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:

Good Afternoon Everyone,

Not only is it Friday, but it is 70 degrees and sunny outside. With that in mind, I hope you are reading this update in a park, or on a patio with a cold drink.

This week was incredibly busy, but also incredibly productive. On Wednesday, we had over 150 Downtown residents and near neighbors come out to listen to the latest information on GR Forward. They also took time to give us feedback on our goals and strategies. Big thanks to Jim Talen and Commissioners Bliss, Gutowski, and Kelly for coming out to lend their support. I also want to give a huge thank you to Allen “Dusty” Dustimers and Faith Megna for their help organizing and promoting the event. It is great to have such dedicated partners in the community helping us promote GR Forward.

In addition, last night we held our second Public Forum at Innovation Central High. We had approximately 80 people in attendance, and there were some great conversations during our breakout sessions when we asked groups to negotiate their top three priorities from a list of 50 potential projects. This information will be incredibly useful as we begin to look at the implementation side of GR Forward. Thanks again to everyone that came out and participated!

Yesterday we also held meetings for the Downtown and River Corridor Steering Committees. Each group spent some time reflecting on the work that has been done to date and provided feedback on specific elements of the process, including concepts for public development sites, and Downtown housing. As we move toward the end of the planning portion of GR Forward and begin to create a draft document, we will continue to lean heavily on the Steering Committees for direction and comments.

Presentations

Although our week was packed with events, we also found time to get out and give presentations to community partners. Again, if anyone has suggestions for meetings that we can attend please let me know.

  • Kiwanis Club
  • Michigan Department of Natural Resources

Web Numbers

The latest web and social media numbers are below. Be sure to share the links below so that everyone can stay up to date with GR Forward activities.

Resources

This week the American Planning Association is holding their 2015 National Conference in Seattle, WA. One of the great things about the event is the announcement of the National Planning Award winners in a variety of categories. There are some great resources and examples from around the country on innovative approaches to planning. I encourage you to explore the links on the page to see the exciting planning work happening in other cities.

As always if you have any questions please let me know. Otherwise, have a great weekend!