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View from entrance to Union Station Bus Terminal along H between First and Second Street, NE, Washington DC on Saturday morning, 24 August 2019 by Elvert Barnes Photography
LYFT passenger
LYFT Washington DC at www.lyft.com/cities/washington-dc
Trip to Philadelphia / Union Station Walk About Before MegaBus Departure
Elvert Barnes 11th PHILLY NAKED BIKE RIDE 2019 docu-project at elvertbarnes.com/PNBR2019.html
New for model year 2017 was the Hyundai Ioniq, initially released in hybrid and electric versions, adding a plug-in variant in 2018. The hybrid version gets 55 to 58 miles per gallon depending on equipment, and is the most serious challenger to the supremacy of the Toyota Prius in the hybrid market.
The Hybrid Limited is the top trim level for the hybrid variant, and can be decked out with the Ultimate package which includes navigation, BlueLink telematics, wireless phone charging, and more. This fully loaded Ioniq stickers around $31,000.
Love the exterior blue!
I still love my 2009 Hyundai Genesis, but due to excessive driving in stop-and-go city driving under rideshare duty conditions, the car has taken a lot of abuse. My goal is to never drive my own car for such services, but even then, a hybrid powertrain that uses electric power for the stop-and-go driving (which is normally the worst weakness of gasoline engines) is definitely a winning formula. Between the Ioniq being better than the Prius in many ways, and my hatred of Toyota in general and Prius in particular, the Ioniq is most likely to be my next car.
More than 1,000 mayors, managers, community planners, locally elected officials and guests from throughout Michigan will descend on Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sept. 20-22 for the joint 2018 Michigan Municipal League and Michigan Association of Planning (MAP) convention. This is the first time ever the League and MAP have joined forces to combine their two annual fall conferences (the League’s Convention and MAP’s Planning Michigan Conference) into a single massive gathering. And it’s all happening during the 2018 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids. Most convention education sessions and trainings will take place in Amway Grand Hotel and DeVos Place, but there also is an extensive series of mobile workshops throughout the area that will put a spotlight on the positive things happening in the community.
The Convention is the League's premiere annual event and a chance to inform and highlight community accomplishments. The League is especially excited to be in Grand Rapids this year with MAP because the west-Michigan community has a lot of the placemaking assets the League has identified as making up vibrant communities, including walkability and physical design, arts and culture, economic development, entrepreneurship, strong education base and much more.
Both the League and MAP serve the education and advocacy needs of elected and appointed leaders and the staff that support them: managers and administrators, professional planners, and other city, village and township leaders that make up the teams that work in tandem to create vibrant, successful, and healthy communities. Because the League and MAP are collaborating on this event, we’ll have double the power to bring more of what our members want. Attendees have more breakout sessions, more topics, and more mobile tours to choose from than ever before.
The event View the Convention program here: blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2014/06/2018-Convention-Pro....
Other Convention highlights include:
- The official launch of the next phase of the SaveMICity municipal finance reform effort.
- The selection of the 2018 Community Excellence Award (CEA) winner. The CEA is the League’s most prestigious community award. The 12th annual CEA competition started earlier this year and is down to four final projects. The finalists will give presentations Thursday and Convention attendees will vote, with the winner announced Saturday (Sept. 22) morning. Go here to read a press release about the four finalists: www.mml.org/newsroom/press_releases/2018-8-6-Community-Ex... and checkout the CEA website here: cea.mml.org/.
- Michigan Municipal Executive (MME) Colloquium: Empowering Communities to Set Their Own Destinies with keynote general session speaker Patrice Frey, President and CEO of the National Main Street Center – 9-10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.
- Great Place to Live Townhall general session featuring Phil Power and the Center for Michigan’s Truth Tour – 11 am -12:15 p.m. Thursday.
- The New Localism: Utilizing Public, Private, and Civic Partnerships to Become a Change Engine general session featuring Bruce.Katz,.Co-Author, The New Localism, noon-1:45 Friday, Sept. 21
- Closing General Session about Civic Engagement Strategy: Inclusivity for the Win moderated by Carla Gribbs, Regional Manager, DTE Energy; and featuring Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor, Gary, Indiana; 1st Vice President, National League of Cities, 10:30-noon Saturday, Sept. 22
- Michigan Green Communities (MGC) Awards Lunch and Workshop, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Thursday
- Selection of the 2018-19 new League board members and board president and vice president, Friday, Sept. 21.
- Michigan Municipal League Foundation fund-raising event, Friday evening
- Michigan Association of Mayors breakfast and annual meeting, Friday morning.
- Michigan Women in Municipal Government meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Michigan Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Amazon: Michigan’s Wake Up Call or the Beginning of the End featuring the League’s Anthony Minghine and Khalil Rahal, assistant county executive, Wayne County, 2-3:15 p.m.Thursday.
- HR Up in Smoke: The Intersection between Marihuana legislation and empowerment law featuring Charles Mitchell, Senior Assistant City Attorney, City Attorney’s Office, Denver CO; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, State and Federal Affairs, Michigan Municipal League, 1:45-3:15 Thursday.
- Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act: Back to the Basics featuring Anne Seurynck, Attorney, Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Hit Them with Your Best Shot: Attracting Businesses and Developers featuring Katharine Czarnecki, Senior Vice President, Community Development, MEDC; Nicole Whitehead, Director, Sales & Service Operations, MEDC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Mobile workshops: Envision Ada: Transforming a Suburban Strip Commercial Center into an Integral Part of an Historic Village; All Around Downtown, Uptown, Eastown; New Urbanism in Practice; Viva la Avenida: Planning for a Cultural Corridor, all 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Unleash the Power of Small-Scale Manufacturing with Ilana Preuss, Recast City LLC, 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Creating Sustainable Retail Districts featuring Bobby Boone, AICP, LEED AP, Small Business Retail Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation; Martha Potere, AICP, Strategy and Special Projects Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, 3:30-4:45 p.m. Thursday
- Host City reception by Urban Metro Mayors and Managers at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, Thursday
- Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and the Blue Economy with speakers Tyler Kilfman, Planner, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG); Kevin Vettraino, AICP, Plan Implementation Manager, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), 9-10:15 a.m. Friday
- Fostering an Inclusive Community Environment Hosted by the Michigan Black Caucus with speakers : Lois Allen-Richardson, Councilmember, Ypsilanti; President, MBC-LEO; Oronde Miller, Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Stacy Stout, Assistant to the City Manager, Grand Rapids; Howard Walters, Program and Evaluation Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 9-noon Friday
- Mobility: The Community Conversation with speakers Sarah Latta Rainero, Regional Director, Community Assistance Team, Community Development, Michigan Economic Development Corporation; Tyler Bevier, Transportation Planner, Bay Area Transportation Authority; Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research, 9-10:30 am Friday
- CNU Rules for Great Places: The Project for Code Reform featuring Mary Madden, AICP, Principal, Ferrell Madden; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League; Heather Seyfarth, AICP, Community Engagement Specialist, Ann Arbor; Vice President, Michigan Association of Planning, 9-10:30 am Friday
- More mobile workshops: Explore: ArtPrize10; From Grand Rapids’ Downtown to Your Town: Idea Tour for Building Reuse; Vital Streets in Action Bike Tour; The Modern Orchard at Robinette’s Apple Haus and Winery, all are 9-noon Friday
- Master Planning: The Critical Role of Elected Leaders and the Planning Commission with speakers Adam Young, AICP, Senior Project Manager, Wade Trim; Chris McLeod, AICP, City Planner, Sterling Heights; Mark Vanderpool, City Manager, Sterling Heights, 10:45-noon Friday
- Social Media Pitfalls and Upsides for Communities with speakers Amy Snow-Buckner, Acting Managing Director of Communications, Grand Rapids; Matt Bach, Director, Communications, Michigan Municipal League; Jim Thorburn, Detective/Social Media Director, Allen Park Police Department, 10:45-noon Friday
- We Need More Parking! (But Do We Really?) with Tom Brown, Principle, Nelson\Nygaard; Bradley Strader, AICP, PTP, Transportation Planner, MKSK; Nicole VanNess, Manager, Traverse City DDA, 10:45-noon Friday
- Even more mobile workshops: Frederik Meijer Gardens; Terra Square and the Seeds of a New Downtown in Hudsonville; Under, Over, and All Around, all are 2-5 p.m. Friday
- Improving the Tone and Quality of our Civic Discourse with speakers John Bebow, President & CEO, The Center for Michigan/Bridge Magazine; Melanie Piana, Councilmember, Ferndale, Vice President, Michigan Municipal League Board, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- The Keys to Putting Ethics into Action with Christopher Johnson, General Counsel, Michigan Municipal League; Marlon Brown, Mayor Pro Tem, Mason; Michael McGee, Chief Executive Officer, Miller Canfield; Eleanor Siewert, Professional Registered Parliamentarian, Assignment: Effective Procedures, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- Smart, Accessible, Connected - this high-level panel discussion covers the future of cities in the context of advanced mobility technologies, including connected and automated vehicles, ridesharing, carsharing, ridehailing, mobility-as-a-service, and microtransit with speakers Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Speakers: Kelly Bartlett, Senior Policy & Legislative Advisor, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT); Zahra Bahrani Fard, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research; Dr. Jonathan Levine, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
The Power of the Wind: A Michigan Story with a focus on renewable energy featuring speakers Sarah Mills, Senior Project Manager, University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy; Emily Palacios, Principal, Miller Canfield, 2:15-3:45 p.m. Friday
- The Sky’s the Limit: Big Data, Drones, and the Internet of Things with Daniel Brooks, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Adrianna Jordan, AICP, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Zachary Halberd, Co-Founder, Quantifly, 3:45-5 p.m. Friday
It’s Budget Time. Do you Know Where Your Revenue Is? With John Hoppough, Mayor, Greenville; Jacob Kain, City Planner, Mount Pleasant; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League, Eilis Seide, Assistant to the City Manager, East Lansing, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22
Short Term Rentals: Trends, Impacts & Options with speakers Robert Monetza, Councilmember, Grand Haven; Ulrik Binzer, CEO, Host Compliance; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday
And yes even more mobile tours: Farmers Markets and Food Halls as Catalysts for Business and Real Estate Development; Restoring the Rapids: A Tour of Grand River Restoration Efforts, both 9-noon Friday
Photos of the 2018 Convention will be uploaded to flickr throughout the Convention can be downloaded from the League’s flickr page: flickr.com/photos/michigancommunities for free. We just ask that the following photo credit be given like this: Michigan Municipal League/mml.org. Thanks!
Michigan Municipal League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C., and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials; and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services.
On Wednesday, July 15, 2015 NYC DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and NYC MOPD Commissioner Victor Calise hosted the 3rd Annual Access to Independence Transportation Expo in NYC! Joined by Commissioner Meera Joshi of the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission, Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, the event celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Learn more here on.nyc.gov/1Jis3hx
Waiting at Bus Stop No. 511 on St. Paul near East Centre Street in Baltimore MD on Sunday afternoon, 27 August 2017 by Elvert Barnes Photography
Man Waiting in front of Waterloo Place Apartments for Arrival of UBER Driver
RIDE-SHARING Project / Uber Series
STREET PHOTOGRAPHY: Waiting At Bus Stop Series 2017
En route to Catering Gig @ Baltimore Inner Harbor
2022 Bus History Association convention tour
A dozen or so RideShare program vans being stored at the operations yard. DART owns and maintains their vanpool fleet directly vs. contracting.
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Please do not use this image without first asking for permission. Thank you.
More than 1,000 mayors, managers, community planners, locally elected officials and guests from throughout Michigan will descend on Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sept. 20-22 for the joint 2018 Michigan Municipal League and Michigan Association of Planning (MAP) convention. This is the first time ever the League and MAP have joined forces to combine their two annual fall conferences (the League’s Convention and MAP’s Planning Michigan Conference) into a single massive gathering. And it’s all happening during the 2018 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids. Most convention education sessions and trainings will take place in Amway Grand Hotel and DeVos Place, but there also is an extensive series of mobile workshops throughout the area that will put a spotlight on the positive things happening in the community.
The Convention is the League's premiere annual event and a chance to inform and highlight community accomplishments. The League is especially excited to be in Grand Rapids this year with MAP because the west-Michigan community has a lot of the placemaking assets the League has identified as making up vibrant communities, including walkability and physical design, arts and culture, economic development, entrepreneurship, strong education base and much more.
Both the League and MAP serve the education and advocacy needs of elected and appointed leaders and the staff that support them: managers and administrators, professional planners, and other city, village and township leaders that make up the teams that work in tandem to create vibrant, successful, and healthy communities. Because the League and MAP are collaborating on this event, we’ll have double the power to bring more of what our members want. Attendees have more breakout sessions, more topics, and more mobile tours to choose from than ever before.
The event View the Convention program here: blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2014/06/2018-Convention-Pro....
Other Convention highlights include:
- The official launch of the next phase of the SaveMICity municipal finance reform effort.
- The selection of the 2018 Community Excellence Award (CEA) winner. The CEA is the League’s most prestigious community award. The 12th annual CEA competition started earlier this year and is down to four final projects. The finalists will give presentations Thursday and Convention attendees will vote, with the winner announced Saturday (Sept. 22) morning. Go here to read a press release about the four finalists: www.mml.org/newsroom/press_releases/2018-8-6-Community-Ex... and checkout the CEA website here: cea.mml.org/.
- Michigan Municipal Executive (MME) Colloquium: Empowering Communities to Set Their Own Destinies with keynote general session speaker Patrice Frey, President and CEO of the National Main Street Center – 9-10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.
- Great Place to Live Townhall general session featuring Phil Power and the Center for Michigan’s Truth Tour – 11 am -12:15 p.m. Thursday.
- The New Localism: Utilizing Public, Private, and Civic Partnerships to Become a Change Engine general session featuring Bruce.Katz,.Co-Author, The New Localism, noon-1:45 Friday, Sept. 21
- Closing General Session about Civic Engagement Strategy: Inclusivity for the Win moderated by Carla Gribbs, Regional Manager, DTE Energy; and featuring Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor, Gary, Indiana; 1st Vice President, National League of Cities, 10:30-noon Saturday, Sept. 22
- Michigan Green Communities (MGC) Awards Lunch and Workshop, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Thursday
- Selection of the 2018-19 new League board members and board president and vice president, Friday, Sept. 21.
- Michigan Municipal League Foundation fund-raising event, Friday evening
- Michigan Association of Mayors breakfast and annual meeting, Friday morning.
- Michigan Women in Municipal Government meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Michigan Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Amazon: Michigan’s Wake Up Call or the Beginning of the End featuring the League’s Anthony Minghine and Khalil Rahal, assistant county executive, Wayne County, 2-3:15 p.m.Thursday.
- HR Up in Smoke: The Intersection between Marihuana legislation and empowerment law featuring Charles Mitchell, Senior Assistant City Attorney, City Attorney’s Office, Denver CO; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, State and Federal Affairs, Michigan Municipal League, 1:45-3:15 Thursday.
- Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act: Back to the Basics featuring Anne Seurynck, Attorney, Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Hit Them with Your Best Shot: Attracting Businesses and Developers featuring Katharine Czarnecki, Senior Vice President, Community Development, MEDC; Nicole Whitehead, Director, Sales & Service Operations, MEDC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Mobile workshops: Envision Ada: Transforming a Suburban Strip Commercial Center into an Integral Part of an Historic Village; All Around Downtown, Uptown, Eastown; New Urbanism in Practice; Viva la Avenida: Planning for a Cultural Corridor, all 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Unleash the Power of Small-Scale Manufacturing with Ilana Preuss, Recast City LLC, 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Creating Sustainable Retail Districts featuring Bobby Boone, AICP, LEED AP, Small Business Retail Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation; Martha Potere, AICP, Strategy and Special Projects Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, 3:30-4:45 p.m. Thursday
- Host City reception by Urban Metro Mayors and Managers at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, Thursday
- Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and the Blue Economy with speakers Tyler Kilfman, Planner, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG); Kevin Vettraino, AICP, Plan Implementation Manager, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), 9-10:15 a.m. Friday
- Fostering an Inclusive Community Environment Hosted by the Michigan Black Caucus with speakers : Lois Allen-Richardson, Councilmember, Ypsilanti; President, MBC-LEO; Oronde Miller, Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Stacy Stout, Assistant to the City Manager, Grand Rapids; Howard Walters, Program and Evaluation Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 9-noon Friday
- Mobility: The Community Conversation with speakers Sarah Latta Rainero, Regional Director, Community Assistance Team, Community Development, Michigan Economic Development Corporation; Tyler Bevier, Transportation Planner, Bay Area Transportation Authority; Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research, 9-10:30 am Friday
- CNU Rules for Great Places: The Project for Code Reform featuring Mary Madden, AICP, Principal, Ferrell Madden; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League; Heather Seyfarth, AICP, Community Engagement Specialist, Ann Arbor; Vice President, Michigan Association of Planning, 9-10:30 am Friday
- More mobile workshops: Explore: ArtPrize10; From Grand Rapids’ Downtown to Your Town: Idea Tour for Building Reuse; Vital Streets in Action Bike Tour; The Modern Orchard at Robinette’s Apple Haus and Winery, all are 9-noon Friday
- Master Planning: The Critical Role of Elected Leaders and the Planning Commission with speakers Adam Young, AICP, Senior Project Manager, Wade Trim; Chris McLeod, AICP, City Planner, Sterling Heights; Mark Vanderpool, City Manager, Sterling Heights, 10:45-noon Friday
- Social Media Pitfalls and Upsides for Communities with speakers Amy Snow-Buckner, Acting Managing Director of Communications, Grand Rapids; Matt Bach, Director, Communications, Michigan Municipal League; Jim Thorburn, Detective/Social Media Director, Allen Park Police Department, 10:45-noon Friday
- We Need More Parking! (But Do We Really?) with Tom Brown, Principle, Nelson\Nygaard; Bradley Strader, AICP, PTP, Transportation Planner, MKSK; Nicole VanNess, Manager, Traverse City DDA, 10:45-noon Friday
- Even more mobile workshops: Frederik Meijer Gardens; Terra Square and the Seeds of a New Downtown in Hudsonville; Under, Over, and All Around, all are 2-5 p.m. Friday
- Improving the Tone and Quality of our Civic Discourse with speakers John Bebow, President & CEO, The Center for Michigan/Bridge Magazine; Melanie Piana, Councilmember, Ferndale, Vice President, Michigan Municipal League Board, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- The Keys to Putting Ethics into Action with Christopher Johnson, General Counsel, Michigan Municipal League; Marlon Brown, Mayor Pro Tem, Mason; Michael McGee, Chief Executive Officer, Miller Canfield; Eleanor Siewert, Professional Registered Parliamentarian, Assignment: Effective Procedures, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- Smart, Accessible, Connected - this high-level panel discussion covers the future of cities in the context of advanced mobility technologies, including connected and automated vehicles, ridesharing, carsharing, ridehailing, mobility-as-a-service, and microtransit with speakers Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Speakers: Kelly Bartlett, Senior Policy & Legislative Advisor, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT); Zahra Bahrani Fard, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research; Dr. Jonathan Levine, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
The Power of the Wind: A Michigan Story with a focus on renewable energy featuring speakers Sarah Mills, Senior Project Manager, University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy; Emily Palacios, Principal, Miller Canfield, 2:15-3:45 p.m. Friday
- The Sky’s the Limit: Big Data, Drones, and the Internet of Things with Daniel Brooks, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Adrianna Jordan, AICP, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Zachary Halberd, Co-Founder, Quantifly, 3:45-5 p.m. Friday
It’s Budget Time. Do you Know Where Your Revenue Is? With John Hoppough, Mayor, Greenville; Jacob Kain, City Planner, Mount Pleasant; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League, Eilis Seide, Assistant to the City Manager, East Lansing, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22
Short Term Rentals: Trends, Impacts & Options with speakers Robert Monetza, Councilmember, Grand Haven; Ulrik Binzer, CEO, Host Compliance; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday
And yes even more mobile tours: Farmers Markets and Food Halls as Catalysts for Business and Real Estate Development; Restoring the Rapids: A Tour of Grand River Restoration Efforts, both 9-noon Friday
Photos of the 2018 Convention will be uploaded to flickr throughout the Convention can be downloaded from the League’s flickr page: flickr.com/photos/michigancommunities for free. We just ask that the following photo credit be given like this: Michigan Municipal League/mml.org. Thanks!
Michigan Municipal League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C., and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials; and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services.
More than 1,000 mayors, managers, community planners, locally elected officials and guests from throughout Michigan will descend on Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sept. 20-22 for the joint 2018 Michigan Municipal League and Michigan Association of Planning (MAP) convention. This is the first time ever the League and MAP have joined forces to combine their two annual fall conferences (the League’s Convention and MAP’s Planning Michigan Conference) into a single massive gathering. And it’s all happening during the 2018 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids. Most convention education sessions and trainings will take place in Amway Grand Hotel and DeVos Place, but there also is an extensive series of mobile workshops throughout the area that will put a spotlight on the positive things happening in the community.
The Convention is the League's premiere annual event and a chance to inform and highlight community accomplishments. The League is especially excited to be in Grand Rapids this year with MAP because the west-Michigan community has a lot of the placemaking assets the League has identified as making up vibrant communities, including walkability and physical design, arts and culture, economic development, entrepreneurship, strong education base and much more.
Both the League and MAP serve the education and advocacy needs of elected and appointed leaders and the staff that support them: managers and administrators, professional planners, and other city, village and township leaders that make up the teams that work in tandem to create vibrant, successful, and healthy communities. Because the League and MAP are collaborating on this event, we’ll have double the power to bring more of what our members want. Attendees have more breakout sessions, more topics, and more mobile tours to choose from than ever before.
The event View the Convention program here: blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2014/06/2018-Convention-Pro....
Other Convention highlights include:
- The official launch of the next phase of the SaveMICity municipal finance reform effort.
- The selection of the 2018 Community Excellence Award (CEA) winner. The CEA is the League’s most prestigious community award. The 12th annual CEA competition started earlier this year and is down to four final projects. The finalists will give presentations Thursday and Convention attendees will vote, with the winner announced Saturday (Sept. 22) morning. Go here to read a press release about the four finalists: www.mml.org/newsroom/press_releases/2018-8-6-Community-Ex... and checkout the CEA website here: cea.mml.org/.
- Michigan Municipal Executive (MME) Colloquium: Empowering Communities to Set Their Own Destinies with keynote general session speaker Patrice Frey, President and CEO of the National Main Street Center – 9-10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.
- Great Place to Live Townhall general session featuring Phil Power and the Center for Michigan’s Truth Tour – 11 am -12:15 p.m. Thursday.
