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Downtown Grand Rapids 9/2/2006


daniboi81

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I recently purchased a new Sony DSC-H5 camera (7.2 Megapixels) and decided to give it a whirl.

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The "almost completed" renovations of the Civic Theatre.

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And lastly, I leave you with a night pic I took March 2005. This is one of my favorites. I hope to get a new night skyline pic as soon as a few new buildings "pop" up.

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Nice pictures, but.....

I've noticed with a lot of people the sky is washed out in your pictures. I don't know if its an automatic setting or what, but if you took these pictures the last 2 days, the sky has been a beautiful blue. Just a thought...

I loved scrolling past this picture of yours. Its sort of an optical illusion scroll up and down the picture, I think I'm gonna go throw up now.(my problem, not the photographers)

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My one complaint with downtown GR is well illustrated in your shots (unfortunately).

I count 6 people. Total. In all those pictures. Even if I include the objects that might be people, my count only goes to 10.

I love our city, I choose to live here, but I sure wish people would actually GO DOWNTOWN after 6pm to somewhere other than the 200 yards that is the Ionia bar district.

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My one complaint with downtown GR is well illustrated in your shots (unfortunately).

I count 6 people. Total. In all those pictures. Even if I include the objects that might be people, my count only goes to 10.

I love our city, I choose to live here, but I sure wish people would actually GO DOWNTOWN after 6pm to somewhere other than the 200 yards that is the Ionia bar district.

I hope this will be rectified soon. Right now (JMHO) it seems there isn't much to do outside of the Ionia strip, and a few other spots along Monroe/Monroe centre, and Ottawa Ave after 6 PM. theres a few places to eat, and hardly any shopping. DT is getting there, I think the next big redev. is along Division especially between M.Ctr and Lyon IF Azzar can sell the Keeler, you would really see it take off.

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My one complaint with downtown GR is well illustrated in your shots (unfortunately).

I count 6 people. Total. In all those pictures. Even if I include the objects that might be people, my count only goes to 10.

I love our city, I choose to live here, but I sure wish people would actually GO DOWNTOWN after 6pm to somewhere other than the 200 yards that is the Ionia bar district.

So, let's see, it was 7:29 PM when you posted. Where were you at the time? :D

I think a lot of cities our size would kill for our pedestrian traffic. Downtown will only get busier when and if there are more people living downtown, and this has been documented in study after study. You can't rely on visitors to make a vibrant downtown, at least not in a city our size. You have to have healthy mix of workers, residents, students, visitors, etc. to make it work over a sustainable period of time.

It looks like a lot of these were taken at sunset, which is right around 8:00. About the time between the Dinner crowd and the bar crowd.

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So, let's see, it was 7:29 PM when you posted. Where were you at the time? :D

I think a lot of cities our size would kill for our pedestrian traffic. Downtown will only get busier when and if there are more people living downtown, and this has been documented in study after study. You can't rely on visitors to make a vibrant downtown, at least not in a city our size. You have to have healthy mix of workers, residents, students, visitors, etc. to make it work over a sustainable period of time.

It looks like a lot of these were taken at sunset, which is right around 8:00. About the time between the Dinner crowd and the bar crowd.

Speaking of residents, with all the condos going in, I can't wait to see what effects it will have on DT. My only consern is that most of these condos are being aimed at young people wanting a hip urban life style. That's great. But what happens when said people merry and have kids? It's off to the subdivisions of the 'burbs they go to rise the little tykes. I would like to see somthing aimed at families go into DT along with what's going in now. But I suppose that would entail a good working school system, somthing GR proper is having a hard time maintaining.

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Speaking of residents, with all the condos going in, I can't wait to see what effects it will have on DT. My only consern is that most of these condos are being aimed at young people wanting a hip urban life style. That's great. But what happens when said people merry and have kids? It's off to the subdivisions of the 'burbs they go to rise the little tykes. I would like to see somthing aimed at families go into DT along with what's going in now. But I suppose that would entail a good working school system, somthing GR proper is having a hard time maintaining.

River House, and Tall House are not aimed at this demographic.

If anything they are aiming for Young Professional looking to start a family. How else can you explain some of the large condos that are going in these things? some are two+ bedrooms, and 1800 sq ft. Thats definately the size of a medium home in the burbs.

now Union Square, and Hillmount yeah, they are more for young professionals, who are likely single, but they also account for about half the total condos being built.

