  Chitaku Member Username: Chitaku Post Number: 472 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 68.43.107.72 |
went swimming at belle isle today and noticed alot of the park is looking a bit rough. Kind of frustrating that King Kwame and the clownsil can't even pay someone to cut the lawn! | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 3912 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 67.171.136.201 |
Weed Isle. You can't even fly a kite without stumbling into a sinkhole somewhere. Truly pathetic. jjaba. | ||
Upinottawa Member Username: Upinottawa Post Number: 425 Registered: 09-2005 Posted From: 198.103.184.76 |
Chitaku, are you being possessed by Danny? | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 3918 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 67.171.136.201 |
Chitaku is Danny's new handle. Good observation. First Ghettoman, then Danny, now Chitaku. jjaba. | ||
Motorcitymayor2026 Member Username: Motorcitymayor2026 Post Number: 942 Registered: 10-2005 Posted From: 24.231.189.137 |
Jjaba, where have you been? | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 3924 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 67.171.136.201 |
jjaba, present and accounted for. Didn't you get the post card? jjaba. | ||
Chitaku Member Username: Chitaku Post Number: 476 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 68.43.107.72 |
Sorry guys ever since I came to this site, Danny's posts have made me roar with laughter | ||
Dillpicklesoup Member Username: Dillpicklesoup Post Number: 59 Registered: 05-2006 Posted From: 64.7.188.130 |
I wouldn't be surprised if Kwamee subdivides Belle Isle and sells it off to the highest bidder. | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 3877 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 24.11.154.56 |
Sorry, but what are we to expect with an continually increasing exodus from the city? These are incredibly hard times when priorities really have to be worked out. If it comes down to public safety and something like parks (hard decisions that Detroit needs to address sooner rather than later), there isn't even a question of where the money needs to go. Now, a proposal to make it a metropark may not be such a bad idea in these truly desparate times. But, they'd have to show exactly what they'd do for the park to improve and maintain it. | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 383 Registered: 12-2005 Posted From: 65.185.132.134 |
It's been rough since 1973--you're just noticing? | ||
Ddmoore54 Member Username: Ddmoore54 Post Number: 302 Registered: 07-2004 Posted From: 69.242.213.242 |
Metroparkatcha | ||
Designut Member Username: Designut Post Number: 5 Registered: 05-2006 Posted From: 69.246.46.45 |
I was there a few weeks ago and saw workers putting a new roof on the old (I'm guessing '20s?) bathrooms on the south side of the island by the coast guard station. I'm assuming some necessary updates were (will be?)done inside as well. My point is that maybe we can't pay to cut all the grass - it is the largest island-park in the country - but at least there are funds going to the essentials. | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 3883 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 24.11.154.56 |
In a park, grass cutting is and essential, much more so than bathrooms updates, IMO. | ||
Designut Member Username: Designut Post Number: 6 Registered: 05-2006 Posted From: 69.246.46.45 |
By "updates" I mean a working bathroom where there previously wasn't one. These bathrooms were closed and there aren't any others in this part of the park. I would consider that essential. I agree that cutting the grass is also essential, but keeping ALL of it cut is not. Its not like there's nowhere at all on the island to have a picnic, fly a kite, or kick a ball. I was planning on going there tomorrow - maybe I'll have to put my foot in my mouth.  | ||
Atl_runner Member Username: Atl_runner Post Number: 1923 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 24.98.116.13 |
I'm doing the Motor City tri there next weekend so I hope it's cleaned up by then. I've been defending Belle Isle left and right to a few triathletes who simply refuse to do the race based on the fact that it's on Belle Isle, and it's in the city. | ||
Andyguard73 Member Username: Andyguard73 Post Number: 98 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 141.209.33.164 |
Not to get off topic, but what are the distances for the Motor City Atl? I did my first tri this winter, but it was in a criterion format. | ||
Atl_runner Member Username: Atl_runner Post Number: 1924 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 24.98.116.13 |
Both Olympic: 1500m swim, 23mi. bike, 10k run and sprint: 500m swim, 12.4mi bike, 5k run. I'm doing the Oly. | ||
Erikd Member Username: Erikd Post Number: 654 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 69.242.214.106 |
I'm with you, Designut Upgrading run down park facilities is much more significant than a missed mowing cycle. | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 105 Registered: 04-2006 Posted From: 64.131.176.232 |
You'd have to pay me a lotta money to swim on Belle Isle beach... | ||
Detroit313 Member Username: Detroit313 Post Number: 65 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 12.45.2.184 |
There's not enough money in the world for me to swim there.313 | ||
Machoken Member Username: Machoken Post Number: 1297 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.85.155.145 |
Have you two ever swam there? What's the reasoning behind these comments? | ||
River_rat Member Username: River_rat Post Number: 153 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 72.66.120.108 |
Real offer always stands. $500 million for the island and bridge. DYC, USCG and Dossin can stay. Think of what KK could do with the $$$. The river rat and with the financial group | ||
