A lot of changes have been happening since Long Beach's Kristopher Larson arrived in Grand Rapids to become the new Executive Director at the Grand Rapids Downtown Development Authority (DDA), and it's been more than just talk. His team has already assembled some pretty stellar first-year advances, like the recent visioning process for the Arena South district.
The next chapter in the evolution of the DDA is a new speaker series launching at Kendall College. For their inaugural event, they shot for the stars and scored a major voice as their first speaker.
Jeffrey Tumlin, principal with Nelson/Nygaard, has a long history of working with cities, developers, and regional governments to not only create economic development, but also a passion for harnessing these improvements to increase our quality of life through smart transportation investments.
His focus is on the power to position a city for the future, when transportation options will become a strong attractant for people and companies seeking to relocate or remain in a community.
This event will focus on the impacts of various transportation choices, and how they impact both the community and its citizenry. Because Tumlin is arriving at a key time in Grand Rapids' transition to a larger city, he will be discussing the prospect of modal shift and what it could mean for our city.
Larson is a firm believer in collaboration and so this event would not be possible without the assistance of the DDA's partners in this new venture: Experience Grand Rapids, GRAM, The Salon Urbanist Meetup, the Greater Grand Rapids Bicycle Coalition, Friends of Grand Rapids Parks, The Rapid, the City of Grand Rapids, and Kendall College of Art and Design.
Admission: Free (But if you can RSVP, please do so
here.)