Odyssey travelers used Amtrak to get from Metro Detroit to Kalamazoo. (Photo by Gary Howe)

For Odysseus, the ten-year journey from Ithaca to Troy was tough, but at a certain point in the story, his luck turned around.

As we left Birmingham and headed for the west side of the state aboard Amtrak’s Wolverine 351 at 6:18 AM, we passed though Michigan’s largest city one last time.

The smooth ride from Birmingham back through Detroit left us excited about the possibility of a well-coordinated regional transit system that could soon emerge and make regional travel convenient once again. The system will serve as the backbone of a new economy in metropolitan Detroit, if the state Legislature creates a regional transit agency necessary to make it happen. 

We traveled onward, toward Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids, where transportation challenges surely exist, but there’s good reason to be optimistic. A decade or so ago civic leaders and business groups in both communities recognized and responded to the market trends that told them that strong urban transit is crucial to regional success and business growth.

What we saw in those cities reminded us that Michigan’s transportation system could grow into a good one some day.

Two things caught our attention: Bus and train ridership is rising dramatically even though funding for buses and trains is not; and there’s a strong connection between buses, beer, and this state’s ability to thrive economically.

More Riders Than Ever

310 passengers a day boarded or departed an Amtrak train in Kalamazoo in 2010. (Photo by Gary Howe)

In a recent MLive editorial, Rick Haglund said: “Profound demographic and societal changes are fueling the move to mass transit.”

He’s right: Last year about 775,000 passengers boarded Michigan trains. About 500,000 of those passengers were traveling between Detroit, Kalamazoo, and Chicago. Each year that number increases at about five percent, according to the Michigan Department of Transportation. 

On our train to Kalamazoo we were surrounded by a diverse group: a young professional traveling from Detroit to Ann Arbor, a young couple taking a quick trip to Chicago for an overnight stay, a mom with three young children heading to Battle Creek, and two senior citizens who could have been going anywhere. 

To us the trip was relaxing, enjoyable, and relatively productive. We talked, typed, tweeted, and took photos.

We agreed: The train is the best way to travel.

Despite reports of poor service, no Internet, and warnings that the train would be 45 minutes late that day, the train was almost full.

Improvements are on the horizon, however. Transportation officials report that soon trains will be able to travel at speeds of 110 MPH and be fully equipped with Wi-Fi, making Amtrak the quickest and most productive way for folks to get from Detroit to Kalamazoo and Chicago.

With better service and faster, tech-friendly trains, we predict a remarkable increase in ridership in the years to come. Kalamazoo, where in 2010 about 310 passengers a day got on or off an Amtrak train, will reap the benefits for years to come.

Coming into Kalamazoo

Kalamazoo's Transportation Center links train and bus travelers to downtown Kalamazoo. (Photo by Gary Howe)

We arrived at the Kalamazoo transportation center at 11:12 AM, and it was easy to see that the town is making some smart moves with public transportation.

Kalamazoo’s 140-year-old, renovated transportation center is conveniently located in downtown Kalamazoo and serves as the region’s hub for Greyhound, Indian Trails, and the city’s Metro Transit system. The old building was restored in 2004, thanks toa federal grant from the Bush Administration. 

It’s there where you can jump off a train from Detroit or Chicago and walk, bike, or bus to almost anywhere in the re-energized city. It’s a popular entry point for Kalamazoo’s diverse population of commuters, tourists, residents, and students.

Bill Schomisch, executive director of Metro Transit, greeted us at the station and gave us a tour. Then we rode a bus to the campus of Western Michigan University. The bus was also almost full.

As we rode the bus, Bill told us that, like trains, more people are using buses than ever before. 

“We gave 20% more rides this past February than we did in the same month the previous year,” he explained.

That trend is clearly a national phenomenon. According to the American Public Transportation Association, “Americans took 10.4 billion trips on pubic transportation in 2011, the second highest ridership since 1957.”

Looking Forward

College students in Kalamazoo use buses to get from do downtown to campus. (Photo by Gary Howe)

Later that day we meet with a group of citizens at the headquarters of the Interfaith Strategy for Advocacy and Action in the Community (ISAAC).  There we discussed transportation needs for the Kalamazoo region.

We talked about how, as with trains, ridership on buses is at record levels even though bus agencies, saddled with dwindling state funding, are not able to offer high-quality service, adequate signage, or even shelters.

We also reflected back on the spring of 2011, when Michigan legislators threatened to cut the bus and rail budget by $20 million. Fortunately, after pressure from citizens, advocates, and a pro-transit Republican governor, lawmakers redacted their threat, maintained the funding, and tacitly acknowledge just how popular and important public transit has become throughout the state.

Now, with gas prices soaring, demographics changing, and interest in public transportation plainly soaring, it is even more important to make sure we keep the buses rolling.

Perhaps it’s time to start looking at new ways to fund transportation. Right now, aside from local property taxes, most transit agencies are left with limited options for raising money.

That afternoon, we boarded the regularly scheduled Indian Trails bus to Grand Rapids to have a discussion about transit and economic development — but not before walking from the bus station to Michigan’s most famous microbrewery, Bell’s, for lunch and a beer.

After all, even Odysseus made sure his crew was well nourished.

Check out the photos from Day Two here.

This is part two of a three part series detailing the Michigan Transportation Odyssey, a three-day journey around Michigan using only public transportation. Part III will explore Michigan’s two growing trends: demand for transit and demand for beer.

James Bruckbauer is the Michigan Land Use Institute’s transportation policy specialist. Follow him on Twitter: @jimbruckb. Reach him by email: james@mlui.org

Jim Lively, Program Directer says, “This is a tremendous opportunity for an experienced communications expert to help MLUI maintain our commitment to excellence. We have always been known for our journalism and graphic design, and we are equally committed to being a leader in new web communication tools.”

The full job announcement details requirements for the position. Applications are due by May 24th. 

Shaan Embrey and Sofie Falenius are visiting Northern Michigan from Sweden. During their stay, they are riding public transit and writing a report about what works and what doesn't.

Two different cultures, and two very different experiences when it comes to transportation.

Shaan Embrey and Sofie Falenius are from Norrkoping, Sweden. It is a place where you don’t need a car. Embrey and Falenius walk, ride their bikes, the bus or tram to anywhere they want to go.

The two college students visited northern Michigan recently and are writing a college thesis report about their experiences with transportation here in this region. Public transit in Sweden, they said, is accepted by just about everyone as the easiest way to get around, and the fact that it requires public funding is just not a major issue in Sweden.

