It's one thing for us to profess our love for the City of Detroit, but it's always nice to hear it from someone else too.
In case you missed it, the Boston Globe ran a great article about Detroit on Sunday. Here are a few of our favorite excerpts (via Model D Media):
The neighborhood party signifies why Detroit can be an unexpectedly inviting summer weekend destination. A creative, consistently friendly, and unpretentious atmosphere with predominantly African-American vibes suffuses the city, layered with a melange of Greek, Polish, Arab, Mexican, and other ethnic textures highlighted in a series of free music and cultural festivals. If you need guidance, Detroiters are proud to describe the event choices for any given weekend.
A helpful geographic anchor for a city excursion is the Woodward Avenue corridor stretching from the downtown riverfront to the cultural center two miles north. Along this stretch one finds comfortable accommodations, restaurants, the elegant Detroit Institute of Arts (reopening Nov. 23 after a six-month reconstruction and renovation project), and the setting for a neighborhood architectural tour.
Detroit as a summer weekend destination? How great is this?
It gets better...
When evening arrives, enjoy Detroit's vital blues, jazz, classical, or rock 'n' roll tradition. On the Saturday night I spent in town, Wynton Marsalis played the Detroit Orchestra Hall, but I preferred to remain street level for Jazzin' on Jefferson before heading off to Baker's Keyboard Lounge on the far north side. Baker's, said to be the world's oldest operating jazz club at 73 years, is an urbane space featuring live music seven nights a week in a packed setting where the stage kisses the front row of tables. I order blackened catfish and yams during the second set from a menu that would do well in southern Georgia. After the kitchen closes at 1 a.m., R.J., the doorman, waives the cover charge and highlights the club's notoriety. He points to an alphabetical list above the door."Everyone in jazz who counts is up there. Think of a name." I scan for Miles Davis and R.J. folds his arms looking satisfied.
"When Stevie Wonder and Anita Baker are back in town, they'll stop by. And you see the top of the bar?" I note that the long white counter replicates the look of a piano keyboard. "When Liberace heard about it, he sent a guy here to check it out and put the design around his swimming pool."
While the writer (Erik Gleibermann) paints a wonderful image of Detroit as this hip jazz town in the piece, it's also clear that he didn't have his rose-colored glasses on the whole time he was in town. This final passage really struck a chord with us:
Music venues in the northern suburbs offer intriguing possibilities as well, but if you want to venture beyond Detroit proper over the weekend, consider waiting until morning for a drive east along Lakeshore to Grosse Pointe, where stately mansions stand back from Lake St. Clair. Or take a day trip 40 miles west to Ann Arbor for a quintessential college town tour. Traverse the University of Michigan's "Diag," the tree-lined central plaza, and meander onto outlying streets to discover a campus comfortably woven through residential neighborhoods.
As affluent economic counterpoints to Detroit, Grosse Pointe and Ann Arbor illustrate the severe disparities that have come to characterize the area. As you head home, the contrasting images will probably prompt reflection, interwoven with the sound of jazz and the smell of souvlaki.
Like we said before, Detroit still has some severe racial and socioeconomic hardships to overcome. However, after reading an article like this, it's nice to know that we're not the only ones who see signs of life in the D.
A city can't buy this kind of glowing coverage –– especially from a media market like Boston –– so Detroit must be doing something right these days.
1. Free Press: $1.5 million in grants will help state grow new business
The Michigan Economic Development Corp. said it will allocate about $1.5 million in federal Community Development Block Grant funding to help grow new businesses across the state.
The new program, announced by Gov. Jennifer Granholm this morning, will assist communities with construction, expansion or the acquisition of public and non-profit incubator projects in Michigan.
Incubators help entrepreneurs develop intellectual property, conduct product development, secure start-up financing and formulate business plans.
“We are helping Michigan entrepreneurs turn their innovative ideas into successful businesses that will create jobs in communities across the state,” Granholm said.
The grants will be distributed on first-come-first-served basis with the maximum payout allowed per project being $500,000, according the MEDC.
