Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. Planning Manager Tim Kelly emails a weekly GR Forward update to the project Steering Committee. Here's this week's communication:

Happy March Everyone:

I hope your Friday is off to a great start. If you have not heard, spring is almost upon us, I promise J

Our neighborhood meetings continued this week with a presentation to our Downtown neighbors at Riverhouse condos. A big thank you to Downtown Steering Committee member Mark Holzbach for helping organize the event.

We also made a presentation to the Creston Business Association and the Grand Rapids Parks Advisory Board. As a reminder, if anyone is interested in having a representative of GR Forward come give a presentation, please let me know.

Next week we have a packed slate of GR Forward related activities, including a presentation to the leadership of our local philanthropic foundations on Tuesday, and the Grand Rapids Planning Commission on Thursday.

Next week will also see the conclusion of our neighborhood meetings, which are listed below. Aa reminder, these are open to anyone, not just those that live in the neighborhood. We hope you can join us!

• Heritage Hill: Tuesday, March 10 at 5:30p at Cornerstone Church

• Belknap Lookout: Wednesday, March 11 at 6:00p at Belknap Commons

Web Numbers

The latest web and social media numbers are below. We hit a milestone with our 1,000^th like on Facebook, though our activity has slowed a bit this week. Hopefully those numbers will pick up with some of our upcoming activities.

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/grfwd

Twitter - https://twitter.com/grfwd

Instagram - http://instagram.com/grfwd#

Resources

A few resources for you this week.

First, this article from Pop City Media on the power of “eds and meds” districts to create jobs is interesting and relevant given Grand Rapids strength in both areas: http://www.popcitymedia.com/features/anchorfeature_020415.aspx

These mixed-use districts provide workers and employers the proximity they need to spur innovation, and when developed in a collaborative manner serve to attract talent because of their unique environments. As growth in these sectors is expected to grow in the coming years, cities should look to capitalize on the opportunities these districts provide. As Grand Rapids is already well ahead of most other urban areas in this capacity, we should continue to look for opportunities to grow our assets.

I also enjoyed this article from the Washington Post on the environmental benefits of density: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/02/19/the-impressive-environmental-bonus-of-crowded-city-living/. As the article points out, CO2 emissions from ground transport fall as population density rises. Other benefits include preservation of land and decreased energy use, all of which suggest the environmental impact of cities has more to do with urban form and organization, as opposed to simply their population size.

Lastly, and on a bit of a lighter note, this article and video about a John Oliver piece on infrastructure in the United States is worth spending some time with: http://www.planetizen.com/node/74666. Funny and poignant, the piece sheds light on how easily people tend to overlook infrastructure simply because it is perceived as “boring”.

That is all for this week. As always, let me know if you have any questions. If not, have a great weekend!