THE GOAL: An artist’s rendering shows a section of the Grand River in downtown Grand Rapids after a nearly $28 million river improvement project is finished. (courtesy image) Michigan may be the Great Lakes State, but its 36,000 miles of rivers are becoming popular commodities for cities looking to revitalize downtowns, attract visitors and lure […]
Jeff Alexander
Jeff Alexander is owner of J. Alexander Communications LLC and the author of "Pandora's Locks: The Opening of the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence Seaway." A former staff writer for the Muskegon Chronicle, Alexander writes a blog on the Great Lakes.
Posted inQuality of Life
In Ottawa County, parks leader shepherds quarter-century of green growth
The Lake Michigan coast near Grand Haven features two spectacular natural areas, each of which gives rise to towering sand dunes that are cloaked by lush forests. John Smoltz, as head of Ottawa County’s Parks Commission, has spearheaded a massive increase in parks acreage in the county just west of Grand Rapids. He’s shown on […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Olympic training center in Marquette fighting to keep doors open
HARD STRUGGLE: Freshman Greco-Roman wrestler Arthur Carmona (right, in white) practices against freshman Ramon Moreno at the Olympic Education Center in Marquette. The center’s wrestling training program was struck a huge blow this month when the executive board of the International Olympic Committee voted to drop wrestling as a sport in the 2020 games. (Bridge […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
$1 billion economic impact? That’s Pure Michigan.
Massachusetts resident Delia Marshall came to Michigan last summer for a family reunion at a beach house on the shores of Lake Michigan. A week later, she left as an ambassador for a state that claims to be home to “the perfect summer.” “We stayed in a house with a private beach and I just […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Plan calls for Pure Michigan to be big, too
The widely praised Pure Michigan advertising campaign has been credited with resurrecting the state’s tourism industry, putting Michigan on the national travel map and giving Michigan residents something to crow about. Now in its seventh year, Pure Michigan has even been called one of the best tourism promotion campaigns of all time. What could managers […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Next frontier for state tourism — the world
Sarah Nicholls said she observes an odd phenomenon every time she takes a flight from her native England to Detroit’s Metro Airport. “The vast majority of people coming from England are making connections in Detroit — very few are staying in Detroit,” said Nicholls, a tourism expert and associate professor at Michigan State University. Nicholls […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Hunters, anglers get Michigan licenses cheap
Much has changed in Michigan since 1997: Gasoline prices have tripled, food prices increased more than 40 percent and health-care costs have skyrocketed. It seems that everything costs more today than it did 16 years ago — unless you hunt or fish in Michigan. The price of hunting and fishing licenses here hasn’t increased since […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Where Michigan stands on hunting, fishing fees
As Bridge reported last week, Gov. Rick Snyder is taking aim at Michigan’s outdoor bargains: “The cost of shooting a deer in Michigan would double next year, under Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposed 2014 budget, and more conservation officers would patrol the state’s woods and waterways. “Released Thursday, Snyder’s budget calls for $354.3 million for the […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Deer, fishing fees headed for change under Snyder plan
The cost of shooting a deer in Michigan would double next year, under Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposed 2014 budget, and more conservation officers would patrol the state’s woods and waterways. Released Thursday, Snyder’s budget calls for $354.3 million for the Department of Natural Resources, which would allow the agency to hire 41 more conservation officers, […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Traverse City’s growth draws attention
In 2007, when Michigan was in the throes of the recession, a young entrepreneur named Chris Treter opened a coffee shop and cafe in Traverse City. The Ohio native could have launched his Higher Grounds Coffee Trading Co. in any number of places. But Treter, who spent many summer vacations at a family cabin on […]
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