UNCOVERING AND REFORMING

MICHIGAN’S SPRAWL SUBSIDIES Michigan Land Use Institute

SMART GROWTH WORKS

MICHIGAN LAND USE INSTITUTE • SPECIAL REPORT • JANUARY 2005 JANUARY 2005 ¥ Follow the Money ¥ Michigan Land Use Institute Sponsored by United Cerebral Palsy of Michigan FollowTHE Money Citizens pay heavy price for state’s sprawl subsidies

THE MICHIGAN LAND USE INSTITUTE AND UNITED CEREBRAL PALSY OF MICHIGAN BEGAN this project believing that state spending was the most important cause of Michigan’s sprawling patterns of development and its many ugly side effects — urban decay, environmental degradation, poor public transportation services, and increased hardships for people in general and those with disabilities in particular. Our findings, the culmination of a peculiar sort of fiscal archaeology, confirm that conviction. Sifting through dozens of local and state spending accounts, we found that a significant portion of the billion the state spends each year in taxpayer-supported economic development programs — a system of grants, sub- sidies, tax abatements and incentives, loans, bonds, and direct outlays — is giving Michigan one of the nation’s worst cases of sprawl.

Follow The Money documents a perva- housing, jobs, the arts, and the civic county region’s residents live. sive pattern of public investments for spirit of Michigan’s second largest city. Meanwhile, the 2.4 million people in roads, jobs, government offices, and ¥ Daimler Chrysler and two Detroit and its inner suburbs cope with business development that encourages Japanese partners are building two substandard streets and public trans- runaway sprawl. In almost every cate- new engine plants, worth $700 mil- portation that limit their mobility and gory of state economic development lion and employing 600 people, in a job prospects. Richard Bernstein, a spending, cities and older suburbs lose 245-acre field in rural Monroe Wayne State University trustee who and new suburbs win. And while it is County. Michigan kicked in $53.65 has been blind from birth, says: “If the residents of older cities and sub- million in business tax credits and you can’t drive, and you can’t afford urbs who must dig deep into their own property tax abatements, plus job someone to drive for you, you don’t pockets to keep their communities training, community development, have a life here.” afloat as needed state money flows and road construction grants. Follow The Money informs citi- elsewhere, every Michigan citizen ulti- Governor Jennifer Granholm herald- zens about how public investments mately pays. ed the plants as “great news” at a time accelerate sprawl and provides state ¥ Once-rural Garfield Township, in of severe manufacturing sector job lawmakers with a new way to look at northern Michigan’s Grand Traverse losses. Michigan did try to promote pro-suburban spending decisions: County, received more than $20 million some urban sites, but the companies They exacerbate state and local budget in state and federal support to execute a were not interested. At $90,000 per deficits, harm Michigan’s overall eco- business development strategy that job, state spending is better directed nomic competitiveness, and make encouraged sprawl. This has triggered to small businesses and suppliers communities less, not more, support- an expensive traffic congestion problem ready to locate in cities. ive of people in general and people and forced the township to double its ¥ The Southeast Michigan Council with disabilities in particular. sewer rates to keep up with growth. of Governments directs more than Myron Orfield, a researcher and Residents of Grand Rapids, in contrast, $600 million annually to the Detroit former Minnesota state senator, con- used only modest amounts of state sup- region for transportation, much of it to cluded last year in a report for the Mott port for its $2 billion redevelopment modernize and maintain roads in the Foundation that nearly two-thirds of program, which has revived business, outer suburbs, where half of the seven- southeast Michigan residents live in 2 Michigan Land Use Institute ¥ Follow the Money ¥ JANUARY 2005 Many of the billions that the state spends each year in economic development programs are giving Michigan one of the nation’s worst Above: Northern Michigan’s Garfield Township. Below: Pontiac, Michigan cases of sprawl. communities that are sliding toward a though the student population future of limited economic opportuni- increased by less than 4 percent. And ty. That future eerily resembles what state and local budget deficits continue Detroit and its older suburbs already to grow, due to the exploding cost of endure: Growing poverty in public building and maintaining public schools, weak or declining tax bases, infrastructure and services across a inadequate roads and sewers, and spread-out domain. stagnant household incomes. The During her 2002 gubernatorial same patterns, said Mr. Orfield, are campaign, Jennifer Granholm called also occurring around Grand Rapids, for ending subsidies that cause sprawl. Lansing, Flint, Kalamazoo, Saginaw, After her election Governor Granholm and Traverse City. said she would strengthen cities. The state’s failure to use public Follow The Money is a valuable tool for dollars to encourage smarter econom- helping her accomplish both goals. ic development hurts every Michigan This report documents a profoundly resident. Traffic congestion is misguided investment strategy that increasing, even though Michigan is harms Michigan’s quality of life by among the nation’s slowest-growing subsidizing sprawl. Only when that states. Water pollution from sewage strategy improves will Michigan be treatment plants, overwhelmed by able to conserve its natural resources, sprawl’s heavy stormwater runoff, produce more job opportunities, enjoy threatens public health in dozens of great cities, and restore our rapidly cities. Michigan residents spend 20 diminishing sense of community — percent more for school construction bedrock necessities for competing suc- than they did 10 years ago, even cessfully in the 21st century.

icant barriers to basic mobility for many people with dis- Sprawl Disables Everyone abilities. Worse, sprawl’s rush to the suburbs is decaying the urban core, often the only place people with disabilities can find affordable housing. This raises significant safety issues Four years ago, United Cerebral Palsy of for people with certain kinds of disabilities. It raises sizeable Michigan and the Michigan Land Use employment issues, too, as jobs move to the suburbs, where Institute began collaborating on a transporta- they are out of reach of people who cannot drive and lack tion project funded by the Michigan access to good public transit. Developmental Disabilities Council. We The sheer cost of sprawl is also crucial to the disabili- teamed up because UCP and the Institute ty community. Soaring infrastructure costs draw critical strongly support greatly improved public transportation, a dollars from programs like transit and accessible housing critical need for people with disabilities who don’t drive. that help people with disabilities live more independently. But we now realize that our commonality is even greater: We need communities that are compact and equipped with Land use policy itself is a disability issue. readily accessible sidewalks, public transportation, and Sprawling communities, automobile dependence, a affordable housing. A community that works well for peo- lack of curb cuts on sidewalks, and strip mall stores sepa- ple with disabilities works extraordinarily well for every- rated from bus stops by oceans of parking: All form signif- one. It is a goal we must all share and work towards.