Lowell Board Administrator Username: Lowell Post Number: 2714 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 66.167.210.44 |
The dime store closed long ago River Rat. Belle Isle is worth several times your bid. I think more money could be made selling the DWSD and it would relieve managment costs. | ||
Lowell Board Administrator Username: Lowell Post Number: 2715 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 66.167.210.44 |
I go there 2-3 times a week to play handball. The grass [technically hay by now] finally got cut there, and around the adjacent basketball courts and cricket pitch, last week. They are behind, but catching up. I noticed the first life guards on the beach too and the water slide was running. My speculation is that city workers who are seeing their wages cut are doing 'work to rule'. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 2320 Registered: 08-2004 Posted From: 4.229.72.134 |
Now you guys know why I think moving the Chene Park amphitheatre is a big waste of city dollars.... scarce recreation dollars that can be better spent here! | ||
Chitaku Member Username: Chitaku Post Number: 481 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 68.43.107.72 |
Went to the beach friday and saturday and had a blast! I even brought a couple friends from the burbs who would never go there and they decided it was the best beach in town (they usually go to stoney creek) the waterslide was great but why do they close every 20 min? | ||
Super_d Member Username: Super_d Post Number: 918 Registered: 08-2005 Posted From: 69.220.232.219 |
About 3 weeks ago, the SW side of 'The Isle', ( from the Casino area thru the athletic area ) was hit hard by lightning and high winds, causing many trees, poles, etc to be littered thru out the area. I jogged thru the area just after the storm, and it was an eerie site...myself and a few other runners were 'taken back' to see the abrupt destruction. Maybe that is what you notice? Overall 'The Isle' is a 'magical' place. super d(motordetroit) | ||
Detroit313 Member Username: Detroit313 Post Number: 77 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 12.45.2.184 |
Well the last time I swam at the Belle Isle Beach was back in 1986. The water wasn't bad, but the beach itself was terrible. Broken bottles and trash was not the knid of beach I want to remember. But I heard that it has gotten better. The water really can't get nasty because it flow from Lake St. Clair and we would have to really pump some bad crap upstream to mess up the downriver area. But for the most part the water is nice. I just have to see the sand again to make a final decision to go in. 313 | ||
Swingline Member Username: Swingline Post Number: 522 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 172.164.214.73 |
Was on the island twice in the past week including today. Things are in markedly worse shape than last year (election year). It's one thing for grass to get a little long. It's quite another when even the athletic fields literally get knee high. Rain hasn't been an excuse for at least three weeks. The Zoological Society needs to do something quickly with the shuttered Nature Zoo. It is quickly becoming an embarassing ruin. If it has no future, tear it down. The litter situation is far worse this year too. Responsibility for this problem lies just as much or more with the citizens of Detroit. It is very disheartening to drive around the island on a weekend day and view folks with their picnics set up while being closely surrounded by trash which they clearly have generated. It isn't that difficult to bring your own garbage bags and send the kids around a couple of times to pick up the shit that blows around. How can you enjoy a picnic when you are surrounded by trash? | ||
Boy_named_sue Member Username: Boy_named_sue Post Number: 1 Registered: 06-2006 Posted From: 68.252.12.188 |
They need to put a toll on the bridge. So many people litter. If you want to go onto the island and litter and throw your 40ozs in the street then you are going to throw a dollar towards cleaning it up. It needs to be run more like a business, somehow pay for itself, not just tax dollars. It has so much potential but honestly it is joke. | ||
Deputy_mayor_2026 Member Username: Deputy_mayor_2026 Post Number: 80 Registered: 04-2006 Posted From: 152.163.100.8 |
Around this time last year, I noticed quite a few small bones on Belle Isle. I am assuming, or hoping rather, that they were from chicken wings or something of that nature. Anyway, I have yet to swim there, but plan to this summer... | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 107 Registered: 04-2006 Posted From: 64.131.176.232 |
I swam there back in the mid 90s and the beach was dirty. The water didn't look too great either. Plus its downstream from both Metro Beach and all of the sewage treatments plants that have caused Metro Beach to close so many times... | ||
Hamtramck_steve Member Username: Hamtramck_steve Post Number: 3015 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 136.181.195.17 |
The problem for Metro Beach is the Clinton River. Until the restoration project modified the spillway, we never had beach closures, because the shit (literally) came into the lake down from the park. Now, the only time water flows down the spillway is when the river is high. The sewage plume tends to follow the shipping channel south of Metro Beach, which also puts it on the wrong side of Belle Isle to get to the beach there. If you want to worry about sources of Belle Isle pollution, I'd look at the Conner Creek pumping station. | ||
Toledolaw05 Member Username: Toledolaw05 Post Number: 18 Registered: 04-2006 Posted From: 72.240.58.198 |
I was there Sunday and it looked like a garbage dump. I have never seen so much trash at a park in my life. How often do they clean the place? | ||
Eric_c Member Username: Eric_c Post Number: 776 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 68.76.202.10 |
