Jane Jacobs Group 2
Tracy Kohn
LIB 310 C
Civic Studio: Group 2
Our group investigated area 2. As we walked around the area we were not sure at first what we could potentially do with the space, but once we had one idea the rest came very easily. The first thing that we noticed that needs to be repaired were the roads. The corner of Cherry and Ellsworth is especially poor. I personally like the old brick look, but mixed with pavement, cracks, and potholes it's very dangerous looking and rough on cars.
We found a police officer patroling our area and he told us the biggest problem in section 2 was bums and panhandlers. We thought that we could possibly create jobs in the ideas we came up with.
We actually had the opportunity to go inside the Custer building for a brief moment before they closed for the night. We thought if this company were to move we could turn this building into apartments or condos. We liked the look of the inside, with the brick walls and staircases and thought that some form of housing may be nice. We weren't sure as to how much of this building Custer was acutally utilizing.
On Ellsworth, across from the Custer building, we noticed that this large building was for lease. We had the idea of turning it into a multi-level restuarant/bar much like the BOB. There is nothing like this in this area and we thought it would draw in a lot of people.
On the corner of Cherry and Finney there is an oil changing or tire place (I believe). We had the idea of turning this area into a family fun center much like a Craig's Cruisers, with activities for the entire family such as laser tag or mini golf. We thought this may be a good idea because as of now downtown isn't a very family friendly area. Bringing in something like this would attract families to downtown Grand Rapids and provide something fun for them to do together.
Our main goal as a group was to try to turn this area into a place where people of all different ages could find something fun to do. There isn't really much to do on this side of town and we thought we could make things that attract people from all over.
I am sure there are things I am forgetting, so hopefully the rest of my group can pick up my slack.
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