RegalTDP

Balneário Camboriú gets about 1.5 million tourists in the Summer.

Nice! Sometimes GR does get cool stuff before everyone else.

Could've made it just a little more stately. This looks like a sign you'd see by a strip mall near the M-6 / Kalamazoo Ave exit.

I also think the attendant is there to keep passengers at ease in the initial stages of this trial. I wonder if they'll phase out the attendant later on in the trial as people get more used to it.

Is it this parcel? If so, then here's what's going on there: https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/projects/grand-river-aseptic-manufacturings-pharmaceutical-manufacturing-facility/

I think you could do a lot with the wall facing Mt. Vernon Ave.: Then of course there's GRPD and UICA: I even think those would be good spots for two giant LED billboards, like the ones outside Staples Center:

I just had to get a "before" pic of this house. Found it on Streetview: https://goo.gl/maps/SmpKyUbwYeukWmU76

Isn't 48 Fulton W (Back Forty's building) part of the Historic District? I wonder if taking that building down for something taller would be a challenge.

LOL, Read some of the stuff that went into this site. Not a place I'd go dumpster diving but YMMV :

It's a pretty standard anti-terrorism measure now for arenas & stadiums & such.

Yeah - I feel like that wide angle rendering is attempting to make it look like the center of a big plaza, and that's not what this is at all. It's a tight space. It'll make downtown feel more dense.

LOL, the State would probably tell Spectrum if they want money they can go move to Downtown Detroit too.

Also Uber/Lyft.

Haven't been able to find clear dates myself, only that 37 Ottawa was the first one built in 1887, which would put it at 132 years old. Have never seen a date for 50 Monroe's construction, but maybe it was 127 years ago (1892)? I don't know. 37 Ottawa, I think, started as Grand Rapids Refrigerator Co. and it expanded to all three buildings. Sometime before 1911 it became the Leonard Exhibition Building (probably still owned by Charles Leonard, who founded GR Refrigerator) and was used for furniture exhibitions. GR Refrigerator (which would later merge with Kelvinator) moved down to Clyde Park and built a bigger factory. Sometime after that 50 Monroe's name was changed to "Helmer Building" and it turned into an office building. That's the best I can come up with.

It was probably headed north - there's a wind farm project up in the Casnovia/Kent City area that was just approved to start building in April. Supposed to be complete by 2020. https://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/2019/04/wind-farm-proposed-for-muskegonkent-counties-border-gets-key-approval.html

LOL. Fort Wayne continuously annexes land whenever there is new development, and have already done so several times this decade. GR has only annexed land once in the past 50 years, which was the Knapp's Corner strip in 1992 (probably didn't add much in population but was a great move for all the commercial retail that's now there). It's great that GR is getting a lot for its 44 square miles, but speaks to the disadvantage that we have compared to other cities that are freer to annex land... But it's worth saying that if the population estimates are correct, a gain of over 12,000 in under a decade is pretty good for a city that's probably never going to expand its boundaries again. Kentwood too... My parents sold their house to a young couple with a baby last year. It was their first house and they were overjoyed. My parents were the last empty nestors on the block; every other house had turned over to a younger family in the past decade.

Kalamazoo (76,545) came back and overtook Wyoming (75,820). Wyoming had briefly pulled ahead last year.

I think the guy who owns McKendree Jewelers designed it. They've been there since 1972. At least with the show, I doubt they'll be able to do anything with the exterior. According to them, they only have a $10,000 budget, including all the work they have to do in the interior. A bigger sign on the outside would be nice... Though I have no idea where it would go.

Couldn't help but laugh at this: Restaurant Impossible's construction manager posted on Instagram his reaction to seeing the outside of Chez Olga's building

Was listening to NPR on Wednesday and All Things Considered aired a story about the proposed 911 ordinance: https://www.npr.org/2019/05/15/723686010/grand-rapids-mich-aims-to-make-racially-biased-911-calls-illegal Perhaps this has been getting lots of local coverage already, but out on the West Coast this was the first I'd heard of it.

If you go back to the earliest map (1955) you can see the real estate market in Paris Township really heating up. Sparsely populated, but lots of land being cleared for subdivisions. GR was still in its 1927 boundaries. The annexation wars that would spawn three new suburban cities (Wyoming, Walker, and finally Kentwood) would start around 1958.

^^^ All true, but Detroit News regularly publishes columns by Acton Institute contributors. I'm sure the institute has connections with the staff over at the News, whose editorial page leans in their direction. To be fair, I'd expect that any think tank would want to reach an audience larger than just GR. And though the column is about a local issue, it's really just meant to promote the institute and its agenda.

Looks like Brann's is gonna have to step up their game.

FWIW not only have I heard a Kansan say this, but said Kansan is a friend who seems to enjoy constantly arguing with me that Michigan isn't "really" in the Midwest. We're too far east, or something. I keep telling him I wasn't the one who made these delineations, and his beef is with the Census, not me... But what can I tell you, he's from Kansas...

IIRC Sy's split off from Daane's, because Sy only took over a couple of Daane's stores. I remember when the 44th/Breton Daane's converted to a Sy's (now Horrocks), and newer Daane's on 60th/Kalamazoo was still in business a few more years, along with the one in Cascade. I think the two companies sold to Spartan (ie Family Fare) at different times too. Never had the pleasure of meeting Sy, but seeing Dave Daane working on the floor was a frequent occurrence - I was a kid, but I knew who he was. Dave Daane was a big dude, always had his sleeves up. Pushed carts around, bagged groceries, did work you'd normally see baggers doing. Big personality, always said Hi to EVERYONE. He was a great guy.