The Grand Rapids Press 03/05/12 Zane McMillin
“Creston area going green along Plainfield”
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/03/bioretention_islands_plainfiel.html
In a time of economic strife, Creston Neighborhood residents and businesses dug deep into their wallets for beauty’s sake.
The neighborhood, in partnership with the city and community groups, has rallied over the years to raise $152,000 for a unique, green technology aimed at reducing pollutants and enhancing quality of life.
The so-called bioretention islands will be built in the center of Plainfield Avenue between Leonard and Ann streets, coinciding with a city project to resurface the thoroughfare in coming months.
The $300,000 project, funded largely by community donations and a federal transportation enhancement grant, almost never was.
City Commissioner Ruth Kelly, who represents an area that includes Plainfield, jumped into discussion about possible plans to beautify Plainfield with city leaders.
Her queries were met with news that years of dwindling federal and state support left little money for such projects.
But, to Kelly’s surprise, Grand Rapids City Manager Greg Sundstrom mentioned a storm water purification component that would make a beautification project cost even more.
Kelly struck a deal with the city that allowed people to pay under a deferred plan, say, $100 per year for 10 years or some variation.
Some $152,000 later, city leaders worked to leverage Creston’s contribution further, scoring a $147,000 federal grant for the project through the Michigan Department of Transportation.
The city's contribution will be about $30,000.
In the event of flooding, there are below-ground mechanisms to send the cleaned storm water into sewer drains.
Common Sense Review
A few months ago, the City of Grand Rapids came forward and said there is no money to fix streets, yet they have the time to apply for Fed grants to pave Plainfield for a Bio project.
I find it interesting that city Officials are concerned about clean storm water flowing into sewer drains… Apparently they don’t know what flows through sewer drains..
Just to clarify - there are two kinds of sewers: sanitary sewers which carry household waste to the treatment plant, and storm sewers which carry street runoff to the rivers. This project involves storm sewers and would benefit the overall health of the Grand River.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, it does point towards the Obama Administration's ability to channel stimulus funds towards 'green' projects. Without generous federal dollars, there's no way this project would have been undertaken. And chasing federal stimulus money is just about all municipal planners/engineers can do nowadays.
Bottom line: Want your street repaved? Better come up w/ a tree-planting or median park plan... have to overbuild 'green' just to get the money!