Jun 29 2008
MEN: Luna Pier as a True Tourist Destination
Regular readers of this blog probably already know that I love the City of Luna Pier along Monroe County’s southern shore. The city is just different from every other town in the region. It has a publicly-accessible shorefront, cool, almost-European narrow streets and a few interesting restaurants/stores.
One thing that I think is absolutely essential for Luna Pier, long-term, is the creation of a Lake Erie Trail. The city has a reasonably large DNR marsh to the north of town and the Woodtick Peninsula to the south. In between, a visitor finds the Harold Street bikepath, a half-mile plus pier AND an existing old railroad bridge that could connect them all together.
If the right things happen, Luna Pier could become a MAJOR birding/trail/tourist town. Click to the left for some Luna Pier hikes. Click below for Joshua Kennedy’s fantastic Monroe Evening News article about Luna Pier and its future:
What began in the early 1900s as a Lake Erie resort has morphed into its own little city since incorporating in 1963. It may be one of Monroe County’s brightest jewels if the new administration can move mountains and somehow get the nearly 1,500 residents to join their cause.
Mayor Mary Liske and Administrator Greg Stewart, along with an active city council, are leading an effort to reinvigorate the sleepy beach town, and to move it toward a prosperous future.
“We are the very first real exit on I-75 as you’re coming into Michigan from Ohio, and we’re the last stop as you leave Michigan,” says Mayor Liske, who assumed office in January. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a true destination here,where people would come over the viaduct (heading east) and the first thing they see is the lake? What if we lined that road all the way with little shops, just the right vendors, who each kick in things that would represent the entire state?” she asks just about anyone who will listen.
“The majority of our tax base comes from Consumers Energy,” Mayor Liske said, referring to the coal-burning power plant just a few miles south of the city. “That plant has maybe 10 or 15 years of life left, with no guarantee when it will use up its life, or whether they’ll rebuild.”
The city was one being considered for a new plant, but Consumers’ officials ultimately decided on Bay City for their own reasons. Still, without that plant, residents of the quaint beachside community are looking at steep tax increases just to maintain what’s already going on.
“We need to build up something that will give us a tax base so we can be sustainable in the future,” Mayor Liske said. “People here have always resisted that. They like the town the way it is.”
More here…
http://www.monroenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080629/NEWS01/165261344/-1/NEWS_RSS