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 Friday Everyone:

We are celebrating a significant milestone as your GR Forward Update turns 50 weeks old today. Thanks to everyone for staying engaged up to this point!

In terms of updates, our work this week has been focused on finalizing details for our second Public Forum, and I am happy to report it has been scheduled for Thursday, April 16 at 6p at Innovation Central High (421 Fountain St NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503). This will be another opportunity for the entire community to come together to see the work that has happened on GR Forward over the past few months, and is a great way for us as a project team to gather more feedback as we refine our goals and strategies. We will put together some marketing materials for you to share within your networks next week, but in the meantime feel free to start spreading the word for what will be an exciting event.

This week we also found time to provide an update to the Grand Rapids City Commission on our ongoing efforts. Many thanks to Mayor Heartwell and all the Commissioners for their continued leadership and insight on GR Forward. For those of you that were not in attendance, here is a link to a Fox 17 story following the Commission update: http://fox17online.com/2015/03/24/community-input-sought-on-improving-downtown-grand-rapids/.

Unfortunately we had to postpone our event with GR Current, but we are looking forward to rescheduling that for a later date, and I will be sure to pass on those details when they are available.

Coming up next week we are looking forward to participating at another LINC First Friday. If you have not been to a First Friday event, I highly encourage you to stop by. In addition to learning about great work going on around the City, it is an opportunity to enjoy live music, spoken word poetry, local art, and delicious food. Hope to see you all there!

Web Numbers

The latest web and social media numbers are below. Be sure to share the links below within your networks so that everyone can stay up to date with GR Forward activities.

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

Twitter - https://twitter.com/grfwd

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

Resources

I enjoyed this article from City Lab on streets where cars, bikes and pedestrians all share the road as equals.

Called woonerfs, which is Dutch for a “living/shared street”, these streets accommodate multiple transportation modes without traditional safety infrastructure to guide users. In the absence of lights, stop signs, curbs, and painted lines, everyone is forced to slow down, be more alert, and ultimately more cooperative. Although the concept originated in Europe, it is gaining widespread appeal around the world, including the United States. Seattle completed their first shared street in 2014 and has two more in the planning phase, and Chicago is expected to begin construction on one this spring.

Though the concept is not suitable on every street, it is an interesting approach to balancing a variety of transportation options, and as the article indicated, may have a positive impact on property values.

As always, let me know if you have any questions. If not, have a great weekend!