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West Michigan Round-up

August 12, 2005

I haven’t written much about news in West Michigan lately. A few things I find interesting and feel like commenting on:

MSU Medical School moving to Grand Rapids? It would be a good help to the Van Andel Institute and other Spectrum-related work, but what does that do to Sparrow and Lansing? Grand Rapids and West Michigan have much more to offer new Residents than the Lansing area does, so a move would help recruitment. Also, the larger population would allow for a more varied medical caseload, I’d assume. We shall see what happens.

Lake Michigan/West Michigan drownings. A 3 yr old, a 9 yr old, a high-speed boater. Every year they happen. Can we stop them all? I don’t know. Supposedly 50 West Michigan agencies are meeting today to discuss ideas. I think a major aspect is education. People need to realize that water is much much more powerful than we realize. Furthermore, we need to keep teaching children how to swim, and maybe expand those programs further inland. Also, even when people try to make strides to provide help - i.e. donating life rings for the Grand Haven Pier - vandals (cowards is a better term) find the nerve to destroy these helpful efforts. That sickens me. While these drownings happen each year, it is still disheartening to see them happen. I dream of a summer when we have no drownings in West Michigan.

On a related topic, did you know a child is 100 times more likely to die of drowning in a pool than of a gunshot at home (for those gunowners out there, slightly good news). Courtesty of Freakonomics.

I haven’t heard much lately about new suburban development near Holland. I know large developments are proceeding, but I don’t know how sales are progressing. I’m curious about Knollwood, Macatawa Legends and Kensington Place in particular.

Any other interesting West Michigan news out there? Specifically with Fire, Emergency Management or Urban Planning? Any readers out there eager to discuss issues?

Posted by paul at August 12, 2005 11:19 AM

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