Economic Development, Transportation, and Technology
Economic-Development Suggestions: jobs, shopping, etc.
Make Portland a wireless internet hotspot. This would allow anyone with a wireless modem in their computer to access the internet anywhere in town. Several larger cities have done this already (e.g. Philadelphia) and Grand Rapids is looking into it right now.
By making Portland a wireless internet hot-spot, tech-savvy people would take notice and it would give Portland an image of embracing the future of the internet. Additionally, all the businesses downtown could advertise that they provide wireless internet to attract customers.
get those downtown stores filled
restore opera house
Enhanced Farmer's Market, similar to Lansing City Market with covered area, floors, and locking doors to be available for community use.
It would also be very nice to have a clothing store in town, such as a Dress Barn or Kohls. Without going to the Dollar Store or the grocery store, there is nowhere close by to shop for clothing without leaving town. Portland at one time had about three clothing and shoe stores. There was also a J and J Store which sold everything from clothing and toys to sewing supplies. It would also be nice to have another grocery store, such as a Kroger store. At one time there was a Kroger, A&P, and IGA in our town. That makes good competition and better choices in shopping. Another choice in restaurants would be great, such as an Olive Garden.
I think that if it can be used this way that we should consider hiring a professional agency to help us develop an image to bring people to Portland. With a well-thought out plan, graphics, etc. we could really create an image for a town that people would want to visit. The more they enjoy visiting, the more that some of them will want to stay. :)
One of the things that I noticed when I went to the cities of Grand Haven and Chicago was that they are very visitor friendly. They put a lot of effort into making sure that when they have visitors that they can get the information that they want. I think Portland needs to be more visitor aware and put together helpful information that visitors have easy access to (maybe along the Rivertrail). An example is a dining guide that would list all the restaurants and what type of food they serve. If we had more places to stay I would suggest a lodging guide but that is kind of pointless. But that is the type of thing that I am referring to. Definitely info about the Rivertrail would be good.
A Tourist Information Center near the highway highlighting area activities: antique's, horse riding, canoeing, fishing, boating, etc.
If I understand it correctly, you're planning a boardwalk along the shop side of the downtown riverfront. Be sure to add electric outlets along the way for vendors and sidewalk musicians. Down here in South Florida they have great success attracting shoppers by providing entertainment and pushcart type vendors.
A Frontier Village - I've seen these in other remote towns and they seem to attract a fair bit of tourist traffic. With Portland's unique two river situation, the Indian & early Settler history and folklore, provide's an ample source of interesting topics. Chief Okemos' life and his burial site in Shimnecon for example.
I would love to see Portland get another location to have wedding receptions, similar to the Opera House in Grand Ledge, something downtown perhaps. The K of C Hall is nice, but there certainly aren’’t very many options for those who are not K of C members, or those who want to plan something less than a year in advance. It would have to be something that would hold 300+ people, because the K of C Hall is the only option for a group this size.
Utilize maps at strategic locations, so visitors can locate the variety of businesses, activities, schools etc in and around Portland.
Wow, sounds like Portland is at it again! Just an idea, has anyone been working with the Portland Best Western to put together some kind of "Stay And Play" packages to keep visitors in the area for the weekend and promote the downtown businesses, eateries and events?
I found that I cannot find (excuse my grammer) good paper products in town for stationery, resumes, etc. We used to have a pretty good paper store. We lost our Hallmark carrier. We lost our swimming hole at the east side community park.
As much as I love fast food because it is fast (sort of), I REALLY love Dukes (very original and always busy), Chocolate Moose (creative food and FABULOUS ice cream -- I tell all my out of town friends about it -- and the only place in town to get a decent cup of cappuccino). My favorite type of eating is at a small place that makes soup and breads and you can sit with a friend for a leisurely lunch or run in and eat but it will always be a great little place for fresh and interesting food.
We lost CJ's Silks (flowers and such). It was the best place to find gifts, decorative items; a place to explore and stimulate your senses. I really miss Connie's place.
I do like Casa Bella's. Hope they hang in there.
Thanks for the update ... and the focus -> While we were in Portland in June, I looked and looked for gifts to take back to Florida with me that reflected Michigan and Michigan artists - with little luck. I found some Michigan wine and some modeled Moose (mooses?) but not much else.
How about an Art Gallery dedicated to Michigan artists?
or - A coffee shop / book store that holds intimate concerts from Michigan songwriters ... in-the-round.
Love the idea of the designer boutique. That definitely has youth appeal. Although it has already been done in the big cities a funky vintage clothing store could have a lot of appeal to the twenty-something's.
My husband works for TRW in Portland. I have seen the company go International, be bought and sold a few times, and experience a decline of, I think, more than 50% in staffing over the past 10 years. My thought is whether a renewed effort to engage TRW has occurred. Perhaps an effort to increase size rather than downsize could be encouraged. I have read various articles that corporations are once again looking to smaller communities to build for reasons such as dedicated workers who choose to live and work and smaller communities with better schools. Michigan has experienced huge loss of manufacturing jobs over the past decade. Wouldn't it be wonderful to gain manufacturing employment in Portland?!