2. Blogging for Michigan: Cool Cities Director To Speak On Creative Economies
Karen Gagnon, director of Michigan's Cool Cities Initiative, will speak at the 2007 National Conference on the Creative Economy. Gagnon will participate in a panel, "How Creative Communities Can Help Build a Diversified Local Economy."
The Creative Economy conference will examine the role that a strong, creative workforce plays in the growth and success of businesses and communities in an information-based economy.
3. Free Press (Op-Ed): Early ed is smart spending
Increasing numbers of excellent, rigorously conducted cost-benefit studies prove beyond question that good preschool education is sound economic policy. Estimates vary, depending on the specific program and on the time frame studied, but usually there is a 10% to 16% internal rate of financial return, with dramatic "social returns" that can change the very nature of society.
A New York State study showed a return of $7 for every dollar spent, and a recent Brookings Institution study suggests that between now and 2080, $59 billion spent on quality preschooling would generate about $400 billion in added tax revenues and diminished expenditures.
Higher school and college graduation rates with less remediation; fewer teen pregnancies; dramatically less delinquency, crime and imprisonment; increased incomes with high taxes paid -- all are results of good preschool programs. The favorable long-term impact on our skilled and productive labor force is beyond computation.
4. LSJ: Lansing Council candidates cite progress in city, acknowledge challenges
Lansing, some say, is experiencing a rebirth.
New restaurants, stores and lofts are being built downtown and in neighborhoods.
But Lansing also is steadily losing residents to the suburbs, has pockets where drug dealers and prostitutes reign, and about 25 percent of its residents live below the federal poverty level.
Six City Council candidates running for two at-large seats in the Aug. 7 primary pledge to strike a balance between maintaining the city's tenuous momentum and tackling its deficiencies.
However, that is easier said than done, said John Schweitzer, professor of urban studies at Michigan State University.
Lansing's problems are "tough to overcome in a weak economy."
Schweitzer said it's difficult for candidates to come up with answers to turn around a struggling city's fortunes.
"I hear it over and over again every two years during an election that this or that needs to be changed," he said. "But nobody seems to have the solutions."
Ahem... we respectfully disagree on that last point (click here for a modest proposal).
5. Muskegon Chronicle: Downtown redevelopment 'off and running'
The opening of Hegg's Gallery in the former Century Club building is just the beginning of new construction and reconstruction on the former Muskegon Mall property.
Development is not progressing as fast as downtown promoters had predicted -- or would have liked -- but development is progressing, officials said.
Construction that was expected in the spring has been delayed by a combination of title work questions due to government participation in the pre-Muskegon Mall days of urban renewal, electrical utility issues and an ongoing debate over parking, according to Chuck Johnson.
The retired SPX Corp. executive is chairman of the nonprofit Downtown Muskegon Development Corp., which owns and is selling lots in Muskegon's historic downtown business district.
"Cindy Larsen (president of the Muskegon Area Chamber of Commerce) said the Hegg's building will set the standard for the rest of the development," Johnson said. "With Hegg's, we're off and running."
Editor's Note: "Michigan Development News" is a new weekly series that will feature short affordable housing and economic development-related news stories each Monday. Check back next week for our second installment.
Okay, so we're technically a few days late on this one (the city's 306th "birthday" was on July 27), but we still wanted to mark the occasion by giving a shout out to the great City of Detroit.
While this week also marks the 40th anniversary of the 1967 riots -- which undeniably drove people away from the city, and left Detroit with numerous scars which have yet to fully heal -- we really appreciated this editorial from the Detroit Free Press:
I did not live here before the riot, so I cannot say what was true then. But I do know that a generation or more of suburban kids afterward grew up being warned not to go into Detroit. As a result, the city was not part of their existence. I know this because people my age are always asking me where things are in Detroit when they venture into the city. I know, too, that some of the folks who came down for the first Red Wings parade in 1997 or the Super Bowl or a Tigers game had not set foot in the city for decades.
