Traverse City belongs to the people who live here. The job of city government is to serve city residents. If we make our city a better place to live, it will also be a better place to work, to run a business, and to visit.
Twenty years ago, city residents created a group called the Residential Retention Task Force. This group went to the neighborhoods and asked four questions:
Why do you choose to live in the city?
What is it about your neighborhood that attracts you?
What problems do you experience?
What is your “wish list” for the future?
From the residents’ answers came three consenus priorities: calming traffic, improving downtown, and preserving recreational resources.
A lot of progress has been made downtown, though ensuring its continued uniqueness in a world of malls and big box stores will require vigilance and creativity.
When it comes to the other two priorities – traffic and recreational resources – there has been some progress but not enough. Addressing these two unfinished tasks will require ingenuity, money, and determination. But addressing them will – by leaps and bounds – make our city more liveable.
That is what we think the next few years should be about.
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December 28, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Ellen Koenig
Why Do You Live in Traverse City?
I live in Traverse City for the small town lifestyle.
We have lived in the same house for over 26 because this has proven to give our six children, of varies ages, the best childhood we could secure for them. We love Traverse City, our neighbors, our lifestyle and the feeling that we all know and care and look out for each other here in town.
I always know any new neighbors will have much in common with the rest of us. This is because I know we all have willingly, lovingly, and joyfully chosen Traverse City to live our lives in, not just buy a house to live in.
I know this because we don’t mind being one of the last 100,000 people in American who will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a home with a unattached, unheated garages (if we have one at all), knowing we must walk the last 50 feet to our door, outdoors during a snowstorm and down a path, that may not have been shoveled in last 10 hours and we are wearing our fancy shoes.
We love our city and enjoy sharing all it’s wonder with those who don’t live in Traverse City. We are good hosts and are pretty non judgemental, which is good. We live in crooked houses that lean and tilt and no amount of remodeling will keep that golf ball from rolling across the room and we all think that is sweet and charming, not annoying or disturbing. We try to be understanding, when anyone we have ever met, stops by any time, because they need a place to chill for a few hours between “in town” appointments.
We invite hundreds of thousands of strangers to come on over to our big, little city and we do this because we trust our Traverse City Police Dept. to protect us from any dangers, without ruining any ones good time. The News Years Eve TC Cherry drop, Comedy Arts Festival, Navy Blue Angels, the Cherry Festival, Friday Nite Live, Film Festival, Wine & Art Festival, Microbrew & Music Festival and Schooner Festival, to name some of the big ones we host. A job they do so well, I hope no City Commissioners have become spoiled and think anyone could do the job. Cutting the Traverse City Police as cost saving idea is not smart. I wouldn’t like to live in town without the Traverse City Police.
We are daring and brave. We live in tinder boxes that are nothing more then a collection of 100 years old or more seasoned wood, just waiting for a spark. We do this because we know we can trust our Traverse City Fire Department that has been trained not just to save any building Downtown, or our historic homes from fires, but they also are trained to respond to the Traverse City Airport and Munson Medical Center and any boat fires. Cutting our Travese City Fire Department would be penny wise but pound foolish. Would the Blues Angles still come every 2 years? Would we be willling to pay the difference in our new homeowners rate increase? Would our home value go down?
We are people people. We chose to live densely. Connected, interested, invovled, because, in town, there isn’t anyway we can escape each other, and we like that. In an area of full of lodges and compounds and estates and homes that “touch State land”, not to mention small subdivision after subdivision, I think we who choose to live in Traverse City, do so for the connection we have to each.
December 28, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Ellen Koenig
The Elephant in the Room
The first point in this discussion should be that we define Traverse City. Then we can understand who wants to see what changes made to make TC more liveable and why.
1. Folks who live, are taxed, and vote in the City of Traverse City.
2. Folks who have Traverse City in their address?
Citizenship granted by U. S. Postal Service?
3. Folks who work or play in Traverse City and live in Grand Traverse
County?
5. Anyone who lives in the 5 County Region and tells people when
asked where are you from, “Traverse City”.
December 19, 2009 at 5:16 pm
streets & sidewalks 2, news on waterfront & sheriff – last update of 2009 « Plan For TC
[...] Bill Paladino has a good photo essay about the city’s priorities when it comes to cars, bicycles, and pedestrians. Read it here: http://planfortc.com/2009/10/08/liveable/#comments [...]
December 14, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Fred Schaafsma
Bill
Very good points! You truly made the photos worth a 1,000 words. Particularly the photo of the people on Pine St (between Front and State Streets) illustrate the need for keeping sidewalks clear. Yesterday (Dec 13) even Front St and Union St right in the downtown shops area were nearly impossible to walk. We need to focus on sidewalks and bike infrastructure- just the clearing of snow is a good start!
