Don’t send my hate mail to 214 S. Jackson St. anymore. That is
the tired, old-fashioned address for the Citizen Patriot.
From now on, it will be One Journalism Centre.
One Journalism Centre is a great address. It has pizzazz. One
is the best number because it comes first. Journalism is what we do between
sandwich contests. Misspelling “center” with -re at the end is so pretentious it
instantly conveys my sense of self-importance.
What more can you ask from an address?
Zippy addresses are one of Jackson’s hotter
fashions.
Roots of this trend stretch back decades to One Jackson Square,
the address for an office building and hotel that appear to be located on
Michigan Avenue.
Consumers Energy's new headquarters revitalizes that spirit for
a new era.
The entrance of the Consumers building is the old post office.
It stood for generations a 200 Otsego Ave., but Otsego Avenue is
gone.
Casual observers might think Consumers is located on Francis
Street merely because Francis runs in front of the property. Wrong.
Consumers is at One Energy Plaza.
Comtronics, the firm allegedly located at 315 Water St., faces
extraordinary address complications.
A new parking lot causes Water Street to stop before it reaches
Comtronics. Cars reach Comtronics off Liberty Street, which soon will be renamed
E. Washington Avenue to minimize confusion. Go figure.
Instead of taking an ordinary street number, Comtronics asked
for a whole new address: One Comtronics Place.
While debating the ramifications of One Comtronics Place, City
Council members let it slip that an unnamed firm wanted the address One Bakery
Way.
This caused Councilman Jerry Ludwig to muse, “One Apple Way.”
Ludwig owns the Big Apple Bar & Deli.
Think of all the great addresses Jackson could have!
Gramer’s Candies: One Chocolate House. Potter’s Pub: One Jiggly
Place. Christoff’s restaurant: One Coney Kitchen. The Parlour: Five Ice Cream
Piles. The possibilities are endless.
You may wonder if anyone has a right to make up a new
address.
Evidently, the answer is no.
When I petitioned City Hall for action, I was told the Citizen
Patriot has no chance for an address up-grade. It is not eligible because the
building sits near the street without a traffic entrance of its own.
This is unacceptable. I refuse to be stuck at 214 S. Jackson
St. just because One Journalism Centre has no driveway. One drawback to our new
address will be the little problem of finding us.
Jackson Street is on all the maps. A made-up address is not and
never will be mapped. Good luck getting here if you don’t know where to
look.
If city leaders are serious about making travel in Jackson less
confusing, they may start keeping this little problem in mind.
Until then, I’ll ride the bandwagon all the way to One
Journalism Centre (look for us two blocks south of Calser Hardware).
–Brad Flory’s column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays. Call
him at 768-4925 or e-mail him at bflory@citpat.com.
Reprinted with permission from The Jackson Citizen
Patriot
Copyright June 2003
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