Midtown residents and local business owners are encouraged to get involved mentoring neighborhood youth. The commitment would be a self-imposed one. Midtown only asks that you make the commitment for a six month period of time.
Please e-mail your level of interest and job skills, if appropriate. We are in immediate need of craftsman type mentors as well as persons interested in assisting with improving the general life-skills some youth will need to be a success as independent adults.
Please contact Kelly Otto, Community Organizer, to find out how you can help make a positive difference right here in Midtown by calling 732-9191 or vis e-mail at midtownmi@yahoo.com
In an effort to continually update Midtown’ers on cool things in the neighborhood, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to photograph this fabulous “Snow Monster” in the front yard of, gasp!, Betty Ford’s childhood home.
In an effort to begin planning for the Spring-Fall months ahead Midtown asks that you take 5 minutes to complete a quick assessment of Midtown and Your Block.
Midtown has added part time staff who will be collaborating with neighbors to help plan and implement improvement projects on blocks where residents feel there is the greatest need. What that means is: THE SQUEAKY WHEEL GETS THE GREASE! In this case Midtown is looking for A LOT of squeaky wheels.
Midtown hopes to receive completed assessments, via e-mail or however you’d like to deliver them before the end of March. If you prefer to have staff stop by for a chat and pick up the assessment(s) in person, feel free to give us a call. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a cup of coffee with your community organizer and catch up on the happenings in Midtown?
Thank You
Kelly Otto, Community Organizer
Midtown Neighborhood Association
Below is a DOC file you can download. Email it back to kelly@midtowngr.com, or print it out and drop it off.
During the latter part of 2009, the City held nine community budget gatherings. These gatherings were designed to engage community members in a conversation about government serving as a service “platform”. This concept of collaboration would include residents, businesses, and customers providing additional services they feel are important for quality of life. At these gatherings, the City’s Chief Financial Officer Scott Buhrer explained our current and projected fiscal condition. Deputy City Manager Eric DeLong reported on last year’s actions, and City Manager Gregory Sundstrom shared his vision of transforming the City to a new form of government.
During small group discussions, participants were asked to share how this new form of government would work for them. Participants embraced this opportunity and over 1,000 suggestions were given to City staff. They can be found on the City’s website at www.grcity.us. Staff reviewed each suggestion and identified those that we have essentially completed, and identified the top suggestions to pursue. Staff also developed a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) to address the more common suggestions received at each meeting.
In publicly sharing these suggestions, Mayor George K. Heartwell said, “I am pleased to share with our citizens the suggestions taken from the budget gatherings—and am especially encouraged by what ideas staff have identified as things we already do or have completed, and to recognize the top ideas we will be working to implement in the days ahead. This is a great example of the City working with citizens to transform our organization.”
City Manager Gregory Sundstrom urges citizens to remain engaged as we continue to transform our organization.
Carbon monoxide is the leading cause of unintentional death by poisoning in the United States. 450 Americans are killed by carbon monoxide each year, and more than 15,000 others are rushed to the emergency department with severe symptoms. Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that is the byproduct of incomplete combustion and often comes from malfunctioning furnaces, water heaters, or other appliances.
To help keep families safe, the Healthy Homes Coalition was recently awarded a FEMA grant to install carbon monoxide and smoke detectors for families with young children. Eligible families must reside in the cities of Grand Rapids, Kentwood, or Wyoming, and must have a full-time resident child 5 years of age or younger.
Supplies are limited to only the next 300 homes! The carbon monoxide alarms retail for more than $40 and the smoke alarms retail for $20, but we INSTALL them for free! To request an alarm, call (616) 241-3300 or email info@healthyhomescoalition.org.
