Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. Planning Manager Tim Kelly emails a weekly GR Forward update to the project Steering Committee. Here's this week's communication:

Happy New Year Everyone!

Hope you have all had a safe and happy holiday season.

Given the flurry of holiday activity, there has been a brief reprieve on our work with GR Forward, but I want to make sure you are aware of two important things.

First, at our most recent Steering Committee meeting, we began to develop a working vision statement and identified six goals that we expect GR Forward to help us achieve (see attached). The next series of community events are intended to make sure the vision statement and goals are reflective of what the community wants to see, and to begin to develop strategies for how to accomplish these ideal states.

Second, and speaking of community events, next week begins our second round of neighborhood meetings. Our first meeting of the New Year will be with our friends in Roosevelt Park at Cesar E. Chavez Elementary School next Thursday at 6:30p.

The following week, on Thursday, January 15, we have an exciting evening of events planned. Starting at 6p at the KCAD Federal Building (17 Pearl St NW) the third installment of our GR Forward Thinking Speaker Series will occur (see attached invitation). Theresa Reno-Weber, the Chief of Performance Improvement for the Louisville Metro Government will give a presentation on Performance Based Governance. Immediately following this, in the same room at 7p, we will host our first Public Forum. The Public Forum will allow attendees to hear an overview of the work that has been completed to date, and to provide feedback on the working vision and goals. We hope that all of you will be able to join us that evening, and please be sure to share this information within your networks.

Web Numbers

The latest web and social media numbers are below. Everything is still moving in a positive direction!

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/grfwd

Twitter - https://twitter.com/grfwd

Instagram - http://instagram.com/grfwd#

Resources

It is hard to open the internet without bumping into a few “Top 10” lists. Below are a few related to planning and cities that I found interesting.

http://www.planetizen.com/node/72892/most-popular-planetizen-posts-2014

http://www.citylab.com/design/2014/12/best-cityreads-2014/383860/

http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/best-urban-trends-worst-urban-trends-2014

As always, if you have any questions let me know. Otherwise, I look forward to working with all of you to make 2015 a rousing success.

Have a great weekend,