Discuss Detroit » Archives - Beginning July 2006 » Walgreen's decorative fence? « Previous Next »
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Docmo
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Username: Docmo

Post Number: 63
Registered: 10-2005
Posted From: 170.232.128.10
Posted on Saturday, August 19, 2006 - 9:16 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The last time I drove down Jefferson, I noticed the decorative iron fencing at the Walgreen Drugs at Jefferson and Mt. Elliot still had not replaced the missing fence. I seem to remember this fence was stolen by scrappers in the middle of the night right next to one of the busiest thoroughfares in the city. Has Walgreen just given up? Don't replace the fence because you can't risk it being stolen again. I'm sorry. The missing fence looks like crap in what is otherwise a pretty nice section of Detroit.

I wonder if any the Riverfront developers such as Bing/Bettis-Betters/@Water/Riv erEast can do something about this. While the RiverWalk and the river itself along with the CBD will be the major selling points of all these developments, the nearby Jefferson corridor will be critical in finalizing many of these deals. Jefferson is where these people will go to shop for daily articles like prescriptions. Driving into the Walgreen and seeing such blatant destruction of property may well send a few prospective buyers back to the 'burbs.
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Eric_c
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Username: Eric_c

Post Number: 828
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 68.252.132.197
Posted on Saturday, August 19, 2006 - 9:20 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

While we're at it, let's wonder why the curb and sidewalk in front of the Chene Plaza shopping center has never been repaired. All of Jefferson's sidewalks and curbfronts are fully maintained except this stretch.
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Viziondetroit
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Username: Viziondetroit

Post Number: 713
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 69.246.10.173
Posted on Saturday, August 19, 2006 - 9:55 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"I wonder if any the Riverfront developers such as Bing/Bettis-Betters/@Water/Riv erEast can do something about this."

Do something about what? Replace the fence? Provide security? what?
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Royce
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Username: Royce

Post Number: 1765
Registered: 07-2004
Posted From: 69.208.113.97
Posted on Saturday, August 19, 2006 - 10:01 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Docmo, read the thread on brazen copper thieves.... Any metal in this city that can be taken usually will be taken. I don't blame Walgreen's for not replacing the fence. Replace the fence with the same metal fencing and watch it disappear again.

Walgreen's should probably just remove the brick pillars that the metal fencing was between and just keep the lawn cut, or they might add a low brick wall like the one being built for Rite-Aid at the Grandland Shopping Center in Rosedale Park. So far, thieves don't seem to be too interested in stealing the bricks from these walls, but there are brick scavengers who do steal bricks from abandoned homes. So maybe Walgreen's would be better off not putting up any kind of fence and just make sure the lawn is cut.
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Docmo
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Username: Docmo

Post Number: 65
Registered: 10-2005
Posted From: 170.232.128.10
Posted on Saturday, August 19, 2006 - 10:12 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Sure. Talk with Walgreen and other major retailers. Join together in a community security plan. Present a comprehensive security plan to their property insurers. If I was an investor with any of these developers, I would be asking the same question of them. What can we do to maximize the security and appearance of our development and neighborhood?

Did Walgreen just pocket the cash from an insurance settlement? Did they not make a claim because of fear of further redlining?

Viz, I don't have all the answers. I just know the missing fence looks like crap. Maybe it only looks that way to me since I know it was brazenly stolen and I focus on its absence.
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Docmo
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Username: Docmo

Post Number: 66
Registered: 10-2005
Posted From: 170.232.128.10
Posted on Saturday, August 19, 2006 - 10:14 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Royce,
Your suggestions would be an improvement on the present eyesore. Thanks.
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Jams
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Username: Jams

Post Number: 3645
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.73.1.88
Posted on Saturday, August 19, 2006 - 10:39 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Pleas note just across the street is the former INS building now occupied by the DEPARTMENT of HOMELAND SECURITY.

Makes me sleep better now they are on the job.
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Jt1
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Username: Jt1

Post Number: 7757
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 66.2.148.139
Posted on Saturday, August 19, 2006 - 10:42 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

What does stealing a fence have to do with Homeland Security?
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Huggybear
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Username: Huggybear

Post Number: 249
Registered: 08-2005
Posted From: 68.79.166.248
Posted on Saturday, August 19, 2006 - 10:50 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

These fences should be made of polymer, not metal - plastic has a negative value on the scrap market, no?

