Muskegon has made major cuts in public spending in recent years. And the city’s fiscal stress score looks much better in a recent analysis by Munetrix. (Bridge archive photo) A gritty, blue-collar city on Lake Michigan, Muskegon faces headwinds similar to many Michigan communities: factory closings, job losses, an eroding tax base. But in the […]
Lake Michigan
Posted inBrunch with Bridge
In Michigan, we celebrate – and ignore – nature’s rhythms of change
WATER MEETS WATER: Lower Lake Herring flows into Lake Michigan between Arcadia and Frankfort. (courtesy photo) Our family tradition every summer is a special week amongst the magnificent dunes along Lake Michigan. The first thing we do when we arrive is run down to the lakeshore to the outlet where Lower Lake Herring connects to […]
Posted inBrunch with Bridge
Don’t dredge away nature fund’s value
When I moved from Northern Virginia after a stint in the Army about three years ago, I wanted to live back home in rural Michigan. Commuting bumper-to-bumper into Washington, D.C., was not how I envisioned my adult years. SETTING UP: Astronomy fans prepare to view the transit of Venus during an event at Emmet County’s […]
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 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 inMichigan Government
Expert’s sure Asian carp are in Great Lakes, but is hopeful for future
Asian carp are considered one of the most serious environmental and economic threats facing the Great Lakes. Bridge Magazine recently discussed the threat of Asian carp invading the lakes with Lindsay Chadderton, director of aquatic invasive species for The Nature Conservancy. Chadderton worked with the University of Notre Dame as part of a four-person team […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge” — Nicolaus Copernicus, 16th century Polish scientist. * This map highlights, to my eye at least, one of the more fascinating transportation situations in Michigan today. From pretty much all reports, […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Feds leave small harbors dredging for cash
It’s taking plenty of $100 checks and some larger amounts, fundraisers and perseverance. But with a big slice of their economic future at stake, members of the small waterfront community of Pentwater are banding together to pay for something Washington, D.C., no longer does: Dredging of the sandbar that annually accumulates and chokes off the […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“The knowledge of yourself will preserve you from vanity” — Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish novelist, poet and playwright. * If you are wanting to start the new year in a sunny frame of mind do NOT read Joseph Stiglitz’s piece in Vanity Fair this month. If you DO want to learn some important points about […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Pure slacking — Michigan falters on conservation
Images of children frolicking on scenic beaches fill a television screen as the soothing voice of actor Tim Allen narrates the commercial promoting Michigan as the place to spend “the perfect summer.” A line you won’t hear Allen speak: Beach closures due to bacterial pollution — contamination linked to fecal matter — have doubled in […]
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