“We don’t have the need for a car,” Ms. Embrey said. “When you take public transit, you can read a book, read a newspaper, and not deal with parking.”

Here in northern Michigan, the idea of living without a car can certainly seem a world away. The reality is that most families in northern Michigan need one car because public transit is not available at all times, and when it is available, it’s not as convenient as it could be.

We find ourselves driving to get what we need almost all the time. Families in our region spend on average some $11,000 a year to get around, and many of us have to live in areas that require long commutes to work so we can afford the rent or mortgage. This, in turn, leaves commuters struggling to pay for the transportation just to get to and from work.

Given this, Embry and Falenius decided to use their trip to gather information that might, one day, assist northern Michigan in developing a better transportation system. The pair’s families are friends of longtime Benzie County resident and public transit advocate Ingemar Johansson, so during their weeks-long stay in Benzie County to visit, they rode the bus. They now plan to write a report for a thesis in their college logistics class.

The pair said public transit in a rural area like northern Michigan is very different from their experience in Sweden. At home in Sweden, the bus runs what are known as direct routes. This means the bus shows up at the same place at the same time every day, and it makes the same stops on a direct route to a final destination. This direct route from one destination to another makes the bus very timely and reliable.

Here, the experience riding the bus can be very different. Most of the bus systems run a dial-a-ride route, in which the rider has to call ahead of time to book their seat on the bus. Then, the bus takes people door-to-door, meaning the bus routes can often meanders to riders’ homes on varying routes, making the bus not as timely as it could be.

“I think it takes too long – so much going around,” Falenius said. “I just want to go straight into Traverse City and not do that many stops driving around.”

Bus stops, they said, aren’t always well-marked, and it can be confusing to figure out which bus they are supposed to get on.

“It could definitely be clearer,” Embrey said. “At home, you go online and you can write in your departure and where you want to go and it will tell how long it will take.”

Our transit leaders are already taking important steps to address the direct versus dial-a-ride route issue. We’ve reported on those issues extensively, but there is still much to be done.

Embrey and Falenius remind us that some basic changes to the way bus routes are run here can greatly improve the attractiveness of public transit to commuters and our mobile workforce.

Glenn Puit is a policy specialist at the Michigan Land Use Institute. Reach him at glenn@mlui.org. 

U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow is leading efforts to craft a new farm bill, which could impact the future of local agriculture for years to come.

The old cliché about lawmaking is that it’s like making sausage – best not to watch.

But sausage is a farm product, and the Farm Bill is worth watching if you care about investing in local food and farm jobs, the environment, family-scale agriculture, and healthy, local food for schools, kids, and families.

Today, Thursday, April 26, is the day you can see for yourself all the different interests and politics around the Farm Bill by watching, live on your computer, a much awaited Senate Agriculture Committee meeting. (Check here for the new schedule of this important meeting and to stream it live starting at 10:30 a.m.) What you’ll see: Senators, acting in response to a wide range of constituents and industry groups, putting forth amendments to the 900-page draft bill before it heads to the full Senate for a vote. The draft was released last week.

The Senate version of the Farm Bill is important for those of us who want to build local food economies and get healthy, fresh food to all while doing it. Sustainable agriculture, local food, and food equity organizations often credit Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, for her efforts; and they put little hope for better provisions from the House, which is talking deeper cuts.

Nonetheless, sausage is sausage, even if there are local ingredients mixed in.

Senator Stabenow worked to get a bipartisan bill to the floor, but there’s not nearly enough bipartisan support for local food and small farmers. The minority ranking member of the Ag Committee, Republican Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas, has been a noted critic of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food program, which promotes and groups together resources to build local farm and food economies.

Fully aware of the difficult politics involved, organizations across the country hunkered down over the weekend to review the 900-page draft bill so that they could offer up their own amendments to willing senators on the committee. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, among a number of organizations that supported putting into the bill provisions of the Local Food, Farms, & Jobs Act, provides a breakdown on what it calls “the good,” “the half-baked” and “the ugly” in the bill.

You can sign up for their updates and action alerts about what promises to be a whirlwind process as the House creates its own bill, the two houses of Congress attempt to reconcile them, and a final bill makes its way to the President—perhaps in time to escape being buried in the election season.

Industrial-scale agriculture interests are involved in the process too. Tuesday’s late-night decision to delay Wednesday morning’s planned “mark-up” of the bill was apparently over a divide between large-scale commodity growers in the South versus the Midwest.

And if you need some after-dinner reading, the full 900 pages can be downloaded  here.

Diane Conners is senior policy specialist for the Michigan Land Use Institute and directs MLUI’s Healthy Food for All program. Reach her at diane@mlui.org. Editor’s note: This blog was updated Thursday, April 26 to reflect the new hearing schedule.

These pigs are being raised as livestock by a northern Michigan farmer who is concerned that they are at risk of being shot by DNRE officers based on an interpretation of a new invasive species order.

On April 1, the new DNRE policy turned those farmers into potential felons for raising what the agency says are “invasive species.”

But parts of the farming community, some state legislators, and stakeholders in the local food movement are pushing back.

Last week, Michigan’s Commission on Agriculture and Rural Development voted unanimously to send a request for reconsideration to the DNRE, saying it’s time for the agency to take a step back and look more closely at its new policy that prohibits these pigs in Michigan.

“To me, the issue is feral swine—swine in the wild,” said Don Coe, a member of the commission, which oversees the state agriculture department. “It is not pigs being raised on the farm. If it is under your control, it is domestic.”

State Sen. Darwin Booher, R-Evart, and 15 other state senators and legislators are calling on Gov. Rick Snyder to rescind the order.  As of today they had not yet heard back from him.

And area chefs say it’s time to step forward and support a Missaukee County farmer who is challenging the state in court and at the Capitol. They’re holding a fundraiser for the farmer, Mark Baker of Bakers’ Green Acres, on Monday, April 23.

Domesticated Versus Feral

At issue is a DNRE order that took effect two weeks ago declaring pigs with certain physical characteristics “invasive,” like Asian carp, even though they do not live in the wild. The order prohibits them and made raising them on pasture on a farm a felony.

The DNRE says it is trying to nip a big problem in the bud—the large amount of potential damage that feral pigs can inflict on land and agriculture. The agency includes hybrid Mangalitsa pigs, popular for their flavor among chefs.

