[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=53180.34

Officials Seek New Site For Next Police Station
Debate rages on developments for North End with city offices.

Dave Hawk
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - A City Council resolution Tuesday will call for the city administration to look at alternate sites for a new police station, instead of rebuilding or expanding at the current site.

The resolution is authored by Councilmen Richard Murphy, D-1st Ward, and Robert McKee, D-at large.

A new or revamped police station is among a number of proposals being considered by Mayor Chuck Oberlie. The police department considers the existing police station, at 101 E. Second St., old and outmoded. It is in the same block as city hall and The News-Dispatch.

Oberlie said that while he hasn't studied the resolution yet, he feels the Andrews University study of the North End contemplated keeping the police station at the same location.

The mayor said if the council wants to build one government center and relocate, that runs counter to the plan it has adopted.

"Are we going to pick and choose or follow the plan?" he said Friday.

In their resolution, Murphy and McKee rely on the Andrews study and two others to support their idea. They say that in those plans, "one of the primary goals that is repeatedly stated is better leveraging of the city's greatest natural asset, Lake Michigan, as an asset to our community."

The police station, the resolution notes, is "on the gateway to Washington Park and there is a need to plan ahead so that generations of Michigan City citizens to come can realize the most value and best use from this piece of property."

Also, the city would be better with a centrally located police station, according to the resolution.

They say that "a large investment of public funds in the construction of a civic building in an alternative neighborhood instead of the current identified location will be a powerful stimulus for economic development of that alternative neighborhood."

Community activist Michael McKervey, who is petitioning for the Parks Department to reuse the old YMCA for park offices instead of putting offices in Washington Park, said this week a number of vacant buildings could be reused for a police station or city hall.

The closed auto dealership building at Michigan Boulevard and 11th Street would be a good spot for a police station, he said, and the former Wal-Mart on the South Side could be a good location for a new City Hall.

Located in the same block as the existing police station and City Hall is The News-Dispatch. Publisher Rick Welch said Friday that he is not aware of any interest by private developers in acquiring the newspaper property.

Contact Managing Editor Dave Hawk at dhawk@thenewsdispatch.com.

[Dave]

Community activist Michael McKervey, who is petitioning for the Parks Department to reuse the old YMCA for park offices instead of putting offices in Washington Park, said this week a number of vacant buildings could be reused for a police station or city hall.

The closed auto dealership building at Michigan Boulevard and 11th Street would be a good spot for a police station, he said, and the former Wal-Mart on the South Side could be a good location for a new City Hall.

Is Mr. McKervey a CBTL member? If he isn't, he ought to be! Hey Mike, if you're reading, call me!

I think I may have to start a fan club.

City Hall-Mart! City Hall-Mart! City Hall-Mart!

Heck, I'm thinking that the City Hall-Mart would be valuable to Michigan City for novelty value alone. We'd get all sorts of press exposure for it -- rust belt town using ingenuity to stretch taxpayer dollars and be green and use property that otherwise would be a blight on the community. I'm just not seeing a downside to this.

[lovethiscity]

Chucks reason on building a new Police Station is "Because the current Police Station and City Jail is made of CONCRETE!" I never hear about prisoners escaping from the Michigan City Jail, why? BECAUSE IT IS MADE OF CONCRETE! A few years ago a prisoner tried to burn it down from his cell. It did not burn down, why? BECAUSE IT IS MADE OF CONCRETE! Storms came through Michigan City that for the most part tore apart Washington Park as well as devastating most of the town. Damage to the Police Station? None, why? Yep CONCRETE! What the hell does Oberlie plan to use for the City Jail? The Library window panels when he finally figures out the North End will never blossom until he moves the mistake on the lake!

[Dave]

Hey. lovethiscity, you know the library is modular. They could acquire the property just north of the City Hall-Mart, disassemble the library from where it is, and truck it south on Franklin to there, and put it back together again.

I was just looking at Google Earth, and my rough estimate is that the old Wal-Mart is about 120,000 square feet -- more square footage than the city hall, the Parks Department at Washington Park, and the Police Department combined. More than enough room for all of them in one place.