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Speaking of residents, with all the condos going in, I can't wait to see what effects it will have on DT. My only consern is that most of these condos are being aimed at young people wanting a hip urban life style. That's great. But what happens when said people merry and have kids? It's off to the subdivisions of the 'burbs they go to rise the little tykes. I would like to see somthing aimed at families go into DT along with what's going in now. But I suppose that would entail a good working school system, somthing GR proper is having a hard time maintaining.

All those condos, regardless of whether it's families or yuppies that fill them, can only help downtown.

Look to my lament about no pedestrian traffic at 7:30pm (posted above). At 7:30pm I have to be at home tending to the little tyke. Sure, once a week my wife and I get a baby sitter and go out (usually downtown as that is our preference for a night out....vastly more entertaining than Johnny O'Chilibee's Roadhouse) but consistent pedestrian traffic means people that don't have families to tend to, or people whose kids are old enough to be out, downtown, at 8 or 9 at night.

I'd say yuppies without kids are the key to a residential rebound and I'm glad to see the condos that are going into downtown priced accordingly (River House and Tall House obviously being of a different nature).

As for River House and Tall House, I'm thinking they're probably targetting empty nesters (who might have 3,000+ sq. ft. that they no longer need now that the kids are gone).

You'll never stop families from moving out of downtown. Even vibrant cities like Chicago and New York have a relatively low density of families with school-aged children in the central city. In NYC, you have to go to the Upper East/West or even out ot the other borroughs to find a concentration of families so GR is not alone in that regard (if you view our neighborhoods as borroughs, especiallY).

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You'll never stop families from moving out of downtown. Even vibrant cities like Chicago and New York have a relatively low density of families with school-aged children in the central city. In NYC, you have to go to the Upper East/West or even out ot the other borroughs to find a concentration of families so GR is not alone in that regard (if you view our neighborhoods as borroughs, especiallY).

I can agree with that, Downtown itself will probably never grow a great deal, because its mostly commerce downtown, residential is more reserved for the areas just outside of Downtown like Monroe North, the West Site, and Heartside.

I think the real challenge is more how do we keep families in the neighborhoods like Alger Heights, and Garfield Park? not so much how can we lure them to Riverhouse and Tall House.

(yes I'm going agaisnst what I said earlier.)

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All those condos, regardless of whether it's families or yuppies that fill them, can only help downtown.

Look to my lament about no pedestrian traffic at 7:30pm (posted above). At 7:30pm I have to be at home tending to the little tyke. Sure, once a week my wife and I get a baby sitter and go out (usually downtown as that is our preference for a night out....vastly more entertaining than Johnny O'Chilibee's Roadhouse) but consistent pedestrian traffic means people that don't have families to tend to, or people whose kids are old enough to be out, downtown, at 8 or 9 at night.

I'd say yuppies without kids are the key to a residential rebound and I'm glad to see the condos that are going into downtown priced accordingly (River House and Tall House obviously being of a different nature).

As for River House and Tall House, I'm thinking they're probably targetting empty nesters (who might have 3,000+ sq. ft. that they no longer need now that the kids are gone).

You'll never stop families from moving out of downtown. Even vibrant cities like Chicago and New York have a relatively low density of families with school-aged children in the central city. In NYC, you have to go to the Upper East/West or even out ot the other borroughs to find a concentration of families so GR is not alone in that regard (if you view our neighborhoods as borroughs, especiallY).

Would having a working school system help attract new families into the city proper and retain existing ones? I read another thread here about middle and upper class families' preferences of living in the 'burbs instead of the inner city and many of the posts point out the school systems.

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I plan to get some more shots from that view point overlooking I-196. The problem is that once these buildings are complete, I have to wait until the trees have lost their leafs (typically late fall/early spring). I tried getting shots during summer and the bushes and trees obscured most of the view :cry:

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I plan to get some more shots from that view point overlooking I-196. The problem is that once these buildings are complete, I have to wait until the trees have lost their leafs (typically late fall/early spring). I tried getting shots during summer and the bushes and trees obscured most of the view :cry:

Not if you jump the fence. :whistling:

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