Someone from the public schools system once told me that often, they catch people testing bleachers with a magnet (to see if they are aluminum) before they are even completely installed.

Someone could give scrappers each 230 grains of copper and lead to carry home and send them on their merry way. Time to declare war on looting.
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Jams
Member
Username: Jams

Post Number: 3646
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.73.1.88
Posted on Saturday, August 19, 2006 - 10:57 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"What does stealing a fence have to do with Homeland Security?"

Actually nothing, just noting the proximity of the two buidings.
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Neilr
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Username: Neilr

Post Number: 325
Registered: 06-2005
Posted From: 68.60.139.212
Posted on Saturday, August 19, 2006 - 11:08 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Royce,

quote:

So far, thieves don't seem to be too interested in stealing the bricks from these walls, but there are brick scavengers who do steal bricks from abandoned homes.



I believe that the demand is for scavanged "common brick" which is found usually on the foundations and rear walls of old houses. This type of brick can easily be intermingled with common brick from other buildings. There is far less, if any, demand for used "face brick" which is usually somewhat unique to the house or building for which it was purchased. Therefore, it can not be mixed with bricks from other sites.
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Jasoncw
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Username: Jasoncw

Post Number: 207
Registered: 07-2005
Posted From: 67.149.141.170
Posted on Saturday, August 19, 2006 - 12:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I don't like the big fences (I don't know what this particular fence looks like though. Most of them don't offer very much protection. There are openings for the driveways, the fences could probably be driven through with a truck, and they could probably be climbed over too. I think a lot of them just make the area look bad by saying, "we need fences". If fences are needed, they should be well built so that they can do their job, and if they're not needed, they shouldn't be built because they send a bad message.

Those short brick walls look nice though, they themselves look nice, and at eye level they cover up a lot of the parking lots ugly surface.
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Dougw
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Username: Dougw

Post Number: 1287
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 68.73.202.154
Posted on Saturday, August 19, 2006 - 12:44 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The Walgreen's fence was a short one, maybe three feet high, mostly just decorative.

Anyway, the fence was stolen sometime last year, there was a long thread about it: https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/mes sages/50492/49312.html
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Detroitplanner
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Username: Detroitplanner

Post Number: 118
Registered: 04-2006
Posted From: 64.12.116.204
Posted on Saturday, August 19, 2006 - 9:33 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Why does everyone assume it was stolen? Could it not have been wiped out during an auto accident and the manager is just a lazy slob?

hmm nevermind just read the link to the other post... boy am I embarassed.

(Message edited by Detroitplanner on August 19, 2006)
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Mama_jackson
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Username: Mama_jackson

Post Number: 10
Registered: 06-2006
Posted From: 152.163.100.8
Posted on Saturday, August 19, 2006 - 9:39 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Maybe Walgreen's cannot find the correct iron fence pattern to replace it?

Here in Flint where I live, there isn't a iron manufacturing company. There used to be one but they have been closed a long time. If the fence has any age to it at all, maybe a replacement isn't available?

The stuff at the big box stores isn't worth the effort required to install it.
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Bibs
Member
Username: Bibs

Post Number: 545
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 64.12.116.204
Posted on Saturday, August 19, 2006 - 9:41 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Put up a another metal fence and electrify it.

Detroitplanner - It was reported that a pick up truck tied a rope and ripped it right off the pillars on two consecutive nights.
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Erikd
Member
Username: Erikd

Post Number: 705
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.242.214.106
Posted on Sunday, August 20, 2006 - 7:20 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

What does stealing a fence have to do with Homeland Security?




The fact that a new store, with very bright exterior lighting, open 24 hours, located across the street from the department of Homeland Security, had their fence stolen, section-by-section, over the course of a few nights, is more than just an example of irony.

This is also a perfect example of the mindset that has allowed many areas of our country to be overrun with criminal activity.

I don't buy the bullshit excuse that the Department of Homeland Security has no responsibility to help fight brazen criminal activity right in front of them.

The outrage over American military casualties in Iraq is another great example of this fucked-up mindset.

