 
Royce
Member
Username: Royce
Post Number: 2274
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Monday, July 02, 2007 - 4:05 am: |    |
Someone mentioned that it's hard to get to Gabriel Richard Park despite the improvements made to the park. However, there is a small parking lot next to the old armory and I think they put in a walkway that leads to the walkway that leads to the Belle Isle Bridge.
Now, Owen Park is a riverfront park that's hard to get to. There's no place to park a car. There's not even a way to ride a bike or skateboard to the riverfront. If you walk you'll have to walk on the grass, which can be wet after a rain storm.
It's time for a make-over of Owen Park that creates a walk-way from Jefferson and a parking lot for cars. Just these two simple improvements would make the park more attractive to all passers-by and not just for the folks who live in the area. So the question I pose is, Should the improvements I suggested be made or should Owen Park stay the way it is?" |
Charlottepaul
Member
Username: Charlottepaul
Post Number: 1233
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Monday, July 02, 2007 - 8:27 am: | |
Well there are many other riverfront parks in that area. Wouldn't it be easier to just go to a different one? Most of them have better car access and access to the riverfront. |
Dds
Member
Username: Dds
Post Number: 260
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Monday, July 02, 2007 - 9:52 am: | |
I'd just walk over after parking at Erma Henderson. No money spent on the part of the city and I get a extended walk. Next question? |
Vintagesoul
Member
Username: Vintagesoul
Post Number: 4
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Monday, July 02, 2007 - 10:07 am: | |
If this is on the south side of Belle Isle, maybe they'll connect it with the rest of the new River Walk? That would be nice...
I do think all of our parks are important. Especially because of the city being an asphalt jungle - it's a nice way to escape. =) |
Billk
Member
Username: Billk
Post Number: 26
Registered: 09-2005
| | Posted on Monday, July 02, 2007 - 6:07 pm: | |
I think Canada is on the south of Belle Isle. |
Charlottepaul
Member
Username: Charlottepaul
Post Number: 1239
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Monday, July 02, 2007 - 7:27 pm: | |
It is "up river" from Belle Isle, albeit not too far upriver. |
Royce
Member
Username: Royce
Post Number: 2279
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 03, 2007 - 12:38 am: | |
Dds, you prove my point. If I park over at Henderson Park, which is a park, then what is my motivation to park at Henderson Park, and walk pass the Whittier and the other apartment complex to go to another park, Owen Park?
Now, if they make room for parking on Owen Park, then I'll probably be content with staying at Owen Park. I wouldn't have the desire to walk over to Henderson Park if it had no parking. Again, what would be my motivation to go from one park to the other park if I'm already parked at the one park?
Other than its use during the Gold Cup boat races, Owen Park doesn't have a lot of use for someone who doesn't live in the neighborhood. It is too close to Erma Henderson Park to make it a destination spot for anyone other than local residents. I don't know, maybe the purpose of putting it next to Henderson Park was that it would be available for the people that live nearby. If that's the case then I hope they enjoy it. |
Swingline
Member
Username: Swingline
Post Number: 865
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 03, 2007 - 10:18 am: | |
Didn't the Phoenix Group receive some preliminary site plan approvals for a mixed use project (separate from the Whittier) that would include a portion of Owen Park? That property is useless as a park. If the Phoenix people can get the lights back on at the Whittier, prospects for development on the Owen Park site will improve quite a bit. |
Bob_cosgrove
Member
Username: Bob_cosgrove
Post Number: 556
Registered: 03-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 1:21 am: | |
Here is a Detroit Publishing Company photo of Owen Park taken c.1910. Owen Park is named for John Owen (1809-1892). He was a Detroit financier, owner of the Detroit Dry Dock Works and the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Company.
During the Civil War he was the State of Michigan Treasurer, who dispatched the Michigan Miltia via train to Washington, D.C. at the outbreak of the Civil War. This helped save the City from the Confederates prompting Abraham Lincoln to say "Thank God for Michigan."
Owen was married to Jane Cook the daughter of land owner Abraham Cook, whose farmlands ran from the Detroit River three miles north to present day Harper Avenue just north of I-94. They were 1,200 feet wide, and are what today are Seminole, Iroquois and Burns avenues.
The southern mile of the Cook Farm was platted begining in 1893-94 as Indian Village by the Cook Farm Company Ltd., a limited partnership of Cook and Owen heirs, soon to be led by John Owen I's son, John Owen, Jr. (c.1869-1924).
Bob Cosgrove |
Royce
Member
Username: Royce
Post Number: 2298
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 1:36 pm: | |
Thanks, Bob. I know at least for this weekend Owen Park is pretty busy. |
Michigansheik
Member
Username: Michigansheik
Post Number: 218
Registered: 09-2005
| | Posted on Monday, July 16, 2007 - 12:57 am: | |
new boat launch? |