The DNRE website has fact sheets and video of damage that feral pigs have wrought in Southern states.  The agency cites commercial hunting ranches as the source of feral pigs in Michigan and says that it recorded 340 sightings of feral pigs in 72 of Michigan’s 83 counties by the end of 2011, as well as 286 reported killed.

The DNRE estimates between 1,000 and 3,000 feral pigs are on the loose in the state. Those numbers are based on breeding patterns and not actual sightings.

After small farmers raised concerns that their property and livelihood were being threatened by the order, the DNRE exempted purebred Mangalitsas.

But that doesn’t help people like Mark Baker, who is breeding hybrids. He breeds Mangalitsas with Russian boars in order to make them winter-hardy in northern Michigan and because the boars are good mothers.

You can see Mr. Baker’s pigs—safely secured behind farm fencing—in video posted at BakersGreenAcres.com. Click on “videos.”

And, while you’re there, you also can watch Mr. Baker testify before the Michigan Senate Agriculture Committee on March 29, painstakingly explaining that farm pigs are not feral—gone wild because they’ve escaped or been abandoned and have no other way to stay alive.

In fact, farm pigs that get outside a fence want back inside it because that’s where the food is, Mr. Baker said.

What’s Going on Here?

The case raises questions about why the state’s natural resources department is exercising authority over agriculture.

It also highlights the lobbying muscle of industrial pork farmers, who raise pigs by the thousands in Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) and support the invasive pig order. They and other industrial-scale agriculture organizations claim the pigs affected by the order threaten their industry because they can spread disease.

After Mr. Baker’s testimony to the Senate Agriculture Committee, Sen. Booher attempted to get the needed support of 20 senators to move a measure in the Senate to delay enforcement for 90 days. But industrial agriculture lobbyists “got all the guns out and killed it by only two votes,” said Mr. Coe, of the state agriculture commission.

Mr. Coe maintains the policy and the pork industry’s position are predictably and needlessly pitting “Big Ag” and “Small Ag” against each other. He supports both sectors, often finding himself defending industrial agriculture from what he sometimes calls “demonization” by those in the local food and environmental movement, yet fully in support of small-scale farmers who often are dismissed as unimportant by industrial agriculture.

Mr. Coe is managing partner of Black Star Farms, in Suttons Bay, an agri-tourism destination where he annually grows a couple Mangalitsa pigs himself. He agrees with Mr. Baker that domesticated pigs don’t try to escape from their food source, and pointed out that industrial pork farmers move 45,000 hogs a week in Michigan and could be the source of some escapees themselves.

The DNRE, he said, sought endorsement of its policy from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development some months ago. But the farm agency refused to support it, and instead endorsed regulations that were being written for game ranches that included strict requirements on fencing, tagging swine for traceability to the ranch, and fines; but that legislation has stalled in the state Legislature.

The issue, meanwhile, is being watched closely around the country. The chairman of the Tennessee House Agriculture Committee, for example, sent a letter in March to the chairman of the Michigan House Agriculture Committee, saying the DNRE policy would set a dangerous precedent for agriculture in other states.

Ways to Get Involved

Opposition to the order continues to spread. State Senator Booher penned an opinion piece in early March.

The Michigan Land Use Institute urged opposition to the pig order in its March 7 Taste the Local Difference e-newsletter, which is sent to its Food & Farm Program supporters.

When the food editor at Grist asked MLUI who to talk to about it, they wrote this article.

Chef Eric Patterson, of the renowned Cook’s House, in Traverse City, weighed in with a blog recently, in which he told how he and 10 other chefs met to discuss what they could do to help Mark Baker and his family.

“We have the proverbial David vs. Goliath, if you will,” he wrote. “Not only are there legal fees but there is the emotional toll that is being taken on him and his family.  The Bakers need to know they are not in this alone.  They need to know there is a community behind them.”

How can you weigh in?

• Contact Gov. Rick Snyder and ask him to rescind the order; and ask him why the DNRE is usurping the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s authority on agricultural policy.
• Urge Rodney Stokes, director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment, to cooperate with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and revisit the kill rule.
• Contact your state senators and representatives.

And that fundraiser for Mark Baker and his legal costs? It’s slated for 7 p.m. Monday, April 23, at The Blue Heron Restaurant in Cadillac. The cost is $75, not including tax and gratuity. Make reservations by calling The Blue Heron at 231-775-5461.

Diane Conners, the senior policy specialist for the Michigan Land Use Institute’s Healthy Food for All program, is a veteran journalist and former farmers market master. Reach her at diane@mlui.org.

Traverse City residents have a chance to shape the growth of their community. (Photo by Gary Howe)

Do you want to young families and entrepreneurs living in town and growing with the city? Do you want to see more asphalt along Eighth Street? Do you want safer crossings at East Front and Barlow?

City officials want your feedback on the future of these five areas: Garfield Street, Eighth Street, Fourteenth Street, East Front, and West Front Streets. These are places where, for decades, cars and asphalt have dominated the scene, but will soon be the settings for Traverse City’s next phase of growth.

It’s part of the city’s “corridor study” and you can participate by filling out this cool photo survey, this interactive neighborhood-mapper, and attending a public workshop in August.

Through the study, city officials hope to increase the “economic vitality, housing choice, and improving the public infrastructure” around certain areas of the city.

Like many cities, Traverse City’s downtown real estate values are on the rise, and that’s a good thing. But too often, this trend pushes young entrepreneurs out to neighborhoods just outside of the downtown where rents are more affordable for them.

The area’s population is also rising: The county saw 34-percent population growth since 1990, and a 1.3-percent increase between 2010 and 2011, the highest rate in the state. The number of 30-34 year olds in the region is expected to grow by 21 percent, and the city proper is finally seeing modest growth, reversing a 50-year trend of decline.

Our choice is this: We can grow outside of Traverse City—destroying farmland and natural resources, building expensive new roads that we don’t want to pay for, and watch traffic congestion around the county—and in town—continue to soar.

Or we can grow the city itself, which has plenty of space left to develop, where sewer and utility lines are already installed, where there’s market demand, and where families want to live.

Please participate. This is another chance to decide how Traverse City should grow. Let’s work together to fill in the blanks of the city’s urban landscape.

Along with cheaper rent for entrepreneurs, these up-and-coming neighborhoods can provide parks, grocery stores, and other shops within walking distance to homes, and therefore, be attractive to young families.