[lovethiscity]

Is Mr. McKervey a CBTL member? If he isn't, he ought to be! Hey Mike, if you're reading, call me!

I think I may have to start a fan club.

City Hall-Mart! City Hall-Mart! City Hall-Mart!

Heck, I'm thinking that the City Hall-Mart would be valuable to Michigan City for novelty value alone. We'd get all sorts of press exposure for it -- rust belt town using ingenuity to stretch taxpayer dollars and be green and use property that otherwise would be a blight on the community. I'm just not seeing a downside to this.

The only downside may very well be the folks in charge.

[Dave]

Is Mr. McKervey a CBTL member? If he isn't, he ought to be! Hey Mike, if you're reading, call me!

Errr, do we have a "pound your head against a wall" smiley?

[JHeath]

Errr, do we have a "pound your head against a wall" smiley?

Not that I've seen, but we do have some of the most progressive individuals around as "regulars", who also happen to have the best interests of our town at heart.

[mcstumper]

Hey. lovethiscity, you know the library is modular. They could acquire the property just north of the City Hall-Mart, disassemble the library from where it is, and truck it south on Franklin to there, and put it back together again.

I was just looking at Google Earth, and my rough estimate is that the old Wal-Mart is about 120,000 square feet -- more square footage than the city hall, the Parks Department at Washington Park, and the Police Department combined. More than enough room for all of them in one place.

Just want to make sure, this whole Hall-Mart discussion is tongue-in-cheek, right? Please.

[mcstumper]

This is kind of geeky, but I will post it anyway. If you believe that the location of a city's major facilities (i.e. City Hall, Police Station, Library) should be as centrally located as possible so as to make it the most accessible to its citizens, you might believe the city's geographic center would be the best location. I took Google maps and used its nifty distance measurement tool. First I measured the distance between County Line Road and Highway 212 and found a north-south midpoint line. On this line, I then measured the distance from Lakeshore Drive to Interstate 94. Finding the midpoint of this line should then give us an approximation of the city's center. Where did it land? A few feet west of the YMCA building. Creepy.

[Ang]

See!! The old Y would be the PERFECT spot for the new P&R office.

(sigh) I wish I could sign that petition

[Dave]

Just want to make sure, this whole Hall-Mart discussion is tongue-in-cheek, right? Please.

It started that way, but now I'm serious about it.

What are the arguments against it? That it wouldn't look like a city hall? That's not very persuasive. Location? The Hall-Mart location is on the bus line, so public access isn't an issue, and the Hall-Mart is as centrally located as the current city hall is -- which is to say, it really isn't, but why does it have to be? It hasn't been before, and I doubt any proposed city hall is going to be placed next door to the YMCA.

Someone has suggested recycling the Warren Building into a new city hall, but I can think of reasons that the Hall-Mart might be better, such as no issues like asbestos or lead paint, plenty of parking, and I suspect the current owners of the Warren Building would probably want extortionate pricing, whereas Wal-Mart might well want to get rid of a white elephant on their hands. And if the Wal-Mart is used as the City Hall-Mart, we don't have that big empty building sitting there with its parking lot getting overgrown with weeds.

Stumper, sometimes to think outside the box, one has to think inside the Big Box.

[mcstumper]

Stumper, sometimes to think outside the box, one has to think inside the Big Box.

Your points are taken, but if we are concerned about north end development, why be hypocritical and move the city offices to the south side? Its weird, but 421 south of 20 just seems to be less Michigan City than the rest of town, if that makes sense.

Keep city hall where it is. Move the parks department to the Y. Move police station to the Chrysler dealership building. Dig a tunnel under the library. That does it, right?

[JHeath]

Your points are taken, but if we are concerned about north end development, why be hypocritical and move the city offices to the south side? Its weird, but 421 south of 20 just seems to be less Michigan City than the rest of town, if that makes sense.

Keep city hall where it is. Move the parks department to the Y. Move police station to the Chrysler dealership building. Dig a tunnel under the library. That does it, right?

Dig a tunnel under the library? Um, no...it's much more feasible to disassemble it, and reassemble it someplace else. Forget the tunnel.

[Ang]

I'm with JHeath on this one.

