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Rizzo

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Wait a minute HIX, Michigan's population is growing: :huh:

http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-1...32945--,00.html

Before we get too far off-topic, I think it is valuable to learn why young people are leaving, but I don't think major economic strategy should be invested in it. Certainly some good ideas, but young people are so fickle. You could do all these things they mention, and then they'd come up with some other reason why not to move back (too cold?!! can't do much about that!!) No offense to you young people.

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The whole project is skewed, and pandering to people won't make things better.

"Need more asian people." (#47)

Wha? How does that help?

"It seems very segregated." (#26)

Um... have you been to Chicago? Ol' Man Daley engineered the segregation in that town.

"Its frustrating how conservative West Michigan is." (#30)

Maybe you can stop complaining and try to change things if it's so important.

One small gem came from reading the project, and Scott from Manhattan (#10) said it right--

"It seems strangely popular to bash the prominent families in any community, but it's impossible to deny the contributions they've made to the city. Without those families, the same people would be beotching that there isn't enough (fill in the blank). When someone provides said (fill in the blank), people complain that the providers put their name on it. Point being, people like to beotch. Personally, I think that Grand Rapids

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Wait a minute HIX, Michigan's population is growing: :huh:

http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-1...32945--,00.html

Before we get too far off-topic, I think it is valuable to learn why young people are leaving, but I don't think major economic strategy should be invested in it. Certainly some good ideas, but young people are so fickle. You could do all these things they mention, and then they'd come up with some other reason why not to move back (too cold?!! can't do much about that!!) No offense to you young people.

True.....Michigans population is growing (barely in percentage terms) but everything is relative. Its growing...but its slow rate of growth will mean lost seats in the future due to the fact that it is growing slower than the national average and the percentage of people in the country who live in Michigan is shrinking. Next time I will be more specific in what I mean.....it was not meant in an absolute sense...but a relative sense.

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Wait a minute HIX, Michigan's population is growing: :huh:

http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-1...32945--,00.html

Before we get too far off-topic, I think it is valuable to learn why young people are leaving, but I don't think major economic strategy should be invested in it. Certainly some good ideas, but young people are so fickle. You could do all these things they mention, and then they'd come up with some other reason why not to move back (too cold?!! can't do much about that!!) No offense to you young people.

I tend to agree, we younger folks can find anything and everything to complain about.

Friends I know that have left, or are planning to leave have done so due to lack of jobs. From Teaching to Tech to basic Sales. A lack of job pool (even entry level) and a high number of graduates from local institutions puts a crunch on people. I know I had a hard time getting my 1st job and I had plenty of qualifications from internships and such.

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Sometime in the future you might have to ask youself the question: Is Grand Rapids getting the shaft just because it is percieved to be overly conservative, when there is little evidence to support it?

Speaking as a conservative, I think so. I really fail to see what politics has to do with choices in the place you live aside from maybe how the city government is run. Sometimes I feel like when my fellow pseudo-left youth friends say there needs to be more diversity in GR, they really mean "there needs to be more people like me!"

The one kid who bashed people for criticizing philantrophers of the region like DeVos and VanAndel hit the nail right on the head.

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http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-1...32945--,00.html

Before we get too far off-topic, I think it is valuable to learn why young people are leaving, but I don't think major economic strategy should be invested in it. Certainly some good ideas, but young people are so fickle. You could do all these things they mention, and then they'd come up with some other reason why not to move back (too cold?!! can't do much about that!!) No offense to you young people.

I agree. Most young people who grow up in a town probably dont want to spend their entire lives in the same one. I know I sure didn't. I think it would be much more instructive to look at how many people in that age range are leaving compared to how many in that age range are moving in. Just focusing on people who have left seems pointless. But they did say that this was by no means scientific.

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Sometime in the future you might have to ask youself the question: Is Grand Rapids getting the shaft just because it is percieved to be overly conservative, when there is little evidence to support it?

I would say the future is now. It must be remembered, however, that actions produce reactions and that perception is a lagging reaction. Think of it like this. If a person was a theif....the reaction upon others will be the perception that the person is still a theif....even if he has ceased his nefarious activity. His only chance of being treated and seen based upon present behavior will come from those who don't know his past.

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Ok... I just read almost all of those profiles... and here's my view:

Most of those kids seemed to have left because they had to find their way in the world. They needed to get away from their hometown. Most left to go to college, probably when they were 18, probably before they had a chance to make Grand Rapids theirs. What I mean is, when you are growing up in any city/town, esp. a fairly small one like GR-- many people feel confined, confined by their parent's religion, their parent's social circle, their parent's morals. The kids need to get away to find themselves. And when they go, they go to Ann Arbor, Chicago, L.A., New York etc. and find their nitch, and make it their own.

When they think back to grand rapids, all they probably are able to think about is how they grew up going to Christian High (and now their newfound liberalism wouldn't fit in) or how they used to hang out with their friends late at night on a deserted Monroe Mall, or how how every time they come home (each Christmas) their friends take them out to the BOB where all the young people dress the same and pretend they live in a bigger city than they do. This all amounts to those kids who left thinking that Grand Rapids is LAME!

Personally, I encourage the kids to leave and find themselves... I mean, if our city was populated by people who never left Grand Rapids, who grew up going to Christian, then to Calvin, and never saw the world and never challenged themselves... I don't think I'd like to live here.

I am not from Grand Rapids. I have made Grand Rapids my own. My husband, who is from GR, had been away from GR for 5 years before we moved here. He is now making GR his own too, without the influence of his parents, or his high school friends. I think it is safe to say he sees GR with different eyes than he did when he graduated from H.S.

Wow. I wrote alot! I guess this website really riled me up!

Ok, now I'm gonna go back and read what everybody else posted before me...

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Very true. But I think since Grand Rapids isn't nationally known, maybe it is time to get our act together before the curtian is pulled.

Absolutely correct. The area has made ripples on the national scene--Gerald Ford, public art, furniture--but to make a wave and be renowned, it needs to be innovative, it needs to lead.

I moved back to W.Mich from Chicago because of family, but I want to stay here because of the growth potential.

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lol I like this response:

Patrick, Los Angeles

What would Grand Rapids have to gain in order for you to return?

1. a magical escalator that carries you and your bike up fulton street and then tucks you into bed.

2. a place to eat late, that is good. yeah i know, i can already hear the arguments. sorry.

3. a waterpark

4. dvd's and cd's at the library back to being free. (i love the library so much though, don't misunderstand)

5. another outreach center.

6. nina, berlin, or a nina, berlin robot. either one.

If GR had a magical escalator, I would think everyone would come :P

Although points 2, 3, and 5 are very do-able and I would argue would be good to have in GR. An outreach center not tied to the church would be good for one, and hey lets put a waterpark in that 19 acre development everyones thinking about :P and restaurants are opening seemingly daily, so one is bound to be good, and open late.

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I didn't realise something that I should have before. Grand Rapids probably isn't the only mid/large city going through this. I'm sure that a lot of cities that arent as big as Chicago, LA, or NY that are bleeding these types of people. Is this the case or is GR the posterchild for this fleight?

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It's an interesting read, for sure. I would consider myself someone who would leave GR if the opportunity was right - just for the chance to live somewhere else and because I'm single and have the time, energy, etc.

But is it really about keeping those people here? For whatever reason, they're going to leave. And trying to get someone to stay somewhere usually ends up pushing them away. How about focusing on what is unique to Grand Rapids and making it an option for people who don't live here?

For example, Grand Rapids is a great place to raise a family - if I were married, it would be much harder for me to think about leaving. (A lot of my friends who have left come back when they're married and ready to start a family.) It wasn't on the set of questions, but my guess is that most of the people interviewed weren't married. And GR has such a low cost of living - if I were raising a family, it would be great to know that there are options for housing that won't necessarily break the bank.

I would be more interested in identifying the great things about GR and then promoting those things to the appropriate audiences (i.e., not twenty-somethings trying to find themselves or get their degrees).

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I think your on the money. But, if we start promoting ourselves as a "place to raise a family," red flags get raised in the minds of many, especially nowadays. For some reason lots of people call that "conforming." I just call it being a productive ;-) human. I'd create kids so I can get the tax credits. Refunds in the mail baby!

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I think your on the money. But, if we start promoting ourselves as a "place to raise a family," red flags get raised in the minds of many, especially nowadays. For some reason lots of people call that "conforming." I just call it being a productive ;-) human. I'd create kids so I can get the tax credits. Refunds in the mail baby!

Unfortunately a "good place to raise a family" reads....Boring....to many young people.

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