Ways you can get involved:

• Take the survey on the project’s website here.
• Fill out the mapping tool here.
• Attend the next public workshop in August.

Questions? Contact Traverse City’s Planning Director, Russ Soyring, at 231-922-4778 or visit www.traversecitymi.gov.

James Bruckbauer is the Michigan Land Use Institute’s transportation policy specialist. Follow him on Twitter at@jimbruckb. Reach him at james@mlui.org. 

MLUI's James Bruckbauer boards a Detroit Department of Transportation bus as part of his recent Transportation Odyssey. Photo By Bobby Alcott.

But economists know that Michigan’s future, including Traverse City’s, is inextricably connected to the fate of Detroit. And Detroit cannot succeed if Michiganders don’t stop the terrible, twin trends of public disinvestment and population loss from our state’s largest city.

Perhaps the most glaring example of disinvestment is the lack of a regional public transportation system that can move people between city and suburbs. Realtors, developers, and demographers confirm that cities without effective transit systems are not attractive to the young knowledge workers who are driving the new economy.

So it is encouraging to note that right now the Michigan Legislature is considering several bills that would allow southeast Michigan to create a regional transit authority. Without such an authority, which shares funding between suburbs and the city, southeast Michigan will never receive the necessary federal transportation investments to build a world-class public transportation system.

The history of regional transit in Detroit—or the lack of it—began in the 1970s, when Governor Milliken made the first unsuccessful attempt to bridge the divide between Detroit and the surrounding suburbs. There have been nearly two dozen failed attempts since. But we are again seeing leadership from northern Michigan to finally resolve this critical issue. State Senator Tom Casperson from Escanaba introduced the bills to create a regional transit authority and Traverse City state Representative Wayne Schmidt is an outspoken supporter of public transit statewide, including in Detroit.

These leaders know that Michigan can no longer afford to send our college graduates away to cities such as Portland, Seattle, and Chicago, which offer more housing choices, social and recreation opportunities—and public transportation. We need to re-establish Detroit as a world-class city worthy of attracting new economy workers from around the globe. Effective public transportation is a critical element.

Governor Snyder’s administration has proposed a regional system of rapid buses that function similar to light-rail—with dedicated lanes, stations and platforms, and the ability to quickly and relatively inexpensively initiate a world-class transit system. But the Legislature first must create this new authority.

The legislation would allow the southeast Michigan region to fund and administer a regional transit system that would coordinate three systems now managed by three independent services: DDOT (Detroit’s transit agency), SMART (a three-county suburban transit agency), and the independent People Mover authority.

If this regional authority succeeds in southeast Michigan, it would make it more likely that similar agencies could be created for other regions of the state, including ours. And that will make Michigan even more attractive to entrepreneurial knowledge workers.

Please tell your Senator to support the three Regional Transit Authority bills for southeast Michigan – because they will benefit all of Michigan.

===================================

Jim Lively is Program Director at the Michigan Land Use Institute. You can contact him at jim@mlui.org.

A version of this post also appeared the Traverse City Record-Eagle on April 6, 2012.

Travelers Allie Muchmore, Tim Fischer, Hayley Roberts, and James Bruckbauer spent three days on Michigan's transit systems. Photo by Gary Howe (www.glhowe.com)

After the Greeks won the Trojan War, it took Odysseus about 10 years to get from Troy to Ithaca. He endured violent storms, hardships, deception, and at many points along the way, deep confusion borne of serious information gaps.

Unless you’re in a car or an airplane, getting around Michigan can often seem as difficult.

How do I know? Well, on March 20, a group of us embarked on an Odyssey of our own. We spent three days using only buses and trains to travel to and around our state’s largest metropolitan regions. We ended our voyage at a major tourist destination—Traverse City.

If that sounds like a strange thing to do, you are right.

After all, it is strange that in 2012 it takes more than two hours to get from Detroit Metro Airport to downtown without a car. It’s strange that in order to take a train from Detroit to Grand Rapids, you have to go to Chicago first. It’s strange that motor coach service provider Indian Trails offers free Wi-Fi on its Kalamazoo-to-Traverse City route, while Amtrak does not offer it anywhere in Michigan.

These strange occurrences, and many others, led us to three basic observations about public transit in Michigan:

First, it’s mind-boggling to us that, as I type this, another minute will pass without a well-coordinated regional transit system in southeast Michigan.

Secondly, with bus and train ridership levels increasing rapidly, decision-makers must ensure that we continue to invest in our transit systems.

Thirdly, and most surprisingly, there’s a strong connection between Michigan’s economic competitiveness, transit stations, and beer.

Airports, Transit, and Prosperity
We began our Odyssey in southeast Michigan, where, I was told, a lack of transit coordination was crippling Michigan’s basic attractiveness.

That was obvious to me as I arrived at Detroit Metro from hometown Traverse City.

About 89,000 travelers a day enter or leave the state through Detroit Metro. It’s the world’s 24th-busiest airport, serves as headquarters for Delta Air Lines and Air France, and is the second-largest hub for Spirit Airlines. It is one of North America’s ten busiest airfields, serving over 160 destinations. It’s also Delta’s primary gateway to Asia and third-busiest gateway to Europe.

Detroit Metro is also the entry point for many of the 15.9 million people who visit Detroit annually. Many of them travel from all over the word and, most likely, they come from places where robust rail and bus networks get them around efficiently and conveniently.

“If there was one destination that should have ample demand for transportation options, it’s Detroit’s airport,” says MLive columnist Jeff Wattrick.

In other words, Detroit’s airport is a world-class operation.

But its ground transportation services simply don’t operate at that level.

Instead, the lack of public transit there turns off many visitors, especially business people. It’s a huge competitive disadvantage for Detroit when the only reliable way to get to downtown from its airport is by car.

It’s no coincidence that cities like Toronto, Mexico City, St. Louis, and even nearby Cleveland rank high in economic recovery, global competitiveness, and overall quality of life: Without exception, these and other robust metro regions have strong transit connections to their airports. You can jump off a plane and, using clearly marked signs, find out where to jump on the next light-rail line to the urban core.

These cities long ago realized that strong public transit connections between airports and other outlying areas and downtowns fuel a powerful economic engine.

No Choice in Detroit
Yet when people visit Michigan’s largest region, which almost single-handedly modernized American transportation in the 20th century, they are left with anything but a choice when it comes to personal mobility.

