Transit site bids invite designs (Suburban Detroit)

[LMich]

Troy's at it again, a sprawlburb with it's own "big city" aspirations of becoming the new Detroit. And, not one mention of creating this in any context of region-wide mass transit. There places actually believe they exist within a vacuum, don't they? This wouldn't even be a problem if this was coordinated within a regional context. It's as if Detroit doesn't even exist to them.

Transit site bids invite designs

Troy officials Friday begin taking proposals for multimillion-dollar regional rail center.

November 08, 2006

Robert Snell / The Detroit News

TROY -- City officials will open bids Friday from design firms vying to replace a primitive train station with a multimillion-dollar regional transportation center.

The proposed Troy/Birmingham Regional Transit Center would provide passengers centralized access to bus, taxi and limousine services, which could help connect them to northern suburbs.

The bid opening will come three months after the communities received $350,000 in funding from the Michigan Department of Transportation to design and plan the facility, which is eyed for a 3-acre parcel in Troy's Midtown Square property near Coolidge and Maple.

"The next phase depends on what we build," said Brian Murphy, Troy's assistant city manager of services.

An early proposal called for relocating the Birmingham station to Troy and building a $4 million, 28,000-square-foot facilityon the Grand Trunk rail line. It could serve as a hub for SMART, the regional bus system.

Both communities have talked for six years about developing a center, which must be operating at the site by 2010 or the land will revert to developer Grand Sakwa Properties Inc., which donated it to Troy.

Birmingham retiree Dorothy Conrad would welcome a proper train station linking the cities to Detroit destinations and beyond.

"I grew up in this area and I could get on a bus and train and go almost everywhere. I can't do that anymore," she said.

Despite a primitive shelter alongside the tracks, rail ridership at the Birmingham station rose 15 percent last year, to 18,536 people.

You can reach Robert Snell at (313) 222-2028 or rsnell@detnews.com.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061108/METRO/611080397/1003

[Michi]

This is so annoying. I have to share a short story...

Though I applaud the effor, I was out in Birmingham last weekend at the Reserve. It is a very nice banquet hall adjacent to the Eaton Street Mixed Use/New Urbanism Development...the same location that the station is at on the Troy border.

The event I was at was a small, humble conference for students to learn about the area and the planning that goes into such projects. There was a lot of dignitaries there, though sharing their experiences with the audience. One presenter opened up the floor to questions and some lady from Troy addresses the crowd by expressing her disproval of calling the station the Birmingham/Troy Transit Facility. She thought since the station was located in Troy, it should be called the TROY/Birmingham station. She was sitting right behind me, and I swear I had to bottle my rage.

The other annoyance was the attitude of the panelists regarding transit linkages. I thought it was so great they were talking transit and touting Eaton Street as a TOD, but their major concern was to link Birmingham to Chicago. Not once was the "D word" mentioned (except for at the end). One guy even had the nerve to express his "think-outside-the-box" attitude by insisting "IT WILL BE CHICAGOANS COMING TO BIRMINGHAM RATHER THAN BIRMINGHAM GOING TO CHICAGO!".

Is it any wonder why we're such a fragmented region? There is little to no regional insight. It's all about the me-me petty attitude. Instead of impressing the crowd with a valid question, some snob had to set the tone by asking if the name could be changed...and for what? Thankfully, the panel response was one of disregarding her point.

"Detroit" didn't even get mentioned until the final speaker spoke. She was an attorney and the only non-planner/developer/city official on the panel. Why is she the only one making the most sense? :order:

I never felt so frustrated, but it just reinstilled in me the image that I have of suburban pretencius minds and attitudes.

[LMich]

And, that's the problem. It's as if they think Troy and the rest exist in some other state and country. Detroit is never mentioned in public, and when it is it's a hush-hush bash on the city. It's like they won't even acknowledge the fact that it even exists unless it's to talk about how much of a has been it is. It's a total separation from reality, and it makes me wonder if there is anyway for any type of regionalism when we have this kind of thought prevading every single aspect of proposed regionalism?

[skyfan]

The saga continues..

You have to love the delusion of these people that they can create an artists community like they build a shopping center.

Someday, in Troy, there may be an artists' community, packed with galleries and studios.
...William Cowger, who has lived in Troy for 29 years and runs Acacia Photography out of his home, said he wants to see the city create an artists community -- something that, he said, Troy is lacking." :haha:



Vision 2020 projects ideas to change Troy

December 14, 2006

Email this Print this BY GINA DAMRON

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER


Someday, in Troy, there may be an artists' community, packed with galleries and studios.

