Coolbreeze, maybe 15 years behind GR is a little too strong...maybe 5-10 years is more accurate. And I would agree that Gillespie has been a major proponent for improving Lansing. However, the distinction I was trying to make is this, Jay VanAndel and Richard DeVos made their billions already and after already having it have been DONATING their money to force GR to expand and improve; people like Gillespie are business people trying to make their money while improving Lansing. No one is necessarily intended to make alot of money from the Van Andel Institute, DeVos Performance Hall or Van Andel Arena, those guys donated their money to make these things that would attract people...those people spend their money where they are attracted...businesses grow when people come and spend money...so Van Andel and DeVos donated their money to artificially get the ball rolling to grow downtown GR by attracting people downtown (private businesses and the city didn't have to make that VERY important first step). Gillespie, the city of Lansing and others have to SPEND their businesses' money (not donate) to attract the people and try to make a living while doing it. And that is why GR is a few steps ahead of Lansing.
However, an important distinction in my book is that while regionally GR seems to have the upper hand, all of what makes GR seem like the side with the greener grass to Lansingites are simply local and regional things. Lansing has the longterm upper hand in my book because what sets Lansing apart are things like the State Capitol, MSU, Big Ten sporting events, the new FRIB, etc. These are things that are unparralelled by GR and these things are much larger than a local/regional attraction. Lansing has a biotech sector with Emergent and Neogen that GR doesn't have at all, the Capitol is something people from around the state will visit as well as the upcoming art museum, people from across the country come to see MSU football/basketball, people from around the world will come to FRIB for research. So I think it's important to keep things in perspective...GR certainly has some things Lansing doesn't, but Lansing has some equally (if not more) impressive things GR doesn't. I am right with everyone else in wishing Lansing could build a 30+ story tower like GR just did, but honestly, in the grand scheme of things, if I'm gonna leave Lansing for somewhere with taller buildings, it's not going to be GR, it'll be Chicago or Philadelphia.
Thanks micro for explaining,well written. (East) Lansing does have the development of the frib facility which may attract many buisnesses, we also have the state capitol, universities, and maybe eventually all of this will bring a positive growth to the city.
( Any specific reason why they choose to build all those hospitals in Grand Rapids? )
The FRIB will be regional/statewide boost, definitely not just EL.
I've often wondered myself how GR can justify all those hospitals. I'm not familiar enough with GR to know what kind of hospital facilities already existed, I really don't even know how many have been built recently or are under construction.
I'm sure it will help the state as a whole, but like most headlines of articles I've read. It was well stated that it should give the city a big boost... and the changes of the frib facility would most likely be felt here.
I've heard Grand Rapids have a lot of hospitals. Must be a good number since Michigan State University not only built a medical school there, but moved headquaters as well. Maybe they have like 3+ hospitals there that are similar to Sparrow Hospital here in Lansing I guess.
In the '90s Butterworth and Blodgett hospital in GR merged to make Spectrum; similar to St. Lawrence and Sparrow in that they are still separate facilities just the same name. GR also has Metro Hospital and Saint Mary's. Metro built a brand new hospital in Southwest GR (near Grandville) in the last 4-5 years to replace their older facility closer to downtown GR. Also in the last 5 or so years the VanAndel Research Institute was established and built a large facility next door to Butterworth. GVSU built a nursing/allied health building across the street as well as the Peter Seccia building for the new MSU medical school, the Meijer Heart Center and the DeVos Children's hospital were built all in the same few blocks (warmly known as "pill hill" as it's built on a steep hill). The DeVos Children's hospital is deceptive, in that it isn't a separate hospital...it's just an expanded department at Butterworth. They basically expanded their pediatric department and called it a Children's hospital. Why GR has all this? Well, the have ~1.3 million metro population (compared to Lansing's 454,000 metro). Also, Butterworth is THE level 1 trauma hospital north of Kalamazoo and south of Traverse City. So they're drawing almost ALL of West Michigan, far beyond their metro population. In my opinion, this is similar to Lansing's airport, it's too close to Detroit/Ann Arbor (DMC and UofM hospitals).