- The New Localism: Utilizing Public, Private, and Civic Partnerships to Become a Change Engine general session featuring Bruce.Katz,.Co-Author, The New Localism, noon-1:45 Friday, Sept. 21
- Closing General Session about Civic Engagement Strategy: Inclusivity for the Win moderated by Carla Gribbs, Regional Manager, DTE Energy; and featuring Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor, Gary, Indiana; 1st Vice President, National League of Cities, 10:30-noon Saturday, Sept. 22
- Michigan Green Communities (MGC) Awards Lunch and Workshop, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Thursday
- Selection of the 2018-19 new League board members and board president and vice president, Friday, Sept. 21.
- Michigan Municipal League Foundation fund-raising event, Friday evening
- Michigan Association of Mayors breakfast and annual meeting, Friday morning.
- Michigan Women in Municipal Government meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Michigan Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Amazon: Michigan’s Wake Up Call or the Beginning of the End featuring the League’s Anthony Minghine and Khalil Rahal, assistant county executive, Wayne County, 2-3:15 p.m.Thursday.
- HR Up in Smoke: The Intersection between Marihuana legislation and empowerment law featuring Charles Mitchell, Senior Assistant City Attorney, City Attorney’s Office, Denver CO; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, State and Federal Affairs, Michigan Municipal League, 1:45-3:15 Thursday.
- Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act: Back to the Basics featuring Anne Seurynck, Attorney, Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Hit Them with Your Best Shot: Attracting Businesses and Developers featuring Katharine Czarnecki, Senior Vice President, Community Development, MEDC; Nicole Whitehead, Director, Sales & Service Operations, MEDC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Mobile workshops: Envision Ada: Transforming a Suburban Strip Commercial Center into an Integral Part of an Historic Village; All Around Downtown, Uptown, Eastown; New Urbanism in Practice; Viva la Avenida: Planning for a Cultural Corridor, all 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Unleash the Power of Small-Scale Manufacturing with Ilana Preuss, Recast City LLC, 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Creating Sustainable Retail Districts featuring Bobby Boone, AICP, LEED AP, Small Business Retail Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation; Martha Potere, AICP, Strategy and Special Projects Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, 3:30-4:45 p.m. Thursday
- Host City reception by Urban Metro Mayors and Managers at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, Thursday
- Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and the Blue Economy with speakers Tyler Kilfman, Planner, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG); Kevin Vettraino, AICP, Plan Implementation Manager, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), 9-10:15 a.m. Friday
- Fostering an Inclusive Community Environment Hosted by the Michigan Black Caucus with speakers : Lois Allen-Richardson, Councilmember, Ypsilanti; President, MBC-LEO; Oronde Miller, Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Stacy Stout, Assistant to the City Manager, Grand Rapids; Howard Walters, Program and Evaluation Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 9-noon Friday
- Mobility: The Community Conversation with speakers Sarah Latta Rainero, Regional Director, Community Assistance Team, Community Development, Michigan Economic Development Corporation; Tyler Bevier, Transportation Planner, Bay Area Transportation Authority; Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research, 9-10:30 am Friday
- CNU Rules for Great Places: The Project for Code Reform featuring Mary Madden, AICP, Principal, Ferrell Madden; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League; Heather Seyfarth, AICP, Community Engagement Specialist, Ann Arbor; Vice President, Michigan Association of Planning, 9-10:30 am Friday
- More mobile workshops: Explore: ArtPrize10; From Grand Rapids’ Downtown to Your Town: Idea Tour for Building Reuse; Vital Streets in Action Bike Tour; The Modern Orchard at Robinette’s Apple Haus and Winery, all are 9-noon Friday
- Master Planning: The Critical Role of Elected Leaders and the Planning Commission with speakers Adam Young, AICP, Senior Project Manager, Wade Trim; Chris McLeod, AICP, City Planner, Sterling Heights; Mark Vanderpool, City Manager, Sterling Heights, 10:45-noon Friday
- Social Media Pitfalls and Upsides for Communities with speakers Amy Snow-Buckner, Acting Managing Director of Communications, Grand Rapids; Matt Bach, Director, Communications, Michigan Municipal League; Jim Thorburn, Detective/Social Media Director, Allen Park Police Department, 10:45-noon Friday
- We Need More Parking! (But Do We Really?) with Tom Brown, Principle, Nelson\Nygaard; Bradley Strader, AICP, PTP, Transportation Planner, MKSK; Nicole VanNess, Manager, Traverse City DDA, 10:45-noon Friday
- Even more mobile workshops: Frederik Meijer Gardens; Terra Square and the Seeds of a New Downtown in Hudsonville; Under, Over, and All Around, all are 2-5 p.m. Friday
- Improving the Tone and Quality of our Civic Discourse with speakers John Bebow, President & CEO, The Center for Michigan/Bridge Magazine; Melanie Piana, Councilmember, Ferndale, Vice President, Michigan Municipal League Board, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- The Keys to Putting Ethics into Action with Christopher Johnson, General Counsel, Michigan Municipal League; Marlon Brown, Mayor Pro Tem, Mason; Michael McGee, Chief Executive Officer, Miller Canfield; Eleanor Siewert, Professional Registered Parliamentarian, Assignment: Effective Procedures, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- Smart, Accessible, Connected - this high-level panel discussion covers the future of cities in the context of advanced mobility technologies, including connected and automated vehicles, ridesharing, carsharing, ridehailing, mobility-as-a-service, and microtransit with speakers Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Speakers: Kelly Bartlett, Senior Policy & Legislative Advisor, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT); Zahra Bahrani Fard, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research; Dr. Jonathan Levine, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
The Power of the Wind: A Michigan Story with a focus on renewable energy featuring speakers Sarah Mills, Senior Project Manager, University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy; Emily Palacios, Principal, Miller Canfield, 2:15-3:45 p.m. Friday
- The Sky’s the Limit: Big Data, Drones, and the Internet of Things with Daniel Brooks, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Adrianna Jordan, AICP, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Zachary Halberd, Co-Founder, Quantifly, 3:45-5 p.m. Friday
It’s Budget Time. Do you Know Where Your Revenue Is? With John Hoppough, Mayor, Greenville; Jacob Kain, City Planner, Mount Pleasant; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League, Eilis Seide, Assistant to the City Manager, East Lansing, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22
Short Term Rentals: Trends, Impacts & Options with speakers Robert Monetza, Councilmember, Grand Haven; Ulrik Binzer, CEO, Host Compliance; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday
And yes even more mobile tours: Farmers Markets and Food Halls as Catalysts for Business and Real Estate Development; Restoring the Rapids: A Tour of Grand River Restoration Efforts, both 9-noon Friday
Photos of the 2018 Convention will be uploaded to flickr throughout the Convention can be downloaded from the League’s flickr page: flickr.com/photos/michigancommunities for free. We just ask that the following photo credit be given like this: Michigan Municipal League/mml.org. Thanks!
Michigan Municipal League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C., and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials; and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe), the agency’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On–Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) spacecraft atop stands vertical at Launch Complex 39A as the sun sets on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The missions will each focus on different effects of the solar wind — the continuous stream of particles emitted by the Sun — and space weather — the changing conditions in space driven by the Sun — from their origins at the Sun to their farthest reaches billions of miles away at the edge of our solar system. Photo credit: SpaceX
NASA image use policy.
More than 1,000 mayors, managers, community planners, locally elected officials and guests from throughout Michigan will descend on Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sept. 20-22 for the joint 2018 Michigan Municipal League and Michigan Association of Planning (MAP) convention. This is the first time ever the League and MAP have joined forces to combine their two annual fall conferences (the League’s Convention and MAP’s Planning Michigan Conference) into a single massive gathering. And it’s all happening during the 2018 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids. Most convention education sessions and trainings will take place in Amway Grand Hotel and DeVos Place, but there also is an extensive series of mobile workshops throughout the area that will put a spotlight on the positive things happening in the community.
The Convention is the League's premiere annual event and a chance to inform and highlight community accomplishments. The League is especially excited to be in Grand Rapids this year with MAP because the west-Michigan community has a lot of the placemaking assets the League has identified as making up vibrant communities, including walkability and physical design, arts and culture, economic development, entrepreneurship, strong education base and much more.
Both the League and MAP serve the education and advocacy needs of elected and appointed leaders and the staff that support them: managers and administrators, professional planners, and other city, village and township leaders that make up the teams that work in tandem to create vibrant, successful, and healthy communities. Because the League and MAP are collaborating on this event, we’ll have double the power to bring more of what our members want. Attendees have more breakout sessions, more topics, and more mobile tours to choose from than ever before.
The event View the Convention program here: blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2014/06/2018-Convention-Pro....
Other Convention highlights include:
- The official launch of the next phase of the SaveMICity municipal finance reform effort.
- The selection of the 2018 Community Excellence Award (CEA) winner. The CEA is the League’s most prestigious community award. The 12th annual CEA competition started earlier this year and is down to four final projects. The finalists will give presentations Thursday and Convention attendees will vote, with the winner announced Saturday (Sept. 22) morning. Go here to read a press release about the four finalists: www.mml.org/newsroom/press_releases/2018-8-6-Community-Ex... and checkout the CEA website here: cea.mml.org/.
- Michigan Municipal Executive (MME) Colloquium: Empowering Communities to Set Their Own Destinies with keynote general session speaker Patrice Frey, President and CEO of the National Main Street Center – 9-10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.
- Great Place to Live Townhall general session featuring Phil Power and the Center for Michigan’s Truth Tour – 11 am -12:15 p.m. Thursday.
- The New Localism: Utilizing Public, Private, and Civic Partnerships to Become a Change Engine general session featuring Bruce.Katz,.Co-Author, The New Localism, noon-1:45 Friday, Sept. 21
- Closing General Session about Civic Engagement Strategy: Inclusivity for the Win moderated by Carla Gribbs, Regional Manager, DTE Energy; and featuring Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor, Gary, Indiana; 1st Vice President, National League of Cities, 10:30-noon Saturday, Sept. 22
- Michigan Green Communities (MGC) Awards Lunch and Workshop, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Thursday
- Selection of the 2018-19 new League board members and board president and vice president, Friday, Sept. 21.
- Michigan Municipal League Foundation fund-raising event, Friday evening
- Michigan Association of Mayors breakfast and annual meeting, Friday morning.
- Michigan Women in Municipal Government meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Michigan Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Amazon: Michigan’s Wake Up Call or the Beginning of the End featuring the League’s Anthony Minghine and Khalil Rahal, assistant county executive, Wayne County, 2-3:15 p.m.Thursday.
- HR Up in Smoke: The Intersection between Marihuana legislation and empowerment law featuring Charles Mitchell, Senior Assistant City Attorney, City Attorney’s Office, Denver CO; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, State and Federal Affairs, Michigan Municipal League, 1:45-3:15 Thursday.
- Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act: Back to the Basics featuring Anne Seurynck, Attorney, Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Hit Them with Your Best Shot: Attracting Businesses and Developers featuring Katharine Czarnecki, Senior Vice President, Community Development, MEDC; Nicole Whitehead, Director, Sales & Service Operations, MEDC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Mobile workshops: Envision Ada: Transforming a Suburban Strip Commercial Center into an Integral Part of an Historic Village; All Around Downtown, Uptown, Eastown; New Urbanism in Practice; Viva la Avenida: Planning for a Cultural Corridor, all 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Unleash the Power of Small-Scale Manufacturing with Ilana Preuss, Recast City LLC, 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Creating Sustainable Retail Districts featuring Bobby Boone, AICP, LEED AP, Small Business Retail Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation; Martha Potere, AICP, Strategy and Special Projects Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, 3:30-4:45 p.m. Thursday
- Host City reception by Urban Metro Mayors and Managers at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, Thursday
- Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and the Blue Economy with speakers Tyler Kilfman, Planner, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG); Kevin Vettraino, AICP, Plan Implementation Manager, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), 9-10:15 a.m. Friday
- Fostering an Inclusive Community Environment Hosted by the Michigan Black Caucus with speakers : Lois Allen-Richardson, Councilmember, Ypsilanti; President, MBC-LEO; Oronde Miller, Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Stacy Stout, Assistant to the City Manager, Grand Rapids; Howard Walters, Program and Evaluation Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 9-noon Friday
- Mobility: The Community Conversation with speakers Sarah Latta Rainero, Regional Director, Community Assistance Team, Community Development, Michigan Economic Development Corporation; Tyler Bevier, Transportation Planner, Bay Area Transportation Authority; Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research, 9-10:30 am Friday
- CNU Rules for Great Places: The Project for Code Reform featuring Mary Madden, AICP, Principal, Ferrell Madden; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League; Heather Seyfarth, AICP, Community Engagement Specialist, Ann Arbor; Vice President, Michigan Association of Planning, 9-10:30 am Friday
- More mobile workshops: Explore: ArtPrize10; From Grand Rapids’ Downtown to Your Town: Idea Tour for Building Reuse; Vital Streets in Action Bike Tour; The Modern Orchard at Robinette’s Apple Haus and Winery, all are 9-noon Friday
- Master Planning: The Critical Role of Elected Leaders and the Planning Commission with speakers Adam Young, AICP, Senior Project Manager, Wade Trim; Chris McLeod, AICP, City Planner, Sterling Heights; Mark Vanderpool, City Manager, Sterling Heights, 10:45-noon Friday
- Social Media Pitfalls and Upsides for Communities with speakers Amy Snow-Buckner, Acting Managing Director of Communications, Grand Rapids; Matt Bach, Director, Communications, Michigan Municipal League; Jim Thorburn, Detective/Social Media Director, Allen Park Police Department, 10:45-noon Friday
- We Need More Parking! (But Do We Really?) with Tom Brown, Principle, Nelson\Nygaard; Bradley Strader, AICP, PTP, Transportation Planner, MKSK; Nicole VanNess, Manager, Traverse City DDA, 10:45-noon Friday
- Even more mobile workshops: Frederik Meijer Gardens; Terra Square and the Seeds of a New Downtown in Hudsonville; Under, Over, and All Around, all are 2-5 p.m. Friday
- Improving the Tone and Quality of our Civic Discourse with speakers John Bebow, President & CEO, The Center for Michigan/Bridge Magazine; Melanie Piana, Councilmember, Ferndale, Vice President, Michigan Municipal League Board, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- The Keys to Putting Ethics into Action with Christopher Johnson, General Counsel, Michigan Municipal League; Marlon Brown, Mayor Pro Tem, Mason; Michael McGee, Chief Executive Officer, Miller Canfield; Eleanor Siewert, Professional Registered Parliamentarian, Assignment: Effective Procedures, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- Smart, Accessible, Connected - this high-level panel discussion covers the future of cities in the context of advanced mobility technologies, including connected and automated vehicles, ridesharing, carsharing, ridehailing, mobility-as-a-service, and microtransit with speakers Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Speakers: Kelly Bartlett, Senior Policy & Legislative Advisor, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT); Zahra Bahrani Fard, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research; Dr. Jonathan Levine, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
The Power of the Wind: A Michigan Story with a focus on renewable energy featuring speakers Sarah Mills, Senior Project Manager, University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy; Emily Palacios, Principal, Miller Canfield, 2:15-3:45 p.m. Friday
- The Sky’s the Limit: Big Data, Drones, and the Internet of Things with Daniel Brooks, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Adrianna Jordan, AICP, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Zachary Halberd, Co-Founder, Quantifly, 3:45-5 p.m. Friday
It’s Budget Time. Do you Know Where Your Revenue Is? With John Hoppough, Mayor, Greenville; Jacob Kain, City Planner, Mount Pleasant; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League, Eilis Seide, Assistant to the City Manager, East Lansing, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22
Short Term Rentals: Trends, Impacts & Options with speakers Robert Monetza, Councilmember, Grand Haven; Ulrik Binzer, CEO, Host Compliance; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday
And yes even more mobile tours: Farmers Markets and Food Halls as Catalysts for Business and Real Estate Development; Restoring the Rapids: A Tour of Grand River Restoration Efforts, both 9-noon Friday
Photos of the 2018 Convention will be uploaded to flickr throughout the Convention can be downloaded from the League’s flickr page: flickr.com/photos/michigancommunities for free. We just ask that the following photo credit be given like this: Michigan Municipal League/mml.org. Thanks!
Michigan Municipal League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C., and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials; and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services.
Ofo operated a bike sharing service in Seattle few years ago, and this was sitting at the bottom of Lake Washington for some years.
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Apple iPhone XS Max.
View from entrance to Union Station Bus Terminal along H between First and Second Street, NE, Washington DC on Saturday morning, 24 August 2019 by Elvert Barnes Photography
LYFT passenger
LYFT Washington DC at www.lyft.com/cities/washington-dc
Trip to Philadelphia / Union Station Walk About Before MegaBus Departure
Elvert Barnes 11th PHILLY NAKED BIKE RIDE 2019 docu-project at elvertbarnes.com/PNBR2019.html
More than 1,000 mayors, managers, community planners, locally elected officials and guests from throughout Michigan will descend on Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sept. 20-22 for the joint 2018 Michigan Municipal League and Michigan Association of Planning (MAP) convention. This is the first time ever the League and MAP have joined forces to combine their two annual fall conferences (the League’s Convention and MAP’s Planning Michigan Conference) into a single massive gathering. And it’s all happening during the 2018 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids. Most convention education sessions and trainings will take place in Amway Grand Hotel and DeVos Place, but there also is an extensive series of mobile workshops throughout the area that will put a spotlight on the positive things happening in the community.
The Convention is the League's premiere annual event and a chance to inform and highlight community accomplishments. The League is especially excited to be in Grand Rapids this year with MAP because the west-Michigan community has a lot of the placemaking assets the League has identified as making up vibrant communities, including walkability and physical design, arts and culture, economic development, entrepreneurship, strong education base and much more.
Both the League and MAP serve the education and advocacy needs of elected and appointed leaders and the staff that support them: managers and administrators, professional planners, and other city, village and township leaders that make up the teams that work in tandem to create vibrant, successful, and healthy communities. Because the League and MAP are collaborating on this event, we’ll have double the power to bring more of what our members want. Attendees have more breakout sessions, more topics, and more mobile tours to choose from than ever before.
The event View the Convention program here: blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2014/06/2018-Convention-Pro....
Other Convention highlights include:
- The official launch of the next phase of the SaveMICity municipal finance reform effort.
- The selection of the 2018 Community Excellence Award (CEA) winner. The CEA is the League’s most prestigious community award. The 12th annual CEA competition started earlier this year and is down to four final projects. The finalists will give presentations Thursday and Convention attendees will vote, with the winner announced Saturday (Sept. 22) morning. Go here to read a press release about the four finalists: www.mml.org/newsroom/press_releases/2018-8-6-Community-Ex... and checkout the CEA website here: cea.mml.org/.
- Michigan Municipal Executive (MME) Colloquium: Empowering Communities to Set Their Own Destinies with keynote general session speaker Patrice Frey, President and CEO of the National Main Street Center – 9-10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.
- Great Place to Live Townhall general session featuring Phil Power and the Center for Michigan’s Truth Tour – 11 am -12:15 p.m. Thursday.
- The New Localism: Utilizing Public, Private, and Civic Partnerships to Become a Change Engine general session featuring Bruce.Katz,.Co-Author, The New Localism, noon-1:45 Friday, Sept. 21
- Closing General Session about Civic Engagement Strategy: Inclusivity for the Win moderated by Carla Gribbs, Regional Manager, DTE Energy; and featuring Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor, Gary, Indiana; 1st Vice President, National League of Cities, 10:30-noon Saturday, Sept. 22
- Michigan Green Communities (MGC) Awards Lunch and Workshop, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Thursday
- Selection of the 2018-19 new League board members and board president and vice president, Friday, Sept. 21.
- Michigan Municipal League Foundation fund-raising event, Friday evening
- Michigan Association of Mayors breakfast and annual meeting, Friday morning.
- Michigan Women in Municipal Government meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Michigan Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Amazon: Michigan’s Wake Up Call or the Beginning of the End featuring the League’s Anthony Minghine and Khalil Rahal, assistant county executive, Wayne County, 2-3:15 p.m.Thursday.
- HR Up in Smoke: The Intersection between Marihuana legislation and empowerment law featuring Charles Mitchell, Senior Assistant City Attorney, City Attorney’s Office, Denver CO; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, State and Federal Affairs, Michigan Municipal League, 1:45-3:15 Thursday.
- Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act: Back to the Basics featuring Anne Seurynck, Attorney, Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Hit Them with Your Best Shot: Attracting Businesses and Developers featuring Katharine Czarnecki, Senior Vice President, Community Development, MEDC; Nicole Whitehead, Director, Sales & Service Operations, MEDC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Mobile workshops: Envision Ada: Transforming a Suburban Strip Commercial Center into an Integral Part of an Historic Village; All Around Downtown, Uptown, Eastown; New Urbanism in Practice; Viva la Avenida: Planning for a Cultural Corridor, all 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Unleash the Power of Small-Scale Manufacturing with Ilana Preuss, Recast City LLC, 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Creating Sustainable Retail Districts featuring Bobby Boone, AICP, LEED AP, Small Business Retail Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation; Martha Potere, AICP, Strategy and Special Projects Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, 3:30-4:45 p.m. Thursday
- Host City reception by Urban Metro Mayors and Managers at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, Thursday
- Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and the Blue Economy with speakers Tyler Kilfman, Planner, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG); Kevin Vettraino, AICP, Plan Implementation Manager, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), 9-10:15 a.m. Friday
- Fostering an Inclusive Community Environment Hosted by the Michigan Black Caucus with speakers : Lois Allen-Richardson, Councilmember, Ypsilanti; President, MBC-LEO; Oronde Miller, Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Stacy Stout, Assistant to the City Manager, Grand Rapids; Howard Walters, Program and Evaluation Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 9-noon Friday
- Mobility: The Community Conversation with speakers Sarah Latta Rainero, Regional Director, Community Assistance Team, Community Development, Michigan Economic Development Corporation; Tyler Bevier, Transportation Planner, Bay Area Transportation Authority; Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research, 9-10:30 am Friday
- CNU Rules for Great Places: The Project for Code Reform featuring Mary Madden, AICP, Principal, Ferrell Madden; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League; Heather Seyfarth, AICP, Community Engagement Specialist, Ann Arbor; Vice President, Michigan Association of Planning, 9-10:30 am Friday
- More mobile workshops: Explore: ArtPrize10; From Grand Rapids’ Downtown to Your Town: Idea Tour for Building Reuse; Vital Streets in Action Bike Tour; The Modern Orchard at Robinette’s Apple Haus and Winery, all are 9-noon Friday
- Master Planning: The Critical Role of Elected Leaders and the Planning Commission with speakers Adam Young, AICP, Senior Project Manager, Wade Trim; Chris McLeod, AICP, City Planner, Sterling Heights; Mark Vanderpool, City Manager, Sterling Heights, 10:45-noon Friday
- Social Media Pitfalls and Upsides for Communities with speakers Amy Snow-Buckner, Acting Managing Director of Communications, Grand Rapids; Matt Bach, Director, Communications, Michigan Municipal League; Jim Thorburn, Detective/Social Media Director, Allen Park Police Department, 10:45-noon Friday
- We Need More Parking! (But Do We Really?) with Tom Brown, Principle, Nelson\Nygaard; Bradley Strader, AICP, PTP, Transportation Planner, MKSK; Nicole VanNess, Manager, Traverse City DDA, 10:45-noon Friday
- Even more mobile workshops: Frederik Meijer Gardens; Terra Square and the Seeds of a New Downtown in Hudsonville; Under, Over, and All Around, all are 2-5 p.m. Friday
- Improving the Tone and Quality of our Civic Discourse with speakers John Bebow, President & CEO, The Center for Michigan/Bridge Magazine; Melanie Piana, Councilmember, Ferndale, Vice President, Michigan Municipal League Board, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- The Keys to Putting Ethics into Action with Christopher Johnson, General Counsel, Michigan Municipal League; Marlon Brown, Mayor Pro Tem, Mason; Michael McGee, Chief Executive Officer, Miller Canfield; Eleanor Siewert, Professional Registered Parliamentarian, Assignment: Effective Procedures, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- Smart, Accessible, Connected - this high-level panel discussion covers the future of cities in the context of advanced mobility technologies, including connected and automated vehicles, ridesharing, carsharing, ridehailing, mobility-as-a-service, and microtransit with speakers Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Speakers: Kelly Bartlett, Senior Policy & Legislative Advisor, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT); Zahra Bahrani Fard, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research; Dr. Jonathan Levine, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
The Power of the Wind: A Michigan Story with a focus on renewable energy featuring speakers Sarah Mills, Senior Project Manager, University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy; Emily Palacios, Principal, Miller Canfield, 2:15-3:45 p.m. Friday
- The Sky’s the Limit: Big Data, Drones, and the Internet of Things with Daniel Brooks, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Adrianna Jordan, AICP, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Zachary Halberd, Co-Founder, Quantifly, 3:45-5 p.m. Friday
It’s Budget Time. Do you Know Where Your Revenue Is? With John Hoppough, Mayor, Greenville; Jacob Kain, City Planner, Mount Pleasant; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League, Eilis Seide, Assistant to the City Manager, East Lansing, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22
Short Term Rentals: Trends, Impacts & Options with speakers Robert Monetza, Councilmember, Grand Haven; Ulrik Binzer, CEO, Host Compliance; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday
And yes even more mobile tours: Farmers Markets and Food Halls as Catalysts for Business and Real Estate Development; Restoring the Rapids: A Tour of Grand River Restoration Efforts, both 9-noon Friday
Photos of the 2018 Convention will be uploaded to flickr throughout the Convention can be downloaded from the League’s flickr page: flickr.com/photos/michigancommunities for free. We just ask that the following photo credit be given like this: Michigan Municipal League/mml.org. Thanks!
