By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Hailed as the city's new southern gateway, the crumbling sidewalks, curbs, and potholed pavement of Grand Rapids' Grandville Avenue are no more. An inviting new streetscape is in place.
"We approached the city about seven years ago to give them the heads up that this is something we were interested in, and to see where we were on their list of doing things," says Mary Angelo, Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Association director. "We were nowhere on their radar screen."
But much planning, hard work, and funding from several sources changed all that. Now a new roadway, sidewalks with decorative brick accents, bulb-outs, and freshly planted trees create a new landscape between Clyde Park and Tulip Streets.
A small bus stop plaza features a built-in curved seating area and planters, and colorful mosaic sculptures created by ArtWorks students from the UICA depict the neighborhood's character.
A $25,000 grant from the Grand Rapids Community Foundation (GRCF) paid for a dozen decorative black lampposts, which will be in place along the street later this month.
Angelo says financial support came from a number of sources, including the Dyer-Ives Foundation who funded the streetscape study, an $110,000 CDBG grant from the city, and over $500,000 from MDOT.
"The neighborhood has visibly changed for the better over the past decade," Angelo says. "We felt for many years that we were pushing a very heavy ball when we said the smart money is on the Grandville neighborhood. But now the property values have grown 100 percent."
Source: Mary Angelo, Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Association; Janet Teunis, Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts
Photograph courtesy of Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Association
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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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