Importance of Regional Thinking

[publius]

I very much welcome the broader new approach to the Grand Rapids "metro" area. The government has always defined our area as including Ottawa and Muskegon counties in all statistical tracking of metro area characteristics, and might have even broadened it recently to include Allegan, as I recall... Certainly those of us who conduct business in the area have customers and market throughout the whole region--most of our media have a regional reach as well (GR Press has as large a circulation in Holland as the Sentinel, for example)...

The marketing of our region in broader terms is also now recognized by the Chamber, evidenced in the recent "West Michigan Coast" marketing approach, and Northwest Airlines has finally started advertising Grand Rapids as a "destination city" with vacation packages, etc.

Holland and Muskegon folks frequently travel to GR for concerts and events, and we do the same (especially Holland, in my instance, where the quality of theater, restaurants, and concerts is often exceptional)...

All in all we in this region are all tied together, and it is a very good thing...

[allbusiness]

Not to mention the sheer numbers of us who commute around the entire metro for business. On my drive in to GR every morning, there are just as many cars going to Holland to work. the same is true between GR and Muskegon and Holland and Muskegon.

Here are a few links that support "regional think":

http://www.wmrpc.org/

http://www.wm-alliance.org/Brix?pageID=1

http://www.michiganswestcoast.com/

[PBJ]

Not to mention the sheer numbers of us who commute around the entire metro for business. On my drive in to GR every morning, there are just as many cars going to Holland to work. the same is true between GR and Muskegon and Holland and Muskegon.

Here are a few links that support "regional think":

http://www.wmrpc.org/

http://www.wm-alliance.org/Brix?pageID=1

http://www.michiganswestcoast.com/

You're absolutely correct, traffic out to the Lake is pretty thick in the morning, and then again on the way back into GR in the evening. Next time wave.. i'm a GR to Holland commuter.. there's a lot of "bigger" companies out here on the lakeshore.. and before here it was to muskegon from GR.

[GRDadof3]

The Grand Valley Metro Council put out a book a couple of years ago that showed growth projections, transportation nodes, etc.. Has anyone seen that lately? They used to have a link to it on their website but couldn't find it.

[torgo]

The Grand Valley Metro Council put out a book a couple of years ago that showed growth projections, transportation nodes, etc.. Has anyone seen that lately? They used to have a link to it on their website but couldn't find it.

I have a copy of the Long Range Public Transportation Plan, but not the other one. I only saw the other one as a link on the website.