He Said/She Said: The key to growth
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EmailKeep a close eye on MSU as it rolls out tools to help the Lansing region become a more vibrant community on a par with its own rising star.
BY: Joseph Maquire, for the Greater Lansing Business Monthly
Keep a close eye on MSU as it rolls out tools to help the Lansing region become a more vibrant community on a par with its own rising star.
Their offer, free for the taking, is leadership, consensus building and analytical tools to transform the Grand River/Michigan Avenue corridor into a World-Class Built Environment.
Knowledge workers, the key to growth, demand functional, attractive places with livable neighborhoods containing diverse housing. Proximity to restaurants, shopping and services is essential.
The MSU School of Planning, Design and Construction has worked closely with residents, governments, economic developers and builders to guide development decisions along this vital corridor.
With this input in hand, they have created a digital tool to measure the economic impact and return on investment of development geared to the actual needs of both current residents and young professionals.
MSU needs a thriving and, yes, “cool” place with modern housing options to recruit and retain faculty and professionals. The same is true of business’ efforts to sell Lansing to job candidates. Our insurance companies, for example, are working feverishly to recruit educated young professionals. They lose more than they land. Let’s change that.
It’s an open question as to whether the plan will gain traction. Lansing and East Lansing have not always cooperated, though recent agreements to share services are encouraging signs.
And there are many other stake holders involved—notably neighborhood associations. Indeed, we are all stake holders, no matter where we live and work in the region.
My own sense is the biggest obstacle lies in East Lansing’s bewildering notion that a Big 10-town is most livable with students out of sight, out of mind.
Far flung pockets have emerged to house these student exiles, denying downtown East Lansing the critical mass to put the core in any corridor. Reasonable minds need to dispense with this nonsense.
Our community has the ability to embrace the grand idea—consider the Blue Ribbon Committee to Retain GM. Facing regional economic peril at the loss of our automobile manufacturing, once-adversarial local governments, labor and management joined to forge and execute the plan that resulted in the creation of two new GM manufacturing plants.
I was at that table, and have every confidence we may likewise look to the future with the corridor that links our region’s other two defining heritages—Michigan’s Capital City and Michigan State University.