Michigan Municipal League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C., and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials; and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe), the agency’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On–Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) spacecraft atop stands vertical at Launch Complex 39A as the sun sets on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The missions will each focus on different effects of the solar wind — the continuous stream of particles emitted by the Sun — and space weather — the changing conditions in space driven by the Sun — from their origins at the Sun to their farthest reaches billions of miles away at the edge of our solar system. Photo credit: BAE Systems/Benjamin Fry
NASA image use policy.
More than 1,000 mayors, managers, community planners, locally elected officials and guests from throughout Michigan will descend on Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sept. 20-22 for the joint 2018 Michigan Municipal League and Michigan Association of Planning (MAP) convention. This is the first time ever the League and MAP have joined forces to combine their two annual fall conferences (the League’s Convention and MAP’s Planning Michigan Conference) into a single massive gathering. And it’s all happening during the 2018 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids. Most convention education sessions and trainings will take place in Amway Grand Hotel and DeVos Place, but there also is an extensive series of mobile workshops throughout the area that will put a spotlight on the positive things happening in the community.
The Convention is the League's premiere annual event and a chance to inform and highlight community accomplishments. The League is especially excited to be in Grand Rapids this year with MAP because the west-Michigan community has a lot of the placemaking assets the League has identified as making up vibrant communities, including walkability and physical design, arts and culture, economic development, entrepreneurship, strong education base and much more.
Both the League and MAP serve the education and advocacy needs of elected and appointed leaders and the staff that support them: managers and administrators, professional planners, and other city, village and township leaders that make up the teams that work in tandem to create vibrant, successful, and healthy communities. Because the League and MAP are collaborating on this event, we’ll have double the power to bring more of what our members want. Attendees have more breakout sessions, more topics, and more mobile tours to choose from than ever before.
The event View the Convention program here: blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2014/06/2018-Convention-Pro....
Other Convention highlights include:
- The official launch of the next phase of the SaveMICity municipal finance reform effort.
- The selection of the 2018 Community Excellence Award (CEA) winner. The CEA is the League’s most prestigious community award. The 12th annual CEA competition started earlier this year and is down to four final projects. The finalists will give presentations Thursday and Convention attendees will vote, with the winner announced Saturday (Sept. 22) morning. Go here to read a press release about the four finalists: www.mml.org/newsroom/press_releases/2018-8-6-Community-Ex... and checkout the CEA website here: cea.mml.org/.
- Michigan Municipal Executive (MME) Colloquium: Empowering Communities to Set Their Own Destinies with keynote general session speaker Patrice Frey, President and CEO of the National Main Street Center – 9-10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.
- Great Place to Live Townhall general session featuring Phil Power and the Center for Michigan’s Truth Tour – 11 am -12:15 p.m. Thursday.
- The New Localism: Utilizing Public, Private, and Civic Partnerships to Become a Change Engine general session featuring Bruce.Katz,.Co-Author, The New Localism, noon-1:45 Friday, Sept. 21
- Closing General Session about Civic Engagement Strategy: Inclusivity for the Win moderated by Carla Gribbs, Regional Manager, DTE Energy; and featuring Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor, Gary, Indiana; 1st Vice President, National League of Cities, 10:30-noon Saturday, Sept. 22
- Michigan Green Communities (MGC) Awards Lunch and Workshop, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Thursday
- Selection of the 2018-19 new League board members and board president and vice president, Friday, Sept. 21.
- Michigan Municipal League Foundation fund-raising event, Friday evening
- Michigan Association of Mayors breakfast and annual meeting, Friday morning.
- Michigan Women in Municipal Government meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Michigan Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Amazon: Michigan’s Wake Up Call or the Beginning of the End featuring the League’s Anthony Minghine and Khalil Rahal, assistant county executive, Wayne County, 2-3:15 p.m.Thursday.
- HR Up in Smoke: The Intersection between Marihuana legislation and empowerment law featuring Charles Mitchell, Senior Assistant City Attorney, City Attorney’s Office, Denver CO; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, State and Federal Affairs, Michigan Municipal League, 1:45-3:15 Thursday.
- Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act: Back to the Basics featuring Anne Seurynck, Attorney, Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Hit Them with Your Best Shot: Attracting Businesses and Developers featuring Katharine Czarnecki, Senior Vice President, Community Development, MEDC; Nicole Whitehead, Director, Sales & Service Operations, MEDC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Mobile workshops: Envision Ada: Transforming a Suburban Strip Commercial Center into an Integral Part of an Historic Village; All Around Downtown, Uptown, Eastown; New Urbanism in Practice; Viva la Avenida: Planning for a Cultural Corridor, all 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Unleash the Power of Small-Scale Manufacturing with Ilana Preuss, Recast City LLC, 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Creating Sustainable Retail Districts featuring Bobby Boone, AICP, LEED AP, Small Business Retail Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation; Martha Potere, AICP, Strategy and Special Projects Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, 3:30-4:45 p.m. Thursday
- Host City reception by Urban Metro Mayors and Managers at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, Thursday
- Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and the Blue Economy with speakers Tyler Kilfman, Planner, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG); Kevin Vettraino, AICP, Plan Implementation Manager, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), 9-10:15 a.m. Friday
- Fostering an Inclusive Community Environment Hosted by the Michigan Black Caucus with speakers : Lois Allen-Richardson, Councilmember, Ypsilanti; President, MBC-LEO; Oronde Miller, Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Stacy Stout, Assistant to the City Manager, Grand Rapids; Howard Walters, Program and Evaluation Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 9-noon Friday
- Mobility: The Community Conversation with speakers Sarah Latta Rainero, Regional Director, Community Assistance Team, Community Development, Michigan Economic Development Corporation; Tyler Bevier, Transportation Planner, Bay Area Transportation Authority; Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research, 9-10:30 am Friday
- CNU Rules for Great Places: The Project for Code Reform featuring Mary Madden, AICP, Principal, Ferrell Madden; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League; Heather Seyfarth, AICP, Community Engagement Specialist, Ann Arbor; Vice President, Michigan Association of Planning, 9-10:30 am Friday
- More mobile workshops: Explore: ArtPrize10; From Grand Rapids’ Downtown to Your Town: Idea Tour for Building Reuse; Vital Streets in Action Bike Tour; The Modern Orchard at Robinette’s Apple Haus and Winery, all are 9-noon Friday
- Master Planning: The Critical Role of Elected Leaders and the Planning Commission with speakers Adam Young, AICP, Senior Project Manager, Wade Trim; Chris McLeod, AICP, City Planner, Sterling Heights; Mark Vanderpool, City Manager, Sterling Heights, 10:45-noon Friday
- Social Media Pitfalls and Upsides for Communities with speakers Amy Snow-Buckner, Acting Managing Director of Communications, Grand Rapids; Matt Bach, Director, Communications, Michigan Municipal League; Jim Thorburn, Detective/Social Media Director, Allen Park Police Department, 10:45-noon Friday
- We Need More Parking! (But Do We Really?) with Tom Brown, Principle, Nelson\Nygaard; Bradley Strader, AICP, PTP, Transportation Planner, MKSK; Nicole VanNess, Manager, Traverse City DDA, 10:45-noon Friday
- Even more mobile workshops: Frederik Meijer Gardens; Terra Square and the Seeds of a New Downtown in Hudsonville; Under, Over, and All Around, all are 2-5 p.m. Friday
- Improving the Tone and Quality of our Civic Discourse with speakers John Bebow, President & CEO, The Center for Michigan/Bridge Magazine; Melanie Piana, Councilmember, Ferndale, Vice President, Michigan Municipal League Board, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- The Keys to Putting Ethics into Action with Christopher Johnson, General Counsel, Michigan Municipal League; Marlon Brown, Mayor Pro Tem, Mason; Michael McGee, Chief Executive Officer, Miller Canfield; Eleanor Siewert, Professional Registered Parliamentarian, Assignment: Effective Procedures, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- Smart, Accessible, Connected - this high-level panel discussion covers the future of cities in the context of advanced mobility technologies, including connected and automated vehicles, ridesharing, carsharing, ridehailing, mobility-as-a-service, and microtransit with speakers Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Speakers: Kelly Bartlett, Senior Policy & Legislative Advisor, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT); Zahra Bahrani Fard, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research; Dr. Jonathan Levine, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
The Power of the Wind: A Michigan Story with a focus on renewable energy featuring speakers Sarah Mills, Senior Project Manager, University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy; Emily Palacios, Principal, Miller Canfield, 2:15-3:45 p.m. Friday
- The Sky’s the Limit: Big Data, Drones, and the Internet of Things with Daniel Brooks, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Adrianna Jordan, AICP, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Zachary Halberd, Co-Founder, Quantifly, 3:45-5 p.m. Friday
It’s Budget Time. Do you Know Where Your Revenue Is? With John Hoppough, Mayor, Greenville; Jacob Kain, City Planner, Mount Pleasant; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League, Eilis Seide, Assistant to the City Manager, East Lansing, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22
Short Term Rentals: Trends, Impacts & Options with speakers Robert Monetza, Councilmember, Grand Haven; Ulrik Binzer, CEO, Host Compliance; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday
And yes even more mobile tours: Farmers Markets and Food Halls as Catalysts for Business and Real Estate Development; Restoring the Rapids: A Tour of Grand River Restoration Efforts, both 9-noon Friday
Photos of the 2018 Convention will be uploaded to flickr throughout the Convention can be downloaded from the League’s flickr page: flickr.com/photos/michigancommunities for free. We just ask that the following photo credit be given like this: Michigan Municipal League/mml.org. Thanks!
Michigan Municipal League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C., and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials; and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services.
View from entrance to Union Station Bus Terminal along H between First and Second Street, NE, Washington DC on Saturday morning, 24 August 2019 by Elvert Barnes Photography
LYFT passenger
LYFT Washington DC at www.lyft.com/cities/washington-dc
Trip to Philadelphia / Union Station Walk About Before MegaBus Departure
Elvert Barnes 11th PHILLY NAKED BIKE RIDE 2019 docu-project at elvertbarnes.com/PNBR2019.html
I'm wondering if those doing location shoots in #DFW are having issues with these #bikeshare rental bikes, such as VBikes, Ofo, LimeBike, & Mobike, being in your shots.
Are they impacting your shoots or are you having to waste time getting crew members to move them?
More than 1,000 mayors, managers, community planners, locally elected officials and guests from throughout Michigan will descend on Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sept. 20-22 for the joint 2018 Michigan Municipal League and Michigan Association of Planning (MAP) convention. This is the first time ever the League and MAP have joined forces to combine their two annual fall conferences (the League’s Convention and MAP’s Planning Michigan Conference) into a single massive gathering. And it’s all happening during the 2018 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids. Most convention education sessions and trainings will take place in Amway Grand Hotel and DeVos Place, but there also is an extensive series of mobile workshops throughout the area that will put a spotlight on the positive things happening in the community.
The Convention is the League's premiere annual event and a chance to inform and highlight community accomplishments. The League is especially excited to be in Grand Rapids this year with MAP because the west-Michigan community has a lot of the placemaking assets the League has identified as making up vibrant communities, including walkability and physical design, arts and culture, economic development, entrepreneurship, strong education base and much more.
Both the League and MAP serve the education and advocacy needs of elected and appointed leaders and the staff that support them: managers and administrators, professional planners, and other city, village and township leaders that make up the teams that work in tandem to create vibrant, successful, and healthy communities. Because the League and MAP are collaborating on this event, we’ll have double the power to bring more of what our members want. Attendees have more breakout sessions, more topics, and more mobile tours to choose from than ever before.
The event View the Convention program here: blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2014/06/2018-Convention-Pro....
Other Convention highlights include:
- The official launch of the next phase of the SaveMICity municipal finance reform effort.
- The selection of the 2018 Community Excellence Award (CEA) winner. The CEA is the League’s most prestigious community award. The 12th annual CEA competition started earlier this year and is down to four final projects. The finalists will give presentations Thursday and Convention attendees will vote, with the winner announced Saturday (Sept. 22) morning. Go here to read a press release about the four finalists: www.mml.org/newsroom/press_releases/2018-8-6-Community-Ex... and checkout the CEA website here: cea.mml.org/.
- Michigan Municipal Executive (MME) Colloquium: Empowering Communities to Set Their Own Destinies with keynote general session speaker Patrice Frey, President and CEO of the National Main Street Center – 9-10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.
- Great Place to Live Townhall general session featuring Phil Power and the Center for Michigan’s Truth Tour – 11 am -12:15 p.m. Thursday.
- The New Localism: Utilizing Public, Private, and Civic Partnerships to Become a Change Engine general session featuring Bruce.Katz,.Co-Author, The New Localism, noon-1:45 Friday, Sept. 21
- Closing General Session about Civic Engagement Strategy: Inclusivity for the Win moderated by Carla Gribbs, Regional Manager, DTE Energy; and featuring Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor, Gary, Indiana; 1st Vice President, National League of Cities, 10:30-noon Saturday, Sept. 22
- Michigan Green Communities (MGC) Awards Lunch and Workshop, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Thursday
- Selection of the 2018-19 new League board members and board president and vice president, Friday, Sept. 21.
- Michigan Municipal League Foundation fund-raising event, Friday evening
- Michigan Association of Mayors breakfast and annual meeting, Friday morning.
- Michigan Women in Municipal Government meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Michigan Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Amazon: Michigan’s Wake Up Call or the Beginning of the End featuring the League’s Anthony Minghine and Khalil Rahal, assistant county executive, Wayne County, 2-3:15 p.m.Thursday.
- HR Up in Smoke: The Intersection between Marihuana legislation and empowerment law featuring Charles Mitchell, Senior Assistant City Attorney, City Attorney’s Office, Denver CO; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, State and Federal Affairs, Michigan Municipal League, 1:45-3:15 Thursday.
- Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act: Back to the Basics featuring Anne Seurynck, Attorney, Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Hit Them with Your Best Shot: Attracting Businesses and Developers featuring Katharine Czarnecki, Senior Vice President, Community Development, MEDC; Nicole Whitehead, Director, Sales & Service Operations, MEDC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Mobile workshops: Envision Ada: Transforming a Suburban Strip Commercial Center into an Integral Part of an Historic Village; All Around Downtown, Uptown, Eastown; New Urbanism in Practice; Viva la Avenida: Planning for a Cultural Corridor, all 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Unleash the Power of Small-Scale Manufacturing with Ilana Preuss, Recast City LLC, 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Creating Sustainable Retail Districts featuring Bobby Boone, AICP, LEED AP, Small Business Retail Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation; Martha Potere, AICP, Strategy and Special Projects Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, 3:30-4:45 p.m. Thursday
- Host City reception by Urban Metro Mayors and Managers at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, Thursday
- Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and the Blue Economy with speakers Tyler Kilfman, Planner, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG); Kevin Vettraino, AICP, Plan Implementation Manager, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), 9-10:15 a.m. Friday
- Fostering an Inclusive Community Environment Hosted by the Michigan Black Caucus with speakers : Lois Allen-Richardson, Councilmember, Ypsilanti; President, MBC-LEO; Oronde Miller, Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Stacy Stout, Assistant to the City Manager, Grand Rapids; Howard Walters, Program and Evaluation Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 9-noon Friday
- Mobility: The Community Conversation with speakers Sarah Latta Rainero, Regional Director, Community Assistance Team, Community Development, Michigan Economic Development Corporation; Tyler Bevier, Transportation Planner, Bay Area Transportation Authority; Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research, 9-10:30 am Friday
- CNU Rules for Great Places: The Project for Code Reform featuring Mary Madden, AICP, Principal, Ferrell Madden; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League; Heather Seyfarth, AICP, Community Engagement Specialist, Ann Arbor; Vice President, Michigan Association of Planning, 9-10:30 am Friday
- More mobile workshops: Explore: ArtPrize10; From Grand Rapids’ Downtown to Your Town: Idea Tour for Building Reuse; Vital Streets in Action Bike Tour; The Modern Orchard at Robinette’s Apple Haus and Winery, all are 9-noon Friday
- Master Planning: The Critical Role of Elected Leaders and the Planning Commission with speakers Adam Young, AICP, Senior Project Manager, Wade Trim; Chris McLeod, AICP, City Planner, Sterling Heights; Mark Vanderpool, City Manager, Sterling Heights, 10:45-noon Friday
- Social Media Pitfalls and Upsides for Communities with speakers Amy Snow-Buckner, Acting Managing Director of Communications, Grand Rapids; Matt Bach, Director, Communications, Michigan Municipal League; Jim Thorburn, Detective/Social Media Director, Allen Park Police Department, 10:45-noon Friday
- We Need More Parking! (But Do We Really?) with Tom Brown, Principle, Nelson\Nygaard; Bradley Strader, AICP, PTP, Transportation Planner, MKSK; Nicole VanNess, Manager, Traverse City DDA, 10:45-noon Friday
- Even more mobile workshops: Frederik Meijer Gardens; Terra Square and the Seeds of a New Downtown in Hudsonville; Under, Over, and All Around, all are 2-5 p.m. Friday
- Improving the Tone and Quality of our Civic Discourse with speakers John Bebow, President & CEO, The Center for Michigan/Bridge Magazine; Melanie Piana, Councilmember, Ferndale, Vice President, Michigan Municipal League Board, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- The Keys to Putting Ethics into Action with Christopher Johnson, General Counsel, Michigan Municipal League; Marlon Brown, Mayor Pro Tem, Mason; Michael McGee, Chief Executive Officer, Miller Canfield; Eleanor Siewert, Professional Registered Parliamentarian, Assignment: Effective Procedures, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- Smart, Accessible, Connected - this high-level panel discussion covers the future of cities in the context of advanced mobility technologies, including connected and automated vehicles, ridesharing, carsharing, ridehailing, mobility-as-a-service, and microtransit with speakers Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Speakers: Kelly Bartlett, Senior Policy & Legislative Advisor, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT); Zahra Bahrani Fard, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research; Dr. Jonathan Levine, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
The Power of the Wind: A Michigan Story with a focus on renewable energy featuring speakers Sarah Mills, Senior Project Manager, University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy; Emily Palacios, Principal, Miller Canfield, 2:15-3:45 p.m. Friday
- The Sky’s the Limit: Big Data, Drones, and the Internet of Things with Daniel Brooks, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Adrianna Jordan, AICP, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Zachary Halberd, Co-Founder, Quantifly, 3:45-5 p.m. Friday
It’s Budget Time. Do you Know Where Your Revenue Is? With John Hoppough, Mayor, Greenville; Jacob Kain, City Planner, Mount Pleasant; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League, Eilis Seide, Assistant to the City Manager, East Lansing, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22
Short Term Rentals: Trends, Impacts & Options with speakers Robert Monetza, Councilmember, Grand Haven; Ulrik Binzer, CEO, Host Compliance; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday
And yes even more mobile tours: Farmers Markets and Food Halls as Catalysts for Business and Real Estate Development; Restoring the Rapids: A Tour of Grand River Restoration Efforts, both 9-noon Friday
Photos of the 2018 Convention will be uploaded to flickr throughout the Convention can be downloaded from the League’s flickr page: flickr.com/photos/michigancommunities for free. We just ask that the following photo credit be given like this: Michigan Municipal League/mml.org. Thanks!
Michigan Municipal League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C., and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials; and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services.
More than 1,000 mayors, managers, community planners, locally elected officials and guests from throughout Michigan will descend on Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sept. 20-22 for the joint 2018 Michigan Municipal League and Michigan Association of Planning (MAP) convention. This is the first time ever the League and MAP have joined forces to combine their two annual fall conferences (the League’s Convention and MAP’s Planning Michigan Conference) into a single massive gathering. And it’s all happening during the 2018 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids. Most convention education sessions and trainings will take place in Amway Grand Hotel and DeVos Place, but there also is an extensive series of mobile workshops throughout the area that will put a spotlight on the positive things happening in the community.
The Convention is the League's premiere annual event and a chance to inform and highlight community accomplishments. The League is especially excited to be in Grand Rapids this year with MAP because the west-Michigan community has a lot of the placemaking assets the League has identified as making up vibrant communities, including walkability and physical design, arts and culture, economic development, entrepreneurship, strong education base and much more.
Both the League and MAP serve the education and advocacy needs of elected and appointed leaders and the staff that support them: managers and administrators, professional planners, and other city, village and township leaders that make up the teams that work in tandem to create vibrant, successful, and healthy communities. Because the League and MAP are collaborating on this event, we’ll have double the power to bring more of what our members want. Attendees have more breakout sessions, more topics, and more mobile tours to choose from than ever before.