The riot, seems to me, cost Detroit dearly in this regard. It diminished the city as the regional gathering place, put a major crimp in interaction between city folks and suburbanites, and further damaged the city's economy as money followed people to the east, north and west. Maybe the lines were pretty clear around Detroit before 1967, but afterward they became walls. And, of course, Detroit became a worse place as fewer people felt invested in it. It was just easier to avoid.
Don't worry, it's not all gloomy...
There is change now. A new generation has begun exploring Detroit again. They come for the music, the gambling, the sports and the riverfront. Some are even staying, in the city's new lofts and condos. They were born without the baggage from older generations. But it took a long time to shed it.
And some people still think they are nuts. The city, after all, still has a serious crime problem.
But crime feeds on fear -- and if you've been downtown any nights this summer, you don't feel that in the air. Most of the people around here now weren't born in 1967. That city of fear is not the Detroit they know.
More important, it's not the one they want.
Seeing as how I was born seventeen years after the riot (and grew up in Lansing), my experiences with the City of Detroit were limited to a few hockey games at Joe Louis Arena during my childhood.
It's not like my family was afraid of the city or anything... we just didn't have any reason to go to Detroit. But that's different now.
Aside from the times I've traveled into town in recent years for business with the Trust Fund (at our headquarters on 2nd Avenue), I find myself going into downtown Detroit several times a month nowadays. Whether it's for a Tigers game at Comerica Park, dinner at one of the cool new restaurants, or a concert at one of the many theaters, there's just a great energy about town... especially during the summer.
Don't get me wrong, Detroit still has some serious problems to deal with –– with poverty, crime, segregation, and homelessness at the top of the list –– but the key difference is that there's a renewed sense of optimism. A sense that little by little, things are getting better.
Of course, it's our hope that we can be a part of that change. That's why we have dual headquarters in Lansing and Detroit. That's why our pre-development loan programs for affordable housing and economic development only fund projects within the City of Detroit. That's why we underwrite programming on Detroit public radio. That's why our annual dinner is held Focus: Hope in the City of Detroit.
We're just one non-profit, but we're proud of our commitment to Detroit, and if we can play even a small part in the city's revitalization, then that's good enough for us.
Happy 306th Birthday, Detroit!
Hop on over to the eNewsletter page to read our July newsletter.
This month's features include:
• +100,000 Reasons to Become a Trust Fund Investor
• Supporting Supportive Housing in Ann Arbor
• Borrowers' & Burners' Luncheon
We just caught this on the WWJ radio blog, Michigan Future. This is the first we'd heard of ARISE Detroit, but their upcoming Neighborhoods Day sure sounds like a great idea:
A citywide wake-up call is coming to Detroit next month. ARISE Detroit! Neighborhoods Day will be a day focused on reconnecting families, people and neighborhoods all over the city on the same day.
ARISE Detroit Executive Director Luther Keith announced Wednesday morning there will be block parties, family reunions, and neighborhood cleanups all over the city Aug. 4.
Keith says the purpose of the special day is to stimulate pride and connect people and their children.
Events are scheduled to be held at churches, parks, recreation centers and other community areas. There will also be mini-community forums on key issues of importance to each area.
Click here or call (313) 921-1955 for more information.
Boy, we sure like the sound of this!
Here's a little more background from the ARISE Detroit! website:
ARISE Detroit!! is a new collaborative effort to put action and meaning to an old concept: community activism. We all have the power to reclaim neighborhoods and improve the quality of life for Detroit children and families. ARISE Detroit!! believes that everyone can help make a better community. You just need to find your role by volunteering or getting involved some other way.
Doesn't that strike a great chord? Everyone can help make a community better, and ARISE sure sounds like a great catalyst for positive change in the City of Detroit.
It's one thing for nonprofits to get involved with community revitalization -- after all, that's what we're here for -- but it's great to see an effort like this that targets individuals, and gets folks engaged in their own communities.
