Book released at Earth Day 1993 by Spunky Duck Press, ISBN 0-9636687-06-6, $4.95 UPDATES SINCE THE PUBLICATION OF THIS BOOK IN SMALLER GREEN TEXT. Revitalization of Vacant Developed Areas The city, township and county of Kalamazoo is dotted with abandoned and vacant warehouses, malls, office buildings and other commercial and industrial areas. Recycling this land seems a more feasible option than constructing on undeveloped farmland. As illustration, imagine that Kalamazoo County is an apple tree, with each fruit representing a piece of land and only one harvest of fruit. Many of these apples have one bite taken out of them the first bite being the most delicious and are left to hang on the tree. Some apples are gnawed down to the core. Still others are almost intact. The Asylum Lake territories are almost intact apples. WMU wants to take a big bite out of them, ignoring all the singly-bit apples that surround it. It is frivolous to continue through the tree biting each apple once and rarely finishing the individual fruit. Eventually, all the apples will have bites in them, and eventually all the apples will be gone. By creating a research and business network throughout the community, WMU would be recycling land, teaching its students about reclamation rather than devastation. Renovation requires additional time, money and effort, three items which only a university as diverse as WMU could provide the community. The argument that historically-industrial sites are contaminated is an excuse for the easy route. Previous contamination does not give WMU permission to pollute a new area. If the contamination is limited to an industrial area, distant from residential tracts, no one will be drinking the groundwater. WMU could arrange an agreement with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to waive nay citation concerning pre-existing contamination. Clean-up procedures would be educational to WMU's hydrogeology program and could incorporate graduate research in innovative remediation technology, a topic for which research grants are available. The clean-up costs could be covered by scholarships, grants and other sources of student research funding. Renovation costs more than fresh construction in dollars and cents. However, the benefits of the Asylum Lake territories cannot be measured in monetary terms. We have yet to devise a manner in which to quantify nature, wildlife and open space. How much is a child's first glimpse of a herd of deer worth? What's the going rate for coming face to face with a red fox? Nature doesn't come with a price tag. By renovating existing industrial and business sites, WMU would be revitalizing the community immediately adjacent to those sites. Businessmen eat lunch at local restaurants, shop on their lunch break at nearby retail stores. Renewed operation along Business I-94 and the north side of Kalamazoo would assist areas caught in the throes of economic depression. Nazareth College grounds and the General Motors plant will soon be available. West Main Mall and EastTowne Mall have been relatively vacant for years, dominantly occupied by cinemas. Business offices coudl be situated in the dusty store lots contained within those walls in a pre-fabricated business park. Gaining funds for the purchase and renovation of vacant and abandoned buildings should not be difficult for WMU; purporting the project as a revitalization effort, they could gain state and federal funding such as what they are pursuing for the Asylum Lake research and business park. WMU can get the money to do whatever it pleases. The decision to renovate Kalamazoo County's vacant areas is a resolution that could be financially supported by an administration that has already exhibited the tenacity, perseverance and determination needed to succeed in such an undertaking. BACK TO THE HAVEN: A TREATISE ON ASYLUM LAKE TABLE OF CONTENTS |
HAVEN: A Treatise on Asylum Lake |
Asylum Lake Controversy Kalamazoo County, MI |
Book released at Earth Day 1993 by Spunky Duck Press, ISBN 0-9636687-06-6, $4.95 UPDATES SINCE THE PUBLICATION OF THIS BOOK IN SMALLER GREEN TEXT. Revitalization of Vacant Developed Areas The city, township and county of Kalamazoo is dotted with abandoned and vacant warehouses, malls, office buildings and other commercial and industrial areas. Recycling this land seems a more feasible option than constructing on undeveloped farmland. As illustration, imagine that Kalamazoo County is an apple tree, with each fruit representing a piece of land and only one harvest of fruit. Many of these apples have one bite taken out of them the first bite being the most delicious and are left to hang on the tree. Some apples are gnawed down to the core. Still others are almost intact. The Asylum Lake territories are almost intact apples. WMU wants to take a big bite out of them, ignoring all the singly-bit apples that surround it. It is frivolous to continue through the tree biting each apple once and rarely finishing the individual fruit. Eventually, all the apples will have bites in them, and eventually all the apples will be gone. By creating a research and business network throughout the community, WMU would be recycling land, teaching its students about reclamation rather than devastation. Renovation requires additional time, money and effort, three items which only a university as diverse as WMU could provide the community. The argument that historically-industrial sites are contaminated is an excuse for the easy route. Previous contamination does not give WMU permission to pollute a new area. If the contamination is limited to an industrial area, distant from residential tracts, no one will be drinking the groundwater. WMU could arrange an agreement with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to waive nay citation concerning pre-existing contamination. Clean-up procedures would be educational to WMU's hydrogeology program and could incorporate graduate research in innovative remediation technology, a topic for which research grants are available. The clean-up costs could be covered by scholarships, grants and other sources of student research funding. Renovation costs more than fresh construction in dollars and cents. However, the benefits of the Asylum Lake territories cannot be measured in monetary terms. We have yet to devise a manner in which to quantify nature, wildlife and open space. How much is a child's first glimpse of a herd of deer worth? What's the going rate for coming face to face with a red fox? Nature doesn't come with a price tag. By renovating existing industrial and business sites, WMU would be revitalizing the community immediately adjacent to those sites. Businessmen eat lunch at local restaurants, shop on their lunch break at nearby retail stores. Renewed operation along Business I-94 and the north side of Kalamazoo would assist areas caught in the throes of economic depression. Nazareth College grounds and the General Motors plant will soon be available. West Main Mall and EastTowne Mall have been relatively vacant for years, dominantly occupied by cinemas. Business offices coudl be situated in the dusty store lots contained within those walls in a pre-fabricated business park. Gaining funds for the purchase and renovation of vacant and abandoned buildings should not be difficult for WMU; purporting the project as a revitalization effort, they could gain state and federal funding such as what they are pursuing for the Asylum Lake research and business park. WMU can get the money to do whatever it pleases. The decision to renovate Kalamazoo County's vacant areas is a resolution that could be financially supported by an administration that has already exhibited the tenacity, perseverance and determination needed to succeed in such an undertaking. BACK TO THE HAVEN: A TREATISE ON ASYLUM LAKE TABLE OF CONTENTS |
