Restoration of Pontch

[ScheuerJD]

How about we attract tourists by becoming a functioning city. You know the kind with good stores that people will actually come to shop at, more affordable and luxury housing, lower crime rates and good schools. People will definitely want to come to Detroit, and they'll love it so much, they'll become permanent residents.

Sorry, but the last thing I want at this moment is a clusterf**k skyline of rollercoasters, gondolas, ferris wheels, and recreations that will make Detroit looks like a circus, while our downtown remains devoid of pedestrians. It won't work. I'm not saying we can have that all in the future, I just don't think we deserve it at this time. I'd rather see private and public investment toward enhancing the downtown with more shopping, hotels, apartments, and beautification that would build more momentum for development.

Take it from somone who has lived in Saginaw where city leaders thought building waterparks, zoos, and arenas would fix all of the city's problems. Granted, they are nice to have, but we are still losing population and our downtown still has boarded up buildings.

That's because they were all run by the city of Saginaw, which was for the most part, fill of complete idiots that didn't know their head from their ass. Once the zoo and arena were freed from the stupidity from city hall they have both become major assets to the city.

In order to fix downtown, you need to give people a reason to go there, things like the Children's Zoo and the Dow give people a reason.

[Jasoncw]

One of the things visitors like about Detroit is that it isn't all touristy, and full of gimmicks to get you to spend money.

I think developing the entertainment stuff would draw tourists, and it would be useful for residents. People will make a weekend out of going to the big city to watch a play or a musical, or thier favorite band. developing that kind of stuff would also make detroit a cooler city, so when people are thinking of places to go they don't think "pft, why would we go to Detroit?". But Detroit also needs to have the things wolverine said in order for that stuff to happen.

I think restoring the fort would be cool, but I don't know where it would go. Where it once was is now downtown. It would need to be really cool though, like fort mackinaw (or whatever it's called, the one under the bridge). When I was in toronto, they had a fort, and it was 3 or 4 small reconstructed buildings next to a highway. I didn't go there but I could tell that it was lame.

[hudkina]

Why would we want to recreate Fort Pontchartrain when we have Fort Wayne that sits rotting on the West riverfront? Maybe the Detroit Historical Society should hand it over to the Henry Ford and have them turn it into a quasi-extension of Greenfield Village. Maybe they can make it a profitable tourist attraction. And hopefully a fully restored Fort Wayne will breathe new life into the surrounding neighborhood.

[RustTown]

I think we're talking more centralized attractions as opposed to scattering them all over the city, especially in a city with limited mass transit. Fort Wayne does need some TLC, but it's quite a ways removed from downtown.

[hudkina]

It's not that far. It's just as far away from downtown as Belle Isle is.

[Jasoncw]

Why would we want to recreate Fort Pontchartrain when we have Fort Wayne that sits rotting on the West riverfront? Maybe the Detroit Historical Society should hand it over to the Henry Ford and have them turn it into a quasi-extension of Greenfield Village. Maybe they can make it a profitable tourist attraction. And hopefully a fully restored Fort Wayne will breathe new life into the surrounding neighborhood.

oh yeah, I forgot about that, lol.

[wolverine]

I don't know, as much as I love going past Fort Wayne, it's still not accessible as Belle Isle. Most people are going to call the drive to FW shady. I took some out of state friends by there who said "Wow, this should be restored, too bad it's not closer to the city." If FW isn't going to be saved, and is just going to fall into further disrepair, it would be nice to see many of the structures relocated to some area nearby the CBD creating a sort of waterfront park. It is possible to do this, and I'm sure a good number of grants can be obtained to finance such a task.

But yeah, as Jason reinforced my point, what makes Detroit great is it isn't overly touristy. The city can capitalize on small venues that will help open more bars and restaurants. This will create stable foot traffic which help expand Detroit's retail sector which needs a lot of growth and improvement.

[hudkina]

The reason it seems "inaccessible" is that Jefferson is cut off from downtown between 12th St. and Clark St. If the city is able to turn the immediate western waterfront into parks and residential with a fully connected Jefferson Ave, then it won't seem so inaccessible. Hell, most of the land along the river between the Riverfront Apartments and W. Grand Blvd is already ready for redevelopment. The only major obstruction is the old Free Press facility at Rosa Parks Blvd. Between Junction and Grand Blvd. is another story, though. The riverfront along that stretch has quite a few old industrial buildings.

[Allan]

West Jefferson will likely never be fully connected again. Since 9/11, there is a security risk with the Ambassador Bridge right there. Manny Moroun is quickly buying up all the remaining properties near the bridge, along the riverfront, etc. I think most people would be shocked to know how much he really owns...he's got dozens and dozens of additional businesses all over southwest Detroit.

The areas around Fort Wayne will be getting additional attention in the years to come, as the new bridge to Canada will definitely be built in the area. In fact, the most favored plan by both sides puts Fort Wayne right next to the new bridge, which will be rising on the vacant land to the east of the fort. There would be an interchange at I-75 & Livernois, and a new road would run south between Livernois and Dragoon, before veering to the east, where there will be the toll plaza. This effectively wipes out a good portion of the east half of Delrey.

[BarGal]

This effectively wipes out a good portion of the east half of Delrey.

The last time I drove through Delray, it was pretty much wiped out already.

As a kid I used to think that Delray was so big, it seemed to take forever to walk to the Dairy Queen, to Fox Hardware or to Great Scots...Now I see it was actually a pretty small community.

Well, it's even smaller now than it was back then.

[BarGal]

The reason it seems "inaccessible" is that Jefferson is cut off from downtown between 12th St. and Clark St.

That stretch of road used to be horrible! It was nothing more than an alley and it had pot holes galore.

We used to take it about 28 years ago to get to Cobo to park when we worked in the Ren Cen. West Jefferson was the quickest way to get from Delray to Downtown and even back then it didn' t have much traffic.

I think we're talking more centralized attractions as opposed to scattering them all over the city, especially in a city with limited mass transit. Fort Wayne does need some TLC, but it's quite a ways removed from downtown.

Not really, Fort Wayne is as close as the Art Institute and the Historical museum...it may even be closer than Belle Isle.

[RustTown]

BarGal, I'm talking in terms of accessibility. It's feels much more removed than any of those other attractions.

[BarGal]

BarGal, I'm talking in terms of accessibility. It's feels much more removed than any of those other attractions.

I agree there is no direct route back and forth from Fort Wayne to Downtown like there used to be. But I think it's a minor inconvenience that can be worked around with signage to just get the word out there that this place still exists.

[BarGal]

Not to hijack this thread again, but I stumbled upon this photo set of Fort Wayne on Flickr by Maia C. Click here to view.

And it made me think back to this discussion thread.

She's got some nice shots and brief explanations with some history of the fort.

There are also a couple of shots of the Detroit Downtown Riverfront taken from Fort Wayne.

It looks pretty accessible...perhaps by gondola

[hudkina]

Great find, BarGal!

This screams Greenfield Village. I think it would be in the best interest of Detroit to hand it over to The Henry Ford (assuming they'd fully restore it) and have it be an extension of the museum complex similar to the Ford Rouge tours. The difference being that tourists could either travel to the fort itself or they could start out at the Henry Ford and take a bus over to the fort. It's basically an eight mile, 15 minute straight shot along Oakwood Blvd/Fort St.