The ARISE motto "Be Part of the Change" is similar to an old Gandhi saying that I have hanging near my computer: "We must become the change we want to see in the world." Well, that's certainly what we're all about here at the Trust Fund, and it's great to see another nonprofit like ARISE bringing this vision to Detroit neighborhoods.
Hmm. Don't know how this one slipped passed our radar, but the New York Times ran an editorial about affordable housing on July 3 urging Congress to pass legislation that would create the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Since the article is behind the Times Select firewall, we'll just link to a few notable excerpts:
Modeled on successful, state-level programs, the fund would be used to construct, rehabilitate and preserve 1.5 million units of housing over the next 10 years. The money -- three-quarters of which would be earmarked for extremely low-income families -- would be parceled out to local jurisdictions that would then award grants to entities that build and rehabilitate housing. In exchange for trust fund dollars, a proportionate number of units would be set aside for low-income families. This would encourage healthy, mixed-income developments.
The fund would require no new taxes, but would be financed through new contributions made by the government-backed mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and with additional revenue generated by the Federal Housing Administration, which insures mortgages. To put it another way, the government would direct money made from housing right back into the same area.
Well, hot dog! It would've been nice to see a similar editorial from one of the major Michigan newspapers following Advocacy Day back in May, but it's still great to see something like this in the New York Times.
The editorial continues, arguing that...
the bipartisan support that has materialized for this year's bill suggests that the ideologues have had their day and that the pain and hardship being inflicted by the affordable housing crisis is finally being recognized on both sides of the aisle.
This is essentially the case we've been making for supporting the MHCDF all along –– affordable housing is not a partisan issue! On Advocacy Day, we had Republican and Democratic members from both chambers speak out in support of the Housing and Community Development Fund. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R), Rep. Steve Tobocman (D), Sen. Mark Jansen (R), and Sen. Buzz Thomas (D) all gave wonderful speeches at the rally.
We understand that dealing with the state budget has been a very polarizing process, but funding for affordable housing programs is the type of common sense legislation that most of our elected officials should be able to agree on.
Unfortunately, the MHCDF may be temporarily stalled here in Michigan. However, it's reassuring to realize that there's hope for a similar initiative at the federal level.
We need the mainstream media to keep the spotlight on affordable housing issues, so hopefully this NYT editorial is just the first of many from other prominent national newspapers.
Somewhere in Lansing there’s a chronically homeless man walking around who — over the years — has cost the city of Lansing more than a million dollars and who is still no better off than he was when he first became homeless, says Joan Jackson Johnson, the city’s director of human relations and community resources.
“We call him the million-dollar man,” Johnson told the Lansing City Council during last spring’s budget deliberations.
And, she said, there’s more than one of them. She reckons there are about four or five. She refers to them as “the million-dollar individuals.”
Considering the ongoing budget crisis that our state has been grappling with over the past several years -- which has since trickled down to local units of government -- it's upsetting to think that so much money has been spent on chronically homeless individuals, with so little to show for it.
Ms. Johnson explains:
The chronically homeless wander the streets until a citizen complains, Johnson explained. Maybe they’re urinating in public, or acting strangely, or loitering. The police show up and may issue them tickets. Then they typically bounce from hospital to court to shelters to temporary treatment programs, gobbling up taxpayer dollars along the way.
In the end — because none of these are permanent, long-term solutions — these people end up back on the street with nothing to show for it except unpaid tickets and hospital bills.
[Johnson] says the bottom line is to get the chronically homeless off the streets permanently and into treatment. She’s proposed developing a “homeless initiative” that will do just that.
“There’s this whole vicious cycle,” Johnson explained during a recent telephone interview. “Everything we do for them is crisis oriented. It’s a Band-Aid treatment at its best, over an oozing sore. We have a lot of people that really bleed the system.”
We're with Ms. Johnson up to a point. The program she's proposing sounds like it's meant to be a form of "tough love":
Her homeless initiative is in the very early stages, Johnson stressed, and isn‘t completely worked out yet. Initially she wants to track about 15 to 20 chronically homeless people to see how much money is actually spent on them. Later, after a long-term way to help them is worked out, if they won’t voluntarily cooperate, Johnson envisions forcing them to get help by threatening them with jail time. She says her initiative is modeled after a San Diego program that she says worked with 17 people and saved that city $1.6 million in one year of operation.
