Friday, May 26, 2006

Saul's "Blame Granholm First Tour 2006" goes over like lead balloon in GR
I'm starting to think that Anuzis is the "gift that keeps on giving".

GRAND RAPIDS -- Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis came to throw cold water on Cool Cities.

But his attack on one of Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm's signature programs got a chilly reception from those who know economic development in West Michigan. They think Granholm's effort has been a boon to long-neglected urban centers.

Oops. Wrong message Saul.
"They can dismiss the governor all they want, but this is a project, this is a program that is helping in business districts in our city and in cities all over Michigan," said Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell.

The grants -- four of them worth $100,000 each -- have made a big difference in Grand Rapids, Heartwell said.

"Anybody who's simplistic enough in their thinking to believe there is some one single answer, a silver bullet out there, is just sorely mistaken," Heartwell said. "It's going to take a lot of little initiatives."

Speaking of simplistic thinking...
Anuzis made a five-city tour Wednesday.

"You can't make a Cool City by fiat, by press release or designation," Anuzis said during a press conference on Calder Plaza. "A press release is not a plan."

... said Saul, at a "press conference".

I'll let that bit of irony sink in for a minute.

Saul proceeded to dig the hole deeper.

"Governor Granholm has tried to make everybody happy, and she, in effect, has made no one happy."

Well, as stated above, our mayor is happy. GR has seen benefits from this program.

In Grand Rapids, the money helped renovate buildings, improve streets and develop loft apartments along South Division Avenue. The grants have been used to revitalize the Turner Gateway on the city's West Side and refurbish part of Grandville Avenue.

Developers are happy.
Birgit Klohs, president of Right Place Inc., a local economic development body, said the program -- like tax-forgiving Renaissance Zones and incentives for redeveloping old properties called brownfields -- has helped draw attention to urban centers.

"We truly are, as a nation, beginning to understand that our urban centers are like our heart," Klohs said. "If it dies, the rest of us won't survive, either."

Cool Cities grants "build on that theme" and leverage money from other programs, she said.

Heck, even the mayor of the Republican stronghold of Holland is happy.
Holland Mayor Al McGeehan, who leads a strongly Republican city, agreed. Holland received a Cool Cities grant to revitalize the downtown Park Theater.

"Michigan cities are in peril," McGeehan said. "Thank God there are those who are still doing what they can do to lift cities and celebrate cities."

So who, exactly, is "unhappy"? Apparently just Saul and the Republicans who have no plan of their own.
He called the governor's Cool Cities initiative "little more than a public relations stunt."

As opposed to this little tour, which offers, well, nothing, not even good "public relations".

Keep on keeping on Saul. You're doing a heck of a job.