The bus shelter at Michigan's busiest airport provides no information. Photo by Bobby Alcott (bobbyalcott.com)

In our pre-trip research, we found what we thought was one bus line that connects the airport with downtown Detroit: the suburban SMART bus. But finding information about that line was difficult. We succeeded thanks only to some very small print on the airport’s Web site.

Once we arrived at the airport, we had to find the actual bus stop for that line. That meant asking a number of airport staff for information; most of them did not know a thing about it.

So we were on our own figuring out where the bus picks you up, what time it arrives, and even where it would take us.

It turned out that, although downtown Detroit is 20 minutes away by car, it’s about two hours and fifteen minutes away by bus. And it usually requires travelers—and their luggage—to transfer to another bus at Detroit’s border.

That’s right: As we approached the city limit, our suburban bus dropped us off at a very busy intersection. We had to walk across a bustling street onto city property, wait about 10 minutes, and then board a Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) bus.

Detroit's suburban buses drop riders off at the city boarder. Photo by Bobby Alcott (bobbyalcott.com)

It was stressful for someone who’s new to the region; it can also be unreliable—a real problem when you’re traveling with bags in hand.

When we finally arrived at Rosa Parks Transit Center, a beautifully constructed downtown Detroit transportation hub, we asked about purchasing a pass to get to our next destination, Birmingham.

But we were told that we either had to purchase a monthly pass, allowing us to use both the suburban and city systems, or go to a different building to buy a daily pass. More luggage dragging ensued.

To sum up: The region’s central transit hub offers little to no information about connecting by bus to the region. Once again, we were trapped in an information gap—one reflecting southeast Michigan’s huge need for regional transit coordination.

Tying It All Together
Such challenges, and along with the crucial importance of having quality transportation in the state’s major city, means that establishing a regional transit authority in southeast Michigan is the logical next step in our state’s game of transportation catch-up.

If lawmakers and public officials fail to act, the state will continue to lose its attractiveness for potential employers, employees, and visitors.

A regional transit authority would plan, coordinate, and administer transit service for southeast Michigan. It would also bring badly needed oversight to the area’s three chronically uncoordinated systems – SMART, DDOT, and the People Mover—and place the region in a better position to attract federal dollars.

There is some reason for hope: Discussions about a Detroit-area transit authority are underway in Lansing, and lawmakers are pushing full-steam ahead to work out details of this critical legislation.

Check out Transportation Riders United’s website for more details about the Regional Transit Authority legislation.

By the way, we did find our bus to Birmingham: SMART bus number 475. The regularly scheduled bus swiftly takes commuters from downtown to Ferndale, Royal Oak, and Birmingham. People on board told us the line is usually on time, reliable, and convenient. It definitely was that way for us.

But, while we headed toward Birmingham, we couldn’t help but wonder why it’s so much easier to leave Detroit than to enter it.

Odysseus was forced to flee most of the places he visited.

In Detroit, that part is easy.

Building a regional transit authority? That part has proved difficult for decades. But getting it done right now is terribly important: It would begin to unify southeast Michigan, make the region far more welcoming to visitors of all sorts, and help rebuild Detroit’s once-booming economy.

To see more photos of the journey, check out the Odyssey Facebook Page.

James Bruckbauer is a transportation policy specialist for the Michigan Land Use Institute and a member of Transportation for Michigan (Trans4M), a coalition working for better transportation policy in the state. Reach him at james@mlui.org. Follow him on Twitter: @jimbruckb 

The new board members are Paul Danielson, co-owner of Traverse City’s Trattoria Stella restaurant; Maureen Smyth, recently retired from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation; and Mary Van Valin, a longtime Institute supporter.

“It is quite a commitment, and we are appreciative of the fine community members who are willing to take time out of their busy lives and volunteer with us,” said MLUI Executive Director Hans Voss. “Clearly, they are passionate about the Institute’s work.”

Paul Danielson

Mr. Danielson built his nationally renowned restaurant in Traverse City’s Grand Traverse Commons. Trattoria Stella is steadfastly committed to serving the finest quality, locally grown products and building durable relationships with local growers. Paul advocates enthusiastically for northwest Michigan and lives with his wife—and Stella co-owner—Amanda Danielson and their two daughters in a historic Traverse City neighborhood.

Paul says MLUI’s Taste the Local Difference program is a vital resource that he uses regularly to connect with farmers who provide fresh local food to the restaurant. He believes MLUI is a crucial leader in protecting the region’s way of life.

“I want to have this place for my kids and grand kids,” Mr. Danielson said. “MLUI is doing a really good job on its local food work. Their work on energy and transportation policy is so tremendously important, too. MLUI is working on solutions as opposed to reacting.”

Maureen Smyth

Ms. Smyth comes to MLUI after a successful career at the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Another longtime MLUI member, she has a natural interest and background in the Institute’s issues. She began her Mott career in 1983 in the communications department, and developed the foundation’s Great Lakes Land and Water Resources program and a variety of other international and domestic efforts, eventually becoming Senior Vice President for both Programs and Communications.

She and her husband now live in Traverse City’s Midtown neighborhood. She is eager to bring her passion for Michigan, its people, environment, and economy to her work on the Institute board.

Ms. Van Valin has long studied resilience and sustainability issues, particularly those concerning food, community design, and energy. She is well informed about the many “localization” strategies and initiatives underway across the country, and is active regionally on the issue.

Mary Van Valin

Mary played a central role in creating a new public park and trail system on the Old Mission Peninsula, the Pelizzari Natural Area. As an early member of NMEAC, she helped raise funds for the bike path along West Bay. She is currently involved with Bay Bucks, a local currency initiative; Transition Towns; and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Grand Traverse.

The 15-member board meets throughout the year at the nonprofit’s office in downtown Traverse City and advises staff on policy, strategy, and administrative issues.

For more information, contact Hans Voss at 231-941-6584, ext. 14 or at hans@mlui.org.

Jemario Raglin is a student at Benzie Central schools. He participates in SEEDS' after-school programs and then relies on the Benzie Bus to get home.

Jemario Raglin needs help with his geometry studies, and the Thompsonville teen is getting it thanks to the non-profit group SEEDS—and Benzie County’s public bus system.

Raglin, a 16-year-old high school sophomore, lives in rural northern Michigan, where big stretches of farmland and deep forests separate most communities and make it much more difficult for families and kids to use the services they need—including tutoring and other after-school activities.

