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Do you mean something like this? This photo was taken was was taken 7/9/08 on a low flight over and around Grand Rapids. From the picture and surrounding area, I don't see a single business that could service any of the residents. Some of the homeowners also lack sidewalks, not making for a truly walkable community. ">

These are kind of eery because it's in the middle of the day, I assume, and you don't see a single person downtown. It's looks like a movie scene from I Am Legend.

EAA is the Experimental Aircraft Association. They hold a show, AirVenture, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin every summer. It's one of the largest flyins in the world (I go every year so I'll take some photos to post this year) For a week; it's the busiest airport in the world. I'll try to post some more pictures over Grand Rapids shortly. We didn't venture west of Kalamazoo Ave, before banking to the right, so any photos I was able to capture was through the front window and not as sharp as I'd like. In the pictures, the lake isn't visible and you're probably not seeing much beyond Coopersville. I should have set up my camera differently in order to focus further out, but was too excited to even think about it. I was wondering though, aren't you supposed to have the ability to see the lakeshore from the top floors of Riverhouse...or the smoke stacks in Muskegon? Is this theoretical or with the actual naked eye? We flew at 1500 feet, the equivalent of the Sears Tower (over to 3 times the final height of Riverhouse?) and I could barely make out the lakeshore and on clear day.

EAA has its Ford Tri-Motor at Gerald R Ford International Airport. I went up this morning and snapped a picture of downtown. I hope this is the correct size. Off in the distance... "> The new Chipotle Grill? Like MSN Live Maps in real time. "> Can you name the location? ">

I got the phone call about an hour ago. We lost power to our place on Cherry/Morris. I work out by the airport and the downpour just stopped and the sun is itching to come out.

Agreed. What I'd like to see is 2 floors. The ground floor being baggage and passenger check in, and the 2nd floor being concessions (street pricing like most airports are now going to), retail, and passenger terminals. I'm curious. When was the current airport terminal constructed? Was the goal to be the worlds largest tri-level home? Why are there three areas at different elevations? An inclined walk from the check in to lobby area, and then another inclined walk to the passenger terminal areas? Remember the days of the 2nd floor observation deck, or the original viewing area now runway 17/35? I miss those days, and especially the viewing area as I thought it provided better views for watch landing airplanes. I think this is proabably the reason why I haven't been out there much, despite working near Patterson and 52nd St.

I just came across this article last night and thought it was an interesting piece on the current state of one suburb, and the direction they may be heading. http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/06/16/suburb.city/index.html

Similar example in regards to the disparity in covering the local news. WZZM had a news piece about 3 teens breaking into a Belknap area home around 1am Wed. This was a burglary where the home owner was able to fend off the intruders. As they fled the scene, one of the burglars (allegedly) shot himself. WZZM had this story, and a neighbor sent the station pictures of the scene. I checked on WoodTV's site and there was no mention at all of this story. Monday evening there's a shooting on the SE side and all the news networks cover this. I didn't know crime could have exclusives.

But as is usually the case, I know one of the Festival organizers quoted in the article, so I hesitate to get out the pitchforks (personally). Maybe someone could contact the Festival organizer and drop a hint that giving a nod to Warhol would be in good form. Coming from me, it might seem weird.

Oh, I love the poster and that's why I have conflicted feelings. Maybe the artist wasn't influenced by Warhol's work, although you can make the argument that much of what we see in print each day has influences from Warhol, as well as other artist's, work. If someone came out and said the poster is a tribute or nod to his work and his recent stop to the GRAM I'd feel differently. Perhaps these feelings are because of a book I just started, Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell. Coincidentally, the intro to this book tells a story of a kouros statue a museum had been offered for purchase. The museum did its due diligence of authenticity of the statue piece that appeared almost too perfect. The first impressions by numerous noted art historians was something seemed a little off (like it was a forgery); morever, the paperwork for the piece was inaccurate and marble analysis showed it to be from different region as other pieces of that era. All the these things were overlooked because the museum curator wanted to believe it was the real deal. (this synapses in a nutshell of course). So my first impression was it's copy of Warhol's work. Or put it this way, if Warhol were still alive, could it be confused for a commissioned piece for the city?

I've looked forward to Festival each summer because it falls on my birthday and all the delicious food. I'm sure we all have one vendor that we look forward to trying again each summer. Not to mention, downtown during Festival is perhaps one of the best times to people watch. If you're downtown frequently, it's refreshing to come out, much like the Fifth Third Riverbank Run, when it's unrelated to work or a night on the town. My question is, has anyone seen the Festival of the Arts poster for 08? http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/05/gran...l_of_the_a.html I surprised it hasn't been commented on, but I think it's heavily influenced by the work of Andy Warhol and should be noted as such. Had this poster been selected in previous years, or even a few years from now, I wouldn't feel this strongly about it. However, since the GRAM just featured works by him, I feel that the use of this poster design, and its promotion for Festival, makes me a little uncomfortable as it does represent our city on a national level. I'm not sure if it still is, but wasn't Festival the largest all volunteer festival in the country?

I typically fly United Airlines when I can because I'm a member of their Mileage Plus program. I'm embarassed to say that, but it can have its rewards. My wife and I cashed in our miles recently and took a 2 week trip to Thailand, a route not many of the other domestics fly; nonetheless, I'll usually price flights from GRR or ORD to gauge cost over convenience. Typically adding the GRR portion of the flight adds about $150 - $200 more roundtrip. Because of congestion at ORD, many of your connecting flights may go through Denver now. When you factor in convenience and cost, those prices aren't too bad. I've paid ORD parking prices and the $150 - $200 in savings don't go very far, not to mention it's going to cost around $90 dollar fill up to get there and back. And after a long trip, driving your car 3 hours home isn't fun. If my travel plans are a little more flexible, I'll visit a sister in Chicago and then take the Blue Line EL to the airport. It can be quicker and much cheaper than leaving a car at the airport. Nonetheless, if Chicago is your final destination from Grand Rapids, drive to Michigan City, and take the metro train into the city. You can even keep your car parked over night.

I rode by bike around last night and here are a few photos I took downtown. The next two I took in March.

I was visiting a friend in Boston a few years ago, and walked through Boston Common. In part of this park, we came upon a community garden, which I thought was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen in a city. The garden was probably twice the size of Fulton / Division, but it had been divided into smaller individual plots and a larger plot of land used for gardening vegetables. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_garden Gardening is one of the most popular hobbies in the world, and with the big push to be green and sustainable, this would be showing other cities that we're thinking about this. Moreover, with all the condo developments downtown, what buyer wouldn't love the opportunity to have a city garden? I think this would be one of the most unique uses in the US, for a city our size, for this plot of land. And the Gallery on Fulton project wouldn't be dead in the water. This project could work in the lot occupied by the former JA building.

Well, it looks like we're getting the round-abouts we've been desiring, along with additional surface renovations to Wealthy St. http://www.grcity.us/index.pl?page_id=611&...ocument_id=4746