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  • 3 weeks later...

A few thoughts:

1) As someone that moved here from Southeast Michigan for a job I am very happy with everything out here. . . .

With all due respect, we love having you settle into your new growing metro area, but WE ARE NOT OUT anywhere. If anything we are OVER HERE or IN BETWEEN (i.e. - Chicago and Detroit) but not OUT. The very thought of Detroit being IN and GR being OUT (as in "Outstate" as opposed to the accurate "West State") just continues the tired old Detroit-centric thought processes of the past.

Appreciated GR References: OVER HERE; WEST STATE; MICHIGAN'S WEST COAST; IN BETWEEN

Hated GR References: Outstate; Out There

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With all due respect, we love having you settle into your new growing metro area, but WE ARE NOT OUT anywhere. If anything we are OVER HERE or IN BETWEEN (i.e. - Chicago and Detroit) but not OUT. The very thought of Detroit being IN and GR being OUT (as in "Outstate" as opposed to the accurate "West State") just continues the tired old Detroit-centric thought processes of the past.

Appreciated GR References: OVER HERE; WEST STATE; MICHIGAN'S WEST COAST; IN BETWEEN

Hated GR References: Outstate; Out There

I don't mind it.

Chicagoans call us "Up there" and that doesn't bother me either.

We're not "IN BETWEEN," as that distinction is reserved for Kalamazoo in my opinion.

Anything (even "Out there") that separates us from Detroit is ok by me.

Michigan is "Detroit-centric" because more than half the state's population lives under there. (How's that?) ;)

It's a fact of life. New York is NYC centric. Illinois is Chicago centric. Those states both have other cities that are great, our size, and more ignored by their big brothers than we are.

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I don’t know if I would put Detroit in the same basket as Chicago and NYC. The fact is Detroit City has been shrinking since 1950. We need to start thinking of this relationship more like a Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

I lived in Detroit, in-fact I grew up over there. I can say with absolute certainty that Grand Rapids is way more of a city than Detroit can ever hope to be. Sure Detroit gets most the national and international press for cities that reside in this Great State but the truth is it's a dying city whos only hope for economical upturn is in the hands of 3 casinos.

I don't however think that comparing our relationship to Detroit with Philadelphia and Pittsburgh's is entirely accurate. Grand Rapids is a new kind of city, a modern city with modern thinking. A city with a future. A city who's residents still have the power to shape and mold its culture. Detroit's History has been written and the city is in ruins. Grand Rapids is a City with hope in a state that desperately needs it.

I say keep the good press coming for my adopted home and hope that we can keep distancing ourselves from the black cloud that is Detroit.

Edited by jczeranna
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I lived in Detroit, in-fact I grew up over there. I can say with absolute certainty that Grand Rapids is way more of a city than Detroit can ever hope to be. Sure Detroit gets most the national and international press for cities that reside in this Great State but the truth is it's a dying city whos only hope for economical upturn is in the hands of 3 casinos.

I don't however think that comparing our relationship to Detroit with Philadelphia and Pittsburgh's is entirely accurate. Grand Rapids is a new kind of city, a modern city with modern thinking. A city with a future. A city who's residents still have the power to shape and mold its culture. Detroit's History has been written and the city is in ruins. Grand Rapids is a City with hope in a state that desperately needs it.

I say keep the good press coming for my adopted home and hope that we can keep distancing ourselves from the black cloud that is Detroit.

In the words of Mark Twain, "news of my death is greatly exagerated".

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I don't mind it.

Chicagoans call us "Up there" and that doesn't bother me either.

We're not "IN BETWEEN," as that distinction is reserved for Kalamazoo in my opinion.

Anything (even "Out there") that separates us from Detroit is ok by me.

Michigan is "Detroit-centric" because more than half the state's population lives under there. (How's that?) ;)

It's a fact of life. New York is NYC centric. Illinois is Chicago centric. Those states both have other cities that are great, our size, and more ignored by their big brothers than we are.

My point is far more forward thinking than that. Michigan is becoming more like a Texas or Ohio or California (states with multiple big cities) than a state with one overarching megalopolis like Illinois or New York (even though Albany and Syracuse make NY State a grey area argument). I do my personal best to inspire thought and maybe even paradigm shifting pertaining to thoughts about Michigan moving from a One Metro state to now a Two Metro state (and eventually a Three Metro state when Traverse City kicks in).

I don
Edited by metrogrkid
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I lived in Detroit, in-fact I grew up over there. I can say with absolute certainty that Grand Rapids is way more of a city than Detroit can ever hope to be. Sure Detroit gets most the national and international press for cities that reside in this Great State but the truth is it's a dying city whos only hope for economical upturn is in the hands of 3 casinos.