The event View the Convention program here: blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2014/06/2018-Convention-Pro....
Other Convention highlights include:
- The official launch of the next phase of the SaveMICity municipal finance reform effort.
- The selection of the 2018 Community Excellence Award (CEA) winner. The CEA is the League’s most prestigious community award. The 12th annual CEA competition started earlier this year and is down to four final projects. The finalists will give presentations Thursday and Convention attendees will vote, with the winner announced Saturday (Sept. 22) morning. Go here to read a press release about the four finalists: www.mml.org/newsroom/press_releases/2018-8-6-Community-Ex... and checkout the CEA website here: cea.mml.org/.
- Michigan Municipal Executive (MME) Colloquium: Empowering Communities to Set Their Own Destinies with keynote general session speaker Patrice Frey, President and CEO of the National Main Street Center – 9-10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.
- Great Place to Live Townhall general session featuring Phil Power and the Center for Michigan’s Truth Tour – 11 am -12:15 p.m. Thursday.
- The New Localism: Utilizing Public, Private, and Civic Partnerships to Become a Change Engine general session featuring Bruce.Katz,.Co-Author, The New Localism, noon-1:45 Friday, Sept. 21
- Closing General Session about Civic Engagement Strategy: Inclusivity for the Win moderated by Carla Gribbs, Regional Manager, DTE Energy; and featuring Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor, Gary, Indiana; 1st Vice President, National League of Cities, 10:30-noon Saturday, Sept. 22
- Michigan Green Communities (MGC) Awards Lunch and Workshop, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Thursday
- Selection of the 2018-19 new League board members and board president and vice president, Friday, Sept. 21.
- Michigan Municipal League Foundation fund-raising event, Friday evening
- Michigan Association of Mayors breakfast and annual meeting, Friday morning.
- Michigan Women in Municipal Government meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Michigan Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Amazon: Michigan’s Wake Up Call or the Beginning of the End featuring the League’s Anthony Minghine and Khalil Rahal, assistant county executive, Wayne County, 2-3:15 p.m.Thursday.
- HR Up in Smoke: The Intersection between Marihuana legislation and empowerment law featuring Charles Mitchell, Senior Assistant City Attorney, City Attorney’s Office, Denver CO; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, State and Federal Affairs, Michigan Municipal League, 1:45-3:15 Thursday.
- Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act: Back to the Basics featuring Anne Seurynck, Attorney, Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Hit Them with Your Best Shot: Attracting Businesses and Developers featuring Katharine Czarnecki, Senior Vice President, Community Development, MEDC; Nicole Whitehead, Director, Sales & Service Operations, MEDC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Mobile workshops: Envision Ada: Transforming a Suburban Strip Commercial Center into an Integral Part of an Historic Village; All Around Downtown, Uptown, Eastown; New Urbanism in Practice; Viva la Avenida: Planning for a Cultural Corridor, all 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Unleash the Power of Small-Scale Manufacturing with Ilana Preuss, Recast City LLC, 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Creating Sustainable Retail Districts featuring Bobby Boone, AICP, LEED AP, Small Business Retail Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation; Martha Potere, AICP, Strategy and Special Projects Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, 3:30-4:45 p.m. Thursday
- Host City reception by Urban Metro Mayors and Managers at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, Thursday
- Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and the Blue Economy with speakers Tyler Kilfman, Planner, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG); Kevin Vettraino, AICP, Plan Implementation Manager, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), 9-10:15 a.m. Friday
- Fostering an Inclusive Community Environment Hosted by the Michigan Black Caucus with speakers : Lois Allen-Richardson, Councilmember, Ypsilanti; President, MBC-LEO; Oronde Miller, Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Stacy Stout, Assistant to the City Manager, Grand Rapids; Howard Walters, Program and Evaluation Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 9-noon Friday
- Mobility: The Community Conversation with speakers Sarah Latta Rainero, Regional Director, Community Assistance Team, Community Development, Michigan Economic Development Corporation; Tyler Bevier, Transportation Planner, Bay Area Transportation Authority; Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research, 9-10:30 am Friday
- CNU Rules for Great Places: The Project for Code Reform featuring Mary Madden, AICP, Principal, Ferrell Madden; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League; Heather Seyfarth, AICP, Community Engagement Specialist, Ann Arbor; Vice President, Michigan Association of Planning, 9-10:30 am Friday
- More mobile workshops: Explore: ArtPrize10; From Grand Rapids’ Downtown to Your Town: Idea Tour for Building Reuse; Vital Streets in Action Bike Tour; The Modern Orchard at Robinette’s Apple Haus and Winery, all are 9-noon Friday
- Master Planning: The Critical Role of Elected Leaders and the Planning Commission with speakers Adam Young, AICP, Senior Project Manager, Wade Trim; Chris McLeod, AICP, City Planner, Sterling Heights; Mark Vanderpool, City Manager, Sterling Heights, 10:45-noon Friday
- Social Media Pitfalls and Upsides for Communities with speakers Amy Snow-Buckner, Acting Managing Director of Communications, Grand Rapids; Matt Bach, Director, Communications, Michigan Municipal League; Jim Thorburn, Detective/Social Media Director, Allen Park Police Department, 10:45-noon Friday
- We Need More Parking! (But Do We Really?) with Tom Brown, Principle, Nelson\Nygaard; Bradley Strader, AICP, PTP, Transportation Planner, MKSK; Nicole VanNess, Manager, Traverse City DDA, 10:45-noon Friday
- Even more mobile workshops: Frederik Meijer Gardens; Terra Square and the Seeds of a New Downtown in Hudsonville; Under, Over, and All Around, all are 2-5 p.m. Friday
- Improving the Tone and Quality of our Civic Discourse with speakers John Bebow, President & CEO, The Center for Michigan/Bridge Magazine; Melanie Piana, Councilmember, Ferndale, Vice President, Michigan Municipal League Board, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- The Keys to Putting Ethics into Action with Christopher Johnson, General Counsel, Michigan Municipal League; Marlon Brown, Mayor Pro Tem, Mason; Michael McGee, Chief Executive Officer, Miller Canfield; Eleanor Siewert, Professional Registered Parliamentarian, Assignment: Effective Procedures, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- Smart, Accessible, Connected - this high-level panel discussion covers the future of cities in the context of advanced mobility technologies, including connected and automated vehicles, ridesharing, carsharing, ridehailing, mobility-as-a-service, and microtransit with speakers Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Speakers: Kelly Bartlett, Senior Policy & Legislative Advisor, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT); Zahra Bahrani Fard, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research; Dr. Jonathan Levine, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
The Power of the Wind: A Michigan Story with a focus on renewable energy featuring speakers Sarah Mills, Senior Project Manager, University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy; Emily Palacios, Principal, Miller Canfield, 2:15-3:45 p.m. Friday
- The Sky’s the Limit: Big Data, Drones, and the Internet of Things with Daniel Brooks, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Adrianna Jordan, AICP, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Zachary Halberd, Co-Founder, Quantifly, 3:45-5 p.m. Friday
It’s Budget Time. Do you Know Where Your Revenue Is? With John Hoppough, Mayor, Greenville; Jacob Kain, City Planner, Mount Pleasant; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League, Eilis Seide, Assistant to the City Manager, East Lansing, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22
Short Term Rentals: Trends, Impacts & Options with speakers Robert Monetza, Councilmember, Grand Haven; Ulrik Binzer, CEO, Host Compliance; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday
And yes even more mobile tours: Farmers Markets and Food Halls as Catalysts for Business and Real Estate Development; Restoring the Rapids: A Tour of Grand River Restoration Efforts, both 9-noon Friday
Photos of the 2018 Convention will be uploaded to flickr throughout the Convention can be downloaded from the League’s flickr page: flickr.com/photos/michigancommunities for free. We just ask that the following photo credit be given like this: Michigan Municipal League/mml.org. Thanks!
Michigan Municipal League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C., and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials; and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services.
More than 1,000 mayors, managers, community planners, locally elected officials and guests from throughout Michigan will descend on Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sept. 20-22 for the joint 2018 Michigan Municipal League and Michigan Association of Planning (MAP) convention. This is the first time ever the League and MAP have joined forces to combine their two annual fall conferences (the League’s Convention and MAP’s Planning Michigan Conference) into a single massive gathering. And it’s all happening during the 2018 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids. Most convention education sessions and trainings will take place in Amway Grand Hotel and DeVos Place, but there also is an extensive series of mobile workshops throughout the area that will put a spotlight on the positive things happening in the community.
The Convention is the League's premiere annual event and a chance to inform and highlight community accomplishments. The League is especially excited to be in Grand Rapids this year with MAP because the west-Michigan community has a lot of the placemaking assets the League has identified as making up vibrant communities, including walkability and physical design, arts and culture, economic development, entrepreneurship, strong education base and much more.
Both the League and MAP serve the education and advocacy needs of elected and appointed leaders and the staff that support them: managers and administrators, professional planners, and other city, village and township leaders that make up the teams that work in tandem to create vibrant, successful, and healthy communities. Because the League and MAP are collaborating on this event, we’ll have double the power to bring more of what our members want. Attendees have more breakout sessions, more topics, and more mobile tours to choose from than ever before.
The event View the Convention program here: blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2014/06/2018-Convention-Pro....
Other Convention highlights include:
- The official launch of the next phase of the SaveMICity municipal finance reform effort.
- The selection of the 2018 Community Excellence Award (CEA) winner. The CEA is the League’s most prestigious community award. The 12th annual CEA competition started earlier this year and is down to four final projects. The finalists will give presentations Thursday and Convention attendees will vote, with the winner announced Saturday (Sept. 22) morning. Go here to read a press release about the four finalists: www.mml.org/newsroom/press_releases/2018-8-6-Community-Ex... and checkout the CEA website here: cea.mml.org/.
- Michigan Municipal Executive (MME) Colloquium: Empowering Communities to Set Their Own Destinies with keynote general session speaker Patrice Frey, President and CEO of the National Main Street Center – 9-10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.
- Great Place to Live Townhall general session featuring Phil Power and the Center for Michigan’s Truth Tour – 11 am -12:15 p.m. Thursday.
- The New Localism: Utilizing Public, Private, and Civic Partnerships to Become a Change Engine general session featuring Bruce.Katz,.Co-Author, The New Localism, noon-1:45 Friday, Sept. 21
- Closing General Session about Civic Engagement Strategy: Inclusivity for the Win moderated by Carla Gribbs, Regional Manager, DTE Energy; and featuring Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor, Gary, Indiana; 1st Vice President, National League of Cities, 10:30-noon Saturday, Sept. 22
- Michigan Green Communities (MGC) Awards Lunch and Workshop, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Thursday
- Selection of the 2018-19 new League board members and board president and vice president, Friday, Sept. 21.
- Michigan Municipal League Foundation fund-raising event, Friday evening
- Michigan Association of Mayors breakfast and annual meeting, Friday morning.
- Michigan Women in Municipal Government meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Michigan Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Amazon: Michigan’s Wake Up Call or the Beginning of the End featuring the League’s Anthony Minghine and Khalil Rahal, assistant county executive, Wayne County, 2-3:15 p.m.Thursday.
- HR Up in Smoke: The Intersection between Marihuana legislation and empowerment law featuring Charles Mitchell, Senior Assistant City Attorney, City Attorney’s Office, Denver CO; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, State and Federal Affairs, Michigan Municipal League, 1:45-3:15 Thursday.
- Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act: Back to the Basics featuring Anne Seurynck, Attorney, Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Hit Them with Your Best Shot: Attracting Businesses and Developers featuring Katharine Czarnecki, Senior Vice President, Community Development, MEDC; Nicole Whitehead, Director, Sales & Service Operations, MEDC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Mobile workshops: Envision Ada: Transforming a Suburban Strip Commercial Center into an Integral Part of an Historic Village; All Around Downtown, Uptown, Eastown; New Urbanism in Practice; Viva la Avenida: Planning for a Cultural Corridor, all 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Unleash the Power of Small-Scale Manufacturing with Ilana Preuss, Recast City LLC, 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Creating Sustainable Retail Districts featuring Bobby Boone, AICP, LEED AP, Small Business Retail Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation; Martha Potere, AICP, Strategy and Special Projects Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, 3:30-4:45 p.m. Thursday
- Host City reception by Urban Metro Mayors and Managers at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, Thursday
- Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and the Blue Economy with speakers Tyler Kilfman, Planner, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG); Kevin Vettraino, AICP, Plan Implementation Manager, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), 9-10:15 a.m. Friday
- Fostering an Inclusive Community Environment Hosted by the Michigan Black Caucus with speakers : Lois Allen-Richardson, Councilmember, Ypsilanti; President, MBC-LEO; Oronde Miller, Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Stacy Stout, Assistant to the City Manager, Grand Rapids; Howard Walters, Program and Evaluation Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 9-noon Friday
- Mobility: The Community Conversation with speakers Sarah Latta Rainero, Regional Director, Community Assistance Team, Community Development, Michigan Economic Development Corporation; Tyler Bevier, Transportation Planner, Bay Area Transportation Authority; Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research, 9-10:30 am Friday
- CNU Rules for Great Places: The Project for Code Reform featuring Mary Madden, AICP, Principal, Ferrell Madden; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League; Heather Seyfarth, AICP, Community Engagement Specialist, Ann Arbor; Vice President, Michigan Association of Planning, 9-10:30 am Friday
- More mobile workshops: Explore: ArtPrize10; From Grand Rapids’ Downtown to Your Town: Idea Tour for Building Reuse; Vital Streets in Action Bike Tour; The Modern Orchard at Robinette’s Apple Haus and Winery, all are 9-noon Friday
- Master Planning: The Critical Role of Elected Leaders and the Planning Commission with speakers Adam Young, AICP, Senior Project Manager, Wade Trim; Chris McLeod, AICP, City Planner, Sterling Heights; Mark Vanderpool, City Manager, Sterling Heights, 10:45-noon Friday
- Social Media Pitfalls and Upsides for Communities with speakers Amy Snow-Buckner, Acting Managing Director of Communications, Grand Rapids; Matt Bach, Director, Communications, Michigan Municipal League; Jim Thorburn, Detective/Social Media Director, Allen Park Police Department, 10:45-noon Friday
- We Need More Parking! (But Do We Really?) with Tom Brown, Principle, Nelson\Nygaard; Bradley Strader, AICP, PTP, Transportation Planner, MKSK; Nicole VanNess, Manager, Traverse City DDA, 10:45-noon Friday
- Even more mobile workshops: Frederik Meijer Gardens; Terra Square and the Seeds of a New Downtown in Hudsonville; Under, Over, and All Around, all are 2-5 p.m. Friday
- Improving the Tone and Quality of our Civic Discourse with speakers John Bebow, President & CEO, The Center for Michigan/Bridge Magazine; Melanie Piana, Councilmember, Ferndale, Vice President, Michigan Municipal League Board, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- The Keys to Putting Ethics into Action with Christopher Johnson, General Counsel, Michigan Municipal League; Marlon Brown, Mayor Pro Tem, Mason; Michael McGee, Chief Executive Officer, Miller Canfield; Eleanor Siewert, Professional Registered Parliamentarian, Assignment: Effective Procedures, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- Smart, Accessible, Connected - this high-level panel discussion covers the future of cities in the context of advanced mobility technologies, including connected and automated vehicles, ridesharing, carsharing, ridehailing, mobility-as-a-service, and microtransit with speakers Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Speakers: Kelly Bartlett, Senior Policy & Legislative Advisor, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT); Zahra Bahrani Fard, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research; Dr. Jonathan Levine, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
The Power of the Wind: A Michigan Story with a focus on renewable energy featuring speakers Sarah Mills, Senior Project Manager, University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy; Emily Palacios, Principal, Miller Canfield, 2:15-3:45 p.m. Friday
- The Sky’s the Limit: Big Data, Drones, and the Internet of Things with Daniel Brooks, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Adrianna Jordan, AICP, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Zachary Halberd, Co-Founder, Quantifly, 3:45-5 p.m. Friday
It’s Budget Time. Do you Know Where Your Revenue Is? With John Hoppough, Mayor, Greenville; Jacob Kain, City Planner, Mount Pleasant; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League, Eilis Seide, Assistant to the City Manager, East Lansing, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22
Short Term Rentals: Trends, Impacts & Options with speakers Robert Monetza, Councilmember, Grand Haven; Ulrik Binzer, CEO, Host Compliance; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday
And yes even more mobile tours: Farmers Markets and Food Halls as Catalysts for Business and Real Estate Development; Restoring the Rapids: A Tour of Grand River Restoration Efforts, both 9-noon Friday
Photos of the 2018 Convention will be uploaded to flickr throughout the Convention can be downloaded from the League’s flickr page: flickr.com/photos/michigancommunities for free. We just ask that the following photo credit be given like this: Michigan Municipal League/mml.org. Thanks!
Michigan Municipal League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C., and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials; and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services.
More than 1,000 mayors, managers, community planners, locally elected officials and guests from throughout Michigan will descend on Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sept. 20-22 for the joint 2018 Michigan Municipal League and Michigan Association of Planning (MAP) convention. This is the first time ever the League and MAP have joined forces to combine their two annual fall conferences (the League’s Convention and MAP’s Planning Michigan Conference) into a single massive gathering. And it’s all happening during the 2018 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids. Most convention education sessions and trainings will take place in Amway Grand Hotel and DeVos Place, but there also is an extensive series of mobile workshops throughout the area that will put a spotlight on the positive things happening in the community.
The Convention is the League's premiere annual event and a chance to inform and highlight community accomplishments. The League is especially excited to be in Grand Rapids this year with MAP because the west-Michigan community has a lot of the placemaking assets the League has identified as making up vibrant communities, including walkability and physical design, arts and culture, economic development, entrepreneurship, strong education base and much more.
Both the League and MAP serve the education and advocacy needs of elected and appointed leaders and the staff that support them: managers and administrators, professional planners, and other city, village and township leaders that make up the teams that work in tandem to create vibrant, successful, and healthy communities. Because the League and MAP are collaborating on this event, we’ll have double the power to bring more of what our members want. Attendees have more breakout sessions, more topics, and more mobile tours to choose from than ever before.
The event View the Convention program here: blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2014/06/2018-Convention-Pro....
Other Convention highlights include:
- The official launch of the next phase of the SaveMICity municipal finance reform effort.
- The selection of the 2018 Community Excellence Award (CEA) winner. The CEA is the League’s most prestigious community award. The 12th annual CEA competition started earlier this year and is down to four final projects. The finalists will give presentations Thursday and Convention attendees will vote, with the winner announced Saturday (Sept. 22) morning. Go here to read a press release about the four finalists: www.mml.org/newsroom/press_releases/2018-8-6-Community-Ex... and checkout the CEA website here: cea.mml.org/.
- Michigan Municipal Executive (MME) Colloquium: Empowering Communities to Set Their Own Destinies with keynote general session speaker Patrice Frey, President and CEO of the National Main Street Center – 9-10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.
- Great Place to Live Townhall general session featuring Phil Power and the Center for Michigan’s Truth Tour – 11 am -12:15 p.m. Thursday.
- The New Localism: Utilizing Public, Private, and Civic Partnerships to Become a Change Engine general session featuring Bruce.Katz,.Co-Author, The New Localism, noon-1:45 Friday, Sept. 21
- Closing General Session about Civic Engagement Strategy: Inclusivity for the Win moderated by Carla Gribbs, Regional Manager, DTE Energy; and featuring Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor, Gary, Indiana; 1st Vice President, National League of Cities, 10:30-noon Saturday, Sept. 22
- Michigan Green Communities (MGC) Awards Lunch and Workshop, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Thursday
- Selection of the 2018-19 new League board members and board president and vice president, Friday, Sept. 21.
- Michigan Municipal League Foundation fund-raising event, Friday evening
- Michigan Association of Mayors breakfast and annual meeting, Friday morning.
- Michigan Women in Municipal Government meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Michigan Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Amazon: Michigan’s Wake Up Call or the Beginning of the End featuring the League’s Anthony Minghine and Khalil Rahal, assistant county executive, Wayne County, 2-3:15 p.m.Thursday.
- HR Up in Smoke: The Intersection between Marihuana legislation and empowerment law featuring Charles Mitchell, Senior Assistant City Attorney, City Attorney’s Office, Denver CO; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, State and Federal Affairs, Michigan Municipal League, 1:45-3:15 Thursday.
- Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act: Back to the Basics featuring Anne Seurynck, Attorney, Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Hit Them with Your Best Shot: Attracting Businesses and Developers featuring Katharine Czarnecki, Senior Vice President, Community Development, MEDC; Nicole Whitehead, Director, Sales & Service Operations, MEDC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Mobile workshops: Envision Ada: Transforming a Suburban Strip Commercial Center into an Integral Part of an Historic Village; All Around Downtown, Uptown, Eastown; New Urbanism in Practice; Viva la Avenida: Planning for a Cultural Corridor, all 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Unleash the Power of Small-Scale Manufacturing with Ilana Preuss, Recast City LLC, 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Creating Sustainable Retail Districts featuring Bobby Boone, AICP, LEED AP, Small Business Retail Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation; Martha Potere, AICP, Strategy and Special Projects Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, 3:30-4:45 p.m. Thursday
- Host City reception by Urban Metro Mayors and Managers at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, Thursday
- Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and the Blue Economy with speakers Tyler Kilfman, Planner, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG); Kevin Vettraino, AICP, Plan Implementation Manager, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), 9-10:15 a.m. Friday
- Fostering an Inclusive Community Environment Hosted by the Michigan Black Caucus with speakers : Lois Allen-Richardson, Councilmember, Ypsilanti; President, MBC-LEO; Oronde Miller, Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Stacy Stout, Assistant to the City Manager, Grand Rapids; Howard Walters, Program and Evaluation Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 9-noon Friday
- Mobility: The Community Conversation with speakers Sarah Latta Rainero, Regional Director, Community Assistance Team, Community Development, Michigan Economic Development Corporation; Tyler Bevier, Transportation Planner, Bay Area Transportation Authority; Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research, 9-10:30 am Friday
- CNU Rules for Great Places: The Project for Code Reform featuring Mary Madden, AICP, Principal, Ferrell Madden; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League; Heather Seyfarth, AICP, Community Engagement Specialist, Ann Arbor; Vice President, Michigan Association of Planning, 9-10:30 am Friday
- More mobile workshops: Explore: ArtPrize10; From Grand Rapids’ Downtown to Your Town: Idea Tour for Building Reuse; Vital Streets in Action Bike Tour; The Modern Orchard at Robinette’s Apple Haus and Winery, all are 9-noon Friday
- Master Planning: The Critical Role of Elected Leaders and the Planning Commission with speakers Adam Young, AICP, Senior Project Manager, Wade Trim; Chris McLeod, AICP, City Planner, Sterling Heights; Mark Vanderpool, City Manager, Sterling Heights, 10:45-noon Friday
- Social Media Pitfalls and Upsides for Communities with speakers Amy Snow-Buckner, Acting Managing Director of Communications, Grand Rapids; Matt Bach, Director, Communications, Michigan Municipal League; Jim Thorburn, Detective/Social Media Director, Allen Park Police Department, 10:45-noon Friday
- We Need More Parking! (But Do We Really?) with Tom Brown, Principle, Nelson\Nygaard; Bradley Strader, AICP, PTP, Transportation Planner, MKSK; Nicole VanNess, Manager, Traverse City DDA, 10:45-noon Friday
- Even more mobile workshops: Frederik Meijer Gardens; Terra Square and the Seeds of a New Downtown in Hudsonville; Under, Over, and All Around, all are 2-5 p.m. Friday
- Improving the Tone and Quality of our Civic Discourse with speakers John Bebow, President & CEO, The Center for Michigan/Bridge Magazine; Melanie Piana, Councilmember, Ferndale, Vice President, Michigan Municipal League Board, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- The Keys to Putting Ethics into Action with Christopher Johnson, General Counsel, Michigan Municipal League; Marlon Brown, Mayor Pro Tem, Mason; Michael McGee, Chief Executive Officer, Miller Canfield; Eleanor Siewert, Professional Registered Parliamentarian, Assignment: Effective Procedures, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- Smart, Accessible, Connected - this high-level panel discussion covers the future of cities in the context of advanced mobility technologies, including connected and automated vehicles, ridesharing, carsharing, ridehailing, mobility-as-a-service, and microtransit with speakers Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Speakers: Kelly Bartlett, Senior Policy & Legislative Advisor, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT); Zahra Bahrani Fard, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research; Dr. Jonathan Levine, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
The Power of the Wind: A Michigan Story with a focus on renewable energy featuring speakers Sarah Mills, Senior Project Manager, University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy; Emily Palacios, Principal, Miller Canfield, 2:15-3:45 p.m. Friday
- The Sky’s the Limit: Big Data, Drones, and the Internet of Things with Daniel Brooks, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Adrianna Jordan, AICP, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Zachary Halberd, Co-Founder, Quantifly, 3:45-5 p.m. Friday
It’s Budget Time. Do you Know Where Your Revenue Is? With John Hoppough, Mayor, Greenville; Jacob Kain, City Planner, Mount Pleasant; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League, Eilis Seide, Assistant to the City Manager, East Lansing, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22
Short Term Rentals: Trends, Impacts & Options with speakers Robert Monetza, Councilmember, Grand Haven; Ulrik Binzer, CEO, Host Compliance; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday
And yes even more mobile tours: Farmers Markets and Food Halls as Catalysts for Business and Real Estate Development; Restoring the Rapids: A Tour of Grand River Restoration Efforts, both 9-noon Friday
Photos of the 2018 Convention will be uploaded to flickr throughout the Convention can be downloaded from the League’s flickr page: flickr.com/photos/michigancommunities for free. We just ask that the following photo credit be given like this: Michigan Municipal League/mml.org. Thanks!
Michigan Municipal League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C., and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials; and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services.
On Wednesday, July 15, 2015 NYC DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and NYC MOPD Commissioner Victor Calise hosted the 3rd Annual Access to Independence Transportation Expo in NYC! Joined by Commissioner Meera Joshi of the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission, Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, the event celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Learn more here on.nyc.gov/1Jis3hx
Public television personality Huell Howser joins Metro cast members on the set of a photo shoot for new Rideshare campaign.
Image harvested from and more information found in the May 22, 2007 issue of MyMetro, the LACMTA employee news magazine:
libraryarchives.metro.net/DPGTL/employeenews/mymetro/2007...
Photo Caption: State Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald, State Parks Commissioner Rose Harvey, Assemblyman Steve Englebright , NYSDOT Regional Director Subi Chakraborti, State Parks Deputy Regional Director Brian Foley, Brookhaven Town Councilman Steve Fiore Rosenfeld President Charles McAteer and members of Friends of the Greenway (Three Village Trust), and NYSDOT project staff members gathered to celebrate the upcoming construction of the Setauket-Port Jefferson Station Multi-Use Path Phase II. 6/28/12
FOR RELEASE: IMMEDIATE CONTACT: Bill Reynolds
Friday, June 29, 2012 (518) 457-6400
STATE DOT AND PARKS COMMISSIONERS SPOTLIGHT LONG ISLAND BICYCLE PATH PROJECTS
New Paths at Jones Beach, Bethpage Park and Setauket to Add More Than 18 Miles to State’s 172 Miles of Bike Routes on Long Island
New York State Department of Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald and New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Commissioner Rose Harvey visited three new bicycle/multi-use path construction project sites on Long Island yesterday, highlighting the more than 18 miles of new paths being added to the State’s 172 miles of on- and off-road bike routes across the island. Approximately 24 percent of the state’s highways on Long Island, including most non-interstate and non-parkway roads, accommodate cyclists.
“The New York State Department of Transportation is about more than roads and
bridges,” Commissioner Joan McDonald said. “Governor Andrew Cuomo’s leadership on smart growth and sustainable development reinforces the critical role bicycle paths play in our multi-modal transportation system. We’re pleased to partner with the State Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation in expanding opportunities for cyclists and pedestrians, and encouraging them to enjoy all the natural beauty Long Island has to offer this summer.”
NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Commissioner Rose Harvey said, “Transportation and recreation often go hand in hand. With 18 miles of new multi-use paths, cyclists, runners, hikers and others will have even more opportunities to get out and explore Long Island’s beautiful landscape. I am grateful to Commissioner McDonald and the state Department of Transportation for their partnership in creating these tremendous new resources for safe and healthy recreation.”
Commissioners McDonald and Harvey were joined by bike enthusiasts and elected officials at the planned Ocean Parkway Jones Beach Bike Access Project site in Hempstead, Nassau County, and at two locations where multi-use paths are under construction: the Bethpage State Park Bikeway Expansion Project site in Oyster Bay, Nassau County, and the Setauket-Port Jefferson Multi-Use Path Project site in Brookhaven, Suffolk County. Combined, the three represent an estimated $11.5 million investment this year in new paths for pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles on Long Island.
Ocean Parkway-Jones Beach Access Multi-Use Path, Hempstead
The commissioners started their day in Hempstead at the proposed Ocean Parkway-Jones Beach Access Multi-Use Path, which will provide a vital 0.7 mile connection between the end of the 7.5-mile Wantagh State Parkway Multi-Use Path and the Jones Beach State Park East Bath House. It will be constructed through the Jones Beach Theater parking area to the pedestrian underpass, where new storage will be provided for 100 bicycles. The project contract is scheduled to be let this fall, with construction completed next spring at a cost of approximately $1 million.
State Senator Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr. said, “Many residents from all across Long Island ride, run, and walk on the Wantagh Parkway Bike Path every single day. This project will give them greater access to Jones Beach, which is the crown jewel of the state parks system, and provide a critical link to the planned Ocean Parkway Bike Path. I’m pleased New York State is making this investment to improve the bike path for all who use it.”
Assemblyman Dave McDonough said, “I am pleased that the New York State Department of Transportation and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation have come together to extend the bike path at beautiful Jones Beach which will have numerous benefits to our residents by increasing mobility and accessibility through Jones Beach Park by bicycle and increasing the health benefits of bicycling.”
Bethpage State Park Multi-Use Path Extension, Oyster Bay
The commissioners also viewed construction under way on the Bethpage State Park Multi-Use Path Extension in Oyster Bay. The project is extending the path six miles from a picnic area, through Trail View State Park to Woodbury Road. The existing path dates to the 1970s. An additional 2.4-mile on-road bike-access way is also being provided.
This project includes enhancements to a remnant of the original Long Island Motor Parkway and the installation of information kiosks, destination signs and new park-and-bike lots. The $6.5 million bikeway extension is being constructed by the United Fence and Guard Rail Corporation of Ronkonkoma under contract with NYSDOT.
State Senator Kemp Hannon said, “Trails and greenways make our communities more livable, preserve and restore open space, and provide opportunities for physical activity to improve fitness and mental health.”
State Senator Carl L. Marcellino said, “Extending the trail way to the Syosset Railroad Station is an environmentally sound way to move people around Long Island. When someone decides to ride a bike to work, they open up room on our congested road system. And, of course, cyclists produce no pollution, add little wear to our roads and are also improving their personal health as they ride. This is a win-win for everybody.”
Assemblyman Charles Lavine said, “The Bethpage Parkway Bike Path Extension will create a safer path for both experienced and recreational cyclists. This new extension will encourage more Long Islanders to use their bikes and will enhance the vitality of the community as a whole.”
Assemblyman Joseph Saladino said, "New York State residents have always embraced the environment and outdoor recreation. I hope that everyone will take an opportunity to use this trail. I know they will enjoy it."
Nassau County Legislator Judy Jacobs said, “This is a very important step toward alleviating our dependence on cars by giving people a safer alternative way to get to their destination.”
Mickey Miller, president of the Old Bethpage Citizens Advisory Group, said, “On behalf of the Old Bethpage Citizens Advisory Group, my thanks to the DOT for giving Long Island a world class bike path.”
Setauket to Port Jefferson Multi-Use Path, Brookhaven
Finally, the commissioners went to Brookhaven to tour the site of the Phase II extension of the popular Setauket to Port Jefferson Multi-Use Path. Construction there is scheduled to begin in August and be completed in May 2014.
This $3.4 million, two-mile extension will provide a safe, accessible, non-motorized path between residential, recreational and retail areas between NY Route 25A in Setauket and NY Route 112 in Port Jefferson Station. Porous concrete is being used to facilitate drainage in a new parking field, and information kiosks and new path signs are being installed. Boulders from the property are being reused and placed to prevent ATVs from accessing the path. Two new traffic signals are being provided at Gnarled Hollow Road to enhance safety there for bicyclists, pedestrians and motorists.
Congressman Tim Bishop said, “With the completion of the Setauket-Port Jefferson Station Greenway, federal funds I secured will continue to enhance our North Shore communities for decades to come. I appreciate the work of everybody who has supported this outstanding resource for bikers, hikers, and nature lovers.”
Senator Ken LaValle said, "The Setauket to Port Jefferson Multi-Use Path will provide a recreational trail that offers a safe venue for bike riders and hikers to enjoy the great outdoors and the beauty of Long Island’s north shore."
Charlie McAteer, chair of the Friends of the Greenway said, “The Friends of the Greenway acknowledge the great cooperation with the federal, state, county and town governments in the creation of the Setauket to Port Jefferson Station Multi-Use trail. This path is already considered a jewel, tying our two communities together while providing alternative transportation to gas-powered vehicles. Our neighborhood is a better place for the foresight of this Greenway project, the governmental officials who funded it, and NYSDOT Commissioner Joan McDonald and her hard working staff.”
Virtually every state road on Long Island features some accommodation for bicycling, except for high-volume highways and parkways where bicycling is prohibited. One particularly picturesque example is the Montauk Highway/NY Route 27, a 37-mile-long, signed, on-road bike route between Southampton and the Montauk Lighthouse. Another is NY Route 114, a three-mile signed bike route between Shelter Island and Sag Harbor, which includes a tranquil ferry ride.
Copies of the Long Island Bikeways map and additional information regarding Long Island bike facilities may be obtained at www.511ny.org/rideshare/rideshare.aspx?FolderID=149. General information about cycling in New York State is available at www.dot.ny.gov/display/programs/bicycle.
On Wednesday, July 15, 2015 NYC DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and NYC MOPD Commissioner Victor Calise hosted the 3rd Annual Access to Independence Transportation Expo in NYC! Joined by Commissioner Meera Joshi of the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission, Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, the event celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Learn more here on.nyc.gov/1Jis3hx
Mellow day in the beginning. A break off work, a chance to join fellow parents and celebrate my son and his friends finish their school year.
After all was set and done, plan was to hop on the train to go visit my friends' photo lab to drop off film to develop. Lab's in Downtown.
Heard of the protest developing down there too - not unexpected, City Hall's there after all, courthouses, Federal Building.
Was packing my camera anyways already, figured could document as well.
By the time train got to Union Station, I learned that the southbound subway line (to Little Tokyo and into the Downtown proper) was stopped. No big deal - can walk.
Exited the station and started hoofing it down Alameda southbound. Got to the freeway overpass - some folks leaving north, towards Union Station; others hanging out on the overpass, looking on the freeway below. Heard sound of stun grenades coming from the south side of the freeway, at Aliso Street. Some smoke there. Heavy husk of federal Blackhawk helicopter whopping air with it's blades, circling above.
Camera out. People, signs. Cops blocking off Alameda south of Aliso. Walking along Federal Building. Tagged up KTLA5 News van. More people, more signs. Cops on freeway below, blocking southbound lanes, shooting occasional stun grenades up towards Aliso from down there. Arresting folks who came out on the freeway earlier.
Turn down to Los Angeles, walking south, along same Federal Building (familiar spot. Place brings back memories). Building's all tagged up, police skirmish line blocks Los Angeles at Temple. Few folks protesting on Los Angeles at the time are mostly mellow. One guy walking, yelling at cops, but he's an exception. There is more action happening toward the bridge over Temple, by City Hall. Fireworks go off, then stun grenades. Cavalry rides there with sticks - mounted police. A cop comes up to the middle of the intersection dropping off a box of those 40mm foam baton "non-lethal" rounds.
In skirmish line some cops look uncomfortable, overwhelmed - drafted desk jockeys perhaps? Got maybe some basic riot control training a while back. Twitching now. Not ready.
Person sits down to the right of me - legs crossed, on the ground. Lifts their sign up. Suddenly, heard a flute behind me. Turn around - a protester walking toward me, beatboxing on the flute. Now, I had seen it all. Focus, take the shot.
Almost immediately hear a 40mm launcher go off, yelp. Turn around - person sitting next to me got hit by a "non-lethal" in the hand. Pinkie finger looks gnarly. Sign down on the sidewalk, blood dripping. Folks rushing in to help. Look towards the police line - fairly certain I see the shooter: new round loaded up, launcher towards myself and folks helping wounded person. Protesters yell and curse at him. I lock in focus and hit shutter.
Yeah, twitching. Not ready. His superior shows up with some backup in tow, and a guy with a whole bundle more of fresh foam batons. Pulls that cowboy back. Don't see him anymore.
Suddenly, cops' attention is focused by something way behind me. Turn around - clouds of dark smoke are rising from the old Pueblo side to the north of the freeway. Get my last shots of the Temple St skirmish line, move north.
Waymo robot taxis are burning. Four of them. Smoke is thick, suffocating and feels toxic. Somehow "heavier" than what I had smelled in Altadena with Eaton Canyon fire. Mask up. Trying to move in a way where wind won't blanket me with that filth. Electric cars burn so hot and fast, practically melting down completely. Feels much different as opposed to "usual" gas cars during Eaton Fire.
Spent rest of the time moving back and forth between different sides of the freeway. More signs, more people. North side of the freeway peaceful. Some families with kids. South side is a bit rougher. Tear gas and stun grenades are met with fireworks and those silly rideshare scooters. A sudden memory from the Soviet-era school curriculum flashes in my mind, about "a boulder being a weapon of proletariat" - made me wonder if those scooters are stand-ins for boulders in 21st century. But only briefly - boulders make an appearance too. Turns out that those decorative "cemented boulders" by the freeway ramps, a product of some hostile architecture genius, are an arsenal within themselves.
More photos. Stun grenade hits the tree branches above, goes off. I get showered with a bunch of leaves, small branches and lost hearing in my right ear for probably solid half an hour. Try to be more careful. Move around some more. Different sides of the freeway.
Cops decide to get more active on clearing up south side of the freeway. Cavalry moves out once again. I get kettled up between two skirmish lines, along with some reporters, an older homeless guy with his treasure throve of cardboard boxes, a confused older couple, some random working folks. They all were given confusing directions, trying to make their way out. Couple of hours of milling about, older couple asking me for information and directions, trying to make their way to a hotel - tourists. Young lady asked if I knew whether Alameda was open (she wanted to make her way to Arts District). Told her that Alameda most likely would be closed (it was).
Eventually, authorities lost interest in our ragtag group milling around their area figured it was a good time to get us out of there in a prompt fashion.
More than 1,000 mayors, managers, community planners, locally elected officials and guests from throughout Michigan will descend on Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sept. 20-22 for the joint 2018 Michigan Municipal League and Michigan Association of Planning (MAP) convention. This is the first time ever the League and MAP have joined forces to combine their two annual fall conferences (the League’s Convention and MAP’s Planning Michigan Conference) into a single massive gathering. And it’s all happening during the 2018 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids. Most convention education sessions and trainings will take place in Amway Grand Hotel and DeVos Place, but there also is an extensive series of mobile workshops throughout the area that will put a spotlight on the positive things happening in the community.
The Convention is the League's premiere annual event and a chance to inform and highlight community accomplishments. The League is especially excited to be in Grand Rapids this year with MAP because the west-Michigan community has a lot of the placemaking assets the League has identified as making up vibrant communities, including walkability and physical design, arts and culture, economic development, entrepreneurship, strong education base and much more.
Both the League and MAP serve the education and advocacy needs of elected and appointed leaders and the staff that support them: managers and administrators, professional planners, and other city, village and township leaders that make up the teams that work in tandem to create vibrant, successful, and healthy communities. Because the League and MAP are collaborating on this event, we’ll have double the power to bring more of what our members want. Attendees have more breakout sessions, more topics, and more mobile tours to choose from than ever before.
The event View the Convention program here: blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2014/06/2018-Convention-Pro....
Other Convention highlights include:
- The official launch of the next phase of the SaveMICity municipal finance reform effort.
- The selection of the 2018 Community Excellence Award (CEA) winner. The CEA is the League’s most prestigious community award. The 12th annual CEA competition started earlier this year and is down to four final projects. The finalists will give presentations Thursday and Convention attendees will vote, with the winner announced Saturday (Sept. 22) morning. Go here to read a press release about the four finalists: www.mml.org/newsroom/press_releases/2018-8-6-Community-Ex... and checkout the CEA website here: cea.mml.org/.
- Michigan Municipal Executive (MME) Colloquium: Empowering Communities to Set Their Own Destinies with keynote general session speaker Patrice Frey, President and CEO of the National Main Street Center – 9-10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.
- Great Place to Live Townhall general session featuring Phil Power and the Center for Michigan’s Truth Tour – 11 am -12:15 p.m. Thursday.
- The New Localism: Utilizing Public, Private, and Civic Partnerships to Become a Change Engine general session featuring Bruce.Katz,.Co-Author, The New Localism, noon-1:45 Friday, Sept. 21
- Closing General Session about Civic Engagement Strategy: Inclusivity for the Win moderated by Carla Gribbs, Regional Manager, DTE Energy; and featuring Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor, Gary, Indiana; 1st Vice President, National League of Cities, 10:30-noon Saturday, Sept. 22
- Michigan Green Communities (MGC) Awards Lunch and Workshop, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Thursday
- Selection of the 2018-19 new League board members and board president and vice president, Friday, Sept. 21.
- Michigan Municipal League Foundation fund-raising event, Friday evening
- Michigan Association of Mayors breakfast and annual meeting, Friday morning.
- Michigan Women in Municipal Government meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Michigan Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Amazon: Michigan’s Wake Up Call or the Beginning of the End featuring the League’s Anthony Minghine and Khalil Rahal, assistant county executive, Wayne County, 2-3:15 p.m.Thursday.
- HR Up in Smoke: The Intersection between Marihuana legislation and empowerment law featuring Charles Mitchell, Senior Assistant City Attorney, City Attorney’s Office, Denver CO; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, State and Federal Affairs, Michigan Municipal League, 1:45-3:15 Thursday.
- Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act: Back to the Basics featuring Anne Seurynck, Attorney, Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Hit Them with Your Best Shot: Attracting Businesses and Developers featuring Katharine Czarnecki, Senior Vice President, Community Development, MEDC; Nicole Whitehead, Director, Sales & Service Operations, MEDC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Mobile workshops: Envision Ada: Transforming a Suburban Strip Commercial Center into an Integral Part of an Historic Village; All Around Downtown, Uptown, Eastown; New Urbanism in Practice; Viva la Avenida: Planning for a Cultural Corridor, all 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Unleash the Power of Small-Scale Manufacturing with Ilana Preuss, Recast City LLC, 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Creating Sustainable Retail Districts featuring Bobby Boone, AICP, LEED AP, Small Business Retail Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation; Martha Potere, AICP, Strategy and Special Projects Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, 3:30-4:45 p.m. Thursday
- Host City reception by Urban Metro Mayors and Managers at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, Thursday
- Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and the Blue Economy with speakers Tyler Kilfman, Planner, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG); Kevin Vettraino, AICP, Plan Implementation Manager, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), 9-10:15 a.m. Friday
- Fostering an Inclusive Community Environment Hosted by the Michigan Black Caucus with speakers : Lois Allen-Richardson, Councilmember, Ypsilanti; President, MBC-LEO; Oronde Miller, Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Stacy Stout, Assistant to the City Manager, Grand Rapids; Howard Walters, Program and Evaluation Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 9-noon Friday
- Mobility: The Community Conversation with speakers Sarah Latta Rainero, Regional Director, Community Assistance Team, Community Development, Michigan Economic Development Corporation; Tyler Bevier, Transportation Planner, Bay Area Transportation Authority; Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research, 9-10:30 am Friday
- CNU Rules for Great Places: The Project for Code Reform featuring Mary Madden, AICP, Principal, Ferrell Madden; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League; Heather Seyfarth, AICP, Community Engagement Specialist, Ann Arbor; Vice President, Michigan Association of Planning, 9-10:30 am Friday
- More mobile workshops: Explore: ArtPrize10; From Grand Rapids’ Downtown to Your Town: Idea Tour for Building Reuse; Vital Streets in Action Bike Tour; The Modern Orchard at Robinette’s Apple Haus and Winery, all are 9-noon Friday
- Master Planning: The Critical Role of Elected Leaders and the Planning Commission with speakers Adam Young, AICP, Senior Project Manager, Wade Trim; Chris McLeod, AICP, City Planner, Sterling Heights; Mark Vanderpool, City Manager, Sterling Heights, 10:45-noon Friday
- Social Media Pitfalls and Upsides for Communities with speakers Amy Snow-Buckner, Acting Managing Director of Communications, Grand Rapids; Matt Bach, Director, Communications, Michigan Municipal League; Jim Thorburn, Detective/Social Media Director, Allen Park Police Department, 10:45-noon Friday
- We Need More Parking! (But Do We Really?) with Tom Brown, Principle, Nelson\Nygaard; Bradley Strader, AICP, PTP, Transportation Planner, MKSK; Nicole VanNess, Manager, Traverse City DDA, 10:45-noon Friday
- Even more mobile workshops: Frederik Meijer Gardens; Terra Square and the Seeds of a New Downtown in Hudsonville; Under, Over, and All Around, all are 2-5 p.m. Friday
- Improving the Tone and Quality of our Civic Discourse with speakers John Bebow, President & CEO, The Center for Michigan/Bridge Magazine; Melanie Piana, Councilmember, Ferndale, Vice President, Michigan Municipal League Board, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- The Keys to Putting Ethics into Action with Christopher Johnson, General Counsel, Michigan Municipal League; Marlon Brown, Mayor Pro Tem, Mason; Michael McGee, Chief Executive Officer, Miller Canfield; Eleanor Siewert, Professional Registered Parliamentarian, Assignment: Effective Procedures, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- Smart, Accessible, Connected - this high-level panel discussion covers the future of cities in the context of advanced mobility technologies, including connected and automated vehicles, ridesharing, carsharing, ridehailing, mobility-as-a-service, and microtransit with speakers Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Speakers: Kelly Bartlett, Senior Policy & Legislative Advisor, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT); Zahra Bahrani Fard, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research; Dr. Jonathan Levine, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
The Power of the Wind: A Michigan Story with a focus on renewable energy featuring speakers Sarah Mills, Senior Project Manager, University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy; Emily Palacios, Principal, Miller Canfield, 2:15-3:45 p.m. Friday
- The Sky’s the Limit: Big Data, Drones, and the Internet of Things with Daniel Brooks, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Adrianna Jordan, AICP, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Zachary Halberd, Co-Founder, Quantifly, 3:45-5 p.m. Friday
It’s Budget Time. Do you Know Where Your Revenue Is? With John Hoppough, Mayor, Greenville; Jacob Kain, City Planner, Mount Pleasant; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League, Eilis Seide, Assistant to the City Manager, East Lansing, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22
Short Term Rentals: Trends, Impacts & Options with speakers Robert Monetza, Councilmember, Grand Haven; Ulrik Binzer, CEO, Host Compliance; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday
And yes even more mobile tours: Farmers Markets and Food Halls as Catalysts for Business and Real Estate Development; Restoring the Rapids: A Tour of Grand River Restoration Efforts, both 9-noon Friday
Photos of the 2018 Convention will be uploaded to flickr throughout the Convention can be downloaded from the League’s flickr page: flickr.com/photos/michigancommunities for free. We just ask that the following photo credit be given like this: Michigan Municipal League/mml.org. Thanks!