JANUARY 2005 ¥ Follow the Money ¥ Michigan Land Use Institute 3 Greenfields, BrownfieldsANDRed Ink State records reveal Michigan’s heavy investment in sprawl

WHEN SOMEONE TELLS YOU THAT SPRAWL IS THE FREE inward toward existing communities market at work, don’t believe it. Sprawl cannot exist without massive public builds neighborhoods instead of tear- ing them apart, conserves natural spending for roads, water, sewers, public buildings, and business devel- resources, slows the ever-outward opment. These taxpayer-financed market intrusions distort the landscape, spread of expensive infrastructure, and boosts use of existing bus systems. ruin central cities, harm the environment, and reduce the quality of life. The need for this change in Michigan is urgent. The tide of red ink Young people, the poor, the elderly, Economic Development Fund in 1987 inundating government in Michigan is and people with disabilities bear the to invest in highways, roads, streets, due in large part to the costs associat- brunt of spread-out growth patterns, and other infrastructure that support ed with how we grow. Adding just one largely because they can’t drive and new jobs. Of the $382 million spent lane to a divided highway can cost $20 public transit in most regions is dis- since 1988, 78 percent, or $297 mil- million a mile. Maintaining that high- mal. These patterns make it difficult lion, went to new suburbs and rural way costs thousands of dollars annual- for already poorly funded bus systems areas; just 22 percent, or $85 million, ly. Continuing to grow outward and to offer the kind of convenient and went to core cities. laying down evermore miles of expen- effective service common in well The big winner was Auburn Hills, sive roads and sewers — and further designed cities. Everyone suffers as an upscale suburban Oakland County stretching our underfunded public government deficits balloon, infra- community of 20,000 people. It transportation systems — makes little structure crumbles, and global com- received more than $25 million, or economic sense. petitiveness fades. Conversely, invest- $1,250 per resident, for streetscape Reversing Michigan’s half-centu- ments in urban cores often pay hand- improvements, new roads, a bicycle ry of outward bound investment some dividends. path, and other amenities. That was $5 requires a concerted drive by cities, Michigan, like other states, spends million more than Pontiac, which business leaders, and Smart Growth plenty on sprawl. In 2001, the latest received just $303 for each of its 66,000 advocates. The challenge may be year for complete figures, state and residents, and $2 million more than great, but so is the need. For example: local governments invested $11 billion Detroit, which received a miserly $25 ¥ A five-year-old change in the for roads, buildings, schools, water, for each of its 920,000 residents. state’s revenue sharing formula, sewer, public safety, and other infra- Meanwhile, thousands of people in both which provides nearly half of the structure and services without which Detroit and Pontiac have no good way income for communities, penalizes sprawl cannot proceed. In addition the to get to jobs they desperately need. central cities and older suburbs by state spent $507 million for economic directing most public funds to encour- development and awarded over $1 bil- One Way Out aging growth in new suburbs. Of the lion in tax credits for redeveloping old Because public investment in infra- top 20 communities receiving the and contaminated industrial sites. structure and economic development largest increases in payments from While there is significant public is the most important engine driving 1998 to 2006, only one is a city. spending in central cities, a growing sprawl and the most critical factor in ¥ Local governments, particularly percentage of such public investment redeveloping cities, the only way that suburban communities, issue tax goes to luring jobs, homes, and busi- Michigan will ever fix its ruinous land abatements each year to industrial nesses to the countryside. use patterns is to redirect that spending employers on roughly $3.3 billion of For example, the Legislature to new, more economically efficient property in the hope of attracting new established the state Transportation strategies. Pointing public investments jobs, according to the state. The payoff 4 Michigan Land Use Institute ¥ Follow the Money ¥ JANUARY 2005 One state program funding transportation infrastructure heavily favors suburbs over core cities. Some examples: during the 1990s was just 14,000 new jobs a year, a subsidy of over $6,500 per job. Worse, the abatements sharply cut local property tax revenues — almost $100 million a year — worsen- ing county, city, and township deficits. ¥ The state Department of Transportation continues to press for bigger highways to aid the suburbs and rural areas while freezing the budget for public transit, the lifeblood of suc- cessful cities. The trend is most appar- ent in the Detroit region, where the regional planning agency proposes Since 1988 Auburn Hills received $1,250 per resident... spending more than $60 billion in highway construction, half of it with no apparent source of revenue, while public transit budgets stagnate. Less than $200 million, or 6 percent, of the state’s $3 billion annual transportation budget supports public transit, an amount that only becomes more insuf- ficient as the state continues to sprawl. ¥ The state directed over 50 per- cent of its community economic devel- opment block grants — $94 million of $185 million — to industrial parks and other business infrastructure in areas Pontiac received $303 per resident... outside, and in many cases far outside, existing communities.

Smart Spending, Big Dividends Meanwhile, public investment pro- grams designed to aid central cities and older suburbs actually accomplish much of what they set out to do: ¥ The bulk of the $50 million in state funds authorized in 2000 for “core communities” to expand high- tech businesses, promote land assem- bly and acquisition, and redevelop waterfront property actually went to and Detroit received $25 per resident. cities. In addition, since 2000, Michigan cities reinvested $77.5 mil- billion in private investment, added more effective approach: Reinvest in lion in their central business districts 20,252 jobs to Michigan’s economy, what’s already been built. If Michigan through tax increment financing, and returned almost $32 million in did that, instead of investing in new which captures the extra taxes from once-abandoned properties to local tax infrastructure that allows developers to the increased property values that rolls since 1971. Most of this activity scatter homes and businesses across improvements in streets, sidewalks, occurred in older, more urban settings. the land, the state would save tremen- riverfronts, and other public infra- ¥ Michigan’s brownfield redevel- dous amounts of money, conserve its structure generate. The state also opment program, intended to hasten open land, enjoy the rebirthing of its issued $235 million in single business redevelopment of old and contaminat- many neglected and downcast cities, tax credits meant to spur more private ed industrial sites, has spurred $4 bil- dramatically increase the viability of investments in downtowns. lion in new development since 1995, public transportation systems, and ¥ Federal and state tax credits for 70 percent of it in core cities. attract far more of the innovative com- redeveloping abandoned or neglected In other words, Smart Growth panies that are looking for smart historic structures have spurred $1.7 investments offer a far less expensive, places to invest, build, and hire.

JANUARY 2005 ¥ Follow the Money ¥ Michigan Land Use Institute 5 Metro Detroit’s expressway building boom spurred one of the nation’s worst cases of sprawl and contributes to an unprecedented obesity epidemic. 6 Michigan Land Use Institute ¥ Follow the Money ¥ JANUARY 2005 Southeast Michigan’s High-Priced Spread Decades of highway subsidies strangle transit and region’s future

IT’S BEEN 43 YEARS SINCE JANE JACOBS EXPLAINED IN HER seminal book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, that the highway-building, neighborhood-flattening, cul de sac-spreading joyride then beginning to sweep the nation was a titanic error that would ruin American cities and roll over the suburbs, too. Ms. Jacobs, who now lives in Toronto, insisted that it is investments in sidewalks, storefronts, parks, affordable homes and offices, safe streets, public transit, and good schools that make a city work so well that people are pleased to be there.

