organsnyder

As a neighborhood resident, I find this both offensive and inaccurate. Edit: I jumped the gun in my reaction.

First of all, Division downtown is a very different beast: the large number of people loitering around the homeless shelters does, in my experience, make many people uncomfortable. Burton Heights doesn't have this problem—I've observed a few people loitering occasionally, but the vast majority of people are on their way to work or school. Residential gentrification is indeed a tough nut to crack, especially for renters: as values and rents go up, they will simply be forced out. Homeowners should at least in theory benefit from increasing property values, so I'd argue that increasing homeownership (yes, I know that's not trendy in some circles right now) could be a huge boon. Business gentrification is completely different: if business owners are able to adapt to a changing environment, they could benefit immensely—or at least avoid being supplanted. There are many businesses in Burton Heights that are minority-owned, and some of them have been there for decades. A $10k loan can be all the difference for a business that is in desperate need of updated signage, lighting, etc. Also, the surrounding neighborhoods are already mixed—at least at a macro level. The blocks by Garfield Park (especially south and east) have been [upper-]middle-class since the houses were built. Other lower-income blocks are also showing signs of change; from what I've observed, gentrification is well underway.

I wonder how useful a battery bank would be—peak output tends to track peak load, at least during the cooling season. My guess is that wind turbines would require much more operational expertise—solar panels are simple enough that they can be DIY by adventurous homeowners, and require little ongoing maintenance. That being said, seems like the city could be reaching out to wind generation companies to see if one would be interested in a lease.

When I worked downtown, it would often drip on me on my way to work. I wasn't one who complained, but I'm not sad to see it gone.

Fair enough. Though by marketing the system as "Autopilot"—along with not monitoring the driver to ensure their eyes remain on the road—Tesla is encouraging their customers into dangerous habits. Level 2 can be extremely dangerous. Expecting drivers to re-engage within a split-second after minutes/hours of inactivity is a recipe for disaster. Even commercial aircraft autopilot systems are designed to allow multiple seconds for pilots to retake control when needed—and that's for pilots with strict training, licensing, and work hours requirements. On the ground, we can't have the luxury of multiple-second recovery times.

Good explanation. Though I'd argue that Tesla is really marketing a Level 1 system as being Level 2 (leading to three known deaths so far).

They have a permit!

In GR, at least, building height is measured at the halfway point of the roof line. So this building is actually quite short.

Disappointed that they went with the same design as the Silver Line stations. Consistency is good for branding, I guess, but the design is terrible at providing any kind of shelter. Perhaps it's an intentional homeless-hostile design decision?

I heard a presentation from someone in the county public works department (I don't remember his precise title; might have been director of waste management) on the present and future of waste management. He suggested that it may be economically feasible in the future to mine these old sites for materials that weren't worth saving when they were dumped, but have since become more valuable (due to scarcity and/or better extraction/recycling technology).

25 Ottawa is the same way. It was one of the reasons I left.

Looks like it is/was there to hitch a ride to Chicago:

I'm sure the Priority employees are thrilled about that. Gus' especially was a popular lunch spot. Of course, they're probably looking forward to not having to fight for parking...

I don't see how parking would be an issue for someone looking to build a new office building—just include a ramp. Of course, surface lots are cheaper. I think Spectrum has to be extremely careful in the image they present. It's much harder to deflect claims of opulence (whether warranted or not) when they're focused on your administrative offices, compared to your medical facilities. Harder to fundraise, too—something tells me this building won't have anyone's name on it. Spectrum also likes to keep a low profile with its non-public-facing facilities: look at the signage on 25 Ottawa for an example (last I checked, the big sign-holder on the building rents a fraction of a single floor of space [I'm sure they pay extra for that big sign]). IMHO, our business culture here is still catching up with the increasing economic prosperity and cost of living in the area. And I think there's a tendency to avoid flashy statements such as "expensive" downtown office towers. I think there's still a lot of truth to the frugality competition that's become a West Michigan cliché.

I use Google Maps directions to plan trips (when using an unfamiliar route), and Transit to get real-time status. I haven't heard anything about a smartphone app. That could certainly make things easier for visitors. With the contact-less readers, it seems to me that they could also accept tap-to-pay credit cards, Apple/Google/Samsung pay, etc. That would be really nice, though the credit card fees for those small transactions might be killer.

Wave cards have been available for a number of months now. I ordered them for my family from the Rapid website and have them set to auto-reload via credit card. For route schedules and bus status, there are a number of different apps that provide real-time data (my favorite is Transit). It would be nice to be able to manage Wave cards via an app, but now that I have them set up I don't see much need to do so.

There are fewer and fewer journalists getting paid a living wage to dig up these sorts of details.

That's what's happening in my neighborhood in Garfield Park (not EGR, obviously). Within a few blocks, I can count a couple dozen houses that have turned over from empty nesters to young families over the past decade. I'd guess that in EGR, an increase in population density per housing sqft (I wonder if there's a way to track this?) is responsible for more gains than raw additions of housing sqft. My in-laws' neighborhood out in Cascade is the opposite: lots of empty nesters still residing in the 4+bdr homes they raised their families in. Funny how neighborhoods tend to go in cycles. It would be telling to look at EGR schools enrollment trends.

My guess is the breakdown in the market is roughly this: 10% are old-fashioned motorheads or "own the libs" anti-environmentalists (two distinct categories—don't be offended if you belong to one but abhor the other). 10% are passionate environmentalists. They either already own an EV or dream of purchasing one (after their Prius dies). 80% are people that just want to commute to work, shuttle their kids around, and run errands. Even in Michigan, I think [PH]EVs are already creeping into the 80% segment; and they'll barnstorm in during the next extended gas price spike. The prospect of refueling using price-regulated electricity is alluring, and the math is covering more use-cases every year. My PHEV has both sound preferences covered: nearly silent in EV mode (I'm tempted to disable the pedestrian warning speaker, but I understand its purpose), while the gas engine has a really good sound (especially for a minivan) when you open up the throttle.

Ah, that's why I was tearing up. I thought it was the architecture.

The article does mention that the AirBnB units would be "pending city approval". So it sounds like they need some kind of permission. AirBnB is controversial mainly because of its effects on residential areas (and, to a lesser extent, its effects on the hotel industry). Since it sounds like they'd basically be using AirBnB mainly for its booking platform, perhaps the rules would be different. Thinking about it, as long as a traditional hotel would be allowed there, I'd think AirBnB would also be allowed—in the ADU regs, for instance, AirBnB is disallowed under "short-term rental" prohibitions, which would apply to any hotel/BnB offering.

I think the Samaritas project is underway. Not sure of any details beyond that.

They don't have the power (and/or the willpower) to truly hassle anyone with deep pockets.

How? Broken-window policing: Go after low-level crime (vandalism, etc.) under the (unproven) assumption that low-level criminals graduate to more severe crimes. This proposal: Deter crime by making spaces less attractive for criminal activity. The only similarity I see is that they both involve windows.

That wouldn't surprise me. IIRC, they were already using Northpointe lots as overflow at certain times.