Michigan Municipal League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C., and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials; and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services.
Image Courtesy: Piyal Kundu, Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported | Wikimedia Commons
Technicians encapsulate the black twin satellites of NASA’s TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) mission within a payload fairing atop a shiny metallic stack of several other rideshare payloads at the Astrotech Space Operations facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The TRACERS mission is a pair of twin satellites that will study how Earth’s magnetic shield — the magnetosphere — protects our planet from the supersonic stream of material from the Sun called solar wind. Photo credit: SpaceX
NASA image use policy.
On Wednesday, July 15, 2015 NYC DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and NYC MOPD Commissioner Victor Calise hosted the 3rd Annual Access to Independence Transportation Expo in NYC! Joined by Commissioner Meera Joshi of the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission, Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, the event celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Learn more here on.nyc.gov/1Jis3hx
More than 1,000 mayors, managers, community planners, locally elected officials and guests from throughout Michigan will descend on Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sept. 20-22 for the joint 2018 Michigan Municipal League and Michigan Association of Planning (MAP) convention. This is the first time ever the League and MAP have joined forces to combine their two annual fall conferences (the League’s Convention and MAP’s Planning Michigan Conference) into a single massive gathering. And it’s all happening during the 2018 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids. Most convention education sessions and trainings will take place in Amway Grand Hotel and DeVos Place, but there also is an extensive series of mobile workshops throughout the area that will put a spotlight on the positive things happening in the community.
The Convention is the League's premiere annual event and a chance to inform and highlight community accomplishments. The League is especially excited to be in Grand Rapids this year with MAP because the west-Michigan community has a lot of the placemaking assets the League has identified as making up vibrant communities, including walkability and physical design, arts and culture, economic development, entrepreneurship, strong education base and much more.
Both the League and MAP serve the education and advocacy needs of elected and appointed leaders and the staff that support them: managers and administrators, professional planners, and other city, village and township leaders that make up the teams that work in tandem to create vibrant, successful, and healthy communities. Because the League and MAP are collaborating on this event, we’ll have double the power to bring more of what our members want. Attendees have more breakout sessions, more topics, and more mobile tours to choose from than ever before.
The event View the Convention program here: blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2014/06/2018-Convention-Pro....
Other Convention highlights include:
- The official launch of the next phase of the SaveMICity municipal finance reform effort.
- The selection of the 2018 Community Excellence Award (CEA) winner. The CEA is the League’s most prestigious community award. The 12th annual CEA competition started earlier this year and is down to four final projects. The finalists will give presentations Thursday and Convention attendees will vote, with the winner announced Saturday (Sept. 22) morning. Go here to read a press release about the four finalists: www.mml.org/newsroom/press_releases/2018-8-6-Community-Ex... and checkout the CEA website here: cea.mml.org/.
- Michigan Municipal Executive (MME) Colloquium: Empowering Communities to Set Their Own Destinies with keynote general session speaker Patrice Frey, President and CEO of the National Main Street Center – 9-10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.
- Great Place to Live Townhall general session featuring Phil Power and the Center for Michigan’s Truth Tour – 11 am -12:15 p.m. Thursday.
- The New Localism: Utilizing Public, Private, and Civic Partnerships to Become a Change Engine general session featuring Bruce.Katz,.Co-Author, The New Localism, noon-1:45 Friday, Sept. 21
- Closing General Session about Civic Engagement Strategy: Inclusivity for the Win moderated by Carla Gribbs, Regional Manager, DTE Energy; and featuring Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor, Gary, Indiana; 1st Vice President, National League of Cities, 10:30-noon Saturday, Sept. 22
- Michigan Green Communities (MGC) Awards Lunch and Workshop, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Thursday
- Selection of the 2018-19 new League board members and board president and vice president, Friday, Sept. 21.
- Michigan Municipal League Foundation fund-raising event, Friday evening
- Michigan Association of Mayors breakfast and annual meeting, Friday morning.
- Michigan Women in Municipal Government meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Michigan Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Amazon: Michigan’s Wake Up Call or the Beginning of the End featuring the League’s Anthony Minghine and Khalil Rahal, assistant county executive, Wayne County, 2-3:15 p.m.Thursday.
- HR Up in Smoke: The Intersection between Marihuana legislation and empowerment law featuring Charles Mitchell, Senior Assistant City Attorney, City Attorney’s Office, Denver CO; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, State and Federal Affairs, Michigan Municipal League, 1:45-3:15 Thursday.
- Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act: Back to the Basics featuring Anne Seurynck, Attorney, Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Hit Them with Your Best Shot: Attracting Businesses and Developers featuring Katharine Czarnecki, Senior Vice President, Community Development, MEDC; Nicole Whitehead, Director, Sales & Service Operations, MEDC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Mobile workshops: Envision Ada: Transforming a Suburban Strip Commercial Center into an Integral Part of an Historic Village; All Around Downtown, Uptown, Eastown; New Urbanism in Practice; Viva la Avenida: Planning for a Cultural Corridor, all 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Unleash the Power of Small-Scale Manufacturing with Ilana Preuss, Recast City LLC, 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Creating Sustainable Retail Districts featuring Bobby Boone, AICP, LEED AP, Small Business Retail Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation; Martha Potere, AICP, Strategy and Special Projects Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, 3:30-4:45 p.m. Thursday
- Host City reception by Urban Metro Mayors and Managers at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, Thursday
- Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and the Blue Economy with speakers Tyler Kilfman, Planner, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG); Kevin Vettraino, AICP, Plan Implementation Manager, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), 9-10:15 a.m. Friday
- Fostering an Inclusive Community Environment Hosted by the Michigan Black Caucus with speakers : Lois Allen-Richardson, Councilmember, Ypsilanti; President, MBC-LEO; Oronde Miller, Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Stacy Stout, Assistant to the City Manager, Grand Rapids; Howard Walters, Program and Evaluation Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 9-noon Friday
- Mobility: The Community Conversation with speakers Sarah Latta Rainero, Regional Director, Community Assistance Team, Community Development, Michigan Economic Development Corporation; Tyler Bevier, Transportation Planner, Bay Area Transportation Authority; Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research, 9-10:30 am Friday
- CNU Rules for Great Places: The Project for Code Reform featuring Mary Madden, AICP, Principal, Ferrell Madden; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League; Heather Seyfarth, AICP, Community Engagement Specialist, Ann Arbor; Vice President, Michigan Association of Planning, 9-10:30 am Friday
- More mobile workshops: Explore: ArtPrize10; From Grand Rapids’ Downtown to Your Town: Idea Tour for Building Reuse; Vital Streets in Action Bike Tour; The Modern Orchard at Robinette’s Apple Haus and Winery, all are 9-noon Friday
- Master Planning: The Critical Role of Elected Leaders and the Planning Commission with speakers Adam Young, AICP, Senior Project Manager, Wade Trim; Chris McLeod, AICP, City Planner, Sterling Heights; Mark Vanderpool, City Manager, Sterling Heights, 10:45-noon Friday
- Social Media Pitfalls and Upsides for Communities with speakers Amy Snow-Buckner, Acting Managing Director of Communications, Grand Rapids; Matt Bach, Director, Communications, Michigan Municipal League; Jim Thorburn, Detective/Social Media Director, Allen Park Police Department, 10:45-noon Friday
- We Need More Parking! (But Do We Really?) with Tom Brown, Principle, Nelson\Nygaard; Bradley Strader, AICP, PTP, Transportation Planner, MKSK; Nicole VanNess, Manager, Traverse City DDA, 10:45-noon Friday
- Even more mobile workshops: Frederik Meijer Gardens; Terra Square and the Seeds of a New Downtown in Hudsonville; Under, Over, and All Around, all are 2-5 p.m. Friday
- Improving the Tone and Quality of our Civic Discourse with speakers John Bebow, President & CEO, The Center for Michigan/Bridge Magazine; Melanie Piana, Councilmember, Ferndale, Vice President, Michigan Municipal League Board, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- The Keys to Putting Ethics into Action with Christopher Johnson, General Counsel, Michigan Municipal League; Marlon Brown, Mayor Pro Tem, Mason; Michael McGee, Chief Executive Officer, Miller Canfield; Eleanor Siewert, Professional Registered Parliamentarian, Assignment: Effective Procedures, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- Smart, Accessible, Connected - this high-level panel discussion covers the future of cities in the context of advanced mobility technologies, including connected and automated vehicles, ridesharing, carsharing, ridehailing, mobility-as-a-service, and microtransit with speakers Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Speakers: Kelly Bartlett, Senior Policy & Legislative Advisor, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT); Zahra Bahrani Fard, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research; Dr. Jonathan Levine, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
The Power of the Wind: A Michigan Story with a focus on renewable energy featuring speakers Sarah Mills, Senior Project Manager, University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy; Emily Palacios, Principal, Miller Canfield, 2:15-3:45 p.m. Friday
- The Sky’s the Limit: Big Data, Drones, and the Internet of Things with Daniel Brooks, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Adrianna Jordan, AICP, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Zachary Halberd, Co-Founder, Quantifly, 3:45-5 p.m. Friday
It’s Budget Time. Do you Know Where Your Revenue Is? With John Hoppough, Mayor, Greenville; Jacob Kain, City Planner, Mount Pleasant; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League, Eilis Seide, Assistant to the City Manager, East Lansing, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22
Short Term Rentals: Trends, Impacts & Options with speakers Robert Monetza, Councilmember, Grand Haven; Ulrik Binzer, CEO, Host Compliance; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday
And yes even more mobile tours: Farmers Markets and Food Halls as Catalysts for Business and Real Estate Development; Restoring the Rapids: A Tour of Grand River Restoration Efforts, both 9-noon Friday
Photos of the 2018 Convention will be uploaded to flickr throughout the Convention can be downloaded from the League’s flickr page: flickr.com/photos/michigancommunities for free. We just ask that the following photo credit be given like this: Michigan Municipal League/mml.org. Thanks!
Michigan Municipal League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C., and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials; and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services.
More than 1,000 mayors, managers, community planners, locally elected officials and guests from throughout Michigan will descend on Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sept. 20-22 for the joint 2018 Michigan Municipal League and Michigan Association of Planning (MAP) convention. This is the first time ever the League and MAP have joined forces to combine their two annual fall conferences (the League’s Convention and MAP’s Planning Michigan Conference) into a single massive gathering. And it’s all happening during the 2018 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids. Most convention education sessions and trainings will take place in Amway Grand Hotel and DeVos Place, but there also is an extensive series of mobile workshops throughout the area that will put a spotlight on the positive things happening in the community.
The Convention is the League's premiere annual event and a chance to inform and highlight community accomplishments. The League is especially excited to be in Grand Rapids this year with MAP because the west-Michigan community has a lot of the placemaking assets the League has identified as making up vibrant communities, including walkability and physical design, arts and culture, economic development, entrepreneurship, strong education base and much more.
Both the League and MAP serve the education and advocacy needs of elected and appointed leaders and the staff that support them: managers and administrators, professional planners, and other city, village and township leaders that make up the teams that work in tandem to create vibrant, successful, and healthy communities. Because the League and MAP are collaborating on this event, we’ll have double the power to bring more of what our members want. Attendees have more breakout sessions, more topics, and more mobile tours to choose from than ever before.
The event View the Convention program here: blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2014/06/2018-Convention-Pro....
Other Convention highlights include:
- The official launch of the next phase of the SaveMICity municipal finance reform effort.
- The selection of the 2018 Community Excellence Award (CEA) winner. The CEA is the League’s most prestigious community award. The 12th annual CEA competition started earlier this year and is down to four final projects. The finalists will give presentations Thursday and Convention attendees will vote, with the winner announced Saturday (Sept. 22) morning. Go here to read a press release about the four finalists: www.mml.org/newsroom/press_releases/2018-8-6-Community-Ex... and checkout the CEA website here: cea.mml.org/.
- Michigan Municipal Executive (MME) Colloquium: Empowering Communities to Set Their Own Destinies with keynote general session speaker Patrice Frey, President and CEO of the National Main Street Center – 9-10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.
- Great Place to Live Townhall general session featuring Phil Power and the Center for Michigan’s Truth Tour – 11 am -12:15 p.m. Thursday.
- The New Localism: Utilizing Public, Private, and Civic Partnerships to Become a Change Engine general session featuring Bruce.Katz,.Co-Author, The New Localism, noon-1:45 Friday, Sept. 21
- Closing General Session about Civic Engagement Strategy: Inclusivity for the Win moderated by Carla Gribbs, Regional Manager, DTE Energy; and featuring Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor, Gary, Indiana; 1st Vice President, National League of Cities, 10:30-noon Saturday, Sept. 22
- Michigan Green Communities (MGC) Awards Lunch and Workshop, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Thursday
- Selection of the 2018-19 new League board members and board president and vice president, Friday, Sept. 21.
- Michigan Municipal League Foundation fund-raising event, Friday evening
- Michigan Association of Mayors breakfast and annual meeting, Friday morning.
- Michigan Women in Municipal Government meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Michigan Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Amazon: Michigan’s Wake Up Call or the Beginning of the End featuring the League’s Anthony Minghine and Khalil Rahal, assistant county executive, Wayne County, 2-3:15 p.m.Thursday.
- HR Up in Smoke: The Intersection between Marihuana legislation and empowerment law featuring Charles Mitchell, Senior Assistant City Attorney, City Attorney’s Office, Denver CO; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, State and Federal Affairs, Michigan Municipal League, 1:45-3:15 Thursday.
- Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act: Back to the Basics featuring Anne Seurynck, Attorney, Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Hit Them with Your Best Shot: Attracting Businesses and Developers featuring Katharine Czarnecki, Senior Vice President, Community Development, MEDC; Nicole Whitehead, Director, Sales & Service Operations, MEDC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Mobile workshops: Envision Ada: Transforming a Suburban Strip Commercial Center into an Integral Part of an Historic Village; All Around Downtown, Uptown, Eastown; New Urbanism in Practice; Viva la Avenida: Planning for a Cultural Corridor, all 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Unleash the Power of Small-Scale Manufacturing with Ilana Preuss, Recast City LLC, 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Creating Sustainable Retail Districts featuring Bobby Boone, AICP, LEED AP, Small Business Retail Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation; Martha Potere, AICP, Strategy and Special Projects Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, 3:30-4:45 p.m. Thursday
- Host City reception by Urban Metro Mayors and Managers at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, Thursday
- Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and the Blue Economy with speakers Tyler Kilfman, Planner, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG); Kevin Vettraino, AICP, Plan Implementation Manager, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), 9-10:15 a.m. Friday
- Fostering an Inclusive Community Environment Hosted by the Michigan Black Caucus with speakers : Lois Allen-Richardson, Councilmember, Ypsilanti; President, MBC-LEO; Oronde Miller, Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Stacy Stout, Assistant to the City Manager, Grand Rapids; Howard Walters, Program and Evaluation Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 9-noon Friday
- Mobility: The Community Conversation with speakers Sarah Latta Rainero, Regional Director, Community Assistance Team, Community Development, Michigan Economic Development Corporation; Tyler Bevier, Transportation Planner, Bay Area Transportation Authority; Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research, 9-10:30 am Friday
- CNU Rules for Great Places: The Project for Code Reform featuring Mary Madden, AICP, Principal, Ferrell Madden; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League; Heather Seyfarth, AICP, Community Engagement Specialist, Ann Arbor; Vice President, Michigan Association of Planning, 9-10:30 am Friday
- More mobile workshops: Explore: ArtPrize10; From Grand Rapids’ Downtown to Your Town: Idea Tour for Building Reuse; Vital Streets in Action Bike Tour; The Modern Orchard at Robinette’s Apple Haus and Winery, all are 9-noon Friday
- Master Planning: The Critical Role of Elected Leaders and the Planning Commission with speakers Adam Young, AICP, Senior Project Manager, Wade Trim; Chris McLeod, AICP, City Planner, Sterling Heights; Mark Vanderpool, City Manager, Sterling Heights, 10:45-noon Friday
- Social Media Pitfalls and Upsides for Communities with speakers Amy Snow-Buckner, Acting Managing Director of Communications, Grand Rapids; Matt Bach, Director, Communications, Michigan Municipal League; Jim Thorburn, Detective/Social Media Director, Allen Park Police Department, 10:45-noon Friday
- We Need More Parking! (But Do We Really?) with Tom Brown, Principle, Nelson\Nygaard; Bradley Strader, AICP, PTP, Transportation Planner, MKSK; Nicole VanNess, Manager, Traverse City DDA, 10:45-noon Friday
- Even more mobile workshops: Frederik Meijer Gardens; Terra Square and the Seeds of a New Downtown in Hudsonville; Under, Over, and All Around, all are 2-5 p.m. Friday
- Improving the Tone and Quality of our Civic Discourse with speakers John Bebow, President & CEO, The Center for Michigan/Bridge Magazine; Melanie Piana, Councilmember, Ferndale, Vice President, Michigan Municipal League Board, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- The Keys to Putting Ethics into Action with Christopher Johnson, General Counsel, Michigan Municipal League; Marlon Brown, Mayor Pro Tem, Mason; Michael McGee, Chief Executive Officer, Miller Canfield; Eleanor Siewert, Professional Registered Parliamentarian, Assignment: Effective Procedures, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- Smart, Accessible, Connected - this high-level panel discussion covers the future of cities in the context of advanced mobility technologies, including connected and automated vehicles, ridesharing, carsharing, ridehailing, mobility-as-a-service, and microtransit with speakers Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Speakers: Kelly Bartlett, Senior Policy & Legislative Advisor, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT); Zahra Bahrani Fard, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research; Dr. Jonathan Levine, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
The Power of the Wind: A Michigan Story with a focus on renewable energy featuring speakers Sarah Mills, Senior Project Manager, University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy; Emily Palacios, Principal, Miller Canfield, 2:15-3:45 p.m. Friday
- The Sky’s the Limit: Big Data, Drones, and the Internet of Things with Daniel Brooks, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Adrianna Jordan, AICP, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Zachary Halberd, Co-Founder, Quantifly, 3:45-5 p.m. Friday
It’s Budget Time. Do you Know Where Your Revenue Is? With John Hoppough, Mayor, Greenville; Jacob Kain, City Planner, Mount Pleasant; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League, Eilis Seide, Assistant to the City Manager, East Lansing, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22
Short Term Rentals: Trends, Impacts & Options with speakers Robert Monetza, Councilmember, Grand Haven; Ulrik Binzer, CEO, Host Compliance; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday
And yes even more mobile tours: Farmers Markets and Food Halls as Catalysts for Business and Real Estate Development; Restoring the Rapids: A Tour of Grand River Restoration Efforts, both 9-noon Friday
Photos of the 2018 Convention will be uploaded to flickr throughout the Convention can be downloaded from the League’s flickr page: flickr.com/photos/michigancommunities for free. We just ask that the following photo credit be given like this: Michigan Municipal League/mml.org. Thanks!
Michigan Municipal League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C., and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials; and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services.
I rented a car to go check out apartments in Louisville and put an ad on Craigslist rideshare offering a ride to Louisville if anyone wanted to go, I hate wasting the gas on just myself, so I was glad to be contacted by August for a ride. I picked him up in Pilsen and had a great chat with him about all kinds of topics, a very bright young man. He was headed down to Nashville and points farther west and got there eventually. Rideshare is great, I wish more people would do it.
On Wednesday, July 15, 2015 NYC DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and NYC MOPD Commissioner Victor Calise hosted the 3rd Annual Access to Independence Transportation Expo in NYC! Joined by Commissioner Meera Joshi of the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission, Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, the event celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Learn more here on.nyc.gov/1Jis3hx
On Wednesday, July 15, 2015 NYC DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and NYC MOPD Commissioner Victor Calise hosted the 3rd Annual Access to Independence Transportation Expo in NYC! Joined by Commissioner Meera Joshi of the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission, Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, the event celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Learn more here on.nyc.gov/1Jis3hx
More than 1,000 mayors, managers, community planners, locally elected officials and guests from throughout Michigan will descend on Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sept. 20-22 for the joint 2018 Michigan Municipal League and Michigan Association of Planning (MAP) convention. This is the first time ever the League and MAP have joined forces to combine their two annual fall conferences (the League’s Convention and MAP’s Planning Michigan Conference) into a single massive gathering. And it’s all happening during the 2018 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids. Most convention education sessions and trainings will take place in Amway Grand Hotel and DeVos Place, but there also is an extensive series of mobile workshops throughout the area that will put a spotlight on the positive things happening in the community.
The Convention is the League's premiere annual event and a chance to inform and highlight community accomplishments. The League is especially excited to be in Grand Rapids this year with MAP because the west-Michigan community has a lot of the placemaking assets the League has identified as making up vibrant communities, including walkability and physical design, arts and culture, economic development, entrepreneurship, strong education base and much more.