Raglin said he was struggling with geometry, so he sought help from a tutor offered via SEEDS at Benzie County Central High School. To help make that program work, SEEDS relies on the county’s public transit system to take students like Raglin home at 6 p.m., long after the school bus has departed.

It’s made a big difference for the teenager.

“Geometry is hard,” said Raglin. “I started getting help, and now I’m getting good grades (in geometry.)”

Having public transit for kids in rural areas who want or need to stay late at school is critical to keeping them active and healthy, said SEEDS Site Coordinator Joshua Stoltz. It allows the environmental non-profit to make a difference in young people’s lives.

“It’s especially important here in rural Benzie County because it’s quite a drive just to get to one of the nearby villages,” Mr. Stoltz said. “Between the middle and high school, we’ve had days where we have 30 kids ride the (public transit) bus.”

“Without transportation, a lot of kids get stuck at home,” he added.

The ability of public transit to help struggling families get to services they need was highlighted in the Michigan Land Use Institute’s 2011 report, Families on the Edge. The report identified transportation costs as a large financial obstacle to many rural families as they try to better their prospects by getting to jobs, schools, and other places crucial to their future. Those prospects, the report said, are considerably dimmer without quick, dependable, affordable transportation.

Families in northern Michigan’s rural counties, where unemployment and poverty rates are particularly high, spend on average $11,540 a year to operate their cars—despite the fact that the median income in those counties is $36,000 or less. Those working on poverty’s front lines in the region say the inability of low-income families to afford cars means missed chances for teens and children, who get left behind when they cannot get to the help, employment, or education they need.

Video interviews with several Benzie County teens reveal how their difficulty finding adequate transportation holds them back.

And, the growing recognition that inadequate public transportation can hold back rural families’ prospects is fueling the push to improve it.

For example, the Grand Vision Transportation Network is working to improve public bus systems in Benzie, Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Wexford, and Kalkaska Counties. A key approach involves networking and partnerships like the one between SEEDS and Benzie Bus.

Chad Hollenbeck, operations manager for the Benzie Bus, said his organization is very pleased with the way the SEEDS partnership is working out.

“We often have three to four buses at one time at the school to take students to their destination,” he said. “We participate because students are no different than any other passenger. They need transportation, too, and if they couldn’t get a ride on the Benzie Bus, they might not be able to participate in this after school program.”

And, for students like Raglin and Cailin Ashbaugh, 17, of Interlochen, the ability to participate in the SEEDS after school program, and then take Benzie Bus home, makes them much more likely to use public transit in the future.

“It’s so much better than staying home and watching TV,” Ms. Ashbaugh said. “I don’t have to pay for gas…and I don’t have to go through my dad or through friends or anyone else for a ride to get home. I like riding the bus. It’s convenient.”

Glenn Puit is a policy specialist at the Michigan Land Use Institute. Reach him at glenn@mlui.org. 

MDOT Director, Kirk Steudle, and Grand Vision Transportation Network Chair, Jim Moore, chat with local leaders.

When Kirk Steudle visits northern Michigan, it’s for one of two reasons: he’s either on vacation or he’s talkin’ transportation.

This time, the visit from the state’s transportation chief was focused on stuff that matters to folks up here: streets, sidewalks, trails, buses, and trains.

Mr. Steudle also had high praise for the Grand Vision and the regional collaboration the Vision brings when it comes to helping address Northern Michigan’s most pressing transportation challenges.

“It was the kickoff of the GV where I recognized that this is something unique,” Mr. Steudle said his visit to Traverse City. “The only place it could happen is here, with the atmosphere of collaboration and working together.

“The Grand Vision is really one of the key future pieces of transportation planning,” he continued. “The connection between land use and transportation is huge, and we have to understand that…(and the Grand Vision provides) a culture of lets figure out how to work together.”

The Director, during his visit to Traverse City earlier this month, spoke to about 50 officials in a small classroom in the Great Lakes Maritime Academy. It was just one part of a day-long visit from Steudle, which earlier in the day included the Northwest Michigan Regional Economic Summit with Governor Rick Snyder.

Director Steudle, a champion of the Grand Vision since it inception, has a great interest in tracking the progress toward the citizen’s vision. After all, his work help launch the initiative four years ago. So he sat down with the Grand Vision Network following the Summit.

His message to the local leaders: Keep it up. If you keep telling us what you want, we’ll try to help you get there.

Mr. Steudle outline the greatest challenges his department faces: a grim funding situation and the constant uncertainty from Washington.

He ended on a lighter note, by talking about the high-tech methods for maintaining our bridges, then showed a video that was sure to please – a train going 110 through Kalamazoo.

Overall, he made it clear that despite the enormous funding challenges, his department prefers to invest where there’s clear agreement on priorities, rather than disagreement. Moreover, he sees the Grand Vision as a statewide model for how to develop those regional priorities.

Several projects were discussed, including:

• Buckley’s new sidewalks, streetlamps, bike lanes, and transit transfer center that connect bus riders from Wexford County to Traverse City;
• The new Silver Drive entrance to the Grand Traverse Commons in Traverse City;
• new signs on the Beitner/Keystone/Hammond area that shows travelers how to get to destinations around the region;
• A new Access Management project launched by Traverse Area Land Use Study (TC-TALUS) that may reduce conflicts on the area’s busiest roads;
• A federal Sustainable Communities Grant that was awarded to the Northwest Michigan Council of Governments, which will result in a Regional Transportation and Sustainability Plan;
• A study in Traverse City that will attempt to improve the area around streets that have seen disinvestment over the past few years;
• A street design process in Suttons Bay that could make it more attractive and pedestrian friendly;
• And, new regional bus connections planned for both Acme and Interlochen that would create connections between BATA and Benzie Bus, Kalkaska Public Transit Authority and Antrim County Transit.

Later that day, Mr. Steudle met with Traverse City staff and citizens to have a very productive discussion about the ever-decisive issue of Division Street. (We’ll be writing more about that later.)

Mr. Steudle’s visit to Northern Michigan made it clear the region is high on the radar of the state’s top transportation official.

He was here to listen, and to help this region realize its Vision.

Odyssey travelers will use only bus and train to get from Detroit to Traverse City.

When Andy Crosby travels around Michigan, he rarely drives a car. Instead, the graduate student, a longtime resident of Grand Rapids, uses trains or buses when he visits his friends or works on academic projects around Michigan.

It’s not that Crosby dislikes cars. He just prefers to spend his time doing things that graduate students do: studying, reading, and resting—things that he couldn’t do behind the wheel.

