Mystery Project Redux

[x99]

Except this having this attitude is exactly why we're so broke that we're even discussing total fantasy projects to plug the holes. Police and fire are not "investments"--they are expenses--expenses that other towns like Wyoming, in the case of fire, manage to provide for half the cost. Instead of cutting these guys down to size and telling them to make do, we shovel more cash, while watching insane lunacy like highly paid police officers directing traffic outside the Arena and DeVos Place regularly, $800k elevator upgrades and City Hall (and $500k roofs), and firemen being staffed at levels that are way out of whack since fires have declined so significantly over the last few decades. Last week they were standing outside the firehouse washing their pickups. Seriously? Give them more money? Take out loans to move departments in order to sell it for less than the moving costs? Who comes up with this nonsense?

Personally, I have absolutely no problem paying taxes to support the police and fire departments. It's an investment I pray to the good lord I never have to recoup but I sleep easier at night knowing it's there.

[GRDadof3]

Removing the city property off the river and someday getting the post office off the river would really help create a more pleasureable experience along the river. Especially if the rapids come back, it could really become a destination area. I could image GVSU or housing would be a nice infill in that area with some park land along the river. Maybe even a grocery store!!!

That 16 acres actually would be best marketed as a manufacturing site. It'd provide hundreds if not thousands of medium skilled jobs that could be filled by all the people living in poverty in the area surrounding it, and it's well served by transit (unlike all the manufacturing plants out by the airport). How about a plethora of medical manufacturers, R&D, etc.. (Perrigo, Amway anyone?)

[gvsusean]

That 16 acres actually would be best marketed as a manufacturing site. It'd provide hundreds if not thousands of medium skilled jobs that could be filled by all the people living in poverty in the area surrounding it, and it's well served by transit (unlike all the manufacturing plants out by the airport). How about a plethora of medical manufacturers, R&D, etc.. (Perrigo, Amway anyone?)

It's one of the one-in-a-thousand post's of Dads that i dont agree with... Exciting when I see these

[GRDadof3]

It's one of the one-in-a-thousand post's of Dads that i dont agree with... Exciting when I see these

What??

Hear me out. The parcel is pretty far removed from the downtown core. Picture a manufacturing park filled with "advanced manufacturing" facilities, like medical devices, pharmaceuticals, R&D, etc. in a park-like campus setting (think research triangle park but more urban). Walkways along the river. Maybe a small retail center mixed in. It would then CREATE tax revenue that would help save the parks and greenspace and bike lanes and other things in the city that everyone is crying about losing. It would also help the nearly 40% of people in the city living in poverty right now with JOBS, which would give them disposable income for retail and housing in other parts of the city.

16 acres of housing and retail would take 30 years to build out, if ever, and would not create nearly the tax revenue. Another GVSU campus would basically be property tax free (State institution), and students would pay no or very little income tax. It might look cool in 30 years but doesn't make the city more sustainable.

[Allison Slater]

I agree with GRDad. A city cannot live on retail and housing alone. Grand Rapids has been bleeding industry ever since the Great Depression, I'd imagine, and really needs to focus on having some newer, high-tech industry cores somewhere. The location is a good one for it, as long as it's designed right to fit into an urban near-park setting that isn't hostile to pedestrians as industrial areas were in the past.

[Raildudes dad]

I agree with GRDad. A city cannot live on retail and housing alone. Grand Rapids has been bleeding industry ever since the Great Depression, I'd imagine, and really needs to focus on having some newer, high-tech industry cores somewhere. The location is a good one for it, as long as it's designed right to fit into an urban near-park setting that isn't hostile to pedestrians as industrial areas were in the past.

Not true Tony. The GM 36th Street Stamping was built during the depression, the Alpine and Burlingame GM plants were added later. Kelvinator made refrigerators here. There was a whole host of manufacturing and related shops. The 50's and 60's were booming here. It wasn't until jobs started going to Mexico and then China that industry declined in GR.

[GRDadof3]

I agree with GRDad. A city cannot live on retail and housing alone. Grand Rapids has been bleeding industry ever since the Great Depression, I'd imagine, and really needs to focus on having some newer, high-tech industry cores somewhere. The location is a good one for it, as long as it's designed right to fit into an urban near-park setting that isn't hostile to pedestrians as industrial areas were in the past.

There's still about 30 Million square feet of industrial space out by the airport, at almost 90% occupancy. But yes, in the CITY of GR, new industry has been pretty spotty here and there.

[sfloria]

What??

Hear me out. The parcel is pretty far removed from the downtown core.

It used to be, but if you go down there in the evening its getting harder and harder to find a parking space around there. With Grand Woods, Intersection, Founders, GR Ballet, etc, The areas closest to the offramp aren't far from downtown at all. I do agree once you get closer to Wealthy it is getting further removed.

We just need to remember how we've treated the river in the past. If we put manufacturing along there, I hope it leaves a buffer for parks and trails along the river.

[jas49503]

downtown really is extending to wealthy and once the market is built will extend past it. obviously there is some work to do but with the changes over the past 10 years, I have no doubt that 10 years from now it will be completely redeveloped. to put some industrial there would be a mistake. there is plenty of land on the west side of the river and south of wealthy that could be redeveloped into more productive industrial property.

[GRDadof3]

It used to be, but if you go down there in the evening its getting harder and harder to find a parking space around there. With Grand Woods, Intersection, Founders, GR Ballet, etc, The areas closest to the offramp aren't far from downtown at all. I do agree once you get closer to Wealthy it is getting further removed.

We just need to remember how we've treated the river in the past. If we put manufacturing along there, I hope it leaves a buffer for parks and trails along the river.

That could be stipulated in the sale maybe. Most townships now require a certain percentage of greenspace in development projects.

There are plenty of places around downtown that have glaring holes where infill residential development can occur (Monroe North, Press lots, Michigan Street, the West Side, Downtown Market area). To take 16 acres in one part of the Southern edge of downtown and create real jobs doesn't seem like that far-fetched of an idea.