Should West Michigan consider itself part of Chicagoland?

[suydam]

Being strongly linked with Chicago in fact and mind would be very healthy for West Michigan. We would easily retain our own identity. Residents of Chicago have maintained "cottages" along the west coast since Hemingway's day.

Chicago is one of the healthiest and greatest cities in the US, and I think our character is closer to that city than to Detroit, unfortunately for Detroit.

Already some people commute by the week and Amtrak to Chicago. amtrak could easily be upgraded in equipment and arrangements to get to chicago to close to 3 hours, perhaps 2 and a half. IMHO west michigan leaders should be working overtime to get stimulus money to upgrade that Amtrak route.

[ericnmu]

I mentioned to someone in Madison today that Grand Rapids and West Michigan is doing much better than Detroit (still, everyone thinks Michigan = Detroit), and the response I got was "yeah, well it's closer to Chicago". So the perception does exist.

[fiest from the window]

whats wrong with west michigan trying to be everything else. our state has no confidence. its suffering from poor self esteem, i love this area, we just need to get the boat turned in the right direction and stop crying about job loss and work on changing what is produced in the state.

windmills baby. all this open factory space, we should be selling windmills like moonpies down south.

oh, and people better get over not liking the look of the windmills around town, they are coming. i got 3 in my backyard in baileys grove. homeowners were pissed but now they are asking where i got them from.

target sell windmills.

[wingbert]

Wouldn't his advice also apply to Green Bay, Milwaukee and Indianapolis? Not to mention Gary, IN.

[Explorer55]

I'm a native of GR (visit often, but don't live there anymore) and I never thought of the area as being associated with either Detroit or Chicago. Yeah, I rooted for the Lions and Tigers growing up, but that was about it. Otherwise, GR was just GR, the main city on the west side of Michigan, about 30 miles from the Big Lake (hold up your hand and point!). If you wanted to visit a really big city you could head off to Detroit for the day or to Chicago for the weekend, but otherwise we had everything needed right nearby.

GR has its own unique history and culture and ethnic groups, some similarities to both Detroit and Chicago (and other midwestern cities), but can stand on its own. That Big Lake and roundabout way to get to Chicago, I think also plays a part in not having been "sucked" into the Chicago megaregion complex. I'd say attitude and economic differences has kept it fairly separated from Detroit, although distance has had something to do with it, too. I spent four years in East Lansing, and don't even think of that area as being part of "Detroit", although I did finally learn something about the suburbs of Detroit from my dorm-mates. Different worlds!

Anyway, Grand Rapids doesn't need any big city to "latch on to". It can create its own image and sphere of influence and seems to be doing that quite well, slowly but surely.

[GRDadof3]

This is an interesting article about this topic:

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michiga...nd_of_town.html

And from interviews with local economic development agencies, when they market Grand Rapids, they do show its proximity to Chicago, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and yes Detroit. But we still need our own separate brand.

[Quercus]

This thread appears to continually update the "last action" time even though no one posts anything. Anyone else notice this? Does that mean someone has voted in the poll? It's kind of annoying.

[fotoman311]

This thread appears to continually update the "last action" time even though no one posts anything. Anyone else notice this? Does that mean someone has voted in the poll? It's kind of annoying.

[suydam]

All the polls do this. It is annoying. But, I just try to ignore it. I usually just try and remember who the last reply was and only check it if that changes.

[GRDadof3]

I can close the poll. I'd say we have our answer as to how UP feels about it.