[LMich]

Originally Posted by subterranean

I was born and raised in Saginaw, too, so I think I know a little bit about the region...

Everyone knows that. To be clear, my reply to your post was to make sure -- if you didn't already know -- that no one implied that Metro Flint is filled with nothing but low-income residents, and to remind you and everyone else that Hayward isn't some clueless outsider making a generalization or even an incorrect observation.

Anyway...looks like our town clock is getting a make-over.

Melot: Downtown icon will retain look

March 21, 2010

Meet the new clock, same as the old clock.

I doubt Lansing businessman Ron Boji was inspired by The Who's recent Super Bowl halftime performance in deciding the immediate future for the Boji Tower's iconic clock.

Nevertheless, Boji has decided the aging and glitch-plagued clock will continue to look pretty much as it has since R.E. Olds had it installed on his building 60 or so years ago.

That's a surprising, but laudable, shift in direction from a year ago.

In the spring of 2009, Boji said he was having trouble finding parts to keep the timepiece fully functional. He was "very much looking at different options."

After meeting with him, what I thought was the leading option was to replace the clock face with a digital screen to project a clock - and other images, perhaps even advertising.

But Lansing had good fortune, in that Boji decided to solicit some opinions. He commissioned a series of interviews (full disclosure: I was one of the interviewed) to gauge community reaction to potential changes.

Judging from the report, many interviewees had reactions similar to mine: The clock is great; keep it intact as much as possible.

Boji acknowledged that very thing this week: "Overwhelmingly, the feedback we received was to preserve the current look of the clock in whatever updates are necessary. We've come up with a solution that does just that."

According to a Boji spokesman, the plan is to "update the inner workings of the clock and to refurbish the exterior this summer. The work will include changing out some of the internal mechanisms that make the clock move, and doing some work to the lighting elements on the clock."

Doug Johnson, president of the local historical society, is nodding approval, too. "I think the plan of action outlined by the Boji representative is very satisfying. There has been a recent recurrence of discussion about Lansing's sense of place: whether it has one, needs one, needs a stronger one, a different one, whatever. The Boji tower clock is a key part of giving us a firm sense of place," he said Friday. "In addition, in these days of cell phone antennae, microwave dishes, and other high tech hardware, it is satisfying to look at the peak of our tallest building and see something that doesn't say 'technobabble.'"

As a fan of neon, I do see a lingering worry: changes to the lights.

Boji and his people have said repeatedly that keeping the neon operating has been tough, so they are looking for a modern replacement that looks like neon. I prefer the real thing, but that's a small price to pay if it helps preserve the overall look of Lansing's signature building for the next 60 years.