“We’re trying to help motivate some of the chronically homeless,” she said. Because their lives are so difficult, sometimes they just give up, she added.
The threat of jail time might be a bit harsh, but the current system clearly isn't working either.
Susan Cancro is the executive director of Advent House Ministries, an area faith-based organization that helps the homeless. She says a survey taken about a year ago showed that there are about 400 homeless people living in Lansing. She estimates that about 50 to 80 of them are considered chronically homeless.
Cancro said she too believes there are “million-dollar” individuals in Lansing, “because they use the system so much.” A lot of them suffer from mental health problems, she continued. “They clearly can’t function in the community.”
Cancro agrees that something new is needed to push them into a different way of thinking and acting, although she says jail isn‘t the place for them.
I think we're with Susan on this one, but it's good to know that decision-makers are at least acknowledging the problem:
Councilwoman Carol Wood said whether she or the rest of the Council will support Johnson’s homeless initiative beyond the $15,000 in this year’s budget isn’t certain.
“It would depend on what the program is,” Wood said. “Part of what I would like to see is a holistic view. Part of the problem is it becomes a revolving door.”
Ah, the money issue again. Well, for the umpteenth time, this leads us back to the same old argument for why our state needs to invest in the Michigan Housing and Community Development Fund.
If we want to grow our economy, we need to make sure folks have access to affordable housing -- and chronic homelessness falls under this umbrella as well. That's why our friends at the Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness are also partners in the Living in Michigan campaign.
Yes, the state budget is tight. However, we can't continue to acknowledge that our current way of dealing with homeless citizens isn't working, without taking the time to invest in sustainable solutions that can help break the cycle of chronic homelessness.
Cityscape Detroit will hold a panel discussion on the topic of brownfield redevelopment on July 24 from 4 to 6:30 p.m. The event will be moderated by Robert Colangelo, CEO of The National Brownfield Associations...
The diversity of experience of the panelists and moderator will ensure that all aspects of brownfield redevelopment will be covered, including financing, usage and legal and technical issues. Brownfield tax credits can be used not just for contaminated sites, but for those deemed functionally obsolete. Their leverage is often an integral piece of the development-in-Detroit puzzle.
The event will be held at The 55 West Canfield Lofts located at 55 W. Canfield Detroit, MI. The event costs $20, which includes a one year membership to Cityscape Detroit. RSVP at rsvp@cityscapedetroit.org
In an unrelated matter, the Kalamazoo Gazette had a great editorial in today's paper urging Washington to increase the number of federal housing vouchers. Here is a brief excerpt from the piece:
Long lines of people formed wherever applications were accepted, and they snaked around corners and down streets.
At the end of the day, May 17, 2006, fully 2,000 applications had been accepted for federal Section 8 housing vouchers. It will be years before housing officials get through the list.
But it's possible that the waiting time will get a little bit shorter, thanks to a bill passed by the U.S. House last week -- and with the support of U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph -- to expand the number of Section 8 housing vouchers available through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The Section 8 housing program has been a successful way to help low-income families find decent housing. Unlike the failed old federal housing project scheme, in which the poor were segregated into desperate islands of crime and blight, the Section 8 voucher program allows qualifying families to live in mixed-income neighborhoods.
Kudos to Rep. Fred Upton for helping to push this bill through the House. The legislation passed by an overwhelming majority (333-83), which just proves once again that affordable housing is not a partisan issue.
We also have to tip our hat to the K-Zoo Gazette for bringing this issue to their readers' attention. We have complained about the lack of coverage affordable housing issues have gotten from Michigan newspapers in recent months, so we commend the Gazette for giving this topic the face time it deserves. Hopefully this is the beginning of a trend from Michigan's mainstream media.
