Adventures and Resources

Mist from Snow Melting, 4th Street late 2008

Last night, I went to a public MDOT meeting at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Bartholomew Hall, 4800 Woodward.

They went through all planned freeway expansion and construction.  Mostly it deals with plans for the widening of I-94.

The upshot is that my home and my block seem to be safe.  They plan to have some major construction in the the neighborhood in 8 or 9 years.  But they don’t think that that they really need to tear any of our houses down.

Other homes, apartment buildings and businesses (in other neighborhoods)  may not be as safe.

In the question and answer session, people were concerned about pedestrian bridges being destroyed.  It’s a hassle to have to walk or bike another 10 or 15 minutes to find a bridge over the expressway.

It’d be good to monitor this project as it goes forward.  I’ll try to.

I wrote on my comment card:  “Please do not destroy the residences and school on Fourth Street (at the foot of Antoinette).  We are a vibrant and unique community.  It’s good to have some residential structures next to a school (unless you tear the school down).”

After finishing the meeting, I felt it far less likely they’d tear the school down or the nearby dwellings.  Every few years we have to defend our block.  It seems to have worked out once more.

July 2009

It’s rumored that they want to tear my house down again, tear my neighborhood down again.  I didn’t find out about this until recently.  Maybe it’ll be a big fight, a real struggle.  If so, we’ve done that before.  Someone’s always looking to destroy us.  If we get a few years off, it’s good.  

Or maybe it’ll all blow over.  Maybe we’ll “fall through the cracks” again, get a reprieve.  I don’t know whether it would help our cause to bring the Fourth Street Fair back again.  I think it might be worth considering.  

It’s very much in the rumor stage just now.  I heard that there was a flyer about it but no one posted any on the telephone poles.  Then I went by Cass Cafe, Motor City Brew Pub and other places (looking for flyers, no luck). 

Local Birds

If anyone knows anything about this, I’d appreciate a reply and/or some information.   I’m still trying to track down neighbors who know anything about this and the elusive flyer.   Most of the neighbors that I have asked hadn’t heard about this as yet.  I’m trying to ask more people but meanwhile, this… 

http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthread.php?t=3731

This was from one of the responses on this section of the December 8, 2009 Detroit Yes Forum:  

“It’s insane to try to do this, from a cost perspective.  And, although it’s a small point for most of us, the widening project would also mean the destruction of the quaint little hippie Fourth Street neighborhood, one of the last streets of its kind in the city.”

http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/  

I saw something about construction on the Grand Boulevard interchange in 2012.  Is this the part that would threaten us?