History proves she was right. In the Centers for Disease Control and 1950s, while Michigan began pouring Prevention, the region’s population is hundreds of millions of dollars into among the most obese in the nation, building the Lodge, Ford, Chrysler, and largely a result of the sedentary Southfield expressways to hurry people lifestyles auto culture encourages. ¥ Southeast Michigan’s dogged from Detroit to the suburbs, Toronto Suburban Detroit also has among the devotion to highways and refusal to instead built a subway. It was among nation’s worst flooding and sewage develop regional rapid transit means the many smart, human-scale public contamination problems; stormwater that 94 percent of Detroit-area workers investments that Toronto made to pre- runoff from its heavily paved-over commute by private vehicle, over- serve its downtown from ruinous free- landscape inundates treatment plants. whelming the region’s roads. A big ways and make its urban neighbor- Since growth follows money, solv- budget crunch is approaching, accord- hoods among North America’s nicest. ing the Detroit region’s severe sprawl ing to a current Southeast Michigan Detroit, meanwhile, lost more than half problem greatly depends on changing Council of Governments study: New of its population and now has fewer res- public investment patterns. Few other roads will cost $60 billion over the idents than it did in 1920. Its suburbs metropolitan areas’ public spending pat- next generation, but just $40 billion is are so spread out that its roads are the terns have produced such a clear set of available without raising taxes. nation’s tenth most congested, accord- winners and losers. From 1969 to 2000, ¥ The region’s vehicle dependence ing to the Texas Transportation Michigan’s patterns focused on suburban costs about $6,000 per year per car and Institute. Transportation has become so development, with dramatic results: often tops housing in family budgets. stressful and expensive that people are Oakland County and its five neighboring ¥ The Detroit region is growing moving in droves to the state’s forested suburban counties added 1.1 million new more slowly than almost any other northern Lower Peninsula, now the jobs, a 146 percent increase; but Wayne major American metropolitan area. It is Midwest’s fastest-growing region. County, including Detroit, lost 209,000 shedding manufacturing jobs by the Congestion, though, is just one jobs, a nearly 20 percent reduction. thousands and losing droves of young measure of the exploding financial and This striking imbalance harms the adults tired of bad traffic, dead end jobs, personal costs of sprawl in southeast region’s economic performance, in turn and centerless suburbs. Many of the Michigan. According to the Federal limiting the state’s competitiveness: more than 200,000 young people who

JANUARY 2005 ¥ Follow the Money ¥ Michigan Land Use Institute 7 Urban renewal leveled thousands of homes and triggered massive “white flight,” which was in turn facilitated and accelerated by ambitious expressway Reconstructing the Lodge Expressway at I-94 in midtown Detroit construction programs.

left Michigan in the 1990s came from ties 141st out of the 150 largest metro- million, and likely billions more, to metropolitan Detroit, literally making it politan areas in the United States. widen Interstate 75 in Oakland County the national brain drain champion. from Eight Mile to Auburn Hills. They ¥ Executives of major southeast Blaming the Victim favor spending $1.2 billion to widen Michigan companies complain that Yet Michigan business and political Interstate 94 in downtown Detroit, a recruiting top talent is difficult because leaders, including many suburban project that officials readily acknowl- other areas offer more opportunities for Detroit state lawmakers, still believe edge is mostly about moving suburban recreation, culture, housing, and transit. that Michigan’s taxpayers should con- commuters and international freight. A In 2003, Forbes Magazine ranked the tinue to pay for more of the same. proposal to extend Interstate 375 in region’s growth and career opportuni- They propose spending at least $550 downtown Detroit a few blocks to the Detroit River would cost $60 million. Another proposal would add a third Detroit River vehicular crossing and Ferndale Sues Regional Council expand a freight rail yard; both could flatten homes and businesses in south- City manager says region needs more transit, not highways west Detroit, where 100,000 people enliven the city’s fastest growing Tom Barwin, Ferndale’s city manag- three committee votes represent neighborhood. er, is dead set against widening I-75. Detroit’s 900,000 people, while four L. Brooks Patterson, the influen- “While it’s under construction it represent Monroe County’s 150,000. tial Republican Oakland County will turn this county into a mess,” he “We simply seek equal voting Executive, is an important booster for said. “And when it’s done it will rights for all citizens,” he said. new highways; he says they are critical increase congestion.” Mr. Barwin favors building light to the business climate and quality of He believes constructing com- rail along Woodward Avenue life in his slowed-to-a-crawl suburbs. muter rail lines would be a superior between Detroit and Pontiac, reviving “Cities declined because they investment. In the more than 20 a line that once was part of the coun- squandered their assets,” Mr. Patterson American cities that have done so try’s largest regional rail network. He wrote in a widely read article last year. since 1992, ridership has consistently says it would cost $35 to $50 million “High crime rates, high taxes, failing exceeded estimates and the systems a mile and attract thousands of riders; schools, foul air, and a lack of open generate billions in employment, con- a SEMCOG study confirms it would green spaces forced people to move. struction, and tax dollars. serve some of the region’s most vital Sprawlers, like me, simply wanted a Last year Mr. Barwin convinced areas. home with green grass on a safe, well Ferndale to sue the Southeast Events back Mr. Barwin’s claim maintained street, a quality neighbor- Michigan Council of Governments, that there is strong support for tran- hood school that actually educated their which annually distributes more than sit. Grand Rapids’ regional system children, a good job, nearby parks and $600 million for transportation proj- added 200,000 riders this year; recreational spaces, and a local govern- ects. Mr. Barwin contends that Lansing’s has doubled its count ment that actually delivers the services SEMCOG’s transportation spending since 1998; Detroit’s suburban sys- their taxes paid for … they wanted a favors white, upwardly mobile outer tem is growing steadily. In August place like today’s Oakland County.” suburbs and ignores Detroit and its 2004, citizens in 13 out of 14 While Mr. Patterson is right about inner suburbs. The suit, now on Michigan counties voted for proper- why people choose suburbs, he’s appeal, asserts that SEMCOG’s vot- ty taxes to support their buses, most- wrong about what it takes to build eco- ing structure is unfair. For example, ly by landslides. nomic competitiveness in the 21st cen-

Michigan Land Use Institute ¥ Follow the Money ¥ JANUARY 2005 Long-abandoned apartments in Detroit

efficient design that relies on smarter public investments to generate jobs, build quality mass transit, produce safe neighborhoods, and encourage excellent public schools. Just as they have in Chicago, Portland, Seattle, and Boston, smarter public investments in Detroit would foster a region that cel- ebrates its neighborhoods, conserves its clean air and water, and boasts an array of interesting jobs, cool destina- tions, safe streets, and good schools. tury and what causes urban decline, whether the path to the Detroit particularly in Detroit. Racial, political, region’s prosperity is more parking economic, labor, housing, govern- lots and highways, as so many leaders ment, and manufacturing trends insist. Many great American cities are prompted the Motor City’s long slide; now dismantling their urban freeways. in some cases city residents and lead- San Francisco took down the ers encouraged it; in others, business Embarcadero, which blocked the city’s executives and political bosses in shoreline from the central business Washington and Lansing did. district. Milwaukee demolished a downtown freeway and replaced it ‘That Makes No Sense’ with a thriving neighborhood. Boston Just two Washington-fostered, big buried its downtown freeways and spending economic development pro- built parks, housing and offices over it. grams — urban renewal and highway “If you look across the country and construction during the 1950s and see which cities are doing well eco- 1960s — triggered much of the city’s nomically, they all have strong central turmoil. Urban renewal leveled thou- cities,” said Lou Glazer, president of sands of homes occupied by African Michigan Future Inc., a think tank in Americans, forcing them to move to Ann Arbor, and author of Revitalizing white neighborhoods. This touched off Michigan’s Cities, a 2003 study of massive waves of “white flight,” urban economic development in which the concurrent highway con- Michigan. “It’s hard to find a successful struction both facilitated and worsened region in North America that doesn’t as it demolished still more of the city. have a successful rail system. If Detroit Gloria Jeff, an African American who and its suburbs are talking about adding now directs the state Department of capacity to the highway system to make Transportation, remembers it well. it easier for people to quickly go “One of the reasons I got into through cities, that makes no sense.” planning is that my godparents lived in Because Detroit spawned so many Downtown Detroit’s new Black Bottom,” said Ms. Jeff, referring 20th-century American hallmarks — Compuware building to Detroit’s prime black neighborhood cars, malls, freeways — it’s appropri- of that era. “There were three promis- ate to see Detroit representing what es made to folks that lived down there Michigan and the nation could well when they moved them out. It was: We become in the 21st. But this new reck- Metro Detroit will either will build new housing. It will be oning depends on where economic affordable. And we’ll move you back development investments are made. smother in the expense in. Well guess what? They did build Detroit will either be the first city to new. It wasn’t affordable for the folks smother its entire metropolitan region brought on by bowing to they moved out. Urban renewal had with the expense, pollution, conges- much more of a detrimental impact tion, and stress fostered by public freeway culture or invest in than highways. The two in combina- spending that bows to freeways and tion did very bad things to the city.” drive-through culture. Or it will be at jobs, quality mass transit, No wonder many now question the vanguard of a new and uniquely and excellent public schools.9 Michigan’s Comeback City In Grand Rapids, Smart Investments Spur Smart Growth

