^ Related to above, here's a little more context on GR's current public housing strategies:
Quote:
4 affordable housing strategies Grand Rapids is tackling first
Amy Biolchini | MLive
January 8, 2018
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - After months of discussion and review, four strategies aimed at addressing affordable housing issues in Grand Rapids appear to be moving forward. The city commission will host a public hearing on the strategies at its 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 9, meeting on the ninth floor of city hall. The four strategies are among 11 that the commission has been reviewing since November, and were identified by the city manager as the steps that could be most easily addressed first. City staff are referring to the package of potential policies as "Housing NOW..."
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The city wants to begin construction on the infrastructure to support its second, planned BRT route, from GVSU to the Medical Mile. Work on the proposed 13 mile route, referred to as the Laker Line, is being held up at the Federal level. The city has been waiting for a $56.4 million grant that was approved under the Obama Administration. They have tried contacting the current director of the FTA and received no response. The Rapid's first BRT route, the Silver Line, opened in 2013.
Quote:
$56.4M in Laker Line funding tied up in 'bureaucratic logjam'
Amy Biolchini | MLive
January 8, 2018
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - The fate of The Rapid's second bus rapid transit line is in the hands of a federal agency. Funding for the 13-mile-long Laker Line was authorized in President Barack Obama's last budget for fiscal 2017 - but The Rapid has yet to see any of the $56.4 million it was promised...
Photo of The Rapid's first BRT route - the Silver Line, from August 27, 2015, courtesy Neil Blake | MLive
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Creston Brewery, located in a funky art deco structure at
1504 Plainfield Ave. NE, is expanding by remodeling the vacant, 5,000 SF second floor of its current building into a new event space. The small brewery has been quite successful since it opened a year and a half ago. The space that will become the new banquet hall looks pretty neat - has anyone ever been here?
Creston Brewery adding venue space for weddings, concerts and yoga classes
Shandra Martinze | MLive
January 10, 2018
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- By spring, Creston Brewery will have a big space that can be used for weddings, concerts and even yoga classes. A little over a year after opening, the popular brewery, at 1504 Plainfield Ave., in the Creston Business District is expanding. The four month construction project will turn a vacant 5,000-square-foot second floor space into a banquet hall began this week...
Image Source:
MLive, Courtesy Creston Brewery