radicaljoy

Has anything gone in where Naya was on East Paris?

honey

This calls for a Frankentrike: http://www.frankentrikes.com/

Burning Man passed through my mind while listening to the announcement too. I like the de-professionalization of the judging process. Encourages active participation by all.

The strong association with one name/company dashes my hopes that it'll be a Transition Town official unleashing. I hope that official Transition Town status is in Grand Rapids [not distant] future though. My guess -- and it's a stab in the dark, is some green space and/or recreation facility and/or entertaiment/mixed use development that uses the river to greater advantage. That keeps it pretty broad, eh?

Here's my plan, I'll bring ice cream in case there are cookies. I'll toss the ice cream in the other direction, then run for the cookies. I know you'll go for the ice cream.

Okay, with official permission, here's some URLs to make it a little easier to check this out if you're interested: http://www.chelseagreen.com/content/watch-...tion-initiative www.transitionculture.org www.transitiontowns.org There are 2 of the 12 Transition steps where Detroit is ahead of GR or in a better position: Detroit just announced community currency and they have a lot of vacant land that can be used to grow food. We'll have to go micro-local and everyone give their yards over to food not lawn production. Not that this is a competition. The more cities that adopt the model, the better for everyone, everywhere. Zenstyle, thanks for that post. I hadn't (and haven't) tried to find out if there are any U.S. cities that are "official" Transition Towns (if there is such a credential). While it might be an ego boost or PR generator to say one is the first, having others as models is useful. I find the categories mentioned in the video 'WATCH: Rob Hopkins Explains the Transition Initiative' (first URL) amusing: about 200 UK town are "mulling", 12 are "fully endorsed".

Here's my fantasy of what this is going to be . . . It's going to be Grand Rapids "official unleashing" as a Transition Town. The unleashing (announcement) drives momentum and engages people. In a nutshell, a transition town positively builds local resilience to be able to proactively adapt to change. Very exciting stuff and would impact the city for a long time to come. I've had my hands slapped for posting links in the past, so I'm not going to post any here, unless GRDadof3 gives permission. Using 'Chelsea Green Rob Hopkins Explains the Transition Initiative' or 'transitionculture' or 'transition towns' in a search engine will get you to sites that explain what I'm getting at. I'm struck by how many pieces of the 12 steps Grand Rapids already has in place. Seeing the pieces as part of a roadmap to somewhere and something that we collectively want to get to is a very important part - starting with the "official unleashing". Unleashing is the 4th step of 12 in the Transition Town strategy. To take this fantasy farther out - the old Davenport campus could be used as GRCC's Schumacher College division, which would be focused on the Great Reskilling needed for the transition and beyond.

I was there too. Crowded but fun. Saw many familiar faces, not all of whom I could place. Glad for all involved that it was so successful, especially WSBA. Organizers can try to learn from it, but unexpected things will always arise. Sounds like the biggest surprise was the huge turnout. Not all bad. Rhino, have you frozen any of your leftover soup? Or you could invite us all over to help you finish it off.

Well, that's what I get for not checking in here for almost a week. Looks like I missed my chance at this one. (Concerts are my favorite part of this season.) I've already got a full day planned for tomorrow, including attending Tuba Christmas. Almost daily I remember that early on when I moved here some people couldn't fathom that I'd want to live in Grand Rapids after living in the Chicago area, suggesting that there isn't enough to do here. I find myself very often torn between multiple options. Tomorrow has been one of the most difficult since I've been here -- multiple things I REALLY wanted to do.

You can check out 115 photos posted on their Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=34523891447 (you might have to have Facebook to see it) These were posted before the opening, so I assume that the people are friends and family.

The Dragon Room 48 W. Fulton Grand Opening this Saturday, Nov. 22. Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=34523891447 Interesting: "Smart Dress Essential" Is that why plee30 thinks UPer's won't be there?

With all the photo folk here, thought this might be of interest to some: NYT Polling Place Photo Project http://pollingplaces.nytimes.com/

FYI - They need volunteers to help with the kids games. Here's the note: Subject: we need some more volunteers! Hey gang, This is a last minute effort to get some more volunteers! If you're not doing anything, we could use a hand in pulling this event off. (Thursday, 10/16, 4PM-8PM) We've scored a bunch of penny carnival-type games and we simply need some more people to run them... THAT, and you have to talk nice and smile to children. EASY, RIGHT? yeah, that's what I thought. See you there. ~Dennis (616)990-4011 African Community Center 1019 Wealthy Ave SW Grand Rapids, MI

or better yet, a Bollywood version of "Thriller" The FB page says: The organizer is hoping to break a world record of 1098 set in Pittsburgh, where they'll be trying to break that record again.

Word is that the next Rob Bliss event (Zombie Walk), will be filmed by an outfit out of LA, True Entertainment. The note (got this via Facebook) says "after talks they want to film the Zombie Walk for a

Thanks fotoman. That would be tremendously useful.

Anyone know what it would take to get Grand Rapids included in http://www.google.com/transit ? I don't see a feedback option. . . . and, sorry if this has already been addressed here -- I don't keep up with everything that is posted.

August 29 BusinessWeek Piece on most affordable housing markets. Grand Rapids ranks fifth.

This invite came via Facebook. If you're on Facebook, it would probably help them if you'd RSVP there (it's an open event). Host: PATE Interactive LLC, Eastern Floral, DeVries Properties Date: Saturday, June 14, 2008 Time: 7:00pm - 11:00pm Location: Kindel Furniture Factory (The new home of Eastern Floral) 818 Butterworth Ave. SW, Grand Rapids, MI Email: [email protected] What is ACTIVESITE? ACTIVESITE is an exhibition of sculpture, with the objective of providing a catalyst for collaboration between the Art, Business, and Development communities of Grand Rapids; as a way of creating unique exhibition and promotional opportunities. By utilizing facilities that are not fully developed, an opportunity exists to exhibit artwork in a more raw environment; as the Artists get a legitimate opportunity to exhibit their sculpture, and the Developer gets a great opportunity to showcase their facility. So in short, that is the essence of ACTIVESITE

The attachment is a pdf flyer. Please post if you've a place to do so. . . . . . . Save Your Ash! Free Public Forum Tuesday, April, 15, 2008 To educate area residents about the battle to control the Emerald Ash Borer. Yummy Marie Catrib

Just got this in my email . . . Subject: Habitat project Greetings All,

http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion..._treasures.html Michigan has untold treasures for writers, says Flint Journal columnist David Graham posted by David V. Graham {sodEmoji.|} The Flint Journal March 27, 2008 20:44PM snips: In June 2009, at least 800 members of the Outdoor Writers Association of America are expected to visit Grand Rapids for the annual OWAA conference and OWAA officials say that convention organizers in previous host cities estimate they received several million dollars worth of free publicity in the year after OWAA came to their cities. For years afterward, there usually is a parade of magazine articles about host cities and their surrounding areas, worth upward of $52 million, officials claim.