JENNIFER IDEMA JUST OPENED HER CONEY GIRL HOT DOG The strategy is clearly working: stand in Monroe Center, the new, beating heart of downtown Grand ¥ Grand Rapids has gained 6,000 more residents since 1990, while all Rapids. Starting a new business venture in Michigan’s second-largest but one of Michigan’s other major city is a carefully planned career step for this former California advertis- cities — Ann Arbor — lost population. ¥ In the past decade, Grand Rapids’ ing executive and mother of one son. It’s also a culinary test of the income tax revenues have more than authentic Coney sauce that is a secret family recipe. “Business is great,” doubled, to $59 million annually. In the past 13 years, its taxable property val- Ms. Idema says. “People are coming back downtown, so I figured now ues have nearly doubled, to $8.7 bil- was a good time to open the business.” lion; median household income has risen by more than $14,000. Mrs. Idema’s Coney stand, which few American cities its size have done ¥ Diversity is increasing; the cen- opened in May, is both an example of nearly as well recovering from the tral city’s Latino population tripled dur- one woman’s bid for a better life and a familiar cycle of urban decay and ing the 1990s. Meanwhile, demand for colorful signpost marking the excep- despair. downtown housing is growing, accord- tional progress this city is making in a ing to an independent 2004 study of the decade-long campaign to rebuild its Big Aspirations, Big Results local residential housing market. economy and quality of life. Grand Just like Mrs. Idema, Grand Rapids is Sidewalk eateries, a less precise Rapids’ government leaders, business driven by big aspirations. Since 1990, but important measure of a city’s suc- executives, and citizens are working private developers and government cess, have exploded. The Chinese together to invest public and private agencies have invested more than $2 restaurant up the block from the Coney dollars in ways that literally fill in the billion to rebuild the downtown. The Girl now sells fried rice to passing blanks of a civic landscape that until projects range from a $220 million pedestrians. Most of the dozens of new recently was being abandoned. state-of-the-art convention center to a spots offer alfresco seating. Office buildings now stand where $530,000 park in the historic Heartside parking lots lay for decades. neighborhood. The $72 million Van Changing Times Apartments enliven the upper floors of Andel Research Institute opened in Incorporated in 1850, Grand Rapids once-vacant warehouses; below them 1999 to help cure cancer. A $22 mil- thrived throughout its first century as are restaurants and saloons. There are lion transit center opened this summer. first lumbering, then furniture making, new parks and recreation and exhibi- These big and small projects, a blend- auto parts manufacturing, banking, tion centers. The city now shows its ing of public and private investments, and insurance anchored the region’s best face to the Grand River instead of are driving community spending development. Its population peaked at using it as a sewer. And while it still towards the city center in order to nur- 206,000 in 1966 and then quickly fell has much work to do, especially with ture an urban area’s economic compet- to under 180,000 residents by the end its neighborhoods and public schools, itiveness. of that decade. But it will soon exceed 10 Michigan Land Use Institute ¥ Follow the Money ¥ JANUARY 2005 “People are coming back downtown,” says Coney Girl owner Jennifer Idema, “so I figured now was a good JANUARY 2005 ¥ Follow the Money ¥ Michigan Land Use Institute 11 time to open the business” Grand Rapids Timeline 1960 State builds US 131 through downtown, demolishing hundreds of buildings and relocating more than 1,000 people.

1963 City adopts first Master Plan; north side demolished to build I-96. 1967 Eastbrook Mall opens in suburbs.

1968 Woodland Mall opens near Eastbrook Mall; Sears closes downtown store; Heritage Hill res- idents form city’s first neighbor- hood association.

1969 Old City Hall razed despite citizen opposition. 1971 Heritage Hill neighborhood listed on National Register of Historic Places.

1979 City creates Downtown Development Authority (DDA). Above: One key to reviving downtown Grand Rapids was the restoration of its riverfront. 1980 City adopts DDA’s Tax Increment Below left: New construction in downtown Grand Rapids Financing and Development Plan. 200,000 residents again for the first houses on gritty inner city streets. 1983 Amway Grand Plaza Hotel opens time in 40 years. Now the pioneering redevelopment downtown. What undid Grand Rapids were work is attracting new investors. new interstate highways and towering “You have some major institutions 1985 City expands Heartside Historic glass office buildings that tore at the that now are fully committed to this District to preserve South Division downtown’s heart. Elected and community — they can’t leave Avenue. appointed government leaders, busi- because of the dollars they have 1987 City celebrates 150th anniversary. ness executives, clergy, and neighbor- invested,” said Mr. DeVries. “So you hood leaders united in the late 1980s have these pillars of economic activity and began putting it back together and it just makes sense to start filling 1988 Grand Valley State University opens again. Led by Mayor John H. Logie in around them with new residential $22 million downtown campus. and others, they redeveloped old build- and commercial projects.” ings, vacant lots, and abandoned 1990 New Grand Valley Metro Council industrial sites, financing them with a A Real City Again begins regional planning coordi- steady wave of well-planned public The infilling is underway. The $55 nation. and private investments and incen- million Grand Rapids Art Museum tives. They listened carefully to public will open in 2006 across the street 1991 Voters defeat proposal to raze his- input, used enlightened community from Coney Girl. Blue Cross Blue toric Peck Building for parking lot. planning, and are making Grand Shield of Michigan will soon move its 1992 City builds $1.5 million boardwalk Rapids more prosperous and attrac- 266-person regional workforce from along east bank of the Grand River. tive. the suburbs to a historic building An important player in downtown downtown. “Moving literally to the Grand Rapids’ revival is Mike Devries, heart of the state’s second largest city one of a handful of builders who have, makes a statement,” says Blue Cross together, spent more than $600 million Blue Shield Vice President Dale turning vacant lots and boarded-up Robertson. “We are here to stay and buildings into new housing, restau- we wanted to send a signal that we are rants, and office space. For years Mr. committed to this region. When you Devries and his colleagues endured the are downtown, with the people, the derision of their suburban builder activity, the buzz of a city, I just think friends, who wondered why anybody it will add something to our whole with a brain would invest in old ware- operation.” 12 Few American cities have 1993 Voices and Visions plan proposes done as well recovering making downtown “the place you want to be.” from urban decay and 1994 $33 million Grand Rapids Public despair as Grand Rapids Museum opens downtown. 1995 Housing Task Force recommends doubling downtown residents by 2005.