Here's a little background on the project:
Armory Arts Village is a unique creativity-focused neighborhood being developed on the site of the dramatic historic 19th century Jackson State Prison. It's beautiful stone/ brick buildings and turreted stone walls perched high above the Grand River just blocks from downtown Jackson, Michigan.
A Truly Rare Opportunity
In addition to affordable live/work space, residents will also benefit from:
* Affordable access to shared work, exhibit/ performance space including gallery, large scale art production & a ceramic/ sculpture studio.
* Seminars & workshops designed to help residents develop their art into small businesses & other types of entrepreneurial endeavors.
* Exposure to the public and specific markets for their work.
Inspiring Setting, Ideal Location
The central Midwest location also affords easy access to diverse markets for resident artists' work:
* Five minutes from I-94 & U.S. 127
* Half an hour from the university cultural centers of Ann Arbor & East Lansing
* One hour from the major urban centers of Detroit & Toledo
* Four blocks from downtown Jackson's train depot offering Amtrak service to Chicago, Detroit & New York.
Speaking from personal experience, my grandmother grew up in a house just a few blocks away from the old Jackson prison. I used to go there to visit my great uncle when I was a kid, and even back then you could tell that the neighborhood was a shadow of what it once was.
The Armory Arts Project is an apt symbol for everything the City of Jackson has gone through over the years. The goal is to take this old, run-down structure, and turn it into the hub for Jackson's economic revitalization plan.
There's been a lot of talk in recent years about attracting young, knowledge workers to our state. Well, here's the perfect opportunity to actually make it happen!
A volunteer student at the University of Michigan, Reema Tahti, created a short YouTube video to showcase the project. Check it out:
Things like the Armory Arts Project are great bait that can help our state lure young, artistic workers to places like Jackson. However, affordable housing could be the hook that we use to reel them in, maximizing the potential for meaningful community revitalization and economic growth in Michigan.
Remember, Housing = Jobs.
Which, of course, makes the Michigan Housing and Community Development Fund that much more important to our state's economic future. We've got the bait, but we need the hook.
"Keeping Michigan's creative class is certainly an opportunity going forward. In addition to all that is great about vacationing in our beautiful area [the lake shores, historic towns, great shopping, forested trails, pristine rivers, local produce, secluded island getaways], Michigan boasts a broad talent base. Working here means having a vacation every weekend. With the internet, creative companies can be anywhere. The Traverse City Business News has a feature on the Tech 12 this month--revealing Northern Michigan's high-tech talent. Sometimes, what's around us becomes so familiar, we forget how remarkable it is. I hope, that's part of what Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine (where I get to work) communicates: it's great to vacation here ... And it's great to live and work here. Spread the word!"
We hear waht you're saying Rachel, and that's exactly what we intend to do. Michigan is a great place to live and work, and as we've been saying for months, Housing = Jobs.
Speaking of notable quotes, we've been working on our July newsletter (which is almost ready to go out the door), and will be featuring one of our favorite longtime borrowers, Avalon Housing in the upcoming edition. We had a brief chat with Executive Director Michael Appel about the two loans made by the Trust Fund earlier this year, and this is what he had to say about us:
"From our beginning in 1992, Avalon has looked to MITF as a critical development partner. Over $1.2 million in MITF loans have helped Avalon create 64 units of supportive housing. In 1992, as a new non-profit developer, Avalon received substantial technical assistance along with a $26,000 loan on our first 6-unit property. In 2007, MITF was able to provide $1 million in bridge financing that secured the purchase of two properties providing 10 units of housing for homeless families and individuals. Throughout Avalon's 15 years, MITF has been able to provide the kind of support we needed at the right time."
It's always great to get this kind of feedback from our borrowers, especially someone like Michael Appel, whom we've been proud to work with on numerous projects over the years.
We want to know what you think about our work, whether it's a remark you want to share about something you saw here on the blog, or your experiences of working with our staff on a particular project -- feel free to drop us a line, or leave a note in the comments section.
Here are the highlights from the article:
While many of Muskegon's manufacturing jobs -- and some workers -- have gone south or overseas, the city could become a magnet for workers in fields like engineering, marketing and research science, a recent study shows.
