Ellis Square was one of the originally platted squares in the city, but similar to Ann Arbor’s court house square, it was demolished in 1955 to make way for “progress”–in this case, a four-story parking garage which was a blight on an otherwise lovely, historic downtown for decades.

In 2005, Savannah finally demolished the eyesore parking garage and replaced it with an underground structure. On top–you guessed it–they built a new Ellis Square complete with 30′ transplanted live oak trees, a fountain for viewing and cooling off in, a visitor center, and restrooms. This, in spite of the fact that there are several other public squares and parks within a short walking distance of this location.

The definition is “to not be candid or sincere, typically by pretending that one knows less about something than one really does.” I think that everyone involved in this debate is sincere in wanting a successful downtown. We may or may not disagree – hopefully we can find consensus. I don’t sense that anyone involved is pretending to know less about something than they really do. On the contrary, in Ann Arbor it is more likely that someone might err in the other direction.

Because this dialogue began with my slide show about the idea of a “Library Green,” I’d like to share the link to that presentation on Youtube. It is now updated to incorporate the constructive criticism offered by Mayor Hieftje and Council Member Smith during the June 6 DDA meeting. Here is the link: [link]

How would you define “successful” relative to this space? How would you describe “what’s possible”? Also, do you have suggestions for park spaces to research in comparably-sized cities?

As long as Sandi Smith’s dogs are content I guess we should move on.

As well as pushing legal loopholes to give away parkland via ‘leases’ and going around the intent of the law that requires a vote of the public for this to happen, ala the Fuller Road Parkland Giveaway attempt.

What I found to be disingenuous about the slide show  was the series of photos portraying what could never be on that block. Each picture showed a large public space, usually green, dotted with lots of people. They were photos taken in large cities like New York, Houston and even Detroit. Each of these parks were surrounded by tall buildings, full of people and eyes on the park: density. 

Each city has a much greater population than Ann Arbor. Even Detroit is seven times the size! I don’t have daytime visitor/employee stats at hand, but all the example cities dwarf Ann Arbor. There are less than 5000 people living in the DDA district, and probably less than a 100 who live on that block.
It is also mostly bounded by historic districts. It is not that a park is an incompatible use with an historic district, it is that the necessary density to make a park work can never be built there because of the restrictions in place imposed by the historic district regulations.

The DDA effort called Connecting William Street is currently underway. To date we have conducted a preliminary survey (with ~ 2000 respondents) and 3 out of 4 speaker series that have been well attended. This is only the first phase of effort. There will be ample opportunity for robust public input in the coming months.

BTW: I both live and work in downtown Ann Arbor. I have ample ways to enjoy open space and don’t feel cheated about my share of it. There are over 2000 acres of parkland just within the City! I often walk my dogs through West Park, Bandemer, the new Argo Cascades or just through the neighborhoods. They always enjoy the trip.

There’s also a link on the site for donating towards the cost of their block party event on July 14th.

I’ve been very impressed with the open and honest communications these citizens have engaged in. They put their vision on the web, spoken at numerous public meetings, written op-eds, and most impressively, have actually gone out and met with numerous individuals, from business owners and developers, to public officials—including the library board and staff, including those that they knew were opposed to their idea. They have demonstrated the courage of their convictions and are willing to take the slings and arrows that are inevitably thrown at those who stand up for something in public.

This is in marked contrast to our local leaders who often work behind closed doors via appointees and consultants to manipulate outcomes for pet projects like conference centers, train stations, massive commuter transit systems, golf course privatizations and city hall expansions. For the Mayor and Council Member Smith to call these good citizens disingenuous is the epitome of irony.