1996 $60 million Van Andel Arena opens. 1997 Developers invest about $10 mil- lion in bars and restaurants near Arena.

1999 $70 million Van Andel Institute for cancer research opens downtown.

2000 Metro Grand Rapids voters approve Interurban Transit Partnership and millage. GVSU spends $71 million on downtown campus expansion. Above: Enjoying star architect Maya Lin’s eye-catching downtown park Below right: Grand Rapids’ new downtown transit center

Down the block from Blue Cross, transformed a bleak pedestrian mall the aroma of Coney Girl’s steaming into the focal point of Grand Rapids’ sauce is in the breeze. Mrs. Idema’s hot revival, the Monroe Center. The three dog cart sits at the center of a $15 mil- blocks of attractive urbanity boast lion street reconstruction project that heated sidewalks, a brick street, and an

A History of Self-Inflicted Wounds

Like so many other unwary cities, Grand powerful, unexpected economic and Rapids allowed itself to be dismantled social consequences. by the American Dream of cars, subur- Before Grand Rapids’ new high- 2001 State transportation department ban homes, and freeways. Its residents ways, two-thirds of its metropolitan opens Phase I of South Beltline. helped pay for emptying their town and population lived in the city. Two gener- County builds $60 million court- facilitating the suburban boom. ations later, the 197,000 people who house downtown. City renovates In 1960, bulldozers cut a 500-foot- live in the city account for less than 25 City Center for police and com- wide slash across the city’s west side for percent of the 850,000 people who live pletes Rosa Parks amphitheater an elevated freeway, U.S. 131, forcing in the two surrounding counties. Of the and Monroe Center pedestrian mall. more than 1,000 families from their 300,000 jobs in metropolitan Grand 2002 Planning Commission adopts new homes and leveling dozens of historic Rapids, approximately 7 percent are City Master Plan. buildings. Three years later, it happened located downtown. again on the city’s north side for I-96: In a move recalling the federal gov- 2003 Region’s voters support renewal Crews tore down warehouses, homes, ernment’s simultaneous funding of and increase of transit millage by and commercial and government build- tobacco farming and cancer research, two-to-one margin. City buses pro- ings (including a historic City Hall), dug 2004 saw the city opening a new $22 vide record 5.8 million rides; $220 million DeVos Center opens. a 207-acre hole, and erected steel and million downtown transit center while glass office buildings and large concrete the state finished it’s $700 million South plazas. These massive, multi-million- Beltline expressway, which will acceler- 2004 Bus system opens $22 million dollar projects, financed largely by fed- ate sprawl south of a downtown that’s transit center. State completes eral and state tax dollars, unleashed striving to remain the Comeback City. $700 million South Beltline.

JANUARY 2005 ¥ Follow the Money ¥ Michigan Land Use Institute 13 Grand Rapids is rapidly becoming a more diverse city.

eye-catching elliptical park designed by Maya Lin, an internationally respected architect. Real cities have Coney stands on street corners. Grabbing a chilidog, finding a park bench, and just watch- ing people flow by is a classic urban experience. Mix in a beverage and a saxophone player and you’ve got what millions of people know as a great night on the town. Where there is food in the streets there are signs of intelli- gent and industrious life. “Just look around,“ Mrs. Idema says. “This city really has begun to thrive. In a couple years I could have five or six carts.”

exterior facades, utilities, or fire safe- Blueprint For Redevelopment ty. According to Jay Fowler, director of the city’s Downtown Development Authority, 40 small grants, costing Much of Grand Rapids’ recent Smart building code and other technical the city less than $1 million, have Growth progress began with a July information, and quick access to city leveraged $40 million in private 1993 comprehensive downtown revi- staff, making construction permitting investment. talization plan. Based on public much easier. In 2003, Grand Rapids ¥ Taxpayer investments: Citizens forums and task force reports, the issued more than 1,700 building per- are voting to invest in Grand Rapids. In plan, Voices and Visions, set out a 10- mits of all sorts; in 1991 it issued only November 2003, for the second time in year strategy to make Grand Rapids 586. Since 1995, the city has added three years, voters in the region over- “the place you want to be.” more than 1,800 residential units in its whelmingly approved a property tax It called for establishing “one-stop central district. increase to further expand and improve shopping” for downtown developers, as ¥ Private Investments: The $60 their popular regional bus system, well as greenspace expansions, envi- million Van Andel Arena opened in whose ridership increased by 36 percent ronmental improvements, cleaned-up 1996. Since 2000, Grand Valley State after an initial millage in 2000 passed. streets and sidewalks, expanded bus University has spent more than $152 This June city residents approved two service, and a modernized building million expanding its downtown cam- bond proposals totaling $165 million to code to encourage more downtown pus. Spectrum Health is constructing a renovate or replace 11 public school housing. The plan has had a direct and $137 million cardiac center. In the past buildings, improve playgrounds, and very positive effect on residents and decade the medical community invest- purchase computers and buses. business owners. ed more than $400 million building a ¥ Infrastructure Investment: “We want developers to realize world-class research hub on “Health The city has invested more than $150 that they have a partner in the city,” Hill, ” which overlooks downtown. million for new water and sewer lines, says Susan Shannon, Grand Rapids’ ¥ Abandoned Property Recovery: upgraded sewage treatment, and river economic development director. One city program encourages property crossings. Community leaders also “We’re not here to put up roadblocks. owners to improve sidewalks through have focused on improving public We want to work with them to get the matching grants. Since 1990, the city buildings. Two recent public projects, project done.” has invested more than $57 million to the $60 million county courthouse and The plan emphasizes: improve pedestrian paths, narrow the a $4 million renovation of a building ¥ Efficient Permitting: In 2000, streets to calm traffic in neighborhood to house the Grand Rapids Police Grand Rapids established the business districts, and reconstruct his- Department, were located in the heart Development Center to expedite toric brick streets. Another program of downtown. Since 1990 the city has approvals for proposed construction has encouraged the revival of nearly also invested $560 million in new projects. The center, housed in a single 70 old buildings through modest parks, improved sidewalks, better office, provides permit applications, financial assistance for improving streets, and multi-level parking lots. 14 Michigan Land Use Institute ¥ Follow the Money ¥ JANUARY 2005 On Solving Sprawl, A Rare Unity OF Purpose Bipartisanship marks path to progress in Michigan