After three and a half years of fighting in Iraq, the loss of 2,500 American soldiers has set off a massive amount of anti-war protests, opposition from the general public, and has also caused most of the congress to withdraw their initial support of the Iraq war.

The recent outcry over the American losses in Iraq really pisses me off. Most of the people "outraged" by our military losses in Iraq don't give a shit about our civilian losses in America.

Four years (2003-2006) of American VOLUNTEER SOLDIERS fighting a WAR in Iraq has resulted in a death toll just over 2500.

In comparison, four years (2000-2003) of American civilians living in Chicago resulted in a death toll of 2543.

Of course, this 4 year total of people MURDERED in the city of Chicago doesn't include the hundreds of Americans MURDERED every year in Detroit, DC, NY, LA, New Orleans, etc..
------------------------------ -----------

This brings me back to the initial question...


quote:

What does stealing a fence have to do with Homeland Security?




Not much, due to the fact that most of the citizens and politicians in this country don't even pay attention to our domestic problems.

When 2500 soldiers are killed fighting in a war, it is the main issue in every political debate. When 2500 civilians are killed in Chicago (along with tens of thousands of other American civilians, nobody gives a fuck.

We need a wake-up call. When the brazen theft of property in front of the Department of Homeland Security becomes normal, it is time to make some changes.
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Itsjeff
Member
Username: Itsjeff

Post Number: 6659
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.136.149.133
Posted on Sunday, August 20, 2006 - 9:27 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

In fact, a section of fencing surrounding the Rosa Parks Federal Building (Homeland Security) was stolen last year. There was a watchguard in a nearby car, fast asleep. He was fired.
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Gannon
Member
Username: Gannon

Post Number: 6287
Registered: 12-2003
Posted From: 70.236.198.22
Posted on Sunday, August 20, 2006 - 2:38 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

He was fired.





Couldn't find another security job, so he took up a franchise in the lucrative scavenging and scrapping entreprise in the inner city.
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Gannon
Member
Username: Gannon

Post Number: 6288
Registered: 12-2003
Posted From: 70.236.198.22
Posted on Sunday, August 20, 2006 - 2:45 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It has to be a corporate decision to NOT reinstall the fence...my guess is that they're having difficulties with the insurance company covering the loss and replacing it...these iron fences are NOT cheap.

If I remember, it was during construction, and full ownership of building materials is always disputed by competing insurance companies. They'll ping-pong it until Walgreens forgets about it.



I continue to see destroyed street light pole boots when I'm out jogging...and it just makes me crazy to think that someone made money on those. (not as fired up, obviously, as Erikd, though)


Maybe one or two of our more inventive scenery artists could create a dozen or so larger plastic boots to cover those brick columns at the Walgreens?!


That's how we solve these things, DE-troit style.
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Ray
Member
Username: Ray

Post Number: 765
Registered: 06-2004
Posted From: 68.41.164.236
Posted on Sunday, August 20, 2006 - 5:15 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Erikd, your indignation is generally well founded but wildly misdirected. The target of your anger should be the city of Detrot and the warped political establishment that allows it to wallow in incompentency year after year.

One can excuse this this happening on the first night. But this went on night after night, and that is beyond the pale. Knowing soemthing about Walgreens corporate operations, I would bet my last dollar that the store and the regional Wallgreens supervisor made an immediate complaint to the police. The mayor should have personnally aplogized and had a patrol car sitting in the lot waiting to catch the theives.

All the bleating that goes on about the lack of retail and investment in the city. Well newsflash to the persons in charge of the City of Detroit: Capital goes where capital is protected; if you want capital you have protect capital.

How is it that we have to watch this sad spectacle year after year.

We are told that it is about money. Yet the city has squandered billions on a fat staff.

We are told that it is about racisim, yet there are all kinds of majority black cities that are perfectly well run and successful (Atlanta and DC spring immediately to mind, and even Oakland is the pantheon of stability and prosperity compared to Detroit.)

The truth is, these are pathetic excuses. The city government of Detroit has for many decades been a cesspool of bad public policy, incomptence and corruption and the political elite who run Detroit have decided, for whatever sick sorry reasons they may have, that they are pleased as punch with the status quo.

So the sorry circus grinds on, peforming its show of death, dispair, and tradegy night after night.

(Message edited by ray on August 20, 2006)

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