December 14, 2009 at 3:00 am
Bill Palladino
This idea of a livable community comes up frequently for me. This summer I sold my car, so that I would force myself to experience my community in a different way. In turn, I tend to spend a lot more time on my feet and on my bike as I make my way around Traverse City.
This Saturday, after three days of hard snow, we got a break in the weather. The skies were clear blue, and the wind had died down. So, I decided to go for a walk to the bay with my dog. I was surprised by a couple things.
First, the Cass Street tunnel under Grand View Parkway was gated off, forcing us to walk a bit more to safely make it across the street. Then, once across, none of the sidewalks or walkways were cleared.
These things are understandable, however, the contrast is what made me stop and write this. All of the vehicle pathways were plowed, including the parking area for a zoo that doesn’t exist any longer, metered parking spaces, and the entire lot for the marina.
It simply seems that these are the messages we communicate to our community. That you MUST drive your car. That, walking along the bay in the winter is simply something you shouldn’t do. But if you want to drive there…. you’ll have plenty of room to park.
The TC Bay front is undoubtedly the largest single investment this community will likely ever make. As a baseline return on investment, I’d think losing the use of it four or five months a year is a bad bet. Can we find a way to prioritize our pedestrian infrastructure to make it easier for those of us who choose to live here year around to make use of it easily?
Furthermore, on this note, a frequent concern of mine is the lack of serious maintenance of our city’s sidewalks. Often, the snow removal is spotty, inconsistent, and rarely down to the pavement level. Just as I was returning from my bay walk, I saw a familiar sight. Two disabled people, in the heart of downtown on Pine street, making their way down the middle of the busy street, one in a wheelchair, the other in a walker. Other cities in the snow belt figure out how to manage this. I believe strongly that the city needs to enforce some snow removal policy for property owner, and they need to follow it themselves. Saying that the city snow removal unit passed by is obviously not enough.
I’ve included a link to some photos taken on Saturday that illustrate these comments. And as always, if there’s anything I can do personally to help you and the city realize some our community needs, please ask.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/billpalladino/sets/72157622871170883/show/
Many thanks,
Bill
December 28, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Ellen Koenig
Bill,
Wonderful photos and great point.
I would like to see the sidewalk guy cover everywhere every day it snows.
I would like the city to enforce the snow removal policy for property owners, also. Sidewalks shouldn’t be left for the sidewalk guy alone if it needs to be cleared. I also see snowblowing and or trucks plowing private property and dumping the snow in the street or alley or on the neighbors driveway! Bad snow manners.
In the summer I would like to see more paved sidewalks along Divison and anywhere there isn’t a consistent concrete/asphalt walkway.
I would like to see what pedestrian traffic calming ideas other cities have used on major state highways cutting through their towns.
October 30, 2009 at 12:43 pm
chrisbzdok
This list was compiled by Dan Paulson, of Cedar Valley Ridge. Links to the stories will be forthcoming:
The American Planning Association called Traverse City’s main street, Front Street, one of the 10 Best Streets in the US in October 2009
Midwest Living placed TC in second place in its list of “Best Food Towns” in 2009.
USA Today (June, 2009) reports that “Foodies Flock to Traverse City.”
Field & Stream named Traverse City one of America’s “Top 20 Fishing Towns” in 2008.
Great Towns of America (Revisited) 2008 listed Traverse City as one of the “Top 100 Best Getaways for a Vacation or a Lifetime.”
Relocate-America.com, a web site for people on the move, ranked Traverse City second in its 2008 list of the “Country’s Top 100 Places to Live.”
Outside Magazine named Traverse City one of the “Top Ten Places to Live” in the United States.
Site Selection Magazine twice named Traverse City the “Number One Small Town in the Nation for New or Expanded Businesses.”
Golf Digest ranked the Traverse City area number 12 on its list of the “World’s Top 50 Golf Destinations “ in 2001.
Travel America Magazine listed the Traverse City area as one of the “Best Vacation Destinations in the World.”
USA Today listed Traverse City’s National Cherry Festival as one of the “Top Ten Events in the Nation”.
Money Magazine listed it as one of the “Best Places to Live” in 2007.
Sports Illustrated Women named Traverse City one of the “Best Places in the United States for Sports Enthusiasts.”
Readers of the Oakland Press voted Traverse City “Best Spot to Travel in Michigan” in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.
Lake Magazine listed Traverse City as the number-one choice in its profile of eight “Great Destinations” in May 2005.
Life Magazine named Traverse City one of its “10 Perfect Escapes for a Summer Weekend” in June, 2005.
Fly Rod & Reel Magazine named Traverse City one of the “Top 12 Fly-Fishing Retirement Towns” in its November/December 2005 issue.
The Air Line Pilots Association named Traverse City’s Cherry Capital Airport “2005 Airport of the Year.”
Mother Earth News named Traverse City one of nine “Great Places You’ve Never Heard Of” in August 2008.
National Geographic Adventure placed Traverse City on its list of “50 Top Adventure Towns” in August 2008.