PROGRESSIVE ECONOMIC AND signed two executive orders and sev- open to the state’s cities and towns the cultural reform in America follows a enteen bills passed by the Republican- billion-dollar treasure house of subsi- familiar path. The majority demands led Legislature that, among other dies, grants, low-interest loans, and action. Leaders of both major political things, empower municipalities to get other economic development tools that parties heed the call and a capable and tough on owners of blighted property, were once reserved almost solely for courageous political leader finds a way help expedite redevelopment of aban- luring factories and employers to to serve the public interest. doned industrial sites, and raise the Michigan. Michigan is nearing just such a cap on bond money available for such Republican leaders also have breakthrough on sprawl. Public opin- projects. Other successful legislation ideas about spurring investment and ion polls consistently show the encourages regional planning and per- slowing sprawl. In May 2004 Senate majority of residents embrace fixing mits townships to include open space Majority Leader Ken Sikkema existing roads before building new in their mixed-use zoning laws. announced an eight-bill CORE pack- ones, consider public transit an effec- In 2004, the Legislature passed, age — Creating Opportunities for tive antidote to traffic congestion, and the governor signed, 10 more Renewed Economies. The package want more spending to limit pollu- Smart Growth measures — making proposes “commerce centers” that tion, and support redevelopment in such measures a rare arena of biparti- channel state dollars to existing com- Michigan’s depleted cities and older san cooperation. munity centers, tax incentives for suburbs. redeveloping historic neighborhoods, The polls also show that citizens Now, the Hard Work Begins new procedures to speed construction are intensely interested in improving But the truly hard work is yet to come. inspections and permits, tax credits for Michigan’s economic competitiveness The real challenge in reining in rehabilitating old plants, and enabling and in closing state and local budget sprawl, as we’ve described in this legislation for downtown development deficits. These concerns are not solely report, is changing the priorities of the authorities, neighborhood improve- the province of Democratic urban res- big-ticket public spending programs ment authorities, and downtown park- idents. They also spark lively conver- that drive development, particularly ing bureaus. sations in Republican strongholds the $3 billion transportation budget Such ideas from both sides of the along the coast of Lake Michigan and and the more than $1 billion revenue- aisle are just the sort of courageous in the newer suburbs outside Detroit, sharing budget. policymaking that Michigan needs to Grand Rapids, and Traverse City. Governor Granholm understands thrive in the 21st century. They Faced with growing public pres- how public spending drives the deci- demonstrate that both parties under- sure to make Michigan a better place, sions that businesses, families, and stand that how the state invests in eco- Democrats and Republicans are mak- individuals make about where they nomic development is crucial to what ing some progress in enacting Smart work, live, and play. In 2003, the gov- happens to our land. The question is: Growth measures. The parties cooper- ernor and the Legislature agreed to Will Michigan give cities and existing ated extensively in the Michigan Land indefinitely halt 17 highway projects communities a much larger share of Use Leadership Council, which in in order to redirect $250 million slated the economic development dollars 2003 recommended 160 steps the state for new highways to fixing existing than they’ve gotten in recent decades? should take to curb sprawl, improve roads. In 2004 Ms. Granholm awarded Or will lawmakers make sweeping the economy, and rebuild the state’s $100,000 “Cool Cities” grants to eco- statements about curbing sprawl while cities. nomic development projects in 17 still spending profligately to spur During the final four months of cities. Her administration says that the growth on the state’s expanding urban 2003, Governor Jennifer M. Granholm grants signal a new willingness to edges?

JANUARY 2005 ¥ Follow the Money ¥ Michigan Land Use Institute 15 10 STEPS TO PROSPERITY

Seeking a Formula for Success We urge Governor Granholm and the Legislature to thrust the sword of Surely there is no way for the reform deeply and make the significant changes in spending that will end Legislature or the governor to avoid sprawl, build viable public transportation systems, rebuild cities, and turn these questions; they are the political Michigan into a greener, cleaner, dynamic state of opportunity. We also questions of the era. In 2006 and 2007, for instance, the governor and state call on the governor and the Legislature to base their spending decisions lawmakers will have to decide whether on the recommendations of the Michigan Land Use Leadership Council. to change the formula for distributing Specifically, the Michigan Land Use Institute and United Cerebral Palsy of more than $1 billion annually to cities, Michigan urge the state to take these ten steps: villages, townships, and counties. The source of the shared revenue repre- 1. Establish state land use goals and spending priorities that help the state’s cities sents 36.3 percent of state’s sales tax become better places to live and work and conserve the state’s farmland and countryside. receipts. In many communities rev- enue sharing is the single largest 2. Establish economic incentives that foster regional planning by local governments, col- source of operating funds. laboration on appropriate development, and proper use of their capital expenditures to The payout formula for local gov- follow those plans. ernments was altered in 1998 under the rubric of spreading the money more 3. Authorize local governments to require “concurrency;” i.e., that adequate roads, sew- fairly. But separate studies by the ers, and other infrastructure are in place before approving new development. Citizens Research Council (2000) and 4. Point state financing for schools and other public facilities to urbanized areas when- researchers at Michigan State ever possible. Offer incentives for constructing and renovating public schools within neigh- University (2002) found the 1998 for- mula turned townships and villages into borhoods and town centers and for sharing athletic facilities. winners, and older cities into big losers. 5. Reward local governments for capital spending that follows state land use goals. According to the MSU analysis, 22 of Establish urban investment boundaries that limit expensive infrastructure extensions, levy the 50 fastest-growing communities impact fees on open space development, and direct sewer and water investments away received larger revenue sharing pay- from sprawl locations. Require local cooperation through regional frameworks for deci- ments under the 1998 formula than they sions on large projects. would have with the old formula. The council found that of the 104 largest 6. Establish Commerce Centers in existing communities that favor mixed use, density, communities, 52 lost money under the transit, and open space protection in their master plans and actions. Facilitate their rede- 1998 formula and 52 gained. Only 11 velopment with state and federal assistance and priority access to funding opportunities of the winners are old Michigan cities. and development tools, and mandate quick local decision-making on public and private The rest of the winners are sprawling investment that meet land use goals. Direct public road, sewer, school, water line, and townships and outstate cities like Mt. economic investments there, instead of into the countryside. Pleasant and Marquette. Of the losers, 39 are cities and just 13 are townships, 7. Expand market-rate and affordable housing opportunities through a state trust fund most of them in the Thumb region and that helps developers build urban mixed-income home rental and ownership projects. the western Upper Peninsula. The 1998 formula expires in 2007 8. Respect community character by fixing roads before building new ones and adopting and the entire revenue sharing system a citizen-guided, “context-sensitive design” process that promotes safe and innovative will be reconsidered by the road, transit, bicycling, and walking designs and complements existing master plans. Legislature. If she is reelected, 9. Improve public transit and other transportation alternatives by fully funding them at the Governor Granholm will have an opportunity at the start of her second state’s constitutional maximums; retain ownership of railroad rights-of-way for future trail term to work closely with the and transit use; and encourage walking and biking to school through “Safe Routes to Legislature and local government School” programs. Invest in walkable development patterns that make public transit more leaders to adjust revenue sharing to efficient and easier to use. improve the fiscal health of existing 10. Support entrepreneurial farm and food system development, particularly small- and communities and make a real differ- medium-sized operations, with business and technical training and assistance, economic ence in slowing sprawl. Clearly, where to invest the many development, and a state food policy council. Establish agricultural production areas with billions of dollars that state and local tax incentives that encourage farming and conversion fees that discourage land specula- governments spend each year for eco- tion and development. Use the conversion fees to finance the incentives and other farm nomic development is the most impor- preservation and viability programs. Require “concentrated animal feeding operations” to tant conversation Lansing will have in use waste-control methods that protect public health and the environment. this decade. 16 Michigan Land Use Institute ¥ Follow the Money ¥ JANUARY 2005 Economic Consequences of Sprawl Government and academic studies consistently find that sprawl is much more expensive than compact patterns of development

