By Mayor Pauline Repp & President Dr. Kevin A. Pollock

Dr. Pollock

Mayor Repp

As our community takes steps to prosper in the 21st century, the city of Port Huron, St. Clair County Community College and other partners are working to provide the best opportunities.

Education is essential to revitalizing the Port Huron area. The city and college are involved in initiatives to emphasize the value of higher education. Among them is Blue Meets Green, an effort to increase the percentage of adults with an associate degree or higher; attract jobs that keep educated young people in the community; and become a leader in innovation and entrepreneurship.

SC4’s STEM Institute is preparing students for careers in science, technology, engineering and math. Many local firefighters, nurses, police officers and teachers trained at SC4. The college also works with local hospitals, governments and factories to train employees. The Economic Development Alliance of St. Clair County is housed on campus, providing a natural link between training and jobs.

The St. Clair County Community College Campus on the Black River is an extension of downtown Port Huron, benefiting students and the community. A planned River Walk will further integrate the college and downtown.

Numerous St. Clair County partners, including SC4, have formed a KnowHow2GO initiative to help students and parents prepare for college. Thanks to another initiative, the Blue Water Middle College partnership among St. Clair County Regional Educational Service Agency, SC4 and five local high schools, some K-12 students can graduate after five years with a high school diploma and an associate degree, free of charge.

SC4’s downtown location benefits students and the community. With more than 4,600 students on campus, the college boosts traffic to downtown businesses and restaurants and brings tenants to downtown rental units. The college also serves as the cultural center for the area.

Creating SC4’s downtown campus represents the city and college’s biggest joint project to date. In 1966, the city received a $2 million federal grant and contributed $800,000 of local funds to buy the land that would become SC4.

St. Clair County Community College's Greenway opened in the fall of 2012. A collaboration between the city of Port Huron and SC4, the project closed portions of two streets and created a pedestrian walkway.

The two entities have continued to work together. In 2012, parts of two city streets through campus were closed and turned into a pedestrian Greenway. The project has helped connect campus to the downtown area.

The Greenway will connect to a River Walk being developed along the Black River in collaboration with community partners, the city and SC4. The River Walk will further integrate the college and downtown.

In 2012, when launching a new student I.D. card program, the college worked with local businesses to provide discounts to students. SC4 also partners with local organizations, including local arts incubator Studio 1219, which features an SC4 artist each month and hosts its Hands On Art event on campus.

Recently, while organizing the community’s first New Year’s Eve countdown, the city’s civic center, McMorran Place, reached out to SC4 for help. Four welding students volunteered to build an anchor to be dropped from McMorran’s Tower each year.

As the economy evolves, a strong relationship between St. Clair County Community College and the city of Port Huron will continue to benefit community residents.

Pauline Repp is mayor of Port Huron and Dr. Kevin A. Pollock is president of St. Clair County Community College.

Over the course of one week I had the opportunity to visit two of Michigan’s urban centers, Battle Creek and Pontiac. Once again, I found in both communities passionate people working to use their assets and create prosperity anew in their downtowns and neighborhoods.

Both downtowns have great bones for future development. In Battle Creek I visited with the mayor and economic development officials and was also able to sit in on the first meeting of a new community engagement project being funded by Kellogg Foundation and led by the local United Way. City and community leaders are ready to continue the work that has been started, including an $85 million project to revitalize downtown, a new math and science center that will draw youth, affirming that BC will be the center for Kellogg Company global research operations and development of a national center for food protection. An intense effort is underway to attract residential development to the downtown and there is more than one property waiting.

Pontiac was no less enthusiastic about their future.  New loft developments in the downtown are ready and the private and public sector are working together to make the city the vibrant urban core of Oakland County.  The regional chamber of commerce is providing the catalyzing platform for bringing folks together.  And with a large hospital as an anchor in the downtown the eds and meds strategy is one that might just serve Pontiac well moving into the future.

