Campus Martius is noteworthy on at least two counts. First, it s a vivid demonstration of the desire

At 8 am on Tuesday (June 9th), I m sitting in  Campus Martius Park , a 2.5 acre urban park/open space in the center of downtown Detroit, waiting discount disney world magic kingdom tickets for Bob Gregory to arrive. Workers are busy cleaning the park billed as Detroit s Gathering Place but they re not city employees. Instead, they work for the Detroit 300 Conservancy, a non-profit, business-supported organization that Gregory heads.
Campus Martius is noteworthy on at least two counts. First, it s a vivid demonstration of the desire Detroiters have for a downtown open space. Second, it s an indicator of the trend towards privately managed public space in our downtowns.
Campus Martius for more on the strange name see the end of this post is actually in its second incarnation. There had been a public park in this location early in the 20th century. Back in the 1930s, Gregory tells me, downtown Detroit had the densest concentration of pedestrian traffic of any major U.S. city (note: haven t been able to verify this). But as automobiles replaced transit, discount disney world magic kingdom tickets Detroit s leaders replaced the park with roadways. discount disney world magic kingdom tickets See photo below for site of today s Campus Martius.
As Gregory discount disney world magic kingdom tickets explains, the Detroit 300 Conservancy is responsible for programming at Campus Martius. In fact, programming discount disney world magic kingdom tickets is central to its mission, because it is the programs and planned activities that draw people not just at lunch time, but during evenings and cold Winter days.
Gregory ticked off some of the events: Saturday night movies; outdoor theater and dance; the Jazz Festival in September; the Motown Winter Blast; car festivals; daily ice skating from November through March; and more. Campus Martius also draws many going to Detroit Tigers games in Comerica ballpark, just a few blocks away. (note: aerial, skating, night concert photos provided by Detroit 300).
Campus Martius is loaded with high-tech features designed to enhance the visitor experience. Gregory pointed discount disney world magic kingdom tickets out two carefully tucked away hydraulic stages used for concerts, and described the sophisticated lighting and specially discount disney world magic kingdom tickets zoned sound systems.
The impetus of the re-born Campus Martius, Gregory told me, came from a plan prepared for Detroit s Downtown Partnership in the late 1990 s by the Toronto firm,  Urban Strategies . The business community, in celebration of Detroit s 300th birthday, wanted to leave a legacy gift to the City, in the form of this new open space.
As the City didn t have the financial resources, discount disney world magic kingdom tickets this was the only way Campus Martius could be built and maintained. The model drawn on was New York City s  Bryant Park  and  Central Park , also maintained by private non-profit conservancies. Twenty million dollars discount disney world magic kingdom tickets was raised from Detroit corporations and private foundations. The result, an attractive, well-used, open space (opened in 2004, and expanded discount disney world magic kingdom tickets in 2007), managed by the Detroit 300 Conservancy under contract from the City.
It s an interesting question whether one of the key downtown open spaces for a wide range of events should be developed and managed by a private discount disney world magic kingdom tickets entity, even if it s a non-profit with the best interests of the city at its heart. But that s the reality of 21st century America, at least in fiscally-strapped cities, where the only money available to invest comes from the private corporations (motivated by civic values, a desire to preserve the value of their own corporate assets, or perhaps some combination of the two).
There are some restrictions on use of the park. As Gregory informed me, there is no soliciting, leaflet distributing, etc. in the Park, except for companies and organizations that are approved Park sponsors and partners.
Gregory also pointed to the restoration of the nearby Book-Cadillac building (left) as a new Westin hotel something that Preservation Wayne Director discount disney world magic kingdom tickets Karen Nagher also mentioned to me as a positive sign.
But there s still no major retail businesses downtown in America s 11th largest city (population 917,000). Part of the site of the huge  Hudson Department store demolished discount disney world magic kingdom tickets in 1998 , just a block away from Campus Martius, is still vacant.
In today s tough economic climate, Gregory notes, the challenge is to keep Campus Martius going. That was further highlighted during my visit to Detroit by talk about General Motors possibly pulling its headquarters out of downtown.