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50 minutes ago, MJLO said:

I've wondered why the metro area is so unevenly developed.  Areas north and west of downtown turn rural within minutes of downtown.  Whereas areas south and east of the river are fairly densely built out for miles.  What gives?

Obviously East Grand Rapids became an affluent development node from the early streetcar lines. And from what I understand, Cascade grew out of people moving from East Grand Rapids outward to get bigger lots and lower taxes back in the 70's and 80's. Now it draws a lot of relo's but that wasn't always the case. 

Kenowa Hills and Comstock Park do not draw the volume of relo's like Forest Hills, Byron Center and Kentwood do. 

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3 hours ago, MJLO said:

I've wondered why the metro area is so unevenly developed.  Areas north and west of downtown turn rural within minutes of downtown.  Whereas areas south and east of the river are fairly densely built out for miles.  What gives?

Alpine Twp saw a boom of growth for a while along Alpine Ave. Then the township voted to put an end to that and be VERY selective in the kind of development that takes place. It was their wish to keep Alpine Twp. a strictly rural area. 

Edited by GRLaker
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36 minutes ago, GRLaker said:

Alpine Twp saw a boom of growth for a while along Alpine Ave. Then the township voted to put an end to that and be VERY selective in the kind of development that takes place. It was their wish to keep Alpine Twp. a strictly rural area. 

So I'm not talking about the development that has occurred over the last 35 years where places like Cascade, Ada, and even Alpine township emerged and developed.  The road infrastructure for the area which was mostly put in place 40s-60s heavily built for the inner ring for places like Wyoming and Kentwood.  There is not nearly that much post war suburban development on the otherside of the river.  The distribution is uneven and I don't think explaining the attractiveness of area schools in modern times has anything to do with build environments that were put in place decades prior.

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2 hours ago, MJLO said:

So I'm not talking about the development that has occurred over the last 35 years where places like Cascade, Ada, and even Alpine township emerged and developed.  The road infrastructure for the area which was mostly put in place 40s-60s heavily built for the inner ring for places like Wyoming and Kentwood.  There is not nearly that much post war suburban development on the otherside of the river.  The distribution is uneven and I don't think explaining the attractiveness of area schools in modern times has anything to do with build environments that were put in place decades prior.

Historically the development of GR clearly spread southward more than anywhere else.  Paris and Wyoming Township were settled very quickly after Grand Rapids was established.  I think outgrowth from the city center was concentrated south because: (1) It's generally flatter in that direction, and I'd theorize the low lying areas of Kent County were ideal for farmers at the time.  (2) The first big transportation corridors went southward (Kalamazoo Plank Road, Chicago Road).  Railroads eventually took over those same routes in the 1870s.

The river played a role too, in that the Village of Grandville was established as a lumber center to compete with Grand Rapids (they believed its location around the south bend was better).  So right away as GR was fledging, you had another town just to the southwest growing as well.

Edited by RegalTDP
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22 minutes ago, RegalTDP said:

Historically the development of GR clearly spread southward more than anywhere else.  Paris and Wyoming Township were settled very quickly after Grand Rapids was established.  I think outgrowth from the city center was concentrated south because: (1) It's generally flatter that direction, and I'd theorize the low lying areas of Kent County were ideal for farmers of that time.  (2) The first big transportation corridors went in that direction (Kalamazoo Plank Road, Chicago Road).  Railroads eventually took over those same routes in the 1870s.

The river played a role too, in that the Village of Grandville was established as a lumber center to compete with Grand Rapids (they believed its location around the south bend was better).  So right away as GR was fledging, you had another town just to the southwest growing as well.

That explains why a history teacher once told me that there was a time long ago that Grand Rapids was secondary to Grandville. That clearly didn't last long.

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If you want to know why you see so much rural and wooded areas north and west of GR immediately outside of the city limits, it's because development of any kind is deemed controversial. Adding homes = dead kids at bus stops apparently.

http://fox17online.com/2017/01/24/plainfield-twp-housing-development-met-with-concerns-about-traffic-property-values/

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  • 2 weeks later...

Looking at the internet trends, although it looks like Cities in Michigan have a general downward trend in searches, Grand Rapids is the most stable. It's interesting to see how Kalamazoo had a corresponding jump in internet searches at the same time as the Flint Fiasco.  

Screen Shot 2017-02-05 at 12.24.06 PM.png

Edited by crinzema
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  • 2 weeks later...
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'It’s (bike safety) modeled after a successful program in Grand Rapids, MI'

http://www.kvoa.com/story/34589918/tucson-program-launches-to-reduce-cyclist-crashes

Didn't know we had a bike safety program here.  Maybe I'm simply inattentive but for 632K would have thought I would of seen something.

Need to read rapidgrowth more - http://www.rapidgrowthmedia.com/innovationnews/051216-bicycle-safety-education-campaign.aspx

Anyone see the commercials?  http://grdrivingchange.org/about/

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39 minutes ago, arcturus said:

'It’s (bike safety) modeled after a successful program in Grand Rapids, MI'

http://www.kvoa.com/story/34589918/tucson-program-launches-to-reduce-cyclist-crashes

Didn't know we had a bike safety program here.  Maybe I'm simply inattentive but for 632K would have thought I would of seen something.

Need to read rapidgrowth more - http://www.rapidgrowthmedia.com/innovationnews/051216-bicycle-safety-education-campaign.aspx

Anyone see the commercials?  http://grdrivingchange.org/about/

They've done billboards and ads on Rapid buses. 

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The City of Austin held a Town Hall meeting yesterday about the proposed convention center expansion.  The snippet below was taken from a Community Impact article about the meeting and expansion plans:  

"Could it take inspiration from the...Grand Rapids’ DeVos Convention Center, which has a greenhouse and farmer’s market components."

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On 2/23/2017 at 8:53 PM, arcturus said:

Didn't know we had a bike safety program here.  Maybe I'm simply inattentive but for 632K would have thought I would of seen something.

Obviously money well spent if the people who pay the most attention barely noticed it... :D   I think I did see an ad once or something, though.  Then again, I've programmed myself to ignore all advertising for things I don't want to buy... ;)  

Edited by x99
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11 hours ago, The ATX said:

The City of Austin held a Town Hall meeting yesterday about the proposed convention center expansion.  The snippet below was taken from a Community Impact article about the meeting and expansion plans:  

"Could it take inspiration from the...Grand Rapids’ DeVos Convention Center, which has a greenhouse and farmer’s market components."

By that logic, it also has an arena!

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4 hours ago, x99 said:

Obviously money well spent if the people who pay the most attention barely noticed it... :D   I think I did see an ad once or something, though.  Then again, I've programmed myself to ignore all advertising for things I don't want to buy... ;)  

The ads on buses were everywhere, billboards too. 

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9 minutes ago, thebeerqueer said:

They might not be but it was an education campaign aimed at raising awareness to both cyclists and motorists. 

At least we have the most educated bus riders (who don't drive or cycle much) when it comes to cycling!

Just hoping they don't yell out the window to some cyclist for not signalling a turn.   

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