For Grand Rapids, a ‘People First’ Development Policy

This article was originally posted by Public Square, a CNU Journal. To read the rest of the article, click here.

After a declining first decade of this millennium, Grand Rapids, Michigan, has turned the corner on population growth and development. The city has grown by 4.5 percent this decade, compared to a 4.9 percent loss in the 2000s. The city of nearly 200,000 residents has seen $2 billion in development in the last five years, including about three quarters of a billion dollars invested downtown.

Meanwhile, a few neighborhoods have rapidly gentrified, with rents doubling and even tripling, city officials say. The issue has changed from whether the city will grow to how and for whom the development is taking place …..read the full article.