What Portland really needs to do with the Cool City funds is to employ a full time, professional Marketing/Communications Coordinator to create a centralized strategic marketing plan for the community. This position would be in charge of maintaining a professional looking city web page and ensuring our city and events are included in other print media and web pages (such as www.michigan.org) in a consistent and professional manner to attract visitors. As a city employee, this local professional would also be available to other community committees (Main Street, Arts Council, RiverFest, etc.) for such things as logo design, web page design, event promotions, newsletter layouts, etc –– even help coordinate promotional packages between local businesses to attract visitors.
Portland and its various organizations, committees and events could benefit from professional marketing services to promote our community as a whole. Consistent, professional marketing will help residents and visitors perceive Portland as a ""Cool City"" more and more –– and increase excitement and involvement for the community. Volunteers, while extremely committed to their causes, simply don’’t have the background, tools or resources to achieve this level of professionalism on their own. A Marketing/Communications Coordinator could present Portland in a professional, consistent, and ""cool"" manner to residents, and other Michigan communities to reflect the ""Cool City"" that we already are.
I would like to submit some ideas to the Cool Cities Committee that I feel will enhance the goal of creating a city that will attract people to Portland and stimulate economic growth. I am not originally from Portland but have grown to like the small town atmosphere along with the recreation opportunities like the band shell, farmers market, and river trails. However, I feel I need to travel to Grand Rapids and Lansing for a lot of the basic errands and shopping I need to do. To attract more families to the area from Lansing and Grand Rapids and to stimulate economic growth, Portland needs to be more diversified in the services provided in town and offer them in a unique setting.
Maybe Portland could have a contest. The contest would be to figure out something that we could build here that tourists would come to see. Such as the biggest _______ in the world. For example- people come for miles around to go see the biggest ball of twine out west. Or some cities have a theme going, such as Manistique, MI they have different Moose at different businesses all around town. They are all dressed up in different ways. One moose has a tux on, one moose has an outfit that looks like the flag, etc..
Transportation, technology suggestions
Since we are a "bedroom" community for workers in Lansing and Grand Rapids, how about contracting with a bus system to provide transportation for workers or shoppers to the Lansing and/or Grand Rapids area? Hours could include early trips, such as 7:00 a.m. to late returns at 5:30-6:00 p.m. This would help with the high gas prices and allow Portland to be very energy and emissions conscious, and truly a "Cool City".
Please work with the Portland Township Board and the Ionia County Road Commission to reunite the northern two sides
of the Grand River of Portland by either fixing or replacing the Goodwin Road Bridge. In a town that is using the Grand River for promotion, there should be a way to get from one side of Portland to the other without a
"closed" bridge stopping those on the northwest side from golfing at the Portland Country Club and those on the northeast side from reaching the Portland schools. Also, let's get our roads paved. No one wants to live on a dirt road with a dirty car to drive every time it rains. More families will want to live in the Portland area, more homes will be sold with these improvements, and property values will also increase as well.
My first cool city idea is to create wi-fi hotspots in the downtown area. This will provide people with free internet access via PDA’s, cell phones, laptops, etc. These would be especially popular in areas such as the book store, coffee shop, and restaurants. Trolley or dial-a-ride type of service
I also think that linking the library, schools, city, bookstore, etc with the internet and a internet cafe' ideas would be good. It's always been hard for me to think outside the box but I was reading the paper this morning and they where talking about a city in Michigan that offered it citizens "wireless" internet service. As you know Portland has always suffered, until recently, poor phone service as far as being able to call anyone outside the Portland area without incurring long distant charges. Now wouldn't it be nice to be the only community in mid Michigan that offered wireless internet! We have a number of dial-up ISP in the area and of course DSL and cable is offered, but a complete community going wireless would be awesome.
Following up on the cool Portland suggestion that I sent to the mayor about setting up a free wireless Internet (wi-fi) zone in downtown.
Why not be sitting at that table on the river under the umbrella eating lunch with your laptop surfing the web? It wouldn't have to be just locals. Say I was a busy business person who regularly drove between Lansing and Grand Rapids. Why not stop in downtown Portland where I could check my email or post my orders to the company portal while eating lunch or browsing in the stores?
First suggestion - implementation of a "Wired City" model. Tighter integration of the school, city, (and library?)...and potentially a private high-tech park down the road if we design it right?) data network infrastructure would be a way to both better utilize our assets and position our community for the technology future. Or, more accurately, the present. Network infrastructure components that would readily lend themselves to sharing:
> bandwidth (the wire itself),
> voice over IP system (including voice mail),
> data backup/restore system (tape library, backup software, off-site storage),
> Web site server,
> shared Internet connection (one fat pipe being more financially & functionally efficient than multiple small ones);
There may well be other opportunities for technology sharing, also. Obviously, a proper requirements definition phase, to assure a design that is resilient, while "throttling" each individual entity's usage so they use only their fair share, would be necessary. But the technological hurdles of sharing components this way are very straight-forward to manage.
