So completes a five year evolution. Meijers replaced its seventies style building with a more efficient 21st Century building with what seems to be a smaller footprint. That move unlocked real estate for three new businesses, all of them hooked into car culture. There's a Meijer Gas Station, a Tim Horton's with a drive through and a MacDonald's with a double lane drive through. Only the gas station doesn't have a drive through. But it does have a service window for sales after midnight for so little good happens after midnight. You can ask Nancy Grace on this point she made last night.
All of the new stores have landscaping, and the Tim Horton's has an outdoor cafe maybe too close to Henry's clamorous traffic. Biggby Coffee has one. Handsome Henry's has an outdoor cafe it has shielded from road noise with a fence and shade with trees. The outdoor cafe at Hearthstone has beckoned more now that it has grown more mature, a nice piece of landscape architecture, even if Business US-31 runs on the west side of a chain link fence. Pints and Quarts has a nice outdoor cafe with a fireplace to extend the season. Not too far away stands Verdoni's, which has expanded its deck from the days of Tony Bistro. The Coffee House has a few nice tables too. Six outdoor cafes stand within ten minutes walk and yet the effect does not make one imagine Paris or even East Lansing. Even with Meijer's garden center stuffed full of blooming annuals, the asphalt influence kills of that certain something, an effect that only traffic calming, urban planning, landscape architecture and time will transform. I can feel May heat building in the newly laid tarmac. If the surface has porosity to let through rain water, I would be surprised. At least no one cut down the final Ginkgo between Horton's and the corner gas station.
Could someone do something with the defunct Butch's gas station? How is it possible that the Bettens refreshed their automotive plazas north of Sherman without making that section of boulevard seem upscale, fresh or even new? An automotive mall in North Chicago wouldn't be such a domination of car lot blah. The design vigilantes would have demanded input early and often.
Please don't get me going on the new silver chain link fence along Mona Lake Park and Hidden Cove Parks. It was wonderful being able to amble into those parks from the road during the early days of spring. Someone led me to believe that the master plan had intended a walk path along the parks, sheltered from the business route. It will take a revolution to tear that fence down. I can't look at it without thinking about bolt cutters. Don't worry. I slip into Hidden Cove where the fence must pause to let Black Creek through.
This all occurred after a design process. I am not going to search the 2007 to 2008 Muskegon Chronicle for evidence of a simple charrette. If one occurred, I would be amazed. The Harvey and Sternberg cooridor also bears the suggestion of sprawl and invites blight. The empty race track land, the defunct Hooters and a building that could house a jewelry store all give blight a place to stay overnight once invited.
I like the McDonald's lobby and I have just noticed the overhead music. I am thinking of giving the oatmeal with blueberries a try. I talked with a woman who was enjoying her salad with broiled chicken. I didn't say the cliche to her, rife on Facebook: "Going to McDonald's for a salad is like going to a uh-hum for a hug". That statement raps MacDonald's and has a slight war on women undertone. So the new McDonalds has established itself in record time upon this land where it could feasibly hold its ground for a century. I would have rather seen an Applebees take root here. At least we are generating a study culture of young folks using the wireless at Qdoba, Biggby Coffee and McDonald. Meijers must follow suit, especially since the Grand Haven store has it.
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