houseofdon

I haven't gone through all 100+ pages of this thread, but has anybody posted Andy Dragt's video of what the BRT Line looks like? I'm part of the Friends of Transit committee and we hired him to travel to Cleveland to show exactly what BRT looks like. Granted, their system isn't identical to what the Rapid has in mind, but it's very similar. I think this is a pretty powerful tool and I'd encourage you supporters to forward it around to your contacts in the final few days before election.

Hey, Gang -- There is an upcoming film screening this week that might be up the alley of the "green conscious" Urban Planeteers. It is a movie called "Red Gold" about the Salmon fishery in Bristol Bay, Alaska, and how a proposed open-pit mine might put the whole thing at risk. It has been very well-received at a lot of film fests out west and in Alaska, but to the best of my knowledge, GR will be the first Midwest screening. What - "Red Gold" Film showing When - Wednesday, November 12 - 8:00pm Where - Ladies Literary Club - 61 Sheldon Blvd SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503 Cost - Free (donations to Trout Unlimited encouraged) You can find more about the film at www.redgoldfilm.com And here is the trailer

From today's Press. http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/03/a_bi...e_planning.html Definitely would be awesome, but is it worth getting excited about yet?

The consensus is that "Medical Mile" is the preferred nickname. Everyone was happy with the news article, of course, but a lot of the powers-that-be wished the NYT had used Medical Mile instead of Pill Hill or Health Hill.

I've seen the video they're talking about, and it's VERY cool (complete with inspiring "Chariots of Fire" music). If those plans get finalized, it will definitely be a huge asset to GR. I'll check to see if I'm allowed to upload it to youtube or elsewhere...unless anyone wants to host a 200mb video!

What in the world! I made sure to ask the guy (more than once, actually) if the prices he said were the prices ALL the time, and he assured me they were. The ONLY thing I can think of is that Ottawa Tavern hasn't 100% officially "launched" yet. Those times/prices sound exactly like Bite's routine. I think they were shooting to go live on Tuesday night, but maybe they've delayed it a day or two.

The Bite will still operate their lunchtime soup/sandwich operation. They're pretty much run as two separate restaurants now.

Ottawa Street Tavern was doing a couple days of "trial runs" last Friday and again on yesterday. I work in the Waters Building so I was able to check it out at lunch on Friday and talk to one of the shift managers. I kind of like where they're going with it. They've got a decent food menu (standard pub fare) and everything is under $5. Paper menus and pencils are at every table, so you just fill out your menu and give it to your server. Their burger menu has just about every topping combination you could ever imagine. Kitchen will be staying open until 2 am. Drink prices are impressive, too. $1.50 PBR and Moosehead, wines starting at $3.00, $2.50 wells, $3.25 "mid shelf" and $3.75 premium mixed drinks. These are the prices ALL the time. They put up a ton of new TVs, they have PlayStations and XBoxes for people to rent, a jukebox, and he said they'll be having live music on the weekend.

I was walking by today and they were putting up the Ottawa Tavern window/door stickers. I THINK that both are going to stay in operation. The soup and sandwich part will still serve their lunch menu under the Bite name, then the bar/dining area will be OT.

Crap, I saw a flier somewhere with a URL for that Ottawa Tavern, but I can't remember what it was!

I agree! I just talked to my friend who owns 15-20 homes in Eastown, and he said is next project will be buying an old retail building. I'm going to push for him to go with a bar. Hopefully, somebody else has something in the works, though, because this will be a few years off.

They have a pretty small staff, and everytime I'm in there, none of them seem too enthusiastic about being there. Staying open 'til 2:00 just probably isn't worth it for them.

Pickwick is great, but they close at 11:00 every night...even on weekends.

That'd be a great spot for a bar. I've been looking for something close to Eastown that isn't Billy's or Mulligan's, but not all the way downtown. I also think that Wealthy Business District would benefit greatly from a bar.

I drove by there today out of curiosity, and there sure isn't any signs of life at that building. Does anyone know the timeline?