My visits to these two cities again affirmed for me that there are good things going on in communities across our state. And it really doesn’t make a difference where I go, the key to bringing new dreams to fruition lies in the ability of both public, private and non-profit entities to work together and engage the greater community in their efforts.

An aerial view of Sault Ste. Marie and Lake Superior State University.

By Mayor Anthony Bosbous and President Tony McLain

The eastern Upper Peninsula is home to the Michigan’s oldest European settlement, Sault Ste. Marie.  Founded in 1668, Sault Ste. Marie has a population of nearly 15,000 people.  Sault Ste. Marie is also home to Lake Superior State University, founded in 1946.  The University is known for its academic programs in such fields as fisheries and wildlife science, fire science, engineering, chemistry, and environmental science.

Mayor Bosbous

Dr. McLain

Sault Ste. Marie was recently selected by the Michigan Municipal League as one of five pilot communities in the State to demonstrate what local actions can be taken to enhance the community’s attraction in the eyes of today’s workforce.  The Michigan Municipal League, through its Center for Twenty First Century Communities, has identified eight assets that can create a vibrant city.  These assets include one, physical design and walkability; two, green initiatives;  three, cultural economic development; four, entrepreneurship; five, multiculturalism; six, technology; seven, transit; and eight, education.  As a result of the pilot project, and by focusing on the list of assets above, Sault Ste. Marie identified a primary goal of evolving from simply a town with a university into a true university town.

Since the project began over a year ago, a steering committee was established and named “Sault United.”  Sault United is composed of community leaders representing the City, the University, War Memorial Hospital, the area and intermediate school districts, the economic development corporation, and the downtown development authority.

Lake Superior State University campus

Sault United has already taken great strides strengthening the town-and-gown relationship.  Four sub-committees have been formed to put ideas into action; a student/parent welcome committee, a sporting event coordination committee, a transportation committee, and a community arts promotion committee.

The student/parent welcome committee assisted this year in engaging new and returning students with the City in a number of ways.  First, over 300 local businesses and organizations participated in “Lakerpalooza,” a vendor event hosted by the University.  Second, the University offered free shuttle rides during “Laker Week” (orientation week) to allow students to “Sample the Sault.”  Downtown Sault Ste. Marie collaborated with the University to host the first ever photography scavenger hunt in which students had to complete objectives like getting their picture taken with a local business owner, for example.  Over 50 students rode the shuttle into downtown to participate in this event.

Another successful event was the first ever Lake Superior State University “haunted homecoming parade.”  For years the City held its downtown Halloween festival separately while the University held their events on campus.  This year, Sault United worked to connect the two.  As thousands of children and their families “trick-or-treated” at downtown businesses, Lake Superior State University clubs and student groups paraded “haunted” floats through the crowds

One of the best outcomes from these beginning stages of town-gown efforts are the direct connections being made between businesses and student groups.  Sault United board members frequently hear new stories about how students are collaborating with businesses and local organizations to complete class projects, raise money, volunteer, or find future employment.

Sault Ste. Marie’s evolution into a true university town will continue as Sault United’s subcommittees make progress in the areas of student involvement, sports, arts, and transportation, and the Michigan Municipal League’s support has been invaluable in these efforts.  However, the Michigan Municipal League’s involvement doesn’t stop here.  The City of Sault Ste. Marie has recently been chosen for a visioning and planning grant to develop a critical portion of the downtown that is currently composed of a number of long-vacant and obsolete properties.  The City and the University, along with the other members of the Sault United committee, will be collaborating on this visioning project.  One of the primary goals of this visioning process will be to lay out area plans that will aid in fulfilling town-gown goals.

Sault United is enthused to continue the work of transforming Sault Ste. Marie into a true university town, and looks forward to a maintaining a fruitful partnership with the Michigan Municipal League.

Anthony Bosbous is the mayor of Sault Ste. Marie and Dr. Tony McLain is the president of Lake Superior State University.

