Three Rivers awarded a $940,000 grant Mural Mall

If we citizens of the State of Michigan can't find a better, more productive use for nearly a million dollars then we are a sadder mess than I thought.

Oh Come on C Ball, This grant will drastically change the lives of Three Rivers Citizens.

I'm sure that after the completion of the project our home values will double or maybe even triple.

Visitors will flock to Three Rivers in droves just for a glimpse of the Mural Mall.

Industry will fight for the right to build in Three Rivers just to be close to the Mural Mall.

Life as we know it will dramatically change, all for the better just because we were REWARDED this most coveted grant.

Outsiders will bow at our feet simple because WE LIVE in Three Rivers.

Becoming a Three Rivers Citizen will soon replace winning the lotto on Americans wish list.

The citizens will erect a monument to the DDA for this amazing contribution that made Three Rivers a destination on the maps of America.

The Mayor and City Manager will be in seated on golden thrones above City Hall so we the people can come and pay homage to those that made our lives worth living !!!!

C Ball ,how you can utter a note against this progress is beyond my comprehension ?????

vblainev, thanks for the humor, is needed. It was humor, wasn't it?

Recently read where Constantine is removing their skateboard court, for a basketball court.
While, Three Rivers is spending thousands of the tax payer's dollars, to build a bigger and noisier skateboard court, downtown.
With the revised Mural Mall with its ramped walkway, the skateboarders can start up on Main Street, get up some speed down the ramp to challenge autos as they whir across the road, and onto their court.
Wonder if the Mural Mall ramped walkway will be heated in the winter, so pedestrians don't join the skateboarders?

Thanks a viking, it was humor to emphasize a sad sad state of affairs.

Our City Commission hand and hand with the DDA have totally lost their connection with reality. They live in a world where, WHAT THEY THINK, WHAT THEY WANT AND WHAT THEY FEEL take precedence over the real needs of Three Rivers and it's citizens.

You're right Blaine. I simply wasn't looking at the big picture. I am starting to understand what the City and DDA are trying to accomplish. If we get the downtown looking good enough maybe the Chinese will want to buy the town and then we'll have lots of money. Of course, then the City will turn over all the money to the DDA so I guess we're right back where we started.

Grants are available for communities that seek to target areas of traditional downtowns for facade improvements which will have a significant impact on the downtown/community. The Downtown Faade Program is structured to provide commercial/mixed-use building faade improvements to sustain and minimize deterioration of the downtown area.

This is from the Michigan Advantage website. The Michigan Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program gives money to communities to improve their downtown areas.

If the money is available then it's the city's job to get everything it can.

It's our job to make sure the State is justifying spending tax dollars on projects like these by providing information that supports the need to spend the money. Do the improvements that the grants pay for creating the results that are desired.

What ever happened with this? Has there been progress?

Update: An alert reader pointed my to this from the River Country Journal Plans for 'Mural Mall' project nearing finalization.

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Liberty First. Everything else second.

That's a lot of money for a skateboard park.

Other than walking through it occasionally, this seem a lot of money for a place that's not an attraction (other than the boarders, that is).

Perhaps others differ in opinion?

Amazon - my point exactly. Let's dump a truck load of money on something that no one uses - especially after the completion of the east parking lot with its $190k pass thru.

Downtown Mural Mall design approved.

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Liberty First. Everything else second.

I am also confused by the funding arrangements. It appears that there is a grant for $750k with matching funds of $190k. My understanding was that the match would be funded by the DDA in return for the forgiveness of the loan from the city for the East parking lot walkthru but in everything I've read the $190k is coming from the city. Please enlighten me as this looks like we are getting double dipped - and I'm sure that would never happen.

THREE RIVERS Four bids for a total renovation of the Three Rivers downtown Mural Mall plus Main Street sidewalk and lighting work were opened at 11 a.m. Thursday morning at City Hall.

The bids for the project, which is to be financed by a $750,000 Michigan Community Development Block Grant plus $190,000 matching City of Three Rivers/DDA funds, were taken for review by Steve Bishop of Fleis & VandenBrink, the engineering firm responsible for design and implementation of the construction.

Source: Three Rivers Commercial Website.

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Liberty First. Everything else second.

I honestly don't mind the skate board park if they did it right. Building it out of plywood is a waste of money. It will be in the dump in 5 years. Otherwise, there are some great kids who skate board. My kids would love it.
What they should do is allocate money for a police officer to patrol the parks and recreation area on a more regular basis. There has been a lot of vandalism at Skidmore Park and on Pealer St bridge. If they make it safe, and use concrete and metal construction materials, then it really could be a destination point for out of towners. There are lots of families who travel to St. Joe and South Haven because of their skate parks.
If I were a person with some money and they DO build a decent park, I'd buy that little building right by the park and put in an ice cream shop and capitalize on that.

Mural Mall renovation project bids on agenda for Three Rivers City Commission meeting Tuesday evening.

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Liberty First. Everything else second.

So per the engineering firm the mall is "getting old and getting tired" but the mural itself is not part of the proposed work. Sorry guys but that is one of the things that make this old and tired. Just don't understand what we are getting for the the million bucks that's being spent.