gvstudent

It is supposed to be moved to the Kroc Center. her is the link http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/artprize/new-venue-for-tables-and-chairs

Is there an opening ceremony? I saw on the ArtPrize website that there is a ArtPrize Opening and Registration Fair but it was kind of vague for what is going to happen other than registering to vote and the Jerry Ross Band playing with food and beverages being served. Also check out the projection "So Much Water So Close to Home" on the GRAM. It was being shown last night. Heard that it was pretty sweet.

I thought that it was too but apparently it is somewhat on schedule. I did a little research, and the Beukema's said in Grand Rapids Magazine last year that they wanted to start construction in July 2009 because they wanted to wrap-up the Holiday Inn in Midland. Here's a link to the article. http://www.grmag.com/features/07-08/07-08.htm . Their deadline to start construction is at the end of the month. It is estimated that it would be completed in 18 months from construction start to finish.

The guy working on the Hotel sent a letter to the Monroe North Business Association to give an update on the Monroe North project. He was working on a hotel in Bay City/Midland area and that took up a lot of his time. He said looking back, he wishes he would have built the Monroe North hotel before the one in Bay City/Midland. Anyway, the building on the WAM site is supposed to be demolished by August.

GVSU announced that they will be adding two new LEED facilities for 2010, a living center and a Learning Dining Center. Both will be built on the south end of campus and will be built to LEED Silver.

If this event is really as big we are projecting it in our imaginations, are we going to have the space to hold all of these people? I know we have new hotels planned. Hopefully this get the gears rolling on those projects. I guess if we do not have enough, I will be renting out that extra room in my house--I wonder if he had this in his mind when he was talking about connecting technology, entrepreneurs, and art.

I agree with the recommendations because they may encourage people to use public transportation but this is a just small step in the right direction. People need more of a reason not to drive their vehicles (what better way to do it than to hit them in their wallets). Drastic changes must be made in terms of city and transportation planning from towns and cities to statewide. Transportation officials must make a better effort to allocate more funding towards improving or expanding public transportation (i.e. shorter intervals for buses/transit) and walkable communities--luckily Grand Rapids is a pretty good job, or at least they're headed in the right direction*. The transit infrustructure must have better connectivity between different cities and regions because right now there isn't enough options or incentives other than the car. For instance, if you're travelling from Grand Rapids to Detroit you may only have one departure time for a bus or train to travel there. Drastic changes must be made. With that being said we need to fund projects such as the interstate traveler. I am not sure if this has been brought up in the past discussion but here is the gist of it: These MagLevs can travel at least 250MPH so a nonstop trip from Muskegon to Detroit via I-96 would take approximately 1 hour. The impact on these cities would be incredible. There has been support in Michigan for such a project. In 2003, the Michigan Sentate and House of Representatives has memorialized (I am not sure what that means exactly, but I am guessing that it is a resolution) Congress to support The Interstate Traveler Project. The drawback is the cost to build is expensive-billions, but the operating cost are quite low because of renewable energy. As for the political administration, I would vote for the candidate that would actually push public transportation let alone LEED. I have not heard of any candidate taking a big stand on these issues. The only candidate that I could see doing this would be the Green Party and I do not see them taking over Capitol Hill anytime soon. *I went on Detoit's the urbanplanet, detroit.com (caution: the site is kind of "cluttered" like parts of the city . It makes me appreciate UP even more.) and they seem to be lacking the insight or knowledge of transit initiatives. Transit does not seem to be a big issue. Maybe they just want to retain the name of Motown because streecartown or lightrailregion doesnt have a good ring to it.