The City We Dream

Editor's note: In his 2008 State of the City Address, Mayor George Heartwell said Grand Rapids is emerging as a superior mid-sized city due to the quality of its people, partnerships, investments, and innovation. Below are excerpts of his remarks delivered publicly on January 19, 2008.  

Cities, like people, make first impressions, long-lasting impressions on our visitors and others who are in the process of determining where they will live, establish businesses, and raise their families. That can be a good or a bad thing, but for Grand Rapids it’s very positive.

We’ve been making a great first impression because of our friendly and talented people, our strong values of hope, family and faith, and our commitment to sustainable growth and renewal. We are making national news for our forward-thinking investments and we are seen by others as a model city for our public-private partnerships and our green approach to the future.

On Grand Rapids' strongest asset…

We’ve got the people. And our people are raised on a certain ethic. It goes like this: work hard, treat others fairly, keep your nose clean, and you can succeed. Isn’t that what you believe? Isn’t that how you organize your lives, do your work or run your businesses? Maybe you learned it from your mother or father as a youngster. Maybe you learned it when you got your first job and the boss sat you down and told it like it is. Somewhere along the line anybody who succeeds learns that hard work pays off.

Our true wealth as a region is in our people. Good people. Hard-working people. Honest people who treat others fairly and expect the same in return. They’re people like you; and the people who work with you or for you. We are going to survive Michigan’s economic tsunami because we have the people. That is true wealth.

On the importance of learning and creativity in the Knowledge Age…

We need children who are learners…and we need adults to be continuous learners. The world we have known is changing rapidly and we must better prepare ourselves to live in this evolving world; we must reposition ourselves to take advantage of the changes coming. Yet, one in five adults in Grand Rapids today cannot read. If we are going to raise up a generation of children who are learners it is essential that the adults who are their parents and role models be readers.

We need to produce scientists and engineers, mathematicians and biologists. We also need to produce a new generation of citizens, capable of thinking globally and acting morally; citizens who can conceptualize those processes and products that will leave the earth a better place. And we need poets, theologians, and philosophers who can help us make sense of our place in the universe.

On the advantages of leading energy innovation…

There is no reason that our municipal government should not secure its entire electric energy need from renewable resource power. We have achieved 20 percent from renewables in advance of the deadline we established in my 2005 State of the City Address. That is more than any Michigan city has accomplished to date – and more than most other cities in the Great Lakes watershed.

We must continue to lead by our example. If we set out on a conscientious, aggressive program for achieving 100 percent renewable energy power, we can accomplish that goal by the end of the next decade. Accomplishing this goal is good for the environment, good for the health of our citizens and future generations, and good for the West Michigan economy as we create demand for new and innovative technologies!

On the power of partnership…

Government and private sector developers, builders and business owners, philanthropists and investors have formed a kind of pact in our area that is permitting metropolitan Grand Rapids to grow while the rest of the state flounders.

The positive results are clear: Grand Rapids leads the state in new development and job growth. Michigan Economic Development Corporation Director Jim Epolito recently referred to Grand Rapids as “the economic engine of Michigan.”

On rebuilding the streetcar…

It’s kind of funny, really, to call [the streetcar] an innovation. At one time in our history the city was crisscrossed north to south, east to west with streetcar lines. In our modern era, post World War II, we decided that streetcars were old-fashioned, that every household should have a car – or two – and that mass transit was archaic, unnecessary. We tore up the rails. Bus ridership began a steady decline that didn’t turn around until the mid 1990s.

But look what’s happened to bus ridership since 2000: we have seen over 11 percent average annual growth in ridership. In seven years we have gone from four and one-half million rides to over eight million one hundred thousand rides. With gas prices rising rapidly and staying at high levels, with parking becoming increasingly more expensive, and with traffic congestion reaching intolerable levels by our mid-sized city standards, public transportation is the option many are selecting. Now is the time to take this option to the next level.

Streetcar is one of those investments that will pay us back dividends in economic development, environmental quality and improved social connectivity

In Closing…

The poet Octavio Paz describes the great city as: "the city that dreams us all, that all of us build and unbuild and rebuild as we dream, the city we all dream, that restlessly changes as we dream it."

This is my city, this is our city. A great city made great by the realized dreams of generations who have called this home. It is a fact that no city becomes great without vision. Yet it is equally true that no city becomes great without the hard work required to change that vision into reality. We have an innate ability to dream audaciously, stretch aggressively, work hard, and stick the landing.

Together we have launched our City and our region onto a trajectory of progress. We have created and we are sustaining a balanced triple bottom line momentum in a state otherwise racked by despair. The energy is evident in this room, on our streets, and in our neighborhoods.

Our future lies in generating the energy to continuously accelerate that momentum, to visualize and then achieve great dreams for all of our citizens. We have accomplished much together as a community of partners. Let us go forth as partners committed to lend our shoulders, our helping hands, our talents to “build and unbuild and rebuild as we dream.”