TEAR IT DOWN?
Not surprising, really, but have a look at this.
It would seem that some of the bright ideamen and women of Detroit City Council would like to see this glorious and historic train station face EMERGENCY demolition. Even as $8bn was put forward in the 2009 budget for High Speed Rail. Even as Ontario and Quebec move closer to funding a Windsor-Quebec City HSR corridor that could and would presumably connect to Detroit, even as Michigan itself proposes a $3.5bn midwest HSR project.
WHAT, WHAT are they thinking?
Even if this building were never to be used as a rail station again. Unlikely, but even then, why would you destroy one of the finest examples of grand railway buildings in North America? Detroit is a sad sad state of affairs, it would seem. Even outside GM headquarters.
1 Comment
July 20, 2009 at 11:56 am
I was born in Detroit and my family has been in the area since before Michigan was a state so I do have a connection. When I found out that the City Council was planning to tear down this wonderful old structure I wondered if they had taken leave of their senses. Look at what old train stations around the country have become. Union Station in DC is awash with people, the train stations in NY are hubs not just for transportation but business, here in LA it is the same way. Think of how this place could be restored, shops, trans hub, residential, office space all in a grand building that is part of the heritage of a great city. You do not take down a building like this without taking away your history you might as well cut a vein and let yourself bleed slowly away. To much has been torn down in Detroit and for what? Many more jobs could be developed from renovating this building and its future than by tearing it down. Not to mention the pride of a great space that could be a selling point to the revitalization of Detroit.