long did they try to fight the parking deck

and that new 8 story building they want to put up, they have been talkin about it since last spring and people still want to have a vote to see if the public money should be used

and they want to preserve the "small town character" but they want to fight against projects in downtown (the focal point of any small town) and dont fight against big box stores and such going up on S. Airport Road

and about that 8 story building, they act like it is such a HUGE building, when thats not really all that tall, even Park Place is 10, and my town only has like 5500 people and its tallest building is 6 stories, in my eyes, seeing as how TC is almost 3 times as big, it should be entitle to at least 8 storys

just my opinion

[dtown]

i just thought id share this interesting tidbit/factoid, whatever you want to call it

the population of Traverse City peaked in 1960, with 18,432 people. The population Of TC has declined by 21% to 14,508 between then and 2004. During that same period, the population of Grand Traverse County increased by 147%

source:http://www.umich.edu/~govrel/media/umtc1_1_06.pdf

[Ka3kab]

i just thought id share this interesting tidbit/factoid, whatever you want to call it

the population of Traverse City peaked in 1960, with 18,432 people. The population Of TC has declined by 21% to 14,508 between then and 2004. During that same period, the population of Grand Traverse County increased by 147%

source:http://www.umich.edu/~govrel/media/umtc1_1_06.pdf

Going back to the State Psychiatric Hospital in the 80's is when you'll see the population fall. There were about 2500 people that "lived" there. When the hospital closed, most of them went somewhere else.

[dtown]

oooh, i didnt know they counted them as part of the population

i bet alot of people probobly moved to Garfield Township and such, too

[Ka3kab]

oooh, i didnt know they counted them as part of the population

i bet alot of people probobly moved to Garfield Township and such, too

Sure, just like prison populations are counted in whatever city, township or county they are in.

Garfield Twp. has just exploded in the past 20 years. In the 2000 census, it finally overtook Traverse City as the largest municipality in the county.

[dtown]

is garfeild a charter township?

[ZachariahDaMan]

Yes it is. http://www.garfield-twp.com/

[dtown]

oh

[RustTown]

Most township surrounding sizeable cities are charter. Actually, that was a huge reason charter townships were created (just 50 or so years ago). It was to keep cities and villages from annexing land. Michigan is very similar to many northeastern states in that its townships almost have as much power as incorporated cities and villages.

[Ka3kab]

It's kind of funny in the case of Traverse City and Garfield Township because the Township is larger than the city now. If the city were to annex the township, Traverse City would double it's population plus 100 or so.

[dtown]

apperently last year TC tried to annex part of Garfield but the township voted against it

hers the link http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/oct/29annex.htm

Edited March 14, 2006 by dtown

[Ka3kab]

apperently last year TC tried to annex part of Garfield but the township voted against it

hers the link http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/oct/29annex.htm

Yes, they did. It was just a small parcel too. They are putting a development in off of a dead end city street, that actually goes into Garfield Twp. And because there was no access exept through the city, the Township wanted to put in a road off of Long Lake Rd. but the city didn't like that, so they proposed annexing the property, but like you said, the Twp. voted that down. So the city agreed to let them build the road.

[dtown]

yea, it was only 95 acres and the city already provides services to that area, too bad they couldnt get that

i like how the Record Eagle pokes fun at garfeild

The city also offered a second version of the plan to annex only the new subdivision and not existing properties.But that still wasn't good enough for Garfield

Edited March 14, 2006 by dtown

[MJLO]

Why do townships have such an aversion to becoming parts of cities? How can a person living in a township feel a sense of community or pride. you know, I've never heard anyone beaming saying, I live in Alpine Charter TWP. It's a great place.

[dtown]

yeah, i dont know...like Flint Charter Township is just like much of Flint in many parts, but i know they would NEVER want to be annexed

i dont get it, i would have no opposition if Davison TWP(where i live) got annexed by Davison

Edited March 16, 2006 by dtown

[Allan]

Michigan has this thing with home rule. Citizens in Michigan have a high amount of local control. I grew up in Grand Blanc Township. There was a proposal to merge the city and township into one, but I haven't heard anything about it lately. There was something on the ballot about it the last time I voted, but I don't remember what exactly it was.

[Ka3kab]

Didn't Flint try to annex Flint Twp. a few years ago, or am I thinking of when they wanted to change the name of the township. I don't remember, forget it.

[dtown]

im not sure, Allan might know.

[Ka3kab]

All right, I remember now. Flint Twp. wanted to distance itself in name from the city so they wanted to change the name to something like Rollings Hills West or some dumb thing like that. Needless to say, nobody liked the name and obviously never happended.

Getting back to the point of this forum, not that I mind talking about other things

Here are some shots I took around town last week. A little foggy, but OK.

This is one of about 4 new buildings not quite downtown and kind of cheap looking.

City Opera House

5/3 Bank and the Hannah, Lay and Co. Building, both from around the 1920's.

I liked the way this one turned out.

This is a remodel of a building from the 30's. It was 5 stories, but in the 60's it caught fire and destroyed the top two floors. It was remodeled again in 2001.

[dtown]

cool pics, i like the fifth third building, its clad in a granite or something, isnt it?

[Ka3kab]

Yeah, on the lower part, the first floor you could say. Nice little building, the first in TC to have an elevator. I'll have to find a way to put some pics from a book I have about the history of TC. Nice shots of these old buildings being constructed. I wonder if there is some copyright issues with that though.

[GRDadof3]

5/3 Bank and the Hannah, Lay and Co. Building, both from around the 1920's.

That section of TC with the clock tower always reminds me of downtown Holland.

[dtown]

i like that clock tower, ive tried to use it before to tell time, but i can never see it from the beach,lol, probobly could if i wore my glasses

also,ka3kab, how is the bus transfer station on Hall Street progressing, any pics?if you got any to post it'd be just swell

Edited March 19, 2006 by dtown

[Ka3kab]

No pics from over there, but I can tell you that there isn't much progress. Just a lot of dirt moved.