suydam

Friedman talked about that in The World is Flat a few years ago. I don't find that any more or less troubling than many other outsourced jobs. It'll work, or it won't. If it doesn't, the jobs will come back (ahem... call centers).

That's too bad. The LA one actually has some of the feel of a rail line. I still feel ours is being billed as something special but will still be viewed as nothing more than a new bus route on our existing system.

Would the GR have its own roadway like the LA Orange Line, or just a dedicated lane (across which cars turn, peds cross, etc.)?

I'd be very interested to see if people are driving to the BRT terminals (or as I call them "bus stops") and taking the BRT (or "bus") to work (as opposed to walkers). I'm hoping the system is efficient enough to justify leaving your car "out there" and taking the bus into the core. Great idea for a video by the way!

The dead vote in Chicago. But Zombies are undead. There is a difference.

Boblo

I've had out-of-state visitors make that comment more than once about Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. I think it's a midwestern thing (these are always always folks from NYC's slightly less friendly metro area). When I head south, I am treated about the same as home, so I've never said "wow, southern hospitality is incredible!!!!" I take that to mean that it's not that different here than, say, Tennessee or Georgia. Similarly, everyone talks about "Minnesota Nice" when you head that directly. Same thing.. friendly people wiling to help.

It's a stretch to call it a monopoly. A monopoly would be if there was one carrier.

Before they'd reduce fares, I think they'd likely just pull out of GRR. If you don't mind driving to DTW, MDW or ORD that's not a big deal. I'm willing to pay a (small.. very small) premium to fly out of GRR just so I don't have to drive, park and drive 2 hours home after a long trip. I'd rather get home to my family (or get home with my family) when I climb off the plane. In my experience, smaller region airports (which GRR certain is) are always pricier than hubs. You deal with it, or you drive to a hub.

We flew to Florida this month (Ft. Myers). DTW->RSW = $168 GRR->RSW = $232 Even with my family of 4, we decided it was worth the price difference. 1. Neighbors can drive us to/from the airport (so no parking fee) 2. We don't have to drive the long 2.5 hours home after that final flight on the way home 3. We can get to our flights 45 minutes early in GR vs. 90-120 minutes early in Detroit. That means less time sitting around waiting to board. 4. At least some of my money supports Grand Rapids I'm flying to Philly later this spring. The cost difference between DTW and GRR is about $90. At that price, I'll still be flying GRR.

That link to Cafe Kabob points to a single-location restaurant in Detroit. Any idea if it's the same owner? I'd love to see some more of the family-owned Detroit standbys show up on our side of the state. I grew up over there and miss Kerby's Koney, La Fendi and a few other Detroit originals.

I would be deeply saddened if we lost Big O's.

You can almost envision the same people who pulled up the rails writing the law.

In defense of Amtrak.... it snows here in the winter, but what we experienced during that period right before Christmas was highly abnormal... it's not like Amtrak fell apart after a 3" dusting. Also, those federal regulations are not the fault of Amtrak either. It's a deplorable situation, but I think that timeline shows that it wasn't just incompetance on the part of Amtrak that lead to that situation. The real issue is that our passenger trains in the US run with lesser priority, on the same rails as our freight trains. All the comparisons to Europe aside their passenger trains either run on dedicated rails, or have priority for passage.... and I once spent 11 hours delayed on a train in Spain. It happens there too from time to time.

So basically Woodland Mall will be renamed "Macy's, Apple and a Food Court"

Welcome to Manhattan.

That was my first thought when reading that article too... "gee cool... they moved away."

Care to summarize? The problem with video is that I have to watch 13 minutes of video. My entire "session" in UP is usually limited to about 5 minutes at a chunk, so I'll never be able to watch this.

Did anyone try the Dragon room this weekend? We walked past on our way out of San Chez on Saturday night and it looked open (but nearly empty around 7:30pm)

Wait, they're tearing down city hall?!

Given the price of gold right now, this should be no surprise.

GR Mag doesn't count as national exposure. I'm just sayin....

That's what I was thinking... it's a win-win. I know I'd stop there for essentials before heading home.

I saw the Pillow Fight on CNN Headline News this morning as well. Also about 30 seconds of coverage.