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People talking about Grand Rapids


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I definitely like people saying positive things about Grand Rapids. But, I also like people saying positive things and having them be accurate. That article is very much in need of a copy (GR Opera Center being "downtown" even thought it's nearly 2 miles outside of the downtown core, and St. Mary's and Mary Free Bed being part of Medical Mile, two VERY different concept sketches of the SAME building) info that it makes me feel like the writer was a bit lazy.

You know, this Sunday I watched Dateline NBC's depressing hour-long special on how Detroit is in such awful shape, I found myself wishing that somebody - anybody - would pay attention to some other parts of the state and give Michigan some positive press. Too bad Archpaper didn't put in enough effort to get their facts straight, but at least they were looking in our direction for once.

Edited by RegalTDP
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... Too bad Planetizen didn't put in enough effort to get their facts straight, but at least they were looking in our direction for once.

The link posted on Planetizen came from Archpaper.com.

Nice thing about e-journalism: even after a piece has gone "to press," it's possible to make corrections. And these can be offered by readers and lurkers, not just them what wrote the thing.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hopefully the Census Bureau will read this and impulsively put Holland back in our MSA. whistling.gif

There were some other, minor errors in the story (it's not "Meijer's" even though that's what we call it) but I think that the thrust of the piece was right on target, especially with the focus on the local philanthropists.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Since the above link leads to two different articles, I'm going to go ahead and link directly to each of them. And Woody, for future reference, UP rules discourage posting links to articles without at least typing a small review, opinion, or description of that article. Plus, it helps all of us know what we are getting ourselves into before clicking the link.

Article 1 - which has the most to do with GR:

Grand Rapids Art Museum: LEED Gold Certified

Nothing really new, but a nice positive article with great diagrams, and interior and exterior photographs. Except...where are all the people? Is there anything wrong with depicting lively or utilized buildings?

Article 2 - relevant I suppose given the number of LEED projects in the area:

LEED Buildings Rated Green...and Often Toxic

While this article has a valid point, IMHO it is framed wrong. Something about it comes off reading LEED PROMOTES UNHEALTHY BUILDINGS, when the real argument is that LEED does not do enough to promote healthy buildings. Afterall, many of the buildings that don't follow LEED guidelines are just as unhealthy if not more so than those that do. There's always room to improve the grading system, but as Horst says, stepping up too fast may cause projects to abandon the program. As long as LEED continues to push for improvement in each new version, it will be moving in the right direction.

Edited by andrew69@ltu
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Article 2 - relevant I suppose given the number of LEED projects in the area:

LEED Buildings Rated Green...and Often Toxic

While this article has a valid point, IMHO it is framed wrong. Something about it comes off reading LEED PROMOTES UNHEALTHY BUILDINGS, when the real argument is that LEED does not do enough to promote healthy buildings. Afterall, many of the buildings that don't follow LEED guidelines are just as unhealthy if not more so than those that do. There's always room to improve the grading system, but as Horst says, stepping up too fast may cause projects to abandon the program. As long as LEED continues to push for improvement in each new version, it will be moving in the right direction.

I completely agree with your analysis.

Often, it seems, people who are either "against" sustainability (how can you be?) or more specifically against the sustainability movement, seek to devalue or discredit accomplishments showing their faults.

The key takeaway from LEED in general is that if you give people a framework, show them the value in adhering to the framework, and get them some positive PR for their efforts, they will do the right thing. Sure they could always do more, but sometimes "great is the enemy of better than nothing." :-)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I got an email recently letting me know that Bicycle Dreams, a documentary about the Race Across American (RAAM) endurance bicycle race, had been released on DVD. Featured prominently on the website is "Winner - Grand Rapids Film Festival". This was one movie I wanted to try and see at last year's festival, but the time didn't work out. I'm may have to buy it on DVD, or see if GRPL is going to get their hands on it.

http://www.bicycledreamsmovie.com/

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Nice mention of a Grand Rapids business, Prestige Products, in the current issue of Bloomberg Businessweek:

Business Profit from BP Spill

I like this quote: "We're in Michigan. The economy has been horrible for everybody here," Rickel said in an interview. "But the expertise is here and we cashed in on it."

Bravo to Prestige Products for stepping up.

I would have preferred that the article was written a little differently. Personally I'm a little uncomfortable with its war profiteering tone.

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  • 1 month later...
GR Named the most stable real estate market. I'm always on CNBC, checking news and such, and i'm always looking at these nerdy "top ten" slides. This latest one I checked was called "top ten most stable real estate markets". The last thing i expected was to see GR on it. Since we tend to only find ourselves on top ten bad stuff lists, by New York based media outlets. I dont really think it's good or bad. But it's cool. Lord knows with these things they change all the time but here it is :)
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I've seen GR poll well on other lists about real estate markets in the past few years. I'm sure there's one somewhere on this thread, but I don't feel like looking for it.

GR is ranked #12 in the top 15 most underrated cities by HuffPo.

http://www.huffingto...72.html#s128338

Damn straight! It's a weird topic for a poll, but yes, certainly GR would make that list. I felt the write-up was a bit lousy, though.

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GR is ranked #12 in the top 15 most underrated cities by HuffPo.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/18/10-most-underrated-us-cit_n_683872.html#s128338

Once again it annoys me that the marquee shot of the city is that three block section on the riverfront. Grand Rapids is Great! Come see both of our buildings!!! Along with our other five story buildings next to them. (That's a hyperbole y'all, I know it's not that bad.) I really wish we could find a better shot, (which there are many that are less boring), and get the media to pick one of those as the marquee shot to show the nation.

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It annoys me when MLive treats coverage by the NY Times or other media as a news story in and of itself.

-I don't mind if they mention it in passing in a post-event follow-up article, e.g. "The event garnered national attention, which included an article in the New York Times."

-Or I don't mind if they're providing commentary to an article by the New York Times, e.g. suppose the Times runs a story on Michigan's economy and MLive runs another story to analyze its conclusions.

But a whole news story about a shout-out to GR? That's not really news. Quite frankly, it just reeks of desperation.

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  • 1 month later...

Serious discussions on Midwest beers, specifically Bell's, Shorts & Founders.

Good food blog too.

http://www.seriousea...st-reviews.html

A friend of mine is in Amsterdam and she found a place that serves Founder's on draft.

We've talked about Founder's ever-widening distribution, but... Europe too? Didn't know that. Nice work.

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