  French777 Member Username: French777 Post Number: 616 Registered: 10-2006 |
Downtown has Campus Martius, Corktown has Roosevelt Park and Lafayette Park has The Plaissance, What is Midtown's Park?? | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 3946 Registered: 09-2007 |
It's funny how everyone forgets about Cass Park. | ||
Apbest Member Username: Apbest Post Number: 687 Registered: 03-2006 |
Peck Park | ||
Ddaydave Member Username: Ddaydave Post Number: 601 Registered: 04-2005 |
I always pass a small park on northwest corner of 2nd and selden. Its a haven for the homeless (Message edited by ddaydave on November 19, 2008) | ||
Jasoncw Member Username: Jasoncw Post Number: 565 Registered: 07-2005 |
There are a handful of parks in midtown, and there's a few more right outside it. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 5484 Registered: 02-2005 |
Cass Park could be a great future focal point. Midtown makes up for lack of formal park space with great public spaces in front of the DIA and DPL, and Wayne State. | ||
Hans57 Member Username: Hans57 Post Number: 359 Registered: 05-2006 |
The parking lot bordered by Forest, Second, and Cass would be a perfect park. Wayne State has ample parking with the new structure on Forest. | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 6429 Registered: 10-2003 |
I suspect people forget Cass Park because before the Fisher, the district was very much a part of downtown. I'd always wished the area that is now Midtown would have had a Central Park-type park. | ||
Hudkina Member Username: Hudkina Post Number: 325 Registered: 12-2004 |
What about Tolan Playfield? I know it's kind of on the edge of midtown, but it is a rather large park and has great views of the skyline. It's no central park, but it is about the size of a city block. | ||
Greatlakes Member Username: Greatlakes Post Number: 273 Registered: 07-2007 |
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Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 3729 Registered: 07-2004 |
What is Midtown's Park?? Parker Market?  | ||
J_to_the_jeremy Member Username: J_to_the_jeremy Post Number: 137 Registered: 03-2007 |
Cass Park could be a really awesome place with some more development around it and some scrubbing. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 3734 Registered: 07-2004 |
Greatlakes: Where is that image from? | ||
Greatlakes Member Username: Greatlakes Post Number: 274 Registered: 07-2007 |
It's from the "Unbuilt Detroit" feature that was in the old Detroit Free Press Magazine, October 27, 1991. The "Central Park" is from an idea in the late 70s when Minoru Yamasaki (architect of NYC's World Trade Center and Detroit's One Woodward Avenue) and others envisioned a section of Woodward in Midtown closed to automobile traffic. Midtown would have been connected back to downtown Detroit by a short park covering over I-75. Schervish Vogel Merz also proposed creating traffic circles to provide visual anchors along the Woodward Corridor. Though the "Unbuilt Detroit" authors are unsympathetic to the idea, such a park would have artificially limited space in Midtown (as opposed to the natural river boundaries of Manhattan), and that may have lead to higher density demand in the areas bordering the park as seen with the real Central Park. (Message edited by GreatLakes on November 21, 2008) | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 3744 Registered: 07-2004 |
I'm not a big fan of the idea either, but it's very interesting to know there's a collection of some of the fanciful plans that've been drawn up over the years. Thanks, GL. | ||
Motorcitydave Member Username: Motorcitydave Post Number: 154 Registered: 11-2004 |
I would still love to see I-75 covered with a park, from Brush St. to Grand River, or 3rd. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 3745 Registered: 07-2004 |
I would like to see I-75 filled in -- so we can run a subway under Woodward. | ||
Motorcitydave Member Username: Motorcitydave Post Number: 155 Registered: 11-2004 |
As for a midtown park.... maybe they could tear down University Towers, build more apartments on surrounding surface lots (like right across the street for example) to replace that student housing (and make it a little less Southfield-ish looking...lol)... and turn that property into a park! (Message edited by motorcitydave on November 21, 2008) | ||
Motorcitydave Member Username: Motorcitydave Post Number: 156 Registered: 11-2004 |
...haha... actually Detroitnerd, IF we were to go to a subway mass transit, then I would still like to see streetcars along woodward through downtown and midtown, and THEN have it turn into subway north of the Blvd. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 3746 Registered: 07-2004 |
What's funny is that property used to be a park of sorts. It was a track, because it was behind an athletic club that fronted on Woodward. Then it became the Vernor's factory. (Detroit has a long history of using park-oriented greenfields as sites for industrial development.) Then, after the company that bought the brand shuttered the plant, Wayne State University -- not an institution typified by forward-thinking new urbanism -- built a high-density residential tower surrounded by a huge asphalt parking lot fronting on Woodward. It would be nice to see some of that land reclaimed for a park, but it would probably have to have a historic Detroit structure on it for WSU to consider using it for "green space."  | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 3747 Registered: 07-2004 |
MCD: Now THAT is interesting, since it's usually done the other way, using above-ground transportation where it's LESS dense, then having it go underground where it's DENSER. Like how Boston's and Philly's trams go underground near the city center. At this point, I'd be willing to accept streetcars, though. It's nice to dream about a subway, though, and I sometimes wonder if the cut through downtown was ever intended to block a Woodward subway. (You know, "Hehehe, now they'll NEVER be able to run anything under Woodward!") | ||
Detroit313 Member Username: Detroit313 Post Number: 762 Registered: 02-2006 |
Detroit Nerd- Detroit could still have a subway under Woodward! Subway systems typically run between 25 to 210 feet below street level. Portland has the deepest subway in the world. <313> | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 3755 Registered: 07-2004 |
Yes, Detroit313. However, one of the major arguments again public transportation, especially subways, is the cost. The deeper you go, the more it costs. And, the deeper the tube, the more elevators, escalators, etc. you have to have. Just because you CAN doesn't mean it's best. |