“When I ride the train, I can get a lot of work done,” he says. “It just makes sense.” But Crosby admits that getting around the state using bus and rail can be quite a challenge.

“You would think that the train would be more reliable than the bus, but it’s not. Amtrak is unpredictable. To get between cities, I usually use Indian Trails or Greyhound.”

He also says that once he gets to a city, getting around can be a challenge. “I’ve taken Amtrak to Detroit. The hardest part about doing that is getting around the city once you’re there.”

Recently, when Crosby had to choose between attending one of two Michigan universities and the University of Illinois at Chicago, he chose the out-of-state campus that gave him access to a better transit system.

“At Wayne State University in Detroit it would have been tough to get around without a car,” he said. “I would have had to take a SMART bus out to a suburb if I wanted to buy groceries. I estimated that it would take about an hour get to a grocery store using the bus.”

He also opted out of Western Michigan University because Kalamazoo doesn’t offer Sunday bus service.

“I’m simply not going to live in a city where I can’t get around one day a week,” he says.

The University of Illinois at Chicago, on the other hand, is close to a train station and, for $88 per semester, provides students with unlimited rides using CTA, Chicago’s robust transit system.

Crosby is a great example of a growing trend: Young, talented people are choosing to live in places that offer more transportation choices.

The Michigan Suburbs Alliance, a non-profit dedicated to revitalizing the inner-ring Suburbs of Detroit, surveyed six hundred 18-35 year-olds last year. Their findings: More young people cite poor transit systems as a barrier to staying in southeast Michigan than cite the poor job market.

Business leaders are also beginning to notice the large share of talent that leaves the state for cities with strong urban cores, quality of life, and convenient transportation choices.

“If Michigan is serious about keeping and attracting young people as a way to stay competitive, it needs to invest in all forms of transportation infrastructure, including train, transit, and non-motorized bike and trail networks,” says Rick Chapla, vice president of business development at the Right Place Inc., a West Michigan economic development agency.

The Suburbs Alliance, along with the MLUI, is part of a coalition of organizations from around the state, Transportation for Michigan (Trans4M), that is working to improve Michigan’s transportation future. The coalition, which also includes the Michigan Municipal League, the Michigan Environmental Council, and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, believe that Michigan’s bright new future can be built on transportation innovation around rail and bus transit.

Our first order of businesses is building support for a Regional Transit Authority in southeast Michigan. Once in place, transit service in the Detroit region will hopefully become better coordinated and more efficient. Trans4M is also pursuing solutions such as bus rapid transit (BRT) systems, which use buses, often on dedicated lanes, to quickly transport passengers to their destinations. The systems are easily customized to the needs of particular communities, and they incorporate state-of-the-art, low-cost technologies that reduce congestion.

Next week, the Trans4M coalition will travel around the state on what’s been dubbed the “Michigan Transportation Odyssey.” Their three-day journey, which begins March 21, will document the challenges and unique opportunities that exist with the state’s current transportation system. They hope to bring these challenges and opportunities to the attention of state lawmakers.

The group will travel from Detroit Metro Airport to Traverse City using only Michigan’s transit systems and statewide passenger train service. In addition to transit tours of Michigan cities, the Odyssey will include events in Birmingham, Grand Rapids, and Traverse City.

On March 21, a popular e-magazine called Metromode will hold a speaker series event at The Reserve in Birmingham (6:30 p.m.). The event will feature Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff, who will discuss the importance of a coordinated regional transit system to southeast Michigan.

The next day, the group will take an Amtrak train to Kalamazoo, then head north to Grand Rapids. Our partners at the Michigan Environmental Council and Rapid Growth Media will host a speaker series event at The Rapid’s Central Station Conference Center (5:30 p.m. March 22). The subject of the event is the importance of a good transit and passenger rail service to economic development and thriving cities. Keynote speaker Amtrak Board Chair Tom Carper will discuss recent passenger rail investments in Michigan and how the state is a leader in the future of passenger rail development.

The next day (March 23), Odyssey travelers will attend a legislative luncheon sponsored by Disability Advocates of Kent County before boarding an Indian Trails motor coach for Traverse City. The Odyssey will wrap up with a closing reception at North Peak Brewing Company in Traverse City (8:30 p.m. March 23).

We hope that someday Michigan will have a robust transportation network that allows Crosby and everyone else to get around the state conveniently. And Crosby hopes that when he finishes his PhD in Chicago, he can move back to Michigan.

“If I move back to Michigan, I’ll likely live in Grand Rapids or Lansing,” he noted, “It has to be a place where I can get around without a car.”

For more information, or to ride along with the Michigan Transportation Odyssey, visit the Trans4M website at trans4m.org/miodyssey

A version of this article appeared in the Rapid Growth GR on March 15, 2012. You can find it here.

James Bruckbauer is the Michigan Land Use Institute’s transportation policy specialist. Follow him on Twitter at @jimbruckb. Reach him at james@mlui.org.

Chloe Granahan endures long commutes to attend classes at Northwestern Michigan College. Local leaders are now looking to public transit to help alleviate some of these commuting burdens for students.

Chloe Granahan lives in Crawford County and is a student at Northwestern Michigan College.

To get to her classes she has to drive an hour each way, five days a week, enduring long commutes and a loss of time and money.

“It’s a lot of gas money,” she said recently as she walked the NMC campus.

Matt Weaver drives in from Benzie County for his classes at NMC three days a week. He spends roughly $160 a month on gas.

These students are hardly unusual. In fact, the latest statistics show families in Northern Michigan, on average, are spending as much as $11,540 a year to operate their cars, yet the median income for families in rural counties is $36,000 or less.

And the commuting burns more than gasoline; it also burns up time. Blaine Simcox drives 30 minutes each way to get to his classes, while Madeline Sicinski drives in from Elk Rapids four days a week.

With approximately 5,200 students enrolled in the college, and with many commuting by car, some are exploring better ways to help alleviate the transportation burdens the spread-out region’s young people bear. The BATA bus system, or Bay Area Transportation Authority, does service the NMC campus, but its crowded parking lots and sparsely populated bus stops clearly indicate most students at NMC use cars.

Several students interviewed for this story said they don’t view the bus system as time-friendly when compared to their cars.

“It’s not really convenient—the scheduling of the bus times don’t fit my time of day,” said Mr. Simcox.