[Dave]

Your points are taken, but if we are concerned about north end development, why be hypocritical and move the city offices to the south side? Its weird, but 421 south of 20 just seems to be less Michigan City than the rest of town, if that makes sense.

Keep city hall where it is. Move the parks department to the Y. Move police station to the Chrysler dealership building. Dig a tunnel under the library. That does it, right?

How do you get hypocritical out of that, Stumpie? I don't see City Hall, as a physical presence, really adding that much to the North End. I think the North End would be better served by getting it and the library out of the way so Franklin runs back out to the lake, and put some nice taxable businesses where they currently are (except for the restored Franklin Street part).

Not to mention that the money saved over building a new city hall (if they estimated $6 million for the Parks Department, how much do you suppose they would spend on a new city hall? I'd be seriously surprised if that number is less than $10 million) could be used to disassemble and move the library. Heck, I seem to recall hearing someplace that the plan is to rebuild city hall in its current location -- argh! How stupid is that? Pack everything up, move the city offices to some temporary space for the duration of the demolition and construction (of something once again preventing Franklin running out to the lake), then move the offices back? Can you think of a less efficient plan than that?

[JHeath]

...Not to mention that the money saved over building a new city hall (if they estimated $6 million for the Parks Department, how much do you suppose they would spend on a new city hall? I'd be seriously surprised if that number is less than $10 million) could be used to disassemble and move the library. Heck, I seem to recall hearing someplace that the plan is to rebuild city hall in its current location -- argh! How stupid is that? Pack everything up, move the city offices to some temporary space for the duration of the demolition and construction (of something once again preventing Franklin running out to the lake), then move the offices back? Can you think of a less efficient plan than that?

Yes...digging a tunnel under the library...

[Ang]

A good spot for the library would be the old Memorial Hospital grounds. It's big enough and there would be more room for parking than at the current location. Plus, it's not a HUGE distance so the relocation should be fairly easy. Getting in and out of the parking lot would be easy, instead of the one way in/one way out deal they got now.

[Dave]

A good spot for the library would be the old Memorial Hospital grounds. It's big enough and there would be more room for parking than at the current location. Plus, it's not a HUGE distance so the relocation should be fairly easy. Getting in and out of the parking lot would be easy, instead of the one way in/one way out deal they got now.

Shoot, if they want to have a single city government center -- city hall, police department, library, parks department -- they could probably fit all of that on the Memorial Hospital site. At least the city wouldn't have to spend more money that they don't have acquiring real estate.

I have to say the mayor's "let's stick to the plan" statement seems a bit disingenous to me -- especially seeing as one major thing in that plan is reestablishing Franklin Street as a corridor to the lake. I guess "sticking to the plan" means "doing what I want" to hizzoner.

[mcstumper]

How do you get hypocritical out of that, Stumpie? I don't see City Hall, as a physical presence, really adding that much to the North End. I think the North End would be better served by getting it and the library out of the way so Franklin runs back out to the lake, and put some nice taxable businesses where they currently are (except for the restored Franklin Street part).

I think I have said this before, but its worth repeating. City Hall does not sit on the Franklin St. right of way. The News Dispatch does. So the city would then need to fund a library move, unnecessarily relocate city hall, and force through a purchase of the News Dispatch building.

Here is my idea which I think makes the most fiscal sense. As a primer, please use google maps and look at the satellite view of 2nd St. and Washington. Why not design a similar island at the intersection of 4th and Washington. The western southbound lane on Washington would be able to continue south on Washington. The eastern two lanes would be diverted (via a curve) east onto 4th St., which would be made one-way east-to-west from Washington to Pine. At the intersection of 4th and Franklin, design another landscaped barrier that would curve traffic north onto the newly 2-way Franklin Street. Northbound traffic on Franklin approaching the library would be curved east onto 4th St. An island barrier at 4th and Pine would force traffic to curve north on Pine.

Instead of confusing intersections, use the barriers to guide the flow of traffic around the library off of and on to Franklin Street. Pine St. and Washington St south of 4th St. could easily be converted back to 2-way.

When it comes to spending the least amount of taxpayer's money, I bet I win.

[mcstumper]

Through the wonders of Microsoft Paint, I present the Stumper Plan!