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Green Master Plan for Grand Rapids

GRDadof3

By GRDadof3
in Grand Rapids

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  • 1 month later...
joeyGR Crossroads

joeyGR

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just moving here from minneapolis, the green space sucks. the grand river is under sold. young proffesionals want green awsome places. every time i go downtown i cant help think the parks suck. Improving the parks should be a top priority.

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fotoman311 Burg

fotoman311

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just moving here from minneapolis, the green space sucks. the grand river is under sold. young proffesionals want green awsome places. every time i go downtown i cant help think the parks suck. Improving the parks should be a top priority.
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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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just moving here from minneapolis, the green space sucks. the grand river is under sold. young proffesionals want green awsome places. every time i go downtown i cant help think the parks suck. Improving the parks should be a top priority.
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joeyGR Crossroads

joeyGR

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Which parks specifically suck? I think 6th Street and Canal Street Parks are pretty nice. Ah-Nab-Awan is pretty nice, but does need some TLC in a bad way. I do agree with fotoman that Veterans Park and Heartside Park are both homeless magnets.
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Allison Slater Town

Allison Slater

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For one, railings lean into the river on occasion along the riverwalk because of the ice on the river in winter. It does damaging things. They are usually repaired each spring. The only railing I can remember leaning in this spring was near Bridgewater.

Mini-amphitheatres are certainly not needed. There's already one at the end of Louis and I've NEVER seen it used.

The park in North Monroe is perfect, imho. There's some benches and tables, a walk along the river, some informational kiosks which I've seen groups of schoolchildren around, at least one covered gazebo of sorts, and a little playground construct. It doesn't need anything more, it serves the residents of North Monroe and Downtown very well as a space to relax or for children to play. If we add every amenity one could think of to a park, we'll just have a combobulation of unneeded infrastructure to sit around and fall apart or end up turning it into an amusement park. North Monroe is more of a residential district, not business. It serves its function well and is an excellent 'front yard' for the buildings on Monroe.

Edit: Also, sometimes greenspace is all a park needs to be, nothing more. See Crescent Park. That's just grass, trees, and a few benches. It's a popular yet never crowded park and is perfect just how it is.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Veloise City

Veloise

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This arrived today from the MichBike mailing list.

Green Grand Rapids invites the public to Green Gathering: Ideas

Mark your calendar for June 25 to help create city policies on issues that affect the quality of life for us now, and for generations to come

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.

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joeyGR Crossroads

joeyGR

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For one, railings lean into the river on occasion along the riverwalk because of the ice on the river in winter. It does damaging things. They are usually repaired each spring. The only railing I can remember leaning in this spring was near Bridgewater.

Mini-amphitheatres are certainly not needed. There's already one at the end of Louis and I've NEVER seen it used.

The park in North Monroe is perfect, imho. There's some benches and tables, a walk along the river, some informational kiosks which I've seen groups of schoolchildren around, at least one covered gazebo of sorts, and a little playground construct. It doesn't need anything more, it serves the residents of North Monroe and Downtown very well as a space to relax or for children to play. If we add every amenity one could think of to a park, we'll just have a combobulation of unneeded infrastructure to sit around and fall apart or end up turning it into an amusement park. North Monroe is more of a residential district, not business. It serves its function well and is an excellent 'front yard' for the buildings on Monroe.

Edit: Also, sometimes greenspace is all a park needs to be, nothing more. See Crescent Park. That's just grass, trees, and a few benches. It's a popular yet never crowded park and is perfect just how it is.

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joeyGR Crossroads

joeyGR

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the disscussion is to think of ways to improve the situation not defend the current conditions. from what mayor heartwell and the DDA have mentioned, the river is a big part of this green game think tank. that being said the status quo (river green space) is not up to par. Or is this just a big waste of time, unless you enjoyed playing the game of course. were looking to upgrade not find exscuses to ramain the same. Dont get me wrong I'm a opptamist, I cant stand complainers. But were being asked to find things wrong, and there is plenty of them.

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Allison Slater Town

Allison Slater

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Has anybody ever investigated the feasability of a floating riverwalk? Holland's window on the lake (more like marsh) has a walkway which goes out over the water and actually floats. It is held in place by a system of circular supports surrounding rods sticking up out of the ground. So when water rises, the walkway has freedom to rise with the water, but the rods keep it from floating away.

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  • 3 months later...
Veloise City

Veloise

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How many UP members attended this forum last night as I did? I hadn't met for the first one in June, but I don't think it really mattered. On the whole, I think Suzanne's doing a great job leading this effort. The only complaint I would have is regarding the use of time; in the 2 hours allotted for this gathering, I would say the breakout groups had less than a half hour to actually discuss the issues and help set priorites.

I sat in on the Grand River discussions, specifically about improving access and the potential kayak/whitewater run. I'm here to say that was by far the most talked about aspect! As long as there's room to maintain good fishing by keeping some or most of the 6th St dam, it seems this could be a win-win.

Anyone else care to comment on the other breakout sessions?

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