Any artist, professional or amateur, will be allowed to enter. They will propose projects designed for specific venues, allowing them to conceive their art in conjunction with the venue. All it takes to enter is to be at least 18 years older and a $50 registration fee. With a barrier to entry this low, the hope is to attract hundreds of artists from around the world. Ideally, the yearly event will become known throughout the art world as the most lucrative and innovative art competition.

From September 23 to October 10, visitors will be able to stroll around Grand Rapids and be surrounded by art. But they will not only be observers, but participants. There are no professional judges in ArtPrize. Instead, visitors will be asked to vote for the piece that most moves or inspires them. The winner will be determined by public vote. This democratization of the way art is judged will profoundly change the way the artist and the public communicate. To win the prize, artists will have to create work that can be appreciated by many different audiences. Rather than creating art that is intentionally difficult to understand, ArtPrize will encourage more accessible and understandable pieces. It will make art relevant again.

In its format, comparisons have been made to American Idol. This will likely make some traditional art fans skeptical. But by giving the decision to the audience, ArtPrize is poised to produce artwork that is relevant and meaningful to contemporary society rather than the often-esoteric pieces produced by much of the contemporary art world. And with its emphasis on public art, ArtPrize has the potential to provide Grand Rapids with a new defining piece like Alexander Calder’s La Grande Vitesse in Calder Plaza.

ArtPrize will not only encourage important discussions about art, it will put a spotlight on Grand Rapids. Jim Dunlap, Regional President for Huntington Bank, when introducing Rick DeVos at the ArtPrize announcement, mentioned the need to find ways to encourage the creative class to move to Grand Rapids. Organizations such as the Right Place and other neighborhood development groups have been looking for ways to encourage young professionals to stay and live in the city. Events such as ArtPrize will help boost the appeal of West Michigan to the employees and employers of the future.
There is no reason why ArtPrize will not be a success. And there is no reason why a gifted Aquinas student might not win a quarter-of-a-million dollars. So dream big, create something new, and help Grand Rapids move into the future.

Visit www.artprize.org for more information.

The Circuit Court is the trial court of general jurisdiction in Michigan. It has jurisdiction over all actions except those given by state law to another court.

The Circuit Court has original jurisdiction in all civil cases involving more than $25,000, in all criminal cases where the offense is a felony or a serious misdemeanor, all domestic relations cases, and all child abuse, neglect, and delinquency cases.

I sat in the courtroom of Judge James Robert Redford (yes, that’s his actual name). He was quickly going through motions on several cases ranging from a medical malpractice suit and an alleged eavesdropping.

It was interesting to see how busy the court was. I wondered what the case load was for this court in Grand Rapids.

One of them notes, sadly, that shopping malls are one of the few public places that exist in most American communities.  If our public gathering places reveal our social priorities, it is easily concluded that Americans see consuming as the most fulfilling collective action.

Others believe that shopping malls will be repurposed as community centers, colleges, offices, and even housing.  They are usually well located and have existing infrastructure.  Interestingly, the American recession might encourage more reuse of developed properties rather than demolition and reconstruction.

Finally, some commentators encourage existing shopping centers to diversify away from simply retail.  Other sorts of attractions such as theaters, restaurants, and entertainment venues might attract enough customers to help them whether the financial storm.  A great example of this sort of mixed development I ran in to in Montpellier, France (still one of the best urban planned cities I’ve visited) is called Odysseum. It’s located at the end of a Tram line that runs right through downtown. The development includes many different sorts of venues including an ice-skating rink, bowling alley, restaurants, aquarium, and concert hall. It will soon have an outdoor shopping mall. This is sort of mixed-use development is the sort suburban planners in the United States should also pursue.

A new sort of development purports to bring new urbanism to Grand Rapids.  The developement, called Celadon, is a mixed use sub-division that will include various levels of housing, retail, and shared community spaces.  Though the project looks nice, and is certainly better than the generic McMansion subdivisions of yore, it still lacks a unique sense of place.  That is always the challenge with building a community from the ground up.

Instead, a return to old urbanism might actually be best, at least according to architect Ted Lott of Grand Rapids.  Urbanism, the concentration of people and work and play, is still an unappreciated good in America.  Rather than build new developments, why not concentrate our resources on renewing the developments we already have.  The growth, when done well, is more authentic, and leads to a much more healthy urban space.  The renaissance along Wealth and Cherry and in downtown are examples of reinvestment in urbanism.  These developments are more authentic, they are connected to the history of Grand Rapids more than something like Celadon.  And history and place are things that bind a community and give it long-term sustainability.

Other ordinances that were adopted:

• Regulate outdoor downtown vendors – PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
• Repeal Chp 62 entitled “Planning Commission” and adopt a new Planning Commission Ordinance – Necessary to bring ordinance in line with State regulations – PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
• Amend Section 1 of Budget Ordianance 2008-2020 for Fiscal Year 2008-2009.

In the public hearing, the most prominent discussion was about the creation of an Uptown Corridor Improvement Association.  This development association would include the communities of Easttown, East Hills, and Wealthy Street.  Many local stakeholders came to the meeting to show their support.  I find these new business districts a boon to the local community.  They represent the largest clusters of local businesses that I frequent.  Any organization that might encourage further development in these areas should be encouraged.

