Great Lakes Day? It sounds so–relevant

GLUE friend Hugh McMullen, of Valerie Denney Communications in Chicago, sent us the below message regarding a not-to-be-overlooked event that, while in DC, is close to the Great Lakes heart. Hugh is going to be producing live reports on the events of Great Lakes Day, which you can check out at a blog created [...]

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A Glimpse of GLUE’s Inaugural Conference

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That’s What I’m Talking About

Check out today’s New York Times editorial page for an impassioned, spot-on appeal for an urban agenda in the Presidential election: “The cities have been the hardest hit as federal policies have failed or gone missing in education, housing, health care, jobs, transportation and environment, to name a few. Yet urban issues have gotten [...]

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Chicago, Illinois, Battling A Different Kind of Brain Drain, by Mandy Burrell, Chicago

Across the Midwest, metropolitan regions like Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Buffalo, New York, have struggled with attracting and retaining young professionals. They’re concerned – and rightfully so – that bright, young people born and raised in their cities will be wooed straight out of university by big companies (and bright lights) in New York, San [...]

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TIFs to the Rescue, by Ryan Horton, Milwaukee, WI

Three main ingredients are essential to spur the economic development that each of our Great Lakes cities sorely needs: smart people, good ideas and financing. I will talk here about one possible piece to the financing puzzle.
Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is a tool at the disposal of municipal governments throughout the United States. [...]

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Don’t Stop With the Compact – Great Lakes Primaries Need Urban Agenda

For Immediate Release: February 14, 2008
Don’t Stop With the Compact:
‘Rustbelt’ Cities Coalition Thanks Presidential Frontrunners for Supporting Great Lakes Compact,
Calls for Regional Urban Agenda in Three Upcoming Great Lakes Primaries:
Wisconsin: February 19
Ohio: March 4
Pennsylvania: April 22
Thursday, February 14th – With the eyes of the nation fixed on the increasingly influential Wisconsin, Ohio, and Pennsylvania primaries, [...]

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GL, how do I love thee?

In the spirit of the day, please write a valentine to your very dearest Great Lakes city, Great Lakes state, to the Great Lakes region, or to a Great Lake!
Please share your loving valentine as a comment to this post.

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Great Lakes: America’s Freshwater Coast?

Civic leaders think so.

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GLUE on Detroit’s MetroMode

GLUE Co-Founder Sarah just wrapped up a week-long stint as a guest blogger on MetroMode, a Detroit online magazine. She used her space to discuss Detroit, what “young talent” want, and different kinds of change-making opportunities that GLUE members in other Great Lakes cities have shared. Click here to read her posts.

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Atwater House and Elmwood Avenue, by Justin Azzarella, Buffalo, NY

The recent demolition of the Atwater House by the owner of neighboring Pano’s Restaurant sets a dangerous precedent and represents a major threat to the future health of Elmwood Avenue.
While it is true that this attractive building, which was in fine shape and fully occupied until the owner decided he would rather demolish it, was [...]

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Cincinnati 360 – One Model for Long-Term Metropolitan Visioning

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GLUE and Shrinking Cities, by Seth Beattie, Cleveland, OH

Across the globe, cities are shrinking. While we tend to concentrate on cities that are growing, and equate population decline with city failure, this is not necessarily the case. A city that is shrinking is not necessarily getting worse; the only thing we can say for sure is that it’s getting smaller. And while getting [...]

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Preservation is Key to Revitalization, by Randy Vines, St Louis, MO

As we look around our aging cities, it is not difficult to see what has been lost in wake of the mass exodus to the suburbs over the past 60 years.  Gazing down major urban corridors, it is not hard to imagine the hustle and bustle that once filled the same streets. Crowds of pedestrians [...]

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On What We Share

Last week, about 50 GLUE team members met off-line in Buffalo to talk about – oh, everything urban Great Lakes. Here’s what Ryan Horton, of Milwaukee, had to say about it. We can’t help but get fired up by what he thinks are the real (hyper-motivated) assets of each of our cities.

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Taking Back Our Streets, by Evelyn A.L. Burnett, Youngstown, OH

On Wednesday, January 23, 2008 Carol Crawford, 46, her daughter Jennifer R. Crawford, 23, and Jennifer’s four children, Raneija, 8, Jeannine, 5, Aleisha, 3, and Brandon, 2 were killed in a deadly house fire on the Eastside of Youngstown, Ohio. Fire Chief John J. O’Neill Jr. said the victims were found throughout the house. [...]

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‘Shrinking’ Gracefully, by Anthony Armstrong, Buffalo, NY

It should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Buffalo, NY that the city has lost 300,000 residents since 1950. With a population of less than half of its peak, the city has been left with a tremendous oversupply of housing units and, with it, a large-scale vacancy and abandonment problem. From [...]

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Columbus Needs a Streetcar, by Robbie Banks, Columbus, OH

Columbus demands an alternative mass transit system. Downtown parking is an issue. Gas prices are at an all-time high. An environmentally-beneficial streetcar system is exactly what Columbus needs to provide connectivity, spur economic development, encourage a pedestrian-friend downtown and enhance downtown as a sense of place.
The Columbus Streetcar will essentially be a monorail on the [...]

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