The Michigan Municipal League identified eight essential assets that make communities vibrant places in the 21st Century (21c3).  Our purpose is to help local officials identify, develop, and implement strategies that will grow and strengthen Michigan’s communities in the coming decades.  Messaging and Technology is one of the eight assets that help local government achieve greater transparency and create new virtual meeting places where people across spectrums of society can share their input and ideas.

I recently came across this article in Fast Company on Analytics for Local Governments.  Big data and transparency are key ingredients for bigger cities with big IT budgets.  Now smaller communities have the opportunity to track how they are performing, utilizing Compass from Revelstone.  I highly recommend taking the time to investigate Compass performance analytics and benchmarking platform for local governments.

How can we make our city a better place to live?  This seems like a simple question and one that is often mulled over by local officials on a daily basis.  The key part to the question is “WE”.  What are local officials doing to include their citizens to become part of the solution to the question?  And better yet, how are you as local leaders utilizing technology and communications to foster civic engagement?

I came across the question via the website changeby.us, which is a social network for grassroots leaders.  This is a simple, yet exceptional use of technology for citizens to share their ideas, to work with their local leaders and to generate ideas to make their community a better place.  In today’s fast-paced society of constant, partial attention, with many distractions, there is fierce competition to engage the community.  Local leaders and citizens, though, have a common bond that helps with this attention span conundrum.  They care about their community!  Here is the challenge for Michigan’s local leaders; how do you embrace and utilize technology to facilitate more social connections between you and your citizens?

With one click, a tweet or status update, information can be easily shared.  Although utilizing social networks for sharing information is important, local leaders should also utilize technology engagement to create and support opportunities for people to interact with others.  Engagement technology should connect people, build relationships, increase participation in governance, simplify community discovery and enhance the ability to act.  Creating a technology engagement plan is vital to increasing civic engagement in your community.  What will you do in your community?

Every so often, whether we are in election season or not, there always seems to be a discussion or two about those who seek to redistribute wealth.  Funny thing is, it only ever seems to be an accusation thrown in the direction of liberal politicians who are accused of wanting to take from the rich and give to the poor.  The contradiction of course is that redistribution of wealth works both ways and has since probably the beginning of time.  It works in favor of home owners (ever heard of the mortgage deduction), seniors, and of course businesses large and small (think replacement of Michigan Business Tax with a corporate income tax and the tax on pensions that was implemented to fund it). 

So the next time you hear about how certain people want to take from the rich and give to the poor, think about how redistribution of wealth is benefitting you personally.

But I digress, because I am not writing today to mainly discuss the contradictions in the social aspect of “redistribution of wealth” but the community building aspect.  That’s right, community building aspect.  A recent article by Stanley Kurtz claims that the President and other political leaders in Northeast Ohio are poised to redistribute wealth from the suburbs to the cities. Mr. Kurtz is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Policy Center and has recently released a book titled, “Spreading the Wealth, How Obama is robbing the suburbs to pay for the cities”.

Mr. Kurtz’s claim is that under the moniker of “regionalism”, President Obama aims to help Ohio’s Democrats bail out struggling cities in that state by forcibly transferring suburban tax money to urban areas.  

Of course efforts on “regionalism” are not just an issue in Ohio.  Here in Michigan, with state revenues to local government cut by over $4 billion during the last decade, local governments have been collaborating for years to provide essential services in the most cost effective and efficient manner as possible.

What strikes me odd about Mr. Kurtz’s arguments and others who espouse such views is that such actions being taken by local governments the Cleveland area, in Michigan and elsewhere around the country seem to be the exact policy that those on the “right” side of the political spectrum would support.  What is more business- like than finding ways to collaborate and spend taxpayer dollars as wisely as possible by exploring every opportunity to work together. 

As for the “redistribution of wealth” argument, a recent article in DC Streetsblog, shows that over the years, the redistribution has been mostly in favor of the suburbs, not the cities.