Finally, a developer presented preliminary plans to invest $25 million in downtown to build a new mixed use facility which might include a supermarket.  Not only is it impressive that investors, in this economy, are still willing to invest in downtown Grand Rapids, but the creation of a supermarket would indicate the continued effort in encouraging people to live downtown as well.

But what haunts me is a lingering perception that the good times can never be forever.  That when the economy takes a drastic shift, there is nothing we can do to stop it.  Throwing billions at the car companies will not help them compete but only prolong their last breaths.  It is understandable to relive how things were, but if we are to continue to live, we have to begin to imagine how things could be.

Blue-collar work has already seen drastic cuts throughout Michigan.  Now the pink-slips are beginning to reach the white-collar workers.  A recent NYTimes piece describes the experience of several Chrysler engineers that have chosen to be bought-out and leave.  Even though they are highly-skilled, they are having trouble finding jobs in the area. Some are stuck with mortgages on houses that have lost 40% of their values.

If Detroit is going to find its renaissance, as we were discussing in class, its going to have to find a way of keeping these highly skilled workers in the city.  If it doesn’t find a solution fast, when the economy rebounds, Detroit will be left behind, again.

Vibrant cities have a history of renovating old buildings and retooling them for other uses.  Old brick factories in downtowns across America have become offices, lofts, and retail space.  But the areas of largest development in recent years, in suburbs and exurbs of McMansions, and the accompanying big box retail and shopping malls, are not so easily re-appropriated.  What happens, then, to these developments?  The energy and resources used to build these homes have now been wasted.  These developments are, in the most essential way, unsustainable.  They are built with only one sort of lifestyle in mind: an automotive-fueled commuter-based culture.  They are not generic enough to adapt to the inevitable shifts in lifestyle and technology.  

The lessons to be learned from this experience is the need for design that takes into account the lasting bonds of community, rather than the higher efficiencies of track housing and cheap materials.  We need buildings that are generic enough to be adapted as our societies adapt.  Architecture that encourages community and that prepares for the inevitable evolution of society.

I spent a semester in the French city of Montpellier that has a very well developed tram system as well as buses and bicycle sharing.  The old center city, dating back to Medieval times, is almost entirely pedestrian-only.  The city does benefit from a milder climate than Grand Rapids, being near the Mediterranean, except it does get cold and rainy during the winter months.

The benefits of trams I observed in Montpellier were accessibility, cleanliness, and practicality.  A tram line encourages pedestrianism, bolstering street-side vendors and reducing individual carbon footprints.  Tram ways are also powerful tools for urban planners to direct development.  In Montpellier, the tram line had recently been extended to a new development of entertainment and shopping venues the city wanted to encourage.  By leading people directly to the new development, rather than hoping they’ll choose to drive there, developers are able to lower the risk of investment and encourage (hopefully) better urban habits.

So is a Tram system viable in Grand Rapids?  What populations would use such a system?  The Rapid transport organization in GR has published a study exploring the viability of such a system.  What is important to remember is that a Tram system does not replace buses.  Buses are important for transporting people to and from suburbs and connecting to the Tram network.  Trams, on the other hand, effectively increase the distance people consider walking.  Thus a Tram line can feed the growth of a pedestrian friendly city center by allowing residents to comfortably walk from one side of downtown to the other.

In Grand Rapids, the initial line running North/South through downtown would spur development on both ends of the line by effectively allowing those living along it to walk to work in downtown.  A second line, proposed to run from the Rapid hub to Easttown, or even Gas Light Village, would help connect those communities, as well as two college to downtown.  I would even continue the second line from Gas Light, past Calvin, to Woodland Mall.  This connect the Tram system to all colleges in Grand Rapids proper, as students would likely be large users of the system.  Other users might be retirees and younger professionals.  Of course, this all rests on the assumption that the cost of owning a gasoline-powered car will continue to rise and that the idea of riding public transit will gain traction amongst wealthier communities in Grand Rapids.

Unlike every other President stretching all the way back to Theodore Roosevelt, Obama has spent his entire life living in urban areas. Some of his supporters believe this background makes him more culturally sophisticated than many of his predecessors (they’re relieved he won’t call the city “Warshington”), while others say it allows him to better understand multicultural, 21st century America. But the fact that Obama has spent weekends walking down the street to the barbershop instead of riding a 4×4 across a ranch to clear some brush is more significant than any particular kind of cultural or sociological orientation.

Though the majority of Americans have been living in cities for many decades before Obama’s election, it’s surprising that Obama is the first since Teddy Roosevelt to come from a city.  With a Chief Executive that understands urban life, I hope that cities receive the focus they deserve as centers of innovation and progress and not just trouble spots of poverty and violence.

Federal policy that encourages healthy urban life, coupled to an ambitious public works initiative that Obama already has begun to outline, might help usher in a new era of healthy and livable American cities.  Urban life is fundamentally more creative, dynamic, and sustainable.  Rather then Thoreau’s life in the woods, perhaps the new American narrative should be more akin to Baudelaire’s understanding of the metropolis:

…it is an immense joy to set up house in the heart of the multitude, amid the ebb and flow of movement, in the midst of the fugitive and the infinite. To be away from home and yet to feel oneself everywhere at home; to see the world, to be at the center of the world, and yet to remain hidden from the world—such are a few of the slightest pleasures of those independent, passionate, impartial natures which the tongue can but clumsily define.