MSP building stiff-arms downtown

OK, the Michigan State Police HQ is complete. People are using it. Its presence in the fabric of downtown Lansing can be fairly assessed.

It does little more than shout “Go away!” at the rest of the city.

No shock there -- the building’s use by the MSP meant that the security measures would have to be plentiful and showy. Sure enough, the building’s bland facade is accented only by black fencing designed to keep people away.

Lansingites still have access along the Grand River via the trail, but on the MSP’s side of the trail stands a nice high fence. The building in no way relates to the river, or to the buildings near it. I guess we should be happy that Joel Ferguson and Gary Granger didn’t opt for a moat stocked with alligators.

I’ll grant that a building full of workers is better than a sprawling surface parking lot, which is what the “Triangle” site was before Ferguson-Granger went to work. But you can’t look at this structure and not think that an opportunity was lost to do more with a prime slot on the Grand.

Oh well.