That is, the study's authors say, if someone in the private sector is willing to create an infrastructure to support those kinds of workers, who often flock to large metropolitan areas such as New York and Chicago because they have been traditional centers of corporate business.
Yep, Michigan cities like Muskegon are poised to become job magnets. We already knew this, but the catch is that the private (and public sectors) have to build the infrastructure to support these kinds of workers.
But for that to happen, the city would have to include a revolutionary type of "remote work center." These centers, the brainchild of Grantham and study co-author Jim Ware -- a social psychologist who once taught at the Harvard School of Business -- would offer high-tech options for highly educated workers to live and conduct their business from smaller cities like Muskegon.
Muskegon would be ideal because it is one of more than 500 "micropolitan" areas in the United States with core cities of about 50,000 people within regions of more than 200,000 habitants, Grantham said. Other areas cited by the consultants include suburban Grand Rapids and rural Newaygo County.
These are communities that have much of what many knowledge workers want -- cultural and recreational opportunities and affordable cost of living, said Grantham, a former professor at the University of San Francisco but who now works out of Prescott, Ariz.
Communities with cultural and recreational opportunities, as well as an affordable cost of living? Gee, where have we heard this before?
The article continues...
The consultants claim that both groups would be willing to leave a major metropolitan area. A young family living in Chicago might own a modest brownstone house costing $600,000, but in a neighborhood where young parents would want to choose expensive private schools, Grantham said.
Muskegon and communities like it -- Traverse City or Holland, for example -- can provide the knowledge worker with a high quality of life and a low cost of living, Grantham said.
New York and Chicago are great places to visit, but it can be pricey for young workers to live there, especially compared to many communities in Michigan.
"This might be the best way for the community to prepare for the future worker by putting in the infrastructure to help new economy businesses," said Cindy Larsen, president of the Muskegon Area Chamber of Commerce. "This would ideally work in a pedestrian-oriented neighborhood like the downtown."
Grantham does not seem concerned that downtown Muskegon is a work-in-progress after the demolition of the old Muskegon Mall.
"What a tremendous opportunity to redo your downtown from scratch," he said. "It is so much easier to do new things when you don't have to undo things."
What a refreshing attitude. Sure, it's easy to get discouraged when community revitalization doesn't happen overnight, but those empty storefronts in towns like Muskegon present an opportunity to re-build neighborhoods from scratch, and make them even better places to live and work.
Heck, Grantham could've pulled some of his quotes from our vision statement:
Where others see empty, broken storefronts...
We envision the realization of the entrepreneurial dreams of successful small businesses which will create jobs.
Where others see hopelessness and overwhelming problems...
We envision new and renovated facilities through which non-profits can better serve their communities.
It's time to start seeing the glass as half full. We've been arguing for months that Michigan's opinion leaders need to ditch the doom and gloom rhetoric and realize that we need to take a proactive approach when it comes to jump starting our economy. It's nice to see that some reporters are finally getting the message, but there are still some folks who need to be convinced.
You gotta love headlines like that.
Here's the news from WWJ 950 News Radio:
Governor Granholm says the Michigan Housing Development Authority will fund up to 25-million dollars over the next four years to help eliminate blight in the eight so-called "Cities of Promise" around Michigan. Those cities are: Detroit, Pontiac, Hamtramck, Highland Park, Flint, Benton Harbor, Saginaw and Muskegon Heights.
The money could be used to tear down vacant and abandoned structures, clean up neighborhoods and help create jobs.
"By providing resources to eliminate blight, we will help make neighborhoods safer for citizens and more inviting for businesses and economic investments," Granholm said in a statement. "Establishing thriving and healthy communities is a critical part of our plan to transform Michigan's economy and create jobs for our workers."
"Cities of Promise" is Granholm's initiative to help reduce poverty and re-develop Michigan cities devastated by job losses and declining population.
Well, the governor is certainly using the right rhetoric.
