Here are some pictures from my walk today at Lakeside Island Park, an interesting patch of nature near me — one of the few patches reachable by foot. It’s a small island in a man-made lake outside a dead mall, the appropriately named Lakeside Mall. “Lakeside” is less appropriate for the island, since the island is in the lake, not beside it, but I only just realized that while writing this. “Lakeside” is a strong brand name here; the mall was super popular, and half the stuff in a square-mile radius is called “Lakeside” something or other. The word has even survived the mall itself: it is closed and pending redevelopment into a downtown-ish nucleus called Lakeside City Center.
That being so, this little park is probably headed for a new chapter. Access is currently limited to one bridge from a quiet residential area, but plans for a new bridge associated with Lakeside City Center were mentioned at a recent Sterling Heights City Council meeting. I’ll write about this island again soon to describe its current state in fuller detail.
Sterling Heights has recently been at work improving the island, presumably spurred by the broader Lakeside project. It was closed for most of last year while they replaced the bridge, making it smoother and wider. The previous one had uneven, buckling concrete and, if I remember correctly, a series of metal bollards down the middle. The new bridge has a single bollard at the front — I assume they’re able to remove this quickly if they need to.
The island is quiet. Usually no one else is around. In the hour or so I spent there today, I saw five other people — one biker, one runner, and three more who were out walking dogs — with long intervals between them.