1974 Ð The Costs of Sprawl, a three-volume report by the construction and up to 20 percent of water and sewer costs. Real Estate Corporation for the White House Council on Applied to local road construction, “the savings would be Environmental Quality, concluded that compact develop- $52 million per year.” (http://www.10000friends.org/ ment patterns were much less expensive and environmen- Web_Pages/News/Costs_of_Sprawl_in_Pennsylvania.pdf) tally damaging than sprawling residential and commercial development. It is one of the most significant critiques of 2000 Ð The Costs and Benefits of Alternative Growth sprawl ever published. Patterns: The Impact Assessment of the New Jersey State Plan, published by Rutgers University, found a state plan that 1997 Ð Fiscal Impacts of Alternative Land Development encourages settling in existing communities could save local Patterns in Michigan: The Costs of Current Development governments $161 million by 2020, conserve 100,000 acres Versus Compact Growth, by Rutgers and Michigan State of farmland, save $870 million in road construction costs, Universities, found that, in the 18 communities studied, and eliminate $1.4 billion in water and sewer development. land consumption and costs for infrastructure and munici- pal services were far less expensive when Smart Growth 2002 Ð Growth in the Heartland: Challenges and principles replaced sprawling patterns of development. Opportunities for Missouri, a Brookings Institution report, found that Pettis County, located near Kansas City, will gain 1997 Ð The Cost of Sprawl, published by the Maine State 3.6 percent in tax revenue thanks to population increases and Planning Office, found that residents of fast growing “new development. But its costs will rise 6 percent, generating a suburbs” were paying many “hidden costs,” including $2.4 million deficit unless the county raises taxes. higher taxes, homeowners insurance, and school construc- (http://www.brookings.edu/es/urban/missouri/abstract.htm) tion costs. Although its student population declined by 27,000 from 1975 to 1995, the state spent $727 million to 2003 Ð The Fiscal Cost of Sprawl: How Sprawl construct and maintain new suburban schools. Although Contributes to Local Governments’ Budget Woes, by Maine’s population declined 10 percent in the 1980s, its Environment Colorado Research and Policy Center, con- residents drove 57 percent more miles, highway costs cludes that “sprawling development does not generate increased by a third, local governments added 100 miles of enough tax revenue to cover the costs it incurs…If growth new roads annually, and police employment increased by patterns do not change in the Denver area…sprawl will 10 percent, even with a 20 percent fall in the crime rate. cost local governments $4.3 billion more in infrastructure (http://www.maine.gov/spo/landuse/docs/CostofSprawl.pdf) costs than Smart Growth.” (http://www.environmentcol- orado.org/reports/fiscalcostofsprawl12_03.pdf) 1998 Ð The Costs of Sprawl Ð Revisited, prepared for the National Research Council, analyzed nearly 500 studies of 2003 Ð The Jobs Are Back In Town: Urban Smart Growth the fiscal, economic, and environmental effects of sprawl and Construction Employment, by the Washington-based and concluded that while “most of the American public is research group Good Jobs First, found that metro areas with not unhappy with the current patterns of development in concentrated growth had 30 percent more construction activ- metropolitan areas Ð it simply can no longer afford it.” ity than areas that encouraged sprawl, and concluded that (http://www.nas.edu/trb/index.htm) Smart Growth generates more residential, commercial, and transportation construction jobs than sprawl does. 2000 Ð The Costs of Sprawl Ð 2000 concludes that even (http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/pdf/backintown.pdf) modest new Smart Growth policies would save 4.4 million acres of farmland, $12.6 billion in sewer and water expens- 2004 Ð Investing in a Better Future: A Review of the es, $109 billion in road construction costs, and $420 billion Fiscal and Competitive Advantages of Smarter Growth in private sector development costs. (http://www.national- Development Patterns, by the Brookings Institution, found academies.org/trb/bookstore, or to download full report that in Kentucky’s Shelby County, which managed its http://guliver.trb.org/publications/tcrp/tcrp_rpt_74-a.pdf) growth, the cost of additional police, fire, highways, schools, and solid-waste services for every 1,000 new resi- 2000 Ð The Costs of Sprawl in Pennsylvania, published dents added $88.27 to an average family’s expenses. But in by 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, reported that costs for Pendelton County, which allows sprawling development infrastructure and housing are significantly higher in patterns, those same services added $1,222 per family — sprawling regions than in planned-growth areas. Compact 13 times as much. (http://brookings.edu/metro/publica- development can save up to 25 percent of road and utility tions/200403_smartgrowth.htm)

JANUARY 2005 ¥ Follow the Money ¥ Michigan Land Use Institute 17 A Perfect Recipe for Sprawl

An in-depth analysis of several kinds of government spending since State and Local Government Bond Issues — 2001 Total - $10.1 Billion 1987 reveals how Michigan’s public investments skews toward greenfields and away from urban areas. The chart on the left recounts a year that is exceptional for $4,716,340,110 bond issues because it includes huge, long-time projects rebuild- $3,148,930,000 ing Detroit’s sewer and water systems and public school buildings and the expansion of Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Separating out those special projects reveals the more typical statewide pattern, which favors suburban and rural areas over core cities by a two- to-one margin. $2,212,198,950 The next chart recounts direct loans and grants made by the state’s economic development department to a plethora of projects. It Detroit Schools, Sewer and Metro Airport shows at best an even split between urban and out of town spending, Other Core Communities since most industrial park development occurs in greenfields. Non-Core Communities The final chart recounts state spending for transportation improve- ment projects meant to enhance Michigan’s ability “to compete in an international economy, to serve as a catalyst for growth,” and “to Michigan Transportation Economic improve the quality of life.” The state favors rural and suburban areas Development Fund 1978-2003 by a three-to-one margin. (See page 5.) This is a perfect strategy for accelerating sprawl and slowing the recovery of core communities. $296,062,250 $85,678,173 Sources Special thanks to Michigan Land Hard Lessons: Causes and Use Institute Operations Director Consequences of Michigan’s Mac McClelland, whose in-depth, School Construction Boom, Mac indefatigable investigation of state McClelland and Keith Schneider, Michigan Land Use Institute, and local government financial February 2004, http://www.mlui. Core Communities records provided most of the org/growthmanagement/fullarti- Non-Core Communities financial statistics underpinning cle.asp?fileid=16633 this report. Additional background, history, and financial and policy Report on SEMCOG Lawsuit, information came from the follow- David Whitaker and Kerry Baitinger, Detroit City Council, ing published material: MEDC Grants and Loans: 1995-2003 February 11, 2004 Infrastructure Projects Other Studies 2% West Michigan Growth (unknown location) City of Grand Rapids Economic Statistics, The Right Place 7% Vitality 2003 Annual Report, City Program, April 2004. of Grand Rapids, 2004. Setting Priorities Memorandum, Downtown 10 Ways to Increase Michigan’s David Rusk, Metropolitan Prosperity, Michigan Land Use Development Organizing Strategy Enabling Institute and United Cerebral Strength, April 14, 2004 45% Palsy of Michigan, January 21, 2004, http://www.mlui.org/ Projects Outside Projects Implemented Fiscal transportation/fullarticle.asp? 2003, Southeast Michigan of Town fileid=16610 Council of Governments, May 35% 20, 2004 Industrial Park Oakland County I-75 Expansion, Development Thomas W. Barwin, The State of Smart Growth, Philip Interdepartmental Langdon et al, On Common 11% Communication, City of Ground, National Association of Ferndale, January 26, 2004 Realtors, Summer 2004