Isn’t it about time we put aside the so-called red herring known as “redistribution of wealth” and simply worked on what makes sense in this time of finite resources. That being, to invest the taxpayer dollar where we can get the biggest bang for the buck in places where infrastructure already exists, and where there are already assets to build upon.

This week we’ll be up north on Mackinac Island for the League’s annual convention.  The team at the League has put together an outstanding agenda and keynote speakers that are sure to inspire you.  We are certain you’ll be able to take these “tools” back to your communities and incorporate many of the great placemaking ideas discussed.

One of the best parts of the convention for me, is the ability to network with local officials from around the state.  We also focus on spreading the League’s mission, “The one clear voice for Michigan communities”, by utilizing our technological footprint to spread information, via Facebook, Twitter (our hashtag for convention is #mmlconv) and our numerous blogs.  Make sure to visit http://convention.mml.org.

We also have a special convention smartphone app for Androids and iPhones.  This free download will give you the agenda, blogs, social media feeds and all sorts of convention information right in the palm of your hand.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss innovative ideas to utilize social networking to enhance civic engagement, and cloud computing to support community operations, make sure you come visit me in the In•KNOW•vate technology hub.  I’ll be there from 8:00 am – 3:00 pm on Thursday, October 4^th.  I’ll be able to demonstrate and walk you through your technology-related questions.  I hope to see you there.

In my almost eight years of working for the Municipal League there are certain things I’ve been tagged with. One of them is sharing news clips with my colleagues every Sunday morning.  Although this practice has been more inconsistent lately, it stems from having those few hours on Sunday morning to myself, while the rest of the family attends church.  Well its Sunday morning, they’re again at church and in a variation on that theme I’m writing a blog…a different kind of sharing but sharing nonetheless. 

It has been another busy week of traveling around the state to see members and give presentations on what will help to bring prosperity to Michigan communities. It has been closed by a great trip on family weekend at my youngest daughter’s college, Ball State University, in Muncie, Indiana. 

Muncie is not unlike any other mid-sized Midwestern city or Michigan city for that matter, seeking to redefine itself in the post-industrial economy.  This morning, I seem to have found “the” college café (The Cup) just off the south side of campus where there is a good deal of student housing. A mix of students and others are coming in to get their Sunday morning refreshments and begin the recovery from a Saturday night of activity. 

Ball State University (yes its named after the Ball brothers, more famous for their canning jars than anything else) is beginning to work more and more with the surrounding neighborhoods and city at large on redevelopment.  This is not unlike the “town-gown” relationship building we are seeing across the country. And while some have recently panned the economic growth from such relationships, I would remind readers of the “its not any one thing” philosophy of economic growth.  Certainly, those communities that contain a community college or 4 year university within their borders would be remiss to not establish a “town-gown” relationship as part of a broader effort on creating long-term sustainable economic growth and prosperity. 

As for how I started this past week, well that was in Newaygo.  Located north of Grand Rapids, this community of just under 2,000 is situated in a county where nearly half of the land is contained within a national forest.  And, like any other small town (or any town for that matter), Newaygo is looking to redefine itself.  Toward that end, they have put together a very impressive business  incubator for entrepreneurs right on the main street in downtown. Its called “The Stream”, an appropriate name given Newaygo’s location on the Muskegon River.  As for the “they”, it includes not just local officials, but other community leaders from non-profits, the private sector and community foundation. Over the last couple of months I’ve had the opportunity to get to know two of them, Sandi Williams, Director of the Center for Nonprofit Housing in Fremont and Paul Wishka with TrueNorth Community Services.  

Their unbridled enthusiasm for the work they’re doing, on the ground in Newaygo and communities across the county is infectious.  One step at a time, one project at a time, they are building a bridge as they walk on it, a journey filled with risks for sure, but one they know they need to take if they are to create a future of sustainable prosperity for themselves and their community. It’s the same journey being taken by countless others in communities across our state. All of it causes me to be inspired, and makes me proud to be working for an organization and with people who are helping to move Michigan forward.