crinzema

Cost of photo: ALMOST got into a car accident... You're welcome...

I use to work for Redstone Group. It was my 2nd internship program I took coming out of University. I loved working for them over the summer. Yeah, this can’t be something that is easy for a developer like them. They were a company a size of 30 people, but during the time I worked for them during the tail end of the Great Recession, they were down to 4 people. I’m sure they are doing better now, but I’m very much sympathetic to developers and the things they have to deal with. It’s why I’m not an architect today. I have a huge beef with the Grand Rapids Historic Preservation Committee for ruining what would have been a crown achievement for me in my early adult life, and getting a house I designed during college constructed for habitat for humanity. In today’s age, property rights mean nothing. It’s why I’ll always be a libertarian. Governing Committies think they are out doing the common good, but in reality, the people providing for the community are those who design and build what people live in. Just because you work in a semi-circle doesn’t mean your ideas are enlightened from the gods above.

Your looking at your unofficial source for "Official Looking" proposal videos.

This is all I can do right now guys... ;-)

Just my usual self, playing around with programs and such.

Things could always be worse

Those numbers are not even that bad. If those were presidential favorability numbers, we probably would have a president who just achieved world peace.

Now I thought they were not going to be building Tower A right now. But from the looks of how the parking structure is being built, it looks like Tower A is being constructed. Am I wrong here? Look at the picture taken from the SE corner to see what I'm talking about.

Currently what the site looks like. I'll update these photos in the future when changes are made to the site.

Someone ask me how I'm going to stop this project?.................. I love social media :-)

Econ 101: The public will carry the debt. This is a liability placed onto the tax base of Grand Rapids and Kent County. No one within the tax base will be utilizing the services of this hotel. Extensive studies within the Hotel Industry, generated by our nations finest institutions, show that there is a notable and negative economic disturbance with the introduction of Publically Owned Hotels. This is not considered infrastructure. A single, "CHOSEN" corporation will "make a profit for* themselves", as stated by GRDadof3. There is no market failure that needs to be addressed here. I don't care if a traveler's pillow will be 200ft closer to the convention floor. I don't think this is a problem that requires the public to finance 100 million dollars to solve the pillow problems of the 1%. This is cronyism to high heaven. I'm done ranting.

This issue is quickly becoming a non-issue. The left, the right, are all agreeing that tax incentives for businesses and developments are bad. This is going to be a practice of the past. Everyone has an Amazon Headquarter aftertaste in their mouths. I'm glad the public narrative is turning negative towards these sorts of practices. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bl19RoR7lc

Absolutely not! Corporate Welfare makes zero sense. Why does a level playing field seem so controversial? Speaking metaphorically, I want "farm to table" developments. The more artificial a development is, meaning the more strings it requires to get off the ground, the more I hate it. You can play the puppet show for a while, but it won't last.