18 Michigan Land Use Institute ¥ Follow the Money ¥ JANUARY 2005 Edward Beinborn and Robert Puentes, JANUARY 2005 SEMCOG Review and Recertification Brookings Institution Center of Urban and Resolution, Metropolitan Policy, December 2003 Follow the Money is the fourth annual report Downtown Housing Update, City of Grand The Sprawl of the Wild, Bruce Katz, The Rapids Planning Department, June 2004. Patriot News, December 7, 2003 published by the Michigan Land Use Institute in partnership with United Cerebral Palsy of Downtown Grand Rapids Development The Rise of the Creative Class, Richard Projects, City of Grand Rapids Planning Florida, Basic Books, 2002 Michigan. MLUI and UCP Michigan are part of the Department, June 2004. statewide Michigan Transportation & Land Use State-Local Flexibility Key To Downtown Greater Grand Rapids Taxes and Redevelopment in Michigan’s Fastest Coalition, which is working to make public transit, Incentives, The Right Place Program, 2003, Growing Region, Susan Sandell, Michigan including services to people with disabilities, a (http://rightplace.org/Business/taxincen- Department of Environmental Quality, tives.pdf.) November 2002, http://www.brown- local and state priority. fields2002.org/proceedings2002/PDFS/POS Revitalizing Michigan’s Central Cities: A -51.pdf. REPORTED AND WRITTEN BY: Vision and Framework For Action, Lou Keith Schneider, Glazer, Michigan Future, Inc., February 2003 Will Michigan Climb On Board: Rail is Deputy Director Energizing Cities Coast to Coast, Kelly Mac McClelland, Operations Manager New Economic Engine: National Thayer, Great Lakes Bulletin, Michigan Andy Guy, Grand Rapids Project Director Comparison Shows Michigan Can Pull Land Use Institute, March 2001, MICHIGAN LAND USE INSTITUTE Ahead With World Class Transit, Kelly http://www.mlui.org/pubs/glb/glb13- Thayer et al, Michigan Land Use Institute 01/glb13-05.asp Kevin Wisselink, Transportation Project Coordinator and United Cerebral Palsy of Michigan, UNITED CEREBRAL PALSY OF MICHIGAN March 2003, http://www.mlui.org/trans- Liquid Assets: Detroit Teaches Michigan a portation/fullarticle.asp?fileid=16442 Lesson in Natural Economics, Keith EDITED BY: Schneider, Great Lakes Bulletin, Michigan Michigan Metropatterns: A Regional Land Use Institute, Summer 2001, Jim Dulzo, Managing Editor Agenda for Community and Prosperity in http://www.mlui.org/pubs/glb/glb14- MICHIGAN LAND USE INSTITUTE Michigan, Myron Orfield and Thomas 01/glb14-02.asp Luce, Ameregis and Metropolitan Area DESIGNED BY: Research Corporation, April 2003 Breaking the Sprawl Addiction: A Twelve Gail Dennis, Art Director Step Program, Keith Schneider, Great MICHIGAN LAND USE INSTITUTE Thomas W. Barwin, Interdepartmental Lakes Bulletin, Michigan Land Use Communication, City of Ferndale, April 8, Institute, March 2000 http://www.mlui.org/ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2003 pubs/glb/glb11-00/glb11-0007.html The Michigan Land Use Institute and United Marketing Smart Growth, David Goldberg Acting as a Region to Tame Sprawl: Grand Cerebral Palsy of Michigan gratefully acknowledge et al, On Common Ground, National Rapids Leads the Way in Michigan, Keith the Michigan Developmental Disabilities Council Association of Realtors, Summer 2003 Schneider, Great Lakes Bulletin, Michigan and the Joyce Foundation for making this project Land Use Institute, Spring, 1999, possible. Michigan’s Land, Michigan’s Future: The http://www.mlui.org/pubs/glb/glbsp99/inde Final Report of the Michigan Land Use x.html Leadership Council, Public Sector Michigan Consultants et al, August 2003, http://www. There’s A Better Way to Get There, Keith michiganlanduse.org/finalreport.htm Schneider, Great Lakes Bulletin, Michigan Land Use Land Use Institute, Summer/Fall 1999, Missing the Bus: How States Fail to http://www.mlui.org/pubs/glb/latest/glbsu- Institute Connect Economic Development with fa99.html Building citizen support for Promoting the independence, Public Transit, Mafruza Khan and Greg policy that protects the productivity, and full LeRoy, Good Jobs First, September 2003, City of Grand Rapids Downtown environment, strengthens citizenship of people http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/gjfpubs.htm Chronology, City of Grand Rapids Planning the economy, and enhances with cerebral palsy Department, January 1997. and other disabilities. Land Use Planning in Michigan: A quality of life. Consensus Reached? Bernie Mein and Lee Redevelopment and Race: Planning a Finer MLUI UCP Michigan Schwartz, Michigan Builder, City in Postwar Detroit, June Manning 205 South Benzie Blvd. 3401 E. Saginaw September/October 2003 Thomas, The Johns Hopkins University PO Box 500 Suite 216 Press, 1997 Beulah, MI 49617 Lansing, MI 48912 Michigan Residents Views on TEL: 231-882-4723 TEL: 517-203-1200 Development and Land Use, Lyke The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and FAX: 231-882-7350 FAX: 517-203-1203 Thompson, Wayne State University Center Inequality in Postwar Detroit, Thomas J. www.mlui.org www.ucpmichigan.org for Urban Studies, October 2003, Sugrue, Princeton University Press, 1996 http://www.mlui.org/growthmanagement/ PHOTOGRAPHY: All photos by Bruce Giffen unless fullarticle.asp?fileid=16591 The Report of the Downtown Housing Task otherwise noted. Force, Downtown Management Board, City Sprawl, schmall…Give me more develop- of Grand Rapids, December 1995. ment, L. Brooks Patterson, Michigan Real Printed on recycled paper, minimum 40% post-consumer waste, bleached without chlorine, using low-VOC soybean Estate Journal, November 2003 Voices and Visions: Community Planning ink. Please recycle. For Downtown, Grand Rapids Downtown Highways and Transit: Leveling the Playing Development Authority, July 1993. Field in Federal Transportation Policy,

JANUARY 2005 ¥ Follow the Money ¥ Michigan Land Use Institute 19 MICHIGAN LAND USE INSTITUTE • SPECIAL REPORT • JANUARY 2005 Sponsored by United Cerebral Palsy of Michigan

Follow The Money documents a profoundly misguided investment strategy that harms Michigan’s quality of life by subsidizing sprawl. Only when that strategy improves will Michigan be able to conserve its natural resources, produce more job opportunities, enjoy great cities, and restore our rapidly diminishing sense of community — bedrock necessities for competing successfully in the 21st century.

www.mlui.org

NONPROFIT Michigan ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE Land Use PAID TRAVERSE CITY, MI Institute PERMIT # 514

205 South Benzie Boulevard PO Box 500 Beulah, MI 49617