Day 0 (Continued)

Joe Borgstrom- The Coordinators meeting in the morning were interesting talking about the impact of the economy on local businesses, Main Street programs and even state coordinating programs. Interesting tidbit of the day: Retail giants like Gap and William Sonoma are seeing sales down at 10% and 18%, respectively, while independent retailers who engage in buy local programs are only down only 5%. While not great news, it is encouraging that people are thinking about where they buy more these days and its impact on the local economy.

We took a tour of Wicker Park in the afternoon. What a cool neighborhood. Very artsy with lots of little shops and pubs along the way. We toured an artist colony. I was struck that in this grand metropolis of Chicago, at how much better many of the live-work artist projects MSHDA has been involved with (such as the Armory Arts in Jackson and Avenue of the Arts in Grand Rapids) are than this example. Don’t get me wrong, it was hip and cool and all. I am just even more impressed with the works going on in our state. The projects I mentioned not only have cool, hip vibes to them, but were much nicer (cleaner, better rehabbed) places for these artists to live. Great job Jackson and GR!