But BATA officials hope to change that by broadly reshaping the way the bus agency runs its routes; they say that, in the long run, they are optimistic about getting more students to ride the bus. The Authority recently conducted a groundbreaking study of how best to improve the bus system, the region’s largest; part of the projected makeover includes backing away from its traditional, often slow, door-to-door dial-a-ride service in favor of many more direct, “fixed” routes operating on tightly defined schedules.

BATA officials say the changes will make bus riding much more attractive, particularly to regular commuters.

That includes NMC students and employees: BATA believes it can help students with long commutes by beefing up its village connector routes, which provide direct rides from outlying areas into town. By September, BATA expects to have direct routes running into Traverse City from Interlochen, Acme, Kingsley, Empire and Northport.

Students near these direct routes will be able to park their car, hop on the bus, and then ride a shuttle from downtown Traverse City to campus. BATA leaders expect the proposal to be convenient and cost effective for students.

“We want to show (students) the cost savings by riding the bus rather than driving, and what we are trying to do is build a fan base at NMC,” said Carrie Thompson, business development director at BATA.

A parking lot at Northwestern Michigan College, where many students depend on cars to get to and from class.

Another long-term proposal BATA is floating is a campus connector route that makes multiple stops on a direct route through Traverse City, replacing BATA’s current express route and connecting NMC’s main campus to the University Center and Munson Hospital.

BATA Director Tom Menzel said this would be a 15-hour-per-day service, increasing overall campus service to 90 hours a week. The route would offer a bus that stops at the campus every 20 minutes on a route that connects multiple campus outlets with two park-and-ride locations so students could just park their car and hop on the bus to get to campus and back.

“We are looking at how do we change the existing business model to be able to add value to new demographics, including visitors coming into town, (and students) taking the bus,” Mr. Menzel said.

Tim Nelson, president of Northwestern Michigan College, is a supporter of the Grand Vision, and, with that in mind, he believes a coordinated, thoughtful approach to difficult issues like transportation is the way to go. He also believes public transit can be a benefit to students.

“Our belief is organizations no longer have the assets available to own everything themselves,” Mr. Nelson said recently in an interview.

“Any time we are looking at (finding) a solution (to a problem,) we are trying to look at what the impact within the region is, and are there regional partners that should be engaged,” said Mr. Nelson.

Tim Nelson, president of Northwestern Michigan College, is looking for help from transit experts and advocates to gain data that could, in the long run, help get more students on the bus.

With this in mind, Mr. Nelson said NMC is committed to working with BATA to help students and NMC staffers access a more convenient bus system.

The high costs of simply getting around to classes and work is one college students at NMC know well, and Mr. Nelson, as president of the college, believes there are ways public transit can help get students to and from class.

“We are focusing our conversations right now on how to build a longer-term plan to help our students and our clients use public transit,” Mr. Nelson said.

“Long term we have to do something in this region to help facilitate moving people around other than just automobiles,” Mr. Nelson said. “You can’t just keep building roads and you can’t just keep building parking lots.”

The critical component, Mr. Nelson said, in getting students and others to ride the bus at the college is that they have to find the public transit system to be more valuable to them than riding in their car.

“We’ve had some successes with public transportation,” Mr. Nelson said. “We have a number of BATA stops so some of our students use them. But I think a challenge for a rural area is can you get to a critical mass that you can meet the value proposition requirements of an individual to say its better for me to get on a bus than it is to get in my car. If it is going to take you two times as long or three times as long to be on a bus, most people in our society are going to say that’s not worth it to me.”

He’s not interested in paving college-owned land for more parking lots and he does not like the idea of a parking garage.

“I hate the concept of paving over more property,” Mr. Nelson said. “The college has more property. We have 54 acres behind Eastern Avenue but I don’t want to put a bunch of parking in there. I don’t want to spend lots of money on parking.”

The Grand Vision process came up with a 50-year growth plan for the region, and a survey of citizens revealed that a remarkable 80 percent of area residents favor public transit investment. Mr. Nelson said he would like to see specific data gathered about transportation patterns that impact the college, and he wants that data to drive decisions about public transit.

“I am looking for people who are experts in transportation to do the work to come up with suggested solutions that meet the value proposition test for the college and for the people we are serving and move us forward,” Mr. Nelson said. “The college is very open to pursuing this but we are data informed to the point of describing the value…which is an acceptable solution for which groups of people.”

Many students interviewed for this story found the idea of parking their car in an outlying area and hopping on the bus for a reasonably priced fair very appealing.

“Most definitely I’d consider it,” Ms. Granahan said.

***Glenn Puit is a policy specialist and journalist at The Michigan Land Use Institute. Contact him at glenn@mlui.org.***

That’s why I was impressed and delighted to hear that Traverse City Light and Power, TC’s municipal utility, is doing just that with its new Power of Art Contest.

TCL&P is looking for short videos (under five minutes) that demonstrate the importance of energy efficiency. Two winners—one student and one community member—will each pick up a $500 prize.

What makes this contest so meaningful is that TCL&P has already committed to energy efficiency beyond what the state requires.

In fact, the TCL&P board of directors recently directed its staff to exceed the state utility efficiency mandate by setting a goal of cutting energy use by 1.75 percent per year.

That may not sound like much, but keep in mind that the state’s standard is 1% percent per year and that 2 percent per year is considered the gold standard in the energy industry.

The beauty of efficiency is that all of those saved “energy dollars” go right back into the local economy—maybe even back into the local food economy, which has even further economic benefit.

Talk about putting your money where your mouth is!

It turns out that saving energy is the best way to save money, create jobs, and supports the local economy.  A report released by the Michigan Public Service Commission last December shows that every dollar invested in saving energy yields more than four dollars in savings to ratepayers.

That’s quite a return on investment, so those of us lucky enough to be TCL&P ratepayers should be celebrating our muni’s higher efficiency goal.

And, if you’ve got the skills, I’d say—get your camcorder, video cam, smart phone, or Flip cam out and demonstrate the Power of Art. Help spread the message about the value in saving energy, saving money, and supporting the local economy in northwest Michigan.

The rules and complete details can be found on TCLP’s website. Entries must be submitted by March 23, so if you are thinking about participating, it’s time to get filming!

A very special thank you to Crystal Mountain Resort and Spa, our Taste the Local Difference presenting sponsor for hosting this very special event. And what a treat it was to come home with ideas and recipes for eating locally-grown foods even in the middle of winter. Click here to check out the recipes from this spectacular night.

We also have a photo slideshow for you to enjoy: