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Other cities' view of Grand Rapids

rstravis

By rstravis
in Grand Rapids Coffee House

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tamias6 Town

tamias6

Posted
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20 years ago my family and I lived in the Chicago area. When my dad told us he got a job transfer and that we're moving to the GR area, I thought, "Oh great! We're moving from one of the greatest cities on the face of the Earth to some no name town in MI." I never heard of Grand Rapids at the time. For all I knew, it was going to be some cheesy Hicksville town complete with a roach invested greece pit called a resturaut, red neck bars galore, and one radio station playing country music 24/7.

Well needless to say I was in for a plesent suprise at how urban GR was and is. Infact I was blown away that there was a "downtown". It even has high rise buildings with glass facades just like Chicago. Then there was all of those cool skywalks. It has six lane highways featuring twisty-turny highway innerchanges with overpasses stacked one atop the other just like Chicago. Back then, I thought that cities were not big unless the highways had more than 4 lanes and muiltple overpasses at its innerchanges. Nieve to the negative effects of urban sprawl, then, I was amazed at how far the suburbs stretched. Then there was 28th street. It has three shopping malls on the same road!

"Wow! This is no hicksville. This is a city" I remember saying to my parents.

Its been over twenty years since we've moved to the GR area. This city still amazes me. With the VA and Devos Place, plus all the development coming in to DT and metro, GR is gaining the gravity of a much larger city. As I continue to watch the area grow and evolve, its reminding me more and more of the energy that fuels Chicago as I'm starting to see that same energy take root here. I would dare say that within the next couple of decades GR will give Detroit a good run for its money when it comes to political and economic influence over the rest of the state.

In short, I had a not so good visions of GR when I first heard about it. But I quickly found out that there is more to GR than meets the eye.

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GR8scott Burg

GR8scott

Posted
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I was surprised when I went to college where the majority of the students are from SE MI, many of them did not realize that GR is the second largest city (not Lansing or AA or Flint) and most of them were very surprised at the size and the amount of shopping and other things to do. I guess many had a perception of a large quite church-filled town with nothing to do.

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AlexPKeaton Burg

AlexPKeaton

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I just flew back from Austin this weekend. I always like seeing the "Welcome to Michigan's West Coast" sign as I leave the airport. To me that seems like the best angle to play up when advertising the city. It says it's like California with the coast and everything, but on a smaller, friendlier scale.

-nb

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monsoon Gigalopolis

monsoon

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I will add my two cents to this thread since it was asked. I was born and raised in Myrtle Beach, SC and now live in Charlotte and pretty much have lived most of my life here except for a short time in Florida and Kentucky. I have heard of Grand Rapids, however I had no idea it was the 2nd largest metro in Michigan until I was exposed to it on UrbanPlanet. Almost 100% of what we routinely hear here, about Michigan, is about Detroit and usually because of the auto industry. It's one of those cases of a state with a very large metro drowning out the rest of the state. Atlanta has the same effect on Georgia.

I've learned a great deal about Grand Rapids through this forum and I wonder how much we have spread the word about your city to others given that it is one of our busier forums.

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Allison Slater Town

Allison Slater

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I've learned a great deal about Grand Rapids through this forum and I wonder how much we have spread the word about your city to others given that it is one of our busier forums.

Wow, I just checked to see how GR compares with the other city forums, and in terms of topics, we rank highest on all of UP. That's pretty impressive. =o

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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I will add my two cents to this thread since it was asked. I was born and raised in Myrtle Beach, SC and now live in Charlotte and pretty much have lived most of my life here except for a short time in Florida and Kentucky. I have heard of Grand Rapids, however I had no idea it was the 2nd largest metro in Michigan until I was exposed to it on UrbanPlanet. Almost 100% of what we routinely hear here, about Michigan, is about Detroit and usually because of the auto industry. It's one of those cases of a state with a very large metro drowning out the rest of the state. Atlanta has the same effect on Georgia.

I've learned a great deal about Grand Rapids through this forum and I wonder how much we have spread the word about your city to others given that it is one of our busier forums.

I'm glad we have this venue to help educate people about Grand Rapids. As you mentioned, it's hard to get exposure when we have such a large metropolis in our State that garners most of the attention. I've certainly learned a great deal about other cities here that I don't think I would have otherwise, especially from the great photography on this site.

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