To get there, you may take a train into a new transportation center, where you can catch a cab to drive you into town. These are just a handful of ideas envisioned by 150 Troy residents, charged by the city with looking at what changes could be made to better the city by 2020. The project, called Troy Futures -- Vision 2020, began in December 2005 and recently concluded.

The residents, all of whom volunteered for Vision 2020, were split into task forces that analyzed such issues as transportation, lifestyle, education, infrastructure and the city's image.

Troy Mayor Louise Schilling said that within the next two or three months, the council would start discussing how to implement some of the task forces' suggestions. Schilling said last week that no plans have been made, but some changes are already under way, including a new transit center -- now in the design phase -- that would serve both Troy and Birmingham and be a hub for Amtrak and other transportation services.

There were some common threads in the task forces' reports. Many, for example, said they want places to hang out and things to do -- whether it's a youth center for their kids or more entertainment options. They want to get around town more quickly and easily with better public transportation. And most said that the city should revamp its master plan to account for potential redevelopment opportunities.

"What we recommend today could be out of date in two years," said Ron Ristau, 53, co-chair of the task force on mobility and transportation. "It's more the ideas."

It's important to know "how to develop the area so it's still a great place for families and a great place to live, while still being an attractive business center," he added.

Ristau said that his task force wants to see more pathways to make it easier for residents to walk places, rather than hopping in their cars. Michele Hodges, director of the Troy Chamber of Commerce, said it's possible to achieve these types of goals, but city leaders and residents must embrace change.

One idea that prompted protests by residents this year was the liquor license for a Hooters restaurant.

The city hit a snag after the council denied a license transfer in June for a Hooters looking to move from its current Troy location to a building on Big Beaver and Rochester roads.

City officials have said the restaurant doesn't fit the image they want to project on the corridor.

Last month, Hooters of America Inc. filed a $1-million federal lawsuit against the city. The company also filed suit in June in Oakland County Circuit Court, but a judge upheld the city's decision. The case is pending in the Michigan Court of Appeals.

"I think people are resistant to change; they're resistant to transformation," Hodges said Thursday. "

William Cowger, who has lived in Troy for 29 years and runs Acacia Photography out of his home, said he wants to see the city create an artists community -- something that, he said, Troy is lacking.

"If we have a strong business community," he said, "that's good for my business."

Cowger said that image and how people perceive the city is crucial, which is why it's important for Troy to realize some of these ideas.

Hodges agrees.

"If we could realize that type of vision" that residents have expressed, she said, "there's no question in my mind that we would rise to the top."

Contact GINA DAMRON at 248-351-3293 or gdamron@freepress.com.


http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061214/NEWS03/612140392

[LMich]

I have no problem with any municipality dreaming big for itself. However, I do have a problem when it is an upstart sprawlburb that has to insist to itself that it's the historic and/or future center of its metropolitan region. I'd have no problem with these kind of plans if the residents of Troy and those suburbs like Troy would support mass transit and other regional option. I'd have no trouble having the region develop multiple nodes if the residents of these nodes fight to connect them.

Currently, Troy is dreaming for its own sake, dreaming as if it were the only place in the metro that exists or matters. Seriously, if they really want to dream big they should be dreaming about building bridges south of itself and making steps to weave itself into a greater urban context of which it is a part, now a whole.

Again, I don't have a problem with a municipality dreaming big, but craving 'big city' amenities for their own sake and outside the context of an already established metropolian with a real center (where the infrastructure is already present), is short-sighted at best, and foolish.

[Cleveland Brown]

Imagine that 30 years ago this was *downtown* SE Michigan :haha:

http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/i/image/getimage-idx?view=image;entryid=x-34207;viewid=34207;cc=vmc;c=vmc;quality=1

[cabasse]

I guess having a large upscale shopping mall now automatically makes you the center of the universe? k.

[illmatic774]

But do they have Staples downtown? Thats what I thought:banana:

[Michi]

Anyone care to superimpose a mushroom cloud into that pic? Wait, I guess it appears one already went through. No sense in bombing it twice.

[hudkina]

What an interesting picture. It really shows you how disposable Troy really is and how quickly business can just pick up and start over in a farmfield 15 miles down the road...

[LMich]

And it's already happening. Actually, it's already happened in many regards. It's not a mistake or a mystery why these places age so badly, and so quickly. It's also no mistake that the likes or Royal Oak, Birmingham and the rest are aging so gracefully and staying relevant.