Remember, Housing = Jobs.
Don't get us wrong, this is certainly welcome news, but we still have a lot of work left to do before we can get our elected officials in Lansing to fully support community development initiatives like the Living in Michigan campaign.
To learn more about the Cities of Promise initiative -- which the Trust Fund has been actively supporting from the get-go -- be sure to check out the official website.
We just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a happy and safe 4th of July holiday.
If you're looking for fireworks in your local community, be sure to check out MichiganFireworks.com for more information.
A neighborhood on each side of the Saginaw River will reap hundreds of thousands of demolition dollars if state officials approve Saginaw City Hall's latest battle plan for urban blight.
The $939,000 effort would target 141 decrepit structures, most of them in the Houghton-Jones and Covenant Medical Center districts. Other run-down buildings are near schools and on the outskirts of the targeted areas.
City Hall's application through the Michigan State Housing Development Authority's Cities of Promise includes an innovative approach to tearing down the blight -- deconstructing it, piece by piece, and recycling most of the debris.
Hmm. Deconstruction instead of demolition. Where have we heard this before? Oh yeah... here, talking about Architectural Salvage Warehouse of Detroit:
Just one year ago the original warehouse opened for business and began the process of deconstruction, the planned and systematic disassembly of buildings, which allows component parts and pieces to be removed without damaging them, so that they may be reused, and where this is not possible, they skim, which is the removal of more easily obtained materials like doors, hardware, and light fixtures.
I guess we're not 100% sure if the Architectural Salvage Warehouse of Detroit is directly involved with this particular project, but considering that they have been pioneers in this field here in Michigan, it's probably a safe bet that the deconstruction efforts in Saginaw wouldn't have gotten off the ground without their influence.
To learn more about the Cities of Promise initiative -- which the Trust Fund has been actively supporting from the get-go -- be sure to check out the official website (which is back up and running).
Okay, now this is more like it. The Muskegon Chronicle has a wonderful story in today's paper about AmeriCorps volunteers making a difference in West Michigan. Here are a few excerpts that caught our eye, but you should really go check out the whole thing:
For 29-year-old Merten, who has a bachelor's degree in science education, "it's been a pretty cool experience."
"I get to help change people's lives," she says. "How many people can say that? I'm teaching about (natural) resources that can help the environment and our communities."
A member of the Michigan Groundwater Stewardship Program, Merten is one of 35 AmeriCorps members serving throughout Muskegon County.
"We look for people who are interested in making a difference," says Angela Sullivan, who is the AmeriCorps/Youth Volunteer Corps program director in Muskegon.
"This is so compelling. Look around, and you'll see AmeriCorps members making such an impact on the community."
"We can't take (away) someone else's job. We're not replacing anyone. Our goal is to meet unmet human needs," says Sullivan, who supervises 15 AmeriCorps members year-round and an additional five summer members.
Equally as valuable as the monetary rewards, Merten says, is the experience gained on the job. She always saw herself as a classroom science teacher, but after working since October with adults in an alternative education setting, "I kind of like it."
"I've been able to ask myself: 'What do I really like to do? How do I work best?"'
There's another plus for the aspiring teacher.
"I had no idea how much AmeriCorps does or what it was," Jenkins says, "but I can tell you now. If you're not part of the solution, if you're not part of giving back to the community, then you're part of the problem.
"In AmeriCorps, we're part of the solution."
Meeting "unmet human needs"? Giving back to the community? Being part of the solution, instead of part of the problem? We sure like the sound of that!
This sure beats the heck out of the stories you usually see in Michigan newspapers about college students fleeing the state for greener pastures. It's nice to read about some of our own young people making pasturers greener here in Michigan for a change of pace.
As we close in on the 4th of July holiday, we should remember how lucky we are to live in America, and ask -- as President Kennedy challenged us -- what we can do for our country. National service programs like AmeriCorps are a great way to be a part of the solution, instead of part of the problem.
If you're interested in learning more about how you can help serve your country and our local communities, be sure to check out the AmeriCorps website.