Hopefully downtown transformation will be fruitful

I’ve seen the entire process of the downtown transformation since it began. I don’t live downtown, but I saw it on an almost weekly basis as I made my way to AccessVision regularly last summer and fall from the State Street lot.

During the summer, I became accustomed to jaywalking across McCamly Street while the intersection of it and Michigan Avenue was closed. That sped up the walk to AccessVision considerably.

In the fall, my simple walk across the street became more of a labyrinth when McCamly was closed and the sidewalks would be closed at odd intervals. My simple jaunt across the street became a jaunt across the street and weaving my way through the parking garage to get to 67 West Michigan Ave.

Then, one day, as I started my walk across McCamly, I soon became aware of cars passing through where I usually jaywalked. The intersection was open, the sidewalks were done and I was once again at the mercy of the crosswalk.

The sidewalks were fancy and I got to see all the new lighting fixtures when I passed through downtown after dark during the holidays. It’s still not done – construction starts up again on the last part of Michigan Avenue later this year – but everything certainly looked nice.

This week I spent my first measurable time downtown since we’ve actually had snowfall. After a morning of slipping and sliding around on ice (this was a morning where we actually had ice), I started on my first trip to AccessVision of 2012.

As a native Michigander who is used to the cold and doesn’t expect salt to be on every patch of ice, and to be a seasoned winter walker from my time trekking from campus to my car at both Kellogg Community College and Western Michigan University, I can deal with snow and ice, especially under my feet when I get out of my car.

After slipping and sliding through the State Street lot, past the ice-covered sidewalks in front of vacant buildings, I could just imagine all the ice waiting for me in the cracks of the bricks that now lined the sidewalks of McCamly street.

When I set foot on McCamly, I was treated to a perfectly iced sidewalk as far as the eye could see. A nice relief that certainly did away with my pessimism for a while.

By the time I made it back home, I realized I shouldn’t have been surprised by that. That “streetscape” had been crafted for the better part of the year before – no one with common sense would have let the results of such an endeavor get covered with ice.  

While I can’t say I’ve experienced all the new features of the downtown transformation, largely because it isn’t completed yet, I can help but think that, hopefully, it’s worth it. Part of me finds it hard to believe new sidewalks, lighting fixtures and the host of other features that all sound wonderfully enticing would attract new business, but another part of me says maybe.

From the State Street lot, I walk past one vacant building on my way to cross the street to get to AccessVision. All the others remain happily occupied as far as I can tell, yet that one has sat vacant long before the transformation began.

I know nothing about urban development or the effects new sidewalks, lights and everything else will have on it, but if that one building gets filled as a result of this I’ll be happy.

As much as my practical self doesn’t like spending a ton of money on two-tone brick sidewalks that supposedly represent the Kalamazoo River, I also get tired of looking into store windows only to see my reflection surrounded by black.

I’ve seen the downtown transformation through just one five-minute walk – my own personal lens – it’s only fitting I should see the results of it someday on that same route.