Midtown Neighborhood Association has received a Justice Assistance Grant grant. We are pleased to announce the addition of Rebecca Warner to Midtown’s staff as the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design coordinator. Ms .Warner will supervise and help to mentor youth interns, from Midtown, to accomplish Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design goals set forth by Midtown residents. The grant funds come from a Federally funded Justice Assistance Grant through the City of Grand Rapids Community Development Department. Ms. Warner and the youth interns will assist Midtown staff and the Board of Directors in an aggressive campaign to meet with residents on each and every block of Midtown to:
Increase the number of active block club groups as well as the number of block captains
Determine the strengths & weaknesses of each block
Create a list of do-able projects which will increase the curb appeal and perception of each block
Complete a one-time street by street and house by house lighting assessment
Complete monthly street by street vacancy assessment
Complete monthly graffiti assessments and follow up with removal of the graffiti
The options are only limited by residents willingness to join in and make their Midtown neighborhood great!
For more information or to begin scheduling a meeting for residents of your street, call Kelly Otto at 732-9191.
“GRAND RAPIDS — The Grand Rapids Police Department will unveil an online crime-mapping system today that will inform residents about incidents in their neighborhoods.
The Internet-based system will allow people to see the type of crimes happening across the city, narrowing the scope by offenses, date and geographic areas.
Data comes directly from force complaints and will be updated twice daily, said Officer Phil Porter, who works in the department’s crime analysis unit.”
On the new website you can pick from 15 categories of crime and see where they have recently taken place. If you want to check for a specific day or range of days, you can select that by clicking on the date above the map.
You can also sign up for email alerts to automatically be sent when crimes happen near your residence by clicking “Receive Crime Alerts” in orange in the upper right corner. Simply enter your email, the address or intersection you are tracking, the distance from your address for alerts to be sent, and select which categories of crime are sent in the email alerts.
Jenn Gavin, Ashby Row resident for over 10 years and Midtown’s Board President. Jenn continues to be involved with the neighborhood association, its Board and committees and has been for over 8 years.
Kevin Hayes, longtime Brikyaat resident and Midtown’s Board Vice-President. Kevin is very involved with the revitalization of the Brikyaat and planning-stages of improvements at the Farmers Market. Kevin also serves as Midtown’s Staff Supervisor for Market Manager Melissa Harrington and Community Organizer Kelly Otto.
Amber Kilpatrick, Old East Resident and Midtown’s Secretary. Amber is very active on the Public Safety Committee and was instrumental in making the “2009 Back-to-School” backpack giveaway a success during August’s Community Celebration.
Josh Duggan, resident of the Woods and Midtown’s Treasurer. In addition to being very active in the GR Biking Community, Josh is a member of Midtown’s Communications Committee.
Heather Brazee, Woods resident, Board member responsible for Human Resources, Participating member of Public Safety Committee
Jeffrey Smith, Brikyaat Resident, Board member on the Communications Committee
Jorja Jankowski, Ashby Row Resident, Board member responsible for tracking House Plaque Sales as part of the Neighborhood Improvement Committee
Russ Taber, Brikyaat Resident, Board member responsible for handling Web Master duties as part of the Communications Committee
MSHDA’s Property Improvement Program offers low interest home improvement loans to single-family homeowners with low-to-moderate income (up to $65,000, or $74,750 in certain areas), and landlords renting to low-to-moderate income tenants. Eligible home improvements include the following:
Windows
Furnaces (including geothermal)
Insulation
Roof repair or replacement
Solar water heating systems
Siding
Other improvements include:
Kitchen and bathroom remodeling
Foundation repair
Garage or carport (addition or repair) and
Other permanent improvements to homes.
With the Property Improvement Program, eligible homeowners can borrow up to $50,000 for a single family site-built home. Lower limits apply to manufactured homes. Because we can amortize the loan up to 20 years, the monthly payments are very affordable for those on a fixed income. The interest rate for homeowners is 4%, 6%, or 8%, depending upon income.
Eligible landlords can borrow up to $25,000 per single-family rental unit, and an average of $12,000 per unit for multi-family properties (up to a maximum of $60,000 per property). Eligible multi-family properties cannot have more than 11 units. The interest rate is fixed at 8%. There are no income requirements for landlords, but the rental units must meet MSHDA rental limit guidelines.
You can get more details about the program at www.michigan.gov/mshda, then click on the Home Improvement link.
Jenn Gavin, Ashby Row resident for over 10 years and Midtown’s Board President. Jenn continues to be involved with the neighborhood association, its Board and committees and has been for over 8 years.