So they're drawing almost ALL of West Michigan, far beyond their metro population. In my opinion, this is similar to Lansing's airport, it's too close to Detroit/Ann Arbor (DMC and UofM hospitals).
Bingo. Between that in the population difference, that's spot on. It explains the small convention center and everything else. Lansing, depending on how one sees it, is either blessed or cursed to be crammed in between a bunch of substantial metros.
Yeah, I see. I'm just really impress and surprise that Grand Rapids has all these hospitals. My future career is to be a doctor, although in the state of Michigan... Grand Rapids is not my location it's Lansing. So it's a little uncomfortable ( sorta that word I'm looking for) to know that your future job field is far off somewhere else. Grand Rapids seem to be a smart city though.
Yeah Grand Rapids may have a metro population in the millions, but Lansing is right in the middle of the state. Location couldn't get any better, and I wouldn't have been surprised to see those hospitals play a more statewid role if they were here. I like the city of Grand Rapids, and enjoyed my visits there all the time... but I favor Lansing more ( ofcourse it's my hometown).
Grand Rapids has quite a few hospitals relative to Lansing (I would say roughly Lansing has 3 compared to GR's 4.5...using relative numbers). The thing is...having grown up an hour north of GR and lived there for 4 years, Butterworth is to West Michigan as Sparrow is to metro Lansing. And by that, I mean to say that where I lived, if something major happened and my local hospital couldn't handle it, I would be shipped to Butterworth. In mid-michigan, the same thing but to Sparrow. From either of those hospitals, you would go to UofM if it was even more serious. But someone wouldn't be shipped from Sparrow to Butterworth. They're both Level 1 trauma centers, good hospitals, both teaching hospitals with residency programs, university affiliated, so as far as where to practice, I think you'd be just as well off at Sparrow in Lansing as GR. Obviously depending on what you're looking for. But if one wanted to do major academic medicine, you wouldn't leave Lansing for GR, you'd leave Lansing and GR for Ann Arbor, Cleveland, Boston, Houston, etc. An interesting side-note is that Harvard medical school doesn't have a university hospital, Mass-Genernal is Harvard affiliated but it isn't the same as UofM hospital which is pa
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However, an important distinction in my book is that while regionally GR seems to have the upper hand, all of what makes GR seem like the side with the greener grass to Lansingites are simply local and regional things. Lansing has the longterm upper hand in my book because what sets Lansing apart are things like the State Capitol, MSU, Big Ten sporting events, the new FRIB, etc. These are things that are unparralelled by GR and these things are much larger than a local/regional attraction. Lansing has a biotech sector with Emergent and Neogen that GR doesn't have at all, the Capitol is something people from around the state will visit as well as the upcoming art museum, people from across the country come to see MSU football/basketball, people from around the world will come to FRIB for research. So I think it's important to keep things in perspective...GR certainly has some things Lansing doesn't, but Lansing has some equally (if not more) impressive things GR doesn't. I am right with everyone else in wishing Lansing could build a 30+ story tower like GR just did, but honestly, in the grand scheme of things, if I'm gonna leave Lansing for somewhere with taller buildings, it's not going to be GR, it'll be Chicago or Philadelphia.
( Any specific reason why they choose to build all those hospitals in Grand Rapids? )
I've often wondered myself how GR can justify all those hospitals. I'm not familiar enough with GR to know what kind of hospital facilities already existed, I really don't even know how many have been built recently or are under construction.
I've heard Grand Rapids have a lot of hospitals. Must be a good number since Michigan State University not only built a medical school there, but moved headquaters as well. Maybe they have like 3+ hospitals there that are similar to Sparrow Hospital here in Lansing I guess.
Bingo. Between that in the population difference, that's spot on. It explains the small convention center and everything else. Lansing, depending on how one sees it, is either blessed or cursed to be crammed in between a bunch of substantial metros.
Yeah Grand Rapids may have a metro population in the millions, but Lansing is right in the middle of the state. Location couldn't get any better, and I wouldn't have been surprised to see those hospitals play a more statewid role if they were here. I like the city of Grand Rapids, and enjoyed my visits there all the time... but I favor Lansing more ( ofcourse it's my hometown).