I got an e-mail from my friend John Seville at First Horizon Home loans today with a link to the story I've quoted below from the Boston Patriot Newspaper. I have been telling everyone for six months, at some point someone is going to take notice of what West Michigan has to offer. The cost of living and fantastic way of life here will not go unnoticed and lead someone to invest in the community. It will not be long before an industry will settle its headquarters here and create the "Boston" type of jobs that make a community the envy of the rest of the country. John's take was all is not negative here and I have to agree! Enjoy a nice compliment from the big city below.
COMMENTARY - AMERICA'S HEARTLAND - Why can't we be more like Grand Rapids?
By JOANN FITZPATRICK
..."Darned right, it is. I was in Grand Rapids, Mich., for a wedding. What I knew about Grand Rapids before going there was that it was the hometown of President Gerald Ford and site of his presidential library and museum. And also the home of Amway, though I and other out-of-town guests had only a vague idea of what Amway sells.
The small talk that predominates at events like this was punctuated repeatedly by wedding guests proclaiming to one another, ‘‘What a nice town, what a surprise!'' Many if not most of the guests flew in from both coasts and interesting places in between, such as Santa Fe. There was elitism to spare but at the same time a willingness to be charmed by a place that truly seems to represent good old-fashioned American values.
If there are surreptitious litter police, they keep themselves well hidden, but the streets of Grand Rapids are as gleaming as the refurbished buildings throughout the downtown. Community pride is everywhere. I couldn't help but compare what I saw to cities and towns back home."
The article goes on to blame the residents of Boston not the government for trash in the streets and other maladies that don't make a good first impression. Having been to Boston recently, I can say that it is not the cleanest city, but by far not the dirtiest I've been to.
..."Downtown Grand Rapids, a city of about 200,000, is a laboratory of urban renewal. Formerly a manufacturing city - home of Kelvinator, for example - it faces a huge challenge in reshaping its economy. The state of Michigan is no help, since its automobile-reliant economy has been in the hopper for years, with more bad news sure to come.
So what is Grand Rapids turning to? Health care. And here is where it could be interesting to Massachusetts. Spectrum Health, Grand Rapids' biggest employer, is creating a cancer center and also expanding its medical research, including a new center for molecular medicine. Michigan State University is moving its medical school to the city. You may say, ‘‘So what?'' But think about all those Boston-area college graduates, our biggest source of human capital, and the cost of living in Massachusetts, and then compare it to Grand Rapids. There you can buy a five-bedroom house in the historic district for $400,000. Yup, $400,000, and you could walk to work, breathe clean air and not worry about litter blowing in your face. And your children could attend a neighborhood school. The historic district, a microcosm of American architectural styles, was rehabilitated decades ago solely because of the efforts of public-spirited citizens."
The cost of living in Grand Rapids and West Michigan is phenominal compared to the east and west coasts. As our technology grows within our region, so will the jobs and more people will come meaning good growth for the Real Estate Market.
Excerpts of the article were credited to:
JoAnn Fitzpatrick, former editorial page editor, can be reached at joannftzptrck@yahoo.com .
Copyright 2007 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Saturday, June 16, 2007
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