May Day in Ypsilanti… a beautiful success

Much more beautiful than May Day in Seattle.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20130502/us-immigration-marches-washington/

What Lisa said.

So, what’s next?

A few benches. A path. A piece of sculpture. A few berry bushes. Maybe a tiny library. And hopefully lots of flowers.

Or, maybe this.

http://www.christopherfowler.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/vomit-259×300.jpg

And not a single eye was lost!

I’ve never seen a real, live maypole. That’s cool.

More progressive event should incorporate activities for children. Seed bombing is perfect. I wouldn’t be surprised if other like-minded groups didn’t pick up on the idea.

Mark,
I want to thank you for the original idea, and completion of all its components. I had a fabulous time yesterday. It was my first maypole too.
What a great way to bring Ypsi together.
I was sorry not to meet Clementine, maybe next time. But was really happy to get introduced to Arlo, hes a sweetie.

Get some much deserved rest, and dream up some new fabulous idea.

YOu know what I would love to see? A sidewalk chalk art festival, and it could happen right at Water Street.
How long before we might see some growth of all the lovely bombs????

Congratulations on a huge success!

Bloom!

If anyone would be interested in organizing a sidewalk chalk art event, I’d love to incorporate it into the Heritage Festival.

Meanwhile, to the East of the site.

From today’s AnnArbor.com:

If the $1.2 million Family Dollar project proposed for the Water Street property in Ypsilanti goes forward, it will be the first development there since the city began began assembling the 38-acre site in 1999 with a vision to turn it into a premier waterfront residential and retail hub for its residents.

Compared to the grand plan for Water Street that originally included condominiums, restaurants, a waterfront park and bike paths, the proposal for the store is a decidedly modest one.

But, nearly 14 years after the city embarked on the Water Street plan, redevelopment of the property has been slow to happen after two developers backed out of proposed projects, leaving behind mounting debt and rising uncertainty among residents.

City leaders have said Family Dollar, despite some residents’ preference for an independent retail establishment, rather than a chain, fits in with the original retail development plan for Water Street. Critics have accused the city of adopting a “beggar’s mentality” to get development on the site.

The City Council is poised to decide Tuesday night whether to give the Family Dollar plan the green light.

Core Resources, LLC, the development partner with Family Dollar, will purchase nearly one acre of land for $210,000 to construct a store of approximately 8,320-square-foot at Park and Michigan Avenue.

Officials have estimated that Family Dollar will pay about $30,000 in taxes annually that would go toward paying down the debt incurred thus far for the property.

Updated numbers provided by Ypsilanti’s Fiscal Director Marilou Uy show that as of May 3, the city owes $24,764,695 on the Water Street debt, a decrease from 2006 when the city owed close to $30 million.

To date, the city has paid $4.6 million of the debt. The payments, and interest rate, are expected to increase as the city continues to pay through 2031. The debt repayment schedule shows two payments are due each year and the first 2013 payment of $848,783.75 was due May 1 of this year. The next payment, $435,070, is due Nov. 1.

Officials have discussed refinancing the debt in the near future.

So far, the city has used more than $5 million from the general fund to go toward Water Street and has spent $30.2 million, according to records provided by Uy.

Read more:
http://annarbor.com/news/ypsilanti/water-street-history/

Seed bombing is a powerful metaphor for community organizing.

My Mayday photos are on Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=69251992@N00&q=mayday