I don't however think that comparing our relationship to Detroit with Philadelphia and Pittsburgh's is entirely accurate. Grand Rapids is a new kind of city, a modern city with modern thinking. A city with a future. A city who's residents still have the power to shape and mold its culture. Detroit's History has been written and the city is in ruins. Grand Rapids is a City with hope in a state that desperately needs it.

I say keep the good press coming for my adopted home and hope that we can keep distancing ourselves from the black cloud that is Detroit.

Now, I know that there are a few Detroiters that have and do get on my last nerve with their, "Detroit is The City" and everywhere else in Michigan is "The Country", but Detroit's "death" is definitely hyperbole. Yes, D-Town has some issues, but it still has its pervasive sense of energy and excitement that only an "alive" city can have.

There!! A GR cheerleader gave The D its props. Move it along, now. Keep it movin'. -_-

Edited by metrogrkid
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They were on the Today show this morning, too apparently.

Not really hyping Grand Rapids or anything but the front page article from the GR Press the other day about the man whose search for his biological mother lead him right to the Lowe's Home Improvement store where he worked (Plainfield Twp) was one of the cover story on my AT&T Yahoo! News homepage.
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Now, I know that there are a few Detroiters that have and do get on my last nerve with their, "Detroit is The City" and everywhere else in Michigan is "The Country", but Detroit's "death" is definitely hyperbole. Yes, D-Town has some issues, but it still has its pervasive sense of energy and excitement that only an "alive" city can have.

There!! A GR cheerleader gave The D its props. Move it along, now. Keep it movin'. -_-

Define city.

5 years ago I was that guy that got on your nerves. I moved here to go to college and counted the days until I could return to "the city". I graduated, moved back and got a job working in Comerica Tower in the heart of Detroit. What came along with that is what set me against my home town. The problem? I worked and spent my days downtown, at night i had to return to the suburbs where I was forced to live. Point is the Detroit Metro Area is a donut. During the day and special events it is seemingly an alive city with energy and excitement. At 5:00 o'clock it's a mass exodus to the safety and familiarity of a 3 bedroom brick house with a front and back yard, two stall garage, white picket fence, mundane suburbia hell.

Detroit no-longer works as a city should. Sure some people love living in the suburbs and you will always have them but Detroit doesn't give you the option of city living.

cheers

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  • 3 weeks later...

I wonder how they choose the cities? Perhaps, someone saw the article that woman wrote not too long ago from the Boston area about how more cities should be like GR. I think the show is based out of the Boston area.

I don't know, but I think it's REALLY cool. For those who haven't seen the show, people take all kinds of antiques and artifacts to the convention center and professional appraisers from all over the country assess the value (or non-value) of selected items. Many times the items are of local history, so you get to learn a lot of interesting little known facts about the area. The most amazing finds are ones that people pick up at a garage sale for $5 and it's worth $50 - $100,000.

AND, they always in every episode venture out to at least one or two sites in the host city and meet with a local historian or museum curator. Might go PERFECT with Heritage Hill's 40 Year Anniversary.

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For those of you who read Sports Illustrated, check out the "Civic Pride" letter to the editor in this weeks edition. Former Mayor John Logie obviously took exception to some disparaging comments made about Grand Rapids in a recent Floyd Mayweather article (12/17 SI). The writer referred to Mayweather's home of Grand Rapids as a "flagging Michigan city." Logie's letter defending GR was published in this week's edition of SI. No linky since it doesn't look like letters to the editor are published on SI.com

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  • 2 weeks later...

I hate to admit that I too think that is a Chili's.

On the subject of exposure:

Major Arts Conference coming to Meijer Gardens

Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park will play host in October to an international conference on sculpture.

The International Sculpture Center will hold its conference "Sculpture in Public: Part 2, Public Art" at Meijer Gardens Oct. 2-4.

The biennial event will bring artists, curators, museum director, art teachers and others to Grand Rapids for the second part of a conference on public art that began in 2007.

More at the GR Press here

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The front page of this morning's Wall Street Journal has an article on Middleville, MI ("The World Short of Oil, Provisions Must be Made: Mr. Wissner of Middleville Stocks Up on Rice, Gold; No Faith in a 'techno fix'").

The journalist is Neil King, Jr.

The article refers to Grand Rapids as a geographical marker. The article also mentions Mr. Wissner's plan to "organize an international peak-oil conference in Grand Rapids later this year."

The front page always has a fluff-piece and this one is it. GR's association with the peak-oil movement doesn't seem positive or negative but the article does hint at the unique culture in West Michigan. Any thoughts?

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