Both the League and MAP serve the education and advocacy needs of elected and appointed leaders and the staff that support them: managers and administrators, professional planners, and other city, village and township leaders that make up the teams that work in tandem to create vibrant, successful, and healthy communities. Because the League and MAP are collaborating on this event, we’ll have double the power to bring more of what our members want. Attendees have more breakout sessions, more topics, and more mobile tours to choose from than ever before.
The event View the Convention program here: blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2014/06/2018-Convention-Pro....
Other Convention highlights include:
- The official launch of the next phase of the SaveMICity municipal finance reform effort.
- The selection of the 2018 Community Excellence Award (CEA) winner. The CEA is the League’s most prestigious community award. The 12th annual CEA competition started earlier this year and is down to four final projects. The finalists will give presentations Thursday and Convention attendees will vote, with the winner announced Saturday (Sept. 22) morning. Go here to read a press release about the four finalists: www.mml.org/newsroom/press_releases/2018-8-6-Community-Ex... and checkout the CEA website here: cea.mml.org/.
- Michigan Municipal Executive (MME) Colloquium: Empowering Communities to Set Their Own Destinies with keynote general session speaker Patrice Frey, President and CEO of the National Main Street Center – 9-10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.
- Great Place to Live Townhall general session featuring Phil Power and the Center for Michigan’s Truth Tour – 11 am -12:15 p.m. Thursday.
- The New Localism: Utilizing Public, Private, and Civic Partnerships to Become a Change Engine general session featuring Bruce.Katz,.Co-Author, The New Localism, noon-1:45 Friday, Sept. 21
- Closing General Session about Civic Engagement Strategy: Inclusivity for the Win moderated by Carla Gribbs, Regional Manager, DTE Energy; and featuring Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor, Gary, Indiana; 1st Vice President, National League of Cities, 10:30-noon Saturday, Sept. 22
- Michigan Green Communities (MGC) Awards Lunch and Workshop, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Thursday
- Selection of the 2018-19 new League board members and board president and vice president, Friday, Sept. 21.
- Michigan Municipal League Foundation fund-raising event, Friday evening
- Michigan Association of Mayors breakfast and annual meeting, Friday morning.
- Michigan Women in Municipal Government meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Michigan Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Amazon: Michigan’s Wake Up Call or the Beginning of the End featuring the League’s Anthony Minghine and Khalil Rahal, assistant county executive, Wayne County, 2-3:15 p.m.Thursday.
- HR Up in Smoke: The Intersection between Marihuana legislation and empowerment law featuring Charles Mitchell, Senior Assistant City Attorney, City Attorney’s Office, Denver CO; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, State and Federal Affairs, Michigan Municipal League, 1:45-3:15 Thursday.
- Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act: Back to the Basics featuring Anne Seurynck, Attorney, Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Hit Them with Your Best Shot: Attracting Businesses and Developers featuring Katharine Czarnecki, Senior Vice President, Community Development, MEDC; Nicole Whitehead, Director, Sales & Service Operations, MEDC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Mobile workshops: Envision Ada: Transforming a Suburban Strip Commercial Center into an Integral Part of an Historic Village; All Around Downtown, Uptown, Eastown; New Urbanism in Practice; Viva la Avenida: Planning for a Cultural Corridor, all 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Unleash the Power of Small-Scale Manufacturing with Ilana Preuss, Recast City LLC, 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Creating Sustainable Retail Districts featuring Bobby Boone, AICP, LEED AP, Small Business Retail Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation; Martha Potere, AICP, Strategy and Special Projects Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, 3:30-4:45 p.m. Thursday
- Host City reception by Urban Metro Mayors and Managers at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, Thursday
- Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and the Blue Economy with speakers Tyler Kilfman, Planner, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG); Kevin Vettraino, AICP, Plan Implementation Manager, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), 9-10:15 a.m. Friday
- Fostering an Inclusive Community Environment Hosted by the Michigan Black Caucus with speakers : Lois Allen-Richardson, Councilmember, Ypsilanti; President, MBC-LEO; Oronde Miller, Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Stacy Stout, Assistant to the City Manager, Grand Rapids; Howard Walters, Program and Evaluation Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 9-noon Friday
- Mobility: The Community Conversation with speakers Sarah Latta Rainero, Regional Director, Community Assistance Team, Community Development, Michigan Economic Development Corporation; Tyler Bevier, Transportation Planner, Bay Area Transportation Authority; Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research, 9-10:30 am Friday
- CNU Rules for Great Places: The Project for Code Reform featuring Mary Madden, AICP, Principal, Ferrell Madden; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League; Heather Seyfarth, AICP, Community Engagement Specialist, Ann Arbor; Vice President, Michigan Association of Planning, 9-10:30 am Friday
- More mobile workshops: Explore: ArtPrize10; From Grand Rapids’ Downtown to Your Town: Idea Tour for Building Reuse; Vital Streets in Action Bike Tour; The Modern Orchard at Robinette’s Apple Haus and Winery, all are 9-noon Friday
- Master Planning: The Critical Role of Elected Leaders and the Planning Commission with speakers Adam Young, AICP, Senior Project Manager, Wade Trim; Chris McLeod, AICP, City Planner, Sterling Heights; Mark Vanderpool, City Manager, Sterling Heights, 10:45-noon Friday
- Social Media Pitfalls and Upsides for Communities with speakers Amy Snow-Buckner, Acting Managing Director of Communications, Grand Rapids; Matt Bach, Director, Communications, Michigan Municipal League; Jim Thorburn, Detective/Social Media Director, Allen Park Police Department, 10:45-noon Friday
- We Need More Parking! (But Do We Really?) with Tom Brown, Principle, Nelson\Nygaard; Bradley Strader, AICP, PTP, Transportation Planner, MKSK; Nicole VanNess, Manager, Traverse City DDA, 10:45-noon Friday
- Even more mobile workshops: Frederik Meijer Gardens; Terra Square and the Seeds of a New Downtown in Hudsonville; Under, Over, and All Around, all are 2-5 p.m. Friday
- Improving the Tone and Quality of our Civic Discourse with speakers John Bebow, President & CEO, The Center for Michigan/Bridge Magazine; Melanie Piana, Councilmember, Ferndale, Vice President, Michigan Municipal League Board, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- The Keys to Putting Ethics into Action with Christopher Johnson, General Counsel, Michigan Municipal League; Marlon Brown, Mayor Pro Tem, Mason; Michael McGee, Chief Executive Officer, Miller Canfield; Eleanor Siewert, Professional Registered Parliamentarian, Assignment: Effective Procedures, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- Smart, Accessible, Connected - this high-level panel discussion covers the future of cities in the context of advanced mobility technologies, including connected and automated vehicles, ridesharing, carsharing, ridehailing, mobility-as-a-service, and microtransit with speakers Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Speakers: Kelly Bartlett, Senior Policy & Legislative Advisor, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT); Zahra Bahrani Fard, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research; Dr. Jonathan Levine, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
The Power of the Wind: A Michigan Story with a focus on renewable energy featuring speakers Sarah Mills, Senior Project Manager, University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy; Emily Palacios, Principal, Miller Canfield, 2:15-3:45 p.m. Friday
- The Sky’s the Limit: Big Data, Drones, and the Internet of Things with Daniel Brooks, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Adrianna Jordan, AICP, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Zachary Halberd, Co-Founder, Quantifly, 3:45-5 p.m. Friday
It’s Budget Time. Do you Know Where Your Revenue Is? With John Hoppough, Mayor, Greenville; Jacob Kain, City Planner, Mount Pleasant; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League, Eilis Seide, Assistant to the City Manager, East Lansing, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22
Short Term Rentals: Trends, Impacts & Options with speakers Robert Monetza, Councilmember, Grand Haven; Ulrik Binzer, CEO, Host Compliance; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday
And yes even more mobile tours: Farmers Markets and Food Halls as Catalysts for Business and Real Estate Development; Restoring the Rapids: A Tour of Grand River Restoration Efforts, both 9-noon Friday
Photos of the 2018 Convention will be uploaded to flickr throughout the Convention can be downloaded from the League’s flickr page: flickr.com/photos/michigancommunities for free. We just ask that the following photo credit be given like this: Michigan Municipal League/mml.org. Thanks!
Michigan Municipal League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C., and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials; and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services.
On Wednesday, July 15, 2015 NYC DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and NYC MOPD Commissioner Victor Calise hosted the 3rd Annual Access to Independence Transportation Expo in NYC! Joined by Commissioner Meera Joshi of the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission, Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, the event celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Learn more here on.nyc.gov/1Jis3hx
More than 1,000 mayors, managers, community planners, locally elected officials and guests from throughout Michigan will descend on Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sept. 20-22 for the joint 2018 Michigan Municipal League and Michigan Association of Planning (MAP) convention. This is the first time ever the League and MAP have joined forces to combine their two annual fall conferences (the League’s Convention and MAP’s Planning Michigan Conference) into a single massive gathering. And it’s all happening during the 2018 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids. Most convention education sessions and trainings will take place in Amway Grand Hotel and DeVos Place, but there also is an extensive series of mobile workshops throughout the area that will put a spotlight on the positive things happening in the community.
The Convention is the League's premiere annual event and a chance to inform and highlight community accomplishments. The League is especially excited to be in Grand Rapids this year with MAP because the west-Michigan community has a lot of the placemaking assets the League has identified as making up vibrant communities, including walkability and physical design, arts and culture, economic development, entrepreneurship, strong education base and much more.
Both the League and MAP serve the education and advocacy needs of elected and appointed leaders and the staff that support them: managers and administrators, professional planners, and other city, village and township leaders that make up the teams that work in tandem to create vibrant, successful, and healthy communities. Because the League and MAP are collaborating on this event, we’ll have double the power to bring more of what our members want. Attendees have more breakout sessions, more topics, and more mobile tours to choose from than ever before.
The event View the Convention program here: blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2014/06/2018-Convention-Pro....
Other Convention highlights include:
- The official launch of the next phase of the SaveMICity municipal finance reform effort.
- The selection of the 2018 Community Excellence Award (CEA) winner. The CEA is the League’s most prestigious community award. The 12th annual CEA competition started earlier this year and is down to four final projects. The finalists will give presentations Thursday and Convention attendees will vote, with the winner announced Saturday (Sept. 22) morning. Go here to read a press release about the four finalists: www.mml.org/newsroom/press_releases/2018-8-6-Community-Ex... and checkout the CEA website here: cea.mml.org/.
- Michigan Municipal Executive (MME) Colloquium: Empowering Communities to Set Their Own Destinies with keynote general session speaker Patrice Frey, President and CEO of the National Main Street Center – 9-10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.
- Great Place to Live Townhall general session featuring Phil Power and the Center for Michigan’s Truth Tour – 11 am -12:15 p.m. Thursday.
- The New Localism: Utilizing Public, Private, and Civic Partnerships to Become a Change Engine general session featuring Bruce.Katz,.Co-Author, The New Localism, noon-1:45 Friday, Sept. 21
- Closing General Session about Civic Engagement Strategy: Inclusivity for the Win moderated by Carla Gribbs, Regional Manager, DTE Energy; and featuring Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor, Gary, Indiana; 1st Vice President, National League of Cities, 10:30-noon Saturday, Sept. 22
- Michigan Green Communities (MGC) Awards Lunch and Workshop, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Thursday
- Selection of the 2018-19 new League board members and board president and vice president, Friday, Sept. 21.
- Michigan Municipal League Foundation fund-raising event, Friday evening
- Michigan Association of Mayors breakfast and annual meeting, Friday morning.
- Michigan Women in Municipal Government meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Michigan Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Amazon: Michigan’s Wake Up Call or the Beginning of the End featuring the League’s Anthony Minghine and Khalil Rahal, assistant county executive, Wayne County, 2-3:15 p.m.Thursday.
- HR Up in Smoke: The Intersection between Marihuana legislation and empowerment law featuring Charles Mitchell, Senior Assistant City Attorney, City Attorney’s Office, Denver CO; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, State and Federal Affairs, Michigan Municipal League, 1:45-3:15 Thursday.
- Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act: Back to the Basics featuring Anne Seurynck, Attorney, Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Hit Them with Your Best Shot: Attracting Businesses and Developers featuring Katharine Czarnecki, Senior Vice President, Community Development, MEDC; Nicole Whitehead, Director, Sales & Service Operations, MEDC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Mobile workshops: Envision Ada: Transforming a Suburban Strip Commercial Center into an Integral Part of an Historic Village; All Around Downtown, Uptown, Eastown; New Urbanism in Practice; Viva la Avenida: Planning for a Cultural Corridor, all 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Unleash the Power of Small-Scale Manufacturing with Ilana Preuss, Recast City LLC, 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Creating Sustainable Retail Districts featuring Bobby Boone, AICP, LEED AP, Small Business Retail Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation; Martha Potere, AICP, Strategy and Special Projects Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, 3:30-4:45 p.m. Thursday
- Host City reception by Urban Metro Mayors and Managers at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, Thursday
- Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and the Blue Economy with speakers Tyler Kilfman, Planner, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG); Kevin Vettraino, AICP, Plan Implementation Manager, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), 9-10:15 a.m. Friday
- Fostering an Inclusive Community Environment Hosted by the Michigan Black Caucus with speakers : Lois Allen-Richardson, Councilmember, Ypsilanti; President, MBC-LEO; Oronde Miller, Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Stacy Stout, Assistant to the City Manager, Grand Rapids; Howard Walters, Program and Evaluation Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 9-noon Friday
- Mobility: The Community Conversation with speakers Sarah Latta Rainero, Regional Director, Community Assistance Team, Community Development, Michigan Economic Development Corporation; Tyler Bevier, Transportation Planner, Bay Area Transportation Authority; Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research, 9-10:30 am Friday
- CNU Rules for Great Places: The Project for Code Reform featuring Mary Madden, AICP, Principal, Ferrell Madden; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League; Heather Seyfarth, AICP, Community Engagement Specialist, Ann Arbor; Vice President, Michigan Association of Planning, 9-10:30 am Friday
- More mobile workshops: Explore: ArtPrize10; From Grand Rapids’ Downtown to Your Town: Idea Tour for Building Reuse; Vital Streets in Action Bike Tour; The Modern Orchard at Robinette’s Apple Haus and Winery, all are 9-noon Friday
- Master Planning: The Critical Role of Elected Leaders and the Planning Commission with speakers Adam Young, AICP, Senior Project Manager, Wade Trim; Chris McLeod, AICP, City Planner, Sterling Heights; Mark Vanderpool, City Manager, Sterling Heights, 10:45-noon Friday
- Social Media Pitfalls and Upsides for Communities with speakers Amy Snow-Buckner, Acting Managing Director of Communications, Grand Rapids; Matt Bach, Director, Communications, Michigan Municipal League; Jim Thorburn, Detective/Social Media Director, Allen Park Police Department, 10:45-noon Friday
- We Need More Parking! (But Do We Really?) with Tom Brown, Principle, Nelson\Nygaard; Bradley Strader, AICP, PTP, Transportation Planner, MKSK; Nicole VanNess, Manager, Traverse City DDA, 10:45-noon Friday
- Even more mobile workshops: Frederik Meijer Gardens; Terra Square and the Seeds of a New Downtown in Hudsonville; Under, Over, and All Around, all are 2-5 p.m. Friday
- Improving the Tone and Quality of our Civic Discourse with speakers John Bebow, President & CEO, The Center for Michigan/Bridge Magazine; Melanie Piana, Councilmember, Ferndale, Vice President, Michigan Municipal League Board, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- The Keys to Putting Ethics into Action with Christopher Johnson, General Counsel, Michigan Municipal League; Marlon Brown, Mayor Pro Tem, Mason; Michael McGee, Chief Executive Officer, Miller Canfield; Eleanor Siewert, Professional Registered Parliamentarian, Assignment: Effective Procedures, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- Smart, Accessible, Connected - this high-level panel discussion covers the future of cities in the context of advanced mobility technologies, including connected and automated vehicles, ridesharing, carsharing, ridehailing, mobility-as-a-service, and microtransit with speakers Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Speakers: Kelly Bartlett, Senior Policy & Legislative Advisor, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT); Zahra Bahrani Fard, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research; Dr. Jonathan Levine, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
The Power of the Wind: A Michigan Story with a focus on renewable energy featuring speakers Sarah Mills, Senior Project Manager, University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy; Emily Palacios, Principal, Miller Canfield, 2:15-3:45 p.m. Friday
- The Sky’s the Limit: Big Data, Drones, and the Internet of Things with Daniel Brooks, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Adrianna Jordan, AICP, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Zachary Halberd, Co-Founder, Quantifly, 3:45-5 p.m. Friday
It’s Budget Time. Do you Know Where Your Revenue Is? With John Hoppough, Mayor, Greenville; Jacob Kain, City Planner, Mount Pleasant; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League, Eilis Seide, Assistant to the City Manager, East Lansing, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22
Short Term Rentals: Trends, Impacts & Options with speakers Robert Monetza, Councilmember, Grand Haven; Ulrik Binzer, CEO, Host Compliance; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday
And yes even more mobile tours: Farmers Markets and Food Halls as Catalysts for Business and Real Estate Development; Restoring the Rapids: A Tour of Grand River Restoration Efforts, both 9-noon Friday
Photos of the 2018 Convention will be uploaded to flickr throughout the Convention can be downloaded from the League’s flickr page: flickr.com/photos/michigancommunities for free. We just ask that the following photo credit be given like this: Michigan Municipal League/mml.org. Thanks!
Michigan Municipal League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C., and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials; and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services.
Jones announced today that he has approved a new insurance product submitted by Farmers Insurance that closes the gap in insurance coverage for drivers driving for ride-hailing companies, such as UberX, Lyft and Sidecar.
More than 1,000 mayors, managers, community planners, locally elected officials and guests from throughout Michigan will descend on Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sept. 20-22 for the joint 2018 Michigan Municipal League and Michigan Association of Planning (MAP) convention. This is the first time ever the League and MAP have joined forces to combine their two annual fall conferences (the League’s Convention and MAP’s Planning Michigan Conference) into a single massive gathering. And it’s all happening during the 2018 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids. Most convention education sessions and trainings will take place in Amway Grand Hotel and DeVos Place, but there also is an extensive series of mobile workshops throughout the area that will put a spotlight on the positive things happening in the community.
The Convention is the League's premiere annual event and a chance to inform and highlight community accomplishments. The League is especially excited to be in Grand Rapids this year with MAP because the west-Michigan community has a lot of the placemaking assets the League has identified as making up vibrant communities, including walkability and physical design, arts and culture, economic development, entrepreneurship, strong education base and much more.
Both the League and MAP serve the education and advocacy needs of elected and appointed leaders and the staff that support them: managers and administrators, professional planners, and other city, village and township leaders that make up the teams that work in tandem to create vibrant, successful, and healthy communities. Because the League and MAP are collaborating on this event, we’ll have double the power to bring more of what our members want. Attendees have more breakout sessions, more topics, and more mobile tours to choose from than ever before.
The event View the Convention program here: blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2014/06/2018-Convention-Pro....
Other Convention highlights include:
- The official launch of the next phase of the SaveMICity municipal finance reform effort.
- The selection of the 2018 Community Excellence Award (CEA) winner. The CEA is the League’s most prestigious community award. The 12th annual CEA competition started earlier this year and is down to four final projects. The finalists will give presentations Thursday and Convention attendees will vote, with the winner announced Saturday (Sept. 22) morning. Go here to read a press release about the four finalists: www.mml.org/newsroom/press_releases/2018-8-6-Community-Ex... and checkout the CEA website here: cea.mml.org/.
- Michigan Municipal Executive (MME) Colloquium: Empowering Communities to Set Their Own Destinies with keynote general session speaker Patrice Frey, President and CEO of the National Main Street Center – 9-10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.
- Great Place to Live Townhall general session featuring Phil Power and the Center for Michigan’s Truth Tour – 11 am -12:15 p.m. Thursday.
- The New Localism: Utilizing Public, Private, and Civic Partnerships to Become a Change Engine general session featuring Bruce.Katz,.Co-Author, The New Localism, noon-1:45 Friday, Sept. 21
- Closing General Session about Civic Engagement Strategy: Inclusivity for the Win moderated by Carla Gribbs, Regional Manager, DTE Energy; and featuring Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor, Gary, Indiana; 1st Vice President, National League of Cities, 10:30-noon Saturday, Sept. 22
- Michigan Green Communities (MGC) Awards Lunch and Workshop, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Thursday
- Selection of the 2018-19 new League board members and board president and vice president, Friday, Sept. 21.
- Michigan Municipal League Foundation fund-raising event, Friday evening
- Michigan Association of Mayors breakfast and annual meeting, Friday morning.
- Michigan Women in Municipal Government meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Michigan Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Amazon: Michigan’s Wake Up Call or the Beginning of the End featuring the League’s Anthony Minghine and Khalil Rahal, assistant county executive, Wayne County, 2-3:15 p.m.Thursday.
- HR Up in Smoke: The Intersection between Marihuana legislation and empowerment law featuring Charles Mitchell, Senior Assistant City Attorney, City Attorney’s Office, Denver CO; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, State and Federal Affairs, Michigan Municipal League, 1:45-3:15 Thursday.
- Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act: Back to the Basics featuring Anne Seurynck, Attorney, Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Hit Them with Your Best Shot: Attracting Businesses and Developers featuring Katharine Czarnecki, Senior Vice President, Community Development, MEDC; Nicole Whitehead, Director, Sales & Service Operations, MEDC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Mobile workshops: Envision Ada: Transforming a Suburban Strip Commercial Center into an Integral Part of an Historic Village; All Around Downtown, Uptown, Eastown; New Urbanism in Practice; Viva la Avenida: Planning for a Cultural Corridor, all 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Unleash the Power of Small-Scale Manufacturing with Ilana Preuss, Recast City LLC, 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Creating Sustainable Retail Districts featuring Bobby Boone, AICP, LEED AP, Small Business Retail Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation; Martha Potere, AICP, Strategy and Special Projects Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, 3:30-4:45 p.m. Thursday
- Host City reception by Urban Metro Mayors and Managers at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, Thursday
- Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and the Blue Economy with speakers Tyler Kilfman, Planner, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG); Kevin Vettraino, AICP, Plan Implementation Manager, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), 9-10:15 a.m. Friday
- Fostering an Inclusive Community Environment Hosted by the Michigan Black Caucus with speakers : Lois Allen-Richardson, Councilmember, Ypsilanti; President, MBC-LEO; Oronde Miller, Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Stacy Stout, Assistant to the City Manager, Grand Rapids; Howard Walters, Program and Evaluation Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 9-noon Friday
- Mobility: The Community Conversation with speakers Sarah Latta Rainero, Regional Director, Community Assistance Team, Community Development, Michigan Economic Development Corporation; Tyler Bevier, Transportation Planner, Bay Area Transportation Authority; Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research, 9-10:30 am Friday
- CNU Rules for Great Places: The Project for Code Reform featuring Mary Madden, AICP, Principal, Ferrell Madden; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League; Heather Seyfarth, AICP, Community Engagement Specialist, Ann Arbor; Vice President, Michigan Association of Planning, 9-10:30 am Friday
- More mobile workshops: Explore: ArtPrize10; From Grand Rapids’ Downtown to Your Town: Idea Tour for Building Reuse; Vital Streets in Action Bike Tour; The Modern Orchard at Robinette’s Apple Haus and Winery, all are 9-noon Friday
- Master Planning: The Critical Role of Elected Leaders and the Planning Commission with speakers Adam Young, AICP, Senior Project Manager, Wade Trim; Chris McLeod, AICP, City Planner, Sterling Heights; Mark Vanderpool, City Manager, Sterling Heights, 10:45-noon Friday
- Social Media Pitfalls and Upsides for Communities with speakers Amy Snow-Buckner, Acting Managing Director of Communications, Grand Rapids; Matt Bach, Director, Communications, Michigan Municipal League; Jim Thorburn, Detective/Social Media Director, Allen Park Police Department, 10:45-noon Friday
- We Need More Parking! (But Do We Really?) with Tom Brown, Principle, Nelson\Nygaard; Bradley Strader, AICP, PTP, Transportation Planner, MKSK; Nicole VanNess, Manager, Traverse City DDA, 10:45-noon Friday
- Even more mobile workshops: Frederik Meijer Gardens; Terra Square and the Seeds of a New Downtown in Hudsonville; Under, Over, and All Around, all are 2-5 p.m. Friday
- Improving the Tone and Quality of our Civic Discourse with speakers John Bebow, President & CEO, The Center for Michigan/Bridge Magazine; Melanie Piana, Councilmember, Ferndale, Vice President, Michigan Municipal League Board, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- The Keys to Putting Ethics into Action with Christopher Johnson, General Counsel, Michigan Municipal League; Marlon Brown, Mayor Pro Tem, Mason; Michael McGee, Chief Executive Officer, Miller Canfield; Eleanor Siewert, Professional Registered Parliamentarian, Assignment: Effective Procedures, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- Smart, Accessible, Connected - this high-level panel discussion covers the future of cities in the context of advanced mobility technologies, including connected and automated vehicles, ridesharing, carsharing, ridehailing, mobility-as-a-service, and microtransit with speakers Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Speakers: Kelly Bartlett, Senior Policy & Legislative Advisor, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT); Zahra Bahrani Fard, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research; Dr. Jonathan Levine, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
The Power of the Wind: A Michigan Story with a focus on renewable energy featuring speakers Sarah Mills, Senior Project Manager, University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy; Emily Palacios, Principal, Miller Canfield, 2:15-3:45 p.m. Friday
- The Sky’s the Limit: Big Data, Drones, and the Internet of Things with Daniel Brooks, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Adrianna Jordan, AICP, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Zachary Halberd, Co-Founder, Quantifly, 3:45-5 p.m. Friday
It’s Budget Time. Do you Know Where Your Revenue Is? With John Hoppough, Mayor, Greenville; Jacob Kain, City Planner, Mount Pleasant; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League, Eilis Seide, Assistant to the City Manager, East Lansing, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22
Short Term Rentals: Trends, Impacts & Options with speakers Robert Monetza, Councilmember, Grand Haven; Ulrik Binzer, CEO, Host Compliance; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday
And yes even more mobile tours: Farmers Markets and Food Halls as Catalysts for Business and Real Estate Development; Restoring the Rapids: A Tour of Grand River Restoration Efforts, both 9-noon Friday
Photos of the 2018 Convention will be uploaded to flickr throughout the Convention can be downloaded from the League’s flickr page: flickr.com/photos/michigancommunities for free. We just ask that the following photo credit be given like this: Michigan Municipal League/mml.org. Thanks!
Michigan Municipal League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C., and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials; and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services.
More than 1,000 mayors, managers, community planners, locally elected officials and guests from throughout Michigan will descend on Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sept. 20-22 for the joint 2018 Michigan Municipal League and Michigan Association of Planning (MAP) convention. This is the first time ever the League and MAP have joined forces to combine their two annual fall conferences (the League’s Convention and MAP’s Planning Michigan Conference) into a single massive gathering. And it’s all happening during the 2018 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids. Most convention education sessions and trainings will take place in Amway Grand Hotel and DeVos Place, but there also is an extensive series of mobile workshops throughout the area that will put a spotlight on the positive things happening in the community.
The Convention is the League's premiere annual event and a chance to inform and highlight community accomplishments. The League is especially excited to be in Grand Rapids this year with MAP because the west-Michigan community has a lot of the placemaking assets the League has identified as making up vibrant communities, including walkability and physical design, arts and culture, economic development, entrepreneurship, strong education base and much more.
Both the League and MAP serve the education and advocacy needs of elected and appointed leaders and the staff that support them: managers and administrators, professional planners, and other city, village and township leaders that make up the teams that work in tandem to create vibrant, successful, and healthy communities. Because the League and MAP are collaborating on this event, we’ll have double the power to bring more of what our members want. Attendees have more breakout sessions, more topics, and more mobile tours to choose from than ever before.
The event View the Convention program here: blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2014/06/2018-Convention-Pro....
Other Convention highlights include:
- The official launch of the next phase of the SaveMICity municipal finance reform effort.
- The selection of the 2018 Community Excellence Award (CEA) winner. The CEA is the League’s most prestigious community award. The 12th annual CEA competition started earlier this year and is down to four final projects. The finalists will give presentations Thursday and Convention attendees will vote, with the winner announced Saturday (Sept. 22) morning. Go here to read a press release about the four finalists: www.mml.org/newsroom/press_releases/2018-8-6-Community-Ex... and checkout the CEA website here: cea.mml.org/.
- Michigan Municipal Executive (MME) Colloquium: Empowering Communities to Set Their Own Destinies with keynote general session speaker Patrice Frey, President and CEO of the National Main Street Center – 9-10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.
- Great Place to Live Townhall general session featuring Phil Power and the Center for Michigan’s Truth Tour – 11 am -12:15 p.m. Thursday.
- The New Localism: Utilizing Public, Private, and Civic Partnerships to Become a Change Engine general session featuring Bruce.Katz,.Co-Author, The New Localism, noon-1:45 Friday, Sept. 21
- Closing General Session about Civic Engagement Strategy: Inclusivity for the Win moderated by Carla Gribbs, Regional Manager, DTE Energy; and featuring Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor, Gary, Indiana; 1st Vice President, National League of Cities, 10:30-noon Saturday, Sept. 22
- Michigan Green Communities (MGC) Awards Lunch and Workshop, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Thursday
- Selection of the 2018-19 new League board members and board president and vice president, Friday, Sept. 21.
- Michigan Municipal League Foundation fund-raising event, Friday evening
- Michigan Association of Mayors breakfast and annual meeting, Friday morning.
- Michigan Women in Municipal Government meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Michigan Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Amazon: Michigan’s Wake Up Call or the Beginning of the End featuring the League’s Anthony Minghine and Khalil Rahal, assistant county executive, Wayne County, 2-3:15 p.m.Thursday.
- HR Up in Smoke: The Intersection between Marihuana legislation and empowerment law featuring Charles Mitchell, Senior Assistant City Attorney, City Attorney’s Office, Denver CO; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, State and Federal Affairs, Michigan Municipal League, 1:45-3:15 Thursday.
- Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act: Back to the Basics featuring Anne Seurynck, Attorney, Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Hit Them with Your Best Shot: Attracting Businesses and Developers featuring Katharine Czarnecki, Senior Vice President, Community Development, MEDC; Nicole Whitehead, Director, Sales & Service Operations, MEDC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Mobile workshops: Envision Ada: Transforming a Suburban Strip Commercial Center into an Integral Part of an Historic Village; All Around Downtown, Uptown, Eastown; New Urbanism in Practice; Viva la Avenida: Planning for a Cultural Corridor, all 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Unleash the Power of Small-Scale Manufacturing with Ilana Preuss, Recast City LLC, 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Creating Sustainable Retail Districts featuring Bobby Boone, AICP, LEED AP, Small Business Retail Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation; Martha Potere, AICP, Strategy and Special Projects Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, 3:30-4:45 p.m. Thursday
- Host City reception by Urban Metro Mayors and Managers at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, Thursday
- Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and the Blue Economy with speakers Tyler Kilfman, Planner, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG); Kevin Vettraino, AICP, Plan Implementation Manager, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), 9-10:15 a.m. Friday
- Fostering an Inclusive Community Environment Hosted by the Michigan Black Caucus with speakers : Lois Allen-Richardson, Councilmember, Ypsilanti; President, MBC-LEO; Oronde Miller, Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Stacy Stout, Assistant to the City Manager, Grand Rapids; Howard Walters, Program and Evaluation Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 9-noon Friday
- Mobility: The Community Conversation with speakers Sarah Latta Rainero, Regional Director, Community Assistance Team, Community Development, Michigan Economic Development Corporation; Tyler Bevier, Transportation Planner, Bay Area Transportation Authority; Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research, 9-10:30 am Friday
- CNU Rules for Great Places: The Project for Code Reform featuring Mary Madden, AICP, Principal, Ferrell Madden; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League; Heather Seyfarth, AICP, Community Engagement Specialist, Ann Arbor; Vice President, Michigan Association of Planning, 9-10:30 am Friday
- More mobile workshops: Explore: ArtPrize10; From Grand Rapids’ Downtown to Your Town: Idea Tour for Building Reuse; Vital Streets in Action Bike Tour; The Modern Orchard at Robinette’s Apple Haus and Winery, all are 9-noon Friday
- Master Planning: The Critical Role of Elected Leaders and the Planning Commission with speakers Adam Young, AICP, Senior Project Manager, Wade Trim; Chris McLeod, AICP, City Planner, Sterling Heights; Mark Vanderpool, City Manager, Sterling Heights, 10:45-noon Friday
- Social Media Pitfalls and Upsides for Communities with speakers Amy Snow-Buckner, Acting Managing Director of Communications, Grand Rapids; Matt Bach, Director, Communications, Michigan Municipal League; Jim Thorburn, Detective/Social Media Director, Allen Park Police Department, 10:45-noon Friday
- We Need More Parking! (But Do We Really?) with Tom Brown, Principle, Nelson\Nygaard; Bradley Strader, AICP, PTP, Transportation Planner, MKSK; Nicole VanNess, Manager, Traverse City DDA, 10:45-noon Friday
- Even more mobile workshops: Frederik Meijer Gardens; Terra Square and the Seeds of a New Downtown in Hudsonville; Under, Over, and All Around, all are 2-5 p.m. Friday
- Improving the Tone and Quality of our Civic Discourse with speakers John Bebow, President & CEO, The Center for Michigan/Bridge Magazine; Melanie Piana, Councilmember, Ferndale, Vice President, Michigan Municipal League Board, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- The Keys to Putting Ethics into Action with Christopher Johnson, General Counsel, Michigan Municipal League; Marlon Brown, Mayor Pro Tem, Mason; Michael McGee, Chief Executive Officer, Miller Canfield; Eleanor Siewert, Professional Registered Parliamentarian, Assignment: Effective Procedures, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- Smart, Accessible, Connected - this high-level panel discussion covers the future of cities in the context of advanced mobility technologies, including connected and automated vehicles, ridesharing, carsharing, ridehailing, mobility-as-a-service, and microtransit with speakers Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Speakers: Kelly Bartlett, Senior Policy & Legislative Advisor, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT); Zahra Bahrani Fard, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research; Dr. Jonathan Levine, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
The Power of the Wind: A Michigan Story with a focus on renewable energy featuring speakers Sarah Mills, Senior Project Manager, University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy; Emily Palacios, Principal, Miller Canfield, 2:15-3:45 p.m. Friday
- The Sky’s the Limit: Big Data, Drones, and the Internet of Things with Daniel Brooks, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Adrianna Jordan, AICP, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Zachary Halberd, Co-Founder, Quantifly, 3:45-5 p.m. Friday
It’s Budget Time. Do you Know Where Your Revenue Is? With John Hoppough, Mayor, Greenville; Jacob Kain, City Planner, Mount Pleasant; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League, Eilis Seide, Assistant to the City Manager, East Lansing, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22
Short Term Rentals: Trends, Impacts & Options with speakers Robert Monetza, Councilmember, Grand Haven; Ulrik Binzer, CEO, Host Compliance; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday
And yes even more mobile tours: Farmers Markets and Food Halls as Catalysts for Business and Real Estate Development; Restoring the Rapids: A Tour of Grand River Restoration Efforts, both 9-noon Friday
Photos of the 2018 Convention will be uploaded to flickr throughout the Convention can be downloaded from the League’s flickr page: flickr.com/photos/michigancommunities for free. We just ask that the following photo credit be given like this: Michigan Municipal League/mml.org. Thanks!
Michigan Municipal League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C., and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials; and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services.
LYFT Driver dropping off passenger at Union Station Rear Parking Garage on H Street, NE Washington DC on Thursday afternoon, 19 January 2017 by Elvert Barnes Photography
LYFT Washington DC at www.lyft.com/cities/washington-dc
Thursday, 19 January 2017 Pre-Inauguration Day Docu-Project: Washington DC Street Photography Series
Elvert Barnes 58th Presidential Inauguration 2017 Project
elvertbarnes.com/2017Inauguration
Published at www.washingtoncitypaper.com/food/article/20971892/when-yo...
Published at theconversation.com/retour-vers-le-futur-quand-le-capital...
Published at ggwash.org/view/67809/breakfast-links-activists-say-uber-...
Published at ggwash.org/view/68210/breakfast-links-lyft-just-bought-a-...
Published at thefederalist.com/2023/04/19/as-prop-22-prevails-gig-work...
More than 1,000 mayors, managers, community planners, locally elected officials and guests from throughout Michigan will descend on Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sept. 20-22 for the joint 2018 Michigan Municipal League and Michigan Association of Planning (MAP) convention. This is the first time ever the League and MAP have joined forces to combine their two annual fall conferences (the League’s Convention and MAP’s Planning Michigan Conference) into a single massive gathering. And it’s all happening during the 2018 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids. Most convention education sessions and trainings will take place in Amway Grand Hotel and DeVos Place, but there also is an extensive series of mobile workshops throughout the area that will put a spotlight on the positive things happening in the community.
The Convention is the League's premiere annual event and a chance to inform and highlight community accomplishments. The League is especially excited to be in Grand Rapids this year with MAP because the west-Michigan community has a lot of the placemaking assets the League has identified as making up vibrant communities, including walkability and physical design, arts and culture, economic development, entrepreneurship, strong education base and much more.
Both the League and MAP serve the education and advocacy needs of elected and appointed leaders and the staff that support them: managers and administrators, professional planners, and other city, village and township leaders that make up the teams that work in tandem to create vibrant, successful, and healthy communities. Because the League and MAP are collaborating on this event, we’ll have double the power to bring more of what our members want. Attendees have more breakout sessions, more topics, and more mobile tours to choose from than ever before.
The event View the Convention program here: blogs.mml.org/wp/events/files/2014/06/2018-Convention-Pro....
Other Convention highlights include:
- The official launch of the next phase of the SaveMICity municipal finance reform effort.
- The selection of the 2018 Community Excellence Award (CEA) winner. The CEA is the League’s most prestigious community award. The 12th annual CEA competition started earlier this year and is down to four final projects. The finalists will give presentations Thursday and Convention attendees will vote, with the winner announced Saturday (Sept. 22) morning. Go here to read a press release about the four finalists: www.mml.org/newsroom/press_releases/2018-8-6-Community-Ex... and checkout the CEA website here: cea.mml.org/.
- Michigan Municipal Executive (MME) Colloquium: Empowering Communities to Set Their Own Destinies with keynote general session speaker Patrice Frey, President and CEO of the National Main Street Center – 9-10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.
- Great Place to Live Townhall general session featuring Phil Power and the Center for Michigan’s Truth Tour – 11 am -12:15 p.m. Thursday.
- The New Localism: Utilizing Public, Private, and Civic Partnerships to Become a Change Engine general session featuring Bruce.Katz,.Co-Author, The New Localism, noon-1:45 Friday, Sept. 21
- Closing General Session about Civic Engagement Strategy: Inclusivity for the Win moderated by Carla Gribbs, Regional Manager, DTE Energy; and featuring Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor, Gary, Indiana; 1st Vice President, National League of Cities, 10:30-noon Saturday, Sept. 22
- Michigan Green Communities (MGC) Awards Lunch and Workshop, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Thursday
- Selection of the 2018-19 new League board members and board president and vice president, Friday, Sept. 21.
- Michigan Municipal League Foundation fund-raising event, Friday evening
- Michigan Association of Mayors breakfast and annual meeting, Friday morning.
- Michigan Women in Municipal Government meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Michigan Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials meeting and breakfast, Friday morning.
- Amazon: Michigan’s Wake Up Call or the Beginning of the End featuring the League’s Anthony Minghine and Khalil Rahal, assistant county executive, Wayne County, 2-3:15 p.m.Thursday.
- HR Up in Smoke: The Intersection between Marihuana legislation and empowerment law featuring Charles Mitchell, Senior Assistant City Attorney, City Attorney’s Office, Denver CO; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, State and Federal Affairs, Michigan Municipal League, 1:45-3:15 Thursday.
- Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act: Back to the Basics featuring Anne Seurynck, Attorney, Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Hit Them with Your Best Shot: Attracting Businesses and Developers featuring Katharine Czarnecki, Senior Vice President, Community Development, MEDC; Nicole Whitehead, Director, Sales & Service Operations, MEDC, 2-3:15 p.m. Thursday
- Mobile workshops: Envision Ada: Transforming a Suburban Strip Commercial Center into an Integral Part of an Historic Village; All Around Downtown, Uptown, Eastown; New Urbanism in Practice; Viva la Avenida: Planning for a Cultural Corridor, all 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Unleash the Power of Small-Scale Manufacturing with Ilana Preuss, Recast City LLC, 2-5 p.m. Thursday
- Creating Sustainable Retail Districts featuring Bobby Boone, AICP, LEED AP, Small Business Retail Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation; Martha Potere, AICP, Strategy and Special Projects Manager, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, 3:30-4:45 p.m. Thursday
- Host City reception by Urban Metro Mayors and Managers at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, Thursday
- Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and the Blue Economy with speakers Tyler Kilfman, Planner, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG); Kevin Vettraino, AICP, Plan Implementation Manager, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), 9-10:15 a.m. Friday
- Fostering an Inclusive Community Environment Hosted by the Michigan Black Caucus with speakers : Lois Allen-Richardson, Councilmember, Ypsilanti; President, MBC-LEO; Oronde Miller, Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Stacy Stout, Assistant to the City Manager, Grand Rapids; Howard Walters, Program and Evaluation Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 9-noon Friday
- Mobility: The Community Conversation with speakers Sarah Latta Rainero, Regional Director, Community Assistance Team, Community Development, Michigan Economic Development Corporation; Tyler Bevier, Transportation Planner, Bay Area Transportation Authority; Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research, 9-10:30 am Friday
- CNU Rules for Great Places: The Project for Code Reform featuring Mary Madden, AICP, Principal, Ferrell Madden; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League; Heather Seyfarth, AICP, Community Engagement Specialist, Ann Arbor; Vice President, Michigan Association of Planning, 9-10:30 am Friday
- More mobile workshops: Explore: ArtPrize10; From Grand Rapids’ Downtown to Your Town: Idea Tour for Building Reuse; Vital Streets in Action Bike Tour; The Modern Orchard at Robinette’s Apple Haus and Winery, all are 9-noon Friday
- Master Planning: The Critical Role of Elected Leaders and the Planning Commission with speakers Adam Young, AICP, Senior Project Manager, Wade Trim; Chris McLeod, AICP, City Planner, Sterling Heights; Mark Vanderpool, City Manager, Sterling Heights, 10:45-noon Friday
- Social Media Pitfalls and Upsides for Communities with speakers Amy Snow-Buckner, Acting Managing Director of Communications, Grand Rapids; Matt Bach, Director, Communications, Michigan Municipal League; Jim Thorburn, Detective/Social Media Director, Allen Park Police Department, 10:45-noon Friday
- We Need More Parking! (But Do We Really?) with Tom Brown, Principle, Nelson\Nygaard; Bradley Strader, AICP, PTP, Transportation Planner, MKSK; Nicole VanNess, Manager, Traverse City DDA, 10:45-noon Friday
- Even more mobile workshops: Frederik Meijer Gardens; Terra Square and the Seeds of a New Downtown in Hudsonville; Under, Over, and All Around, all are 2-5 p.m. Friday
- Improving the Tone and Quality of our Civic Discourse with speakers John Bebow, President & CEO, The Center for Michigan/Bridge Magazine; Melanie Piana, Councilmember, Ferndale, Vice President, Michigan Municipal League Board, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- The Keys to Putting Ethics into Action with Christopher Johnson, General Counsel, Michigan Municipal League; Marlon Brown, Mayor Pro Tem, Mason; Michael McGee, Chief Executive Officer, Miller Canfield; Eleanor Siewert, Professional Registered Parliamentarian, Assignment: Effective Procedures, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
- Smart, Accessible, Connected - this high-level panel discussion covers the future of cities in the context of advanced mobility technologies, including connected and automated vehicles, ridesharing, carsharing, ridehailing, mobility-as-a-service, and microtransit with speakers Adela Spulber, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Speakers: Kelly Bartlett, Senior Policy & Legislative Advisor, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT); Zahra Bahrani Fard, Transportation Systems Analyst, Center for Automotive Research; Dr. Jonathan Levine, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan, 2:15-3 p.m. Friday
The Power of the Wind: A Michigan Story with a focus on renewable energy featuring speakers Sarah Mills, Senior Project Manager, University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy; Emily Palacios, Principal, Miller Canfield, 2:15-3:45 p.m. Friday
- The Sky’s the Limit: Big Data, Drones, and the Internet of Things with Daniel Brooks, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Adrianna Jordan, AICP, Co-Founder, Quantifly; Zachary Halberd, Co-Founder, Quantifly, 3:45-5 p.m. Friday
It’s Budget Time. Do you Know Where Your Revenue Is? With John Hoppough, Mayor, Greenville; Jacob Kain, City Planner, Mount Pleasant; Richard Murphy, Program Coordinator, Civic Innovations, Michigan Municipal League, Eilis Seide, Assistant to the City Manager, East Lansing, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22
Short Term Rentals: Trends, Impacts & Options with speakers Robert Monetza, Councilmember, Grand Haven; Ulrik Binzer, CEO, Host Compliance; Jennifer Rigterink, Legislative Associate, 9-10:15 a.m. Saturday
And yes even more mobile tours: Farmers Markets and Food Halls as Catalysts for Business and Real Estate Development; Restoring the Rapids: A Tour of Grand River Restoration Efforts, both 9-noon Friday
Photos of the 2018 Convention will be uploaded to flickr throughout the Convention can be downloaded from the League’s flickr page: flickr.com/photos/michigancommunities for free. We just ask that the following photo credit be given like this: Michigan Municipal League/mml.org. Thanks!
Michigan Municipal League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C., and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials; and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services.