The island is cleaned daily. What amazes me are the people who just sit there among their own waste. Done with something? Throw it down. Last weekend, I drove the loop and things looked OK. When I came around the end of the island to head toward the bridge, I saw a family having a Bar-B-Q under some trees. The entire area where they had set up camp was LOADED with trash. Everything from food and pop containers to wrapping paper had been discarded on the ground and was left to blow around at their feet. It was truly disgusting. Every person who passed by that family must have realized that these were truly nasty people - I'd hate to see their house! Unrelated, but pertinent - last summer my wife and I went to the beach at St. Joseph on Lake Michigan. I was amazed at how people would just leave their trash in the sand when they left for the day. The most memorable were the dirty diapers! Remember "Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute"? Maybe it's time for a state-wide campaign. | ||
Mallory Member Username: Mallory Post Number: 29 Registered: 05-2006 Posted From: 207.230.140.240 |
I'm surprised the King didn't put all the casinos on the island. Love the idea of a toll, providing that the $$ would go to the continued upkeep of the island. | ||
River_rat Member Username: River_rat Post Number: 158 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 68.166.44.44 |
Ok Lowell, My financial consortium would raise our offer to $600 million! KK could really improve the rest of the services with that amount. I can see it now, "Belle Isle Township." the river rat who lives on Belle Isle | ||
Bibs Member Username: Bibs Post Number: 502 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 198.208.159.18 |
I would like to note a fairly major upgrade to the infastructure on Belle Isle which hasn't been mentioned. At the foot of the MacArthur bridge when coming onto the island, their is a construction project on your right. I think this is new pump house for sewage and/or storm water. The city should be given credit for making up grades to its infastructure which are very costly. I would think that it's cheaper to mow the grass than to up grade a pump house. | ||
Newsjunkie Member Username: Newsjunkie Post Number: 1 Registered: 06-2006 Posted From: 65.196.220.198 |
Belle Isle, at least in some ways, is better now than it was six years ago. Back in 2000/2001 I took my mountain bike there and biked around the perimiter and got TWO flat tires due to the immense amount of broken glass. I was really lucky that I had two spare tubes. I ususally carry just one. I stopped biking there but have been running there at least once a week ever since. About two or so years ago the perimiter was repaved and a solid white line was added along the left side to divide the runners/walkers/bikers from the cars. I took my bike there Thursday for the first time in years and while I had to dodge some glass the bike lane was mostly clear and I had no flat tires. And that, folks, is progress Detroit sytle: Barely noticable but present. | ||
Blondy Member Username: Blondy Post Number: 1050 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.77.163.16 |
So do any of you take 10 minutes and walk around with a trash bag while on the island to help clean it up, or do you just come on an internet forum to bitch about it? Did you bother to participate in either of the Belle Isle clean ups this spring? | ||
Haydenth Member Username: Haydenth Post Number: 169 Registered: 05-2005 Posted From: 67.107.50.35 |
I still think it's wonderful to go to Belle Isle on a warm summer day with a book and lay in the grass on the far south western tip of the isle and read. Beautiful skyline view from there. You gotta walk by the guys smokin' pot at the picnic tables though. | ||
Mbr Member Username: Mbr Post Number: 67 Registered: 03-2005 Posted From: 152.160.42.163 |
The driving range and small golf holes are maintained very well. I was there on Friday and it didn't look bad. The traffic and loud music get a bit out of control as the night progresses, and the pot smoking is a bit too obvious for a public park, but other than that I think the place looks pretty darn good. | ||
Broken_main Member Username: Broken_main Post Number: 1125 Registered: 06-2005 Posted From: 69.222.11.226 |
Ham Steve...just in case you haven't noticed. The DWSD has built a CSO Station behind the Conners Creek Pumping Station. We now treat all of the stormwater that we collect. There is also a new retention basin there as well. The government has recently mandated that we treat all stormwater at the Wastewater treatment facility as best we can. I am proud to say that even if there is a chance that we have to discharge into the river, the water is screened and chlorinated before we discharge. In comparison to the previous years i must say that our discharge to the Detroit River have been kept to a recor minimum. | ||
Hamtramck_steve Member Username: Hamtramck_steve Post Number: 3016 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.73.59.28 |
Good to know, broken_main! Perhaps we won't have any Belle Isle Beach Poop, then. Although perhaps the Grosse Pointe turds from the Fox Creek might still float by. | ||
Boy_named_sue Member Username: Boy_named_sue Post Number: 2 Registered: 06-2006 Posted From: 68.40.105.226 |
Conners Creek has also been completely dredged and all waste that had been settled on the bottom for the last 60 years has been disposed of. Its about as clean as it can be now. I remeber when I was a kid sailing in the river, we would see everything from shit to condoms floating out of the creek daily. As for the litter that people throw around the damn city, I think it may be effective to perhaps start a billboard campaign on litternig and otherthings. I think the majority of the residents are used to living in this trash heap and really don't really give a damn about their city. We need someway to send out a message for people to start taking pride in their city. |
