MLUI Position: Cass Road Bridge, existing roads, should be priorities

MLUI Position: Cass Road Bridge, existing roads, should be priorities

The Michigan Land Use Institute and several environmental groups are on record supporting the replacement of Cass Road Bridge as an integral crossing for businesses, residents and local schools. MLUI continues to oppose the Hartman-Hammond project as too environmentally damaging, more expensive than other viable and publicly supported alternatives, and contrary to findings of the comprehensive Grand Vision Land Use and Transportation Study.

Stanford’s Cost Saving Lesson: Parking Doesn’t Pay

Stanford’s Cost Saving Lesson: Parking Doesn’t Pay

In the late 1990s, Stanford University found a way to trim the mounting costs of providing a high quality education: Pay university staff to leave their cars parked at home. Locally, Northwestern Michigan College recently unveiled a new master plan, which calls for an additional 244 parking spaces to accommodate an expanding technical education program and double the amount of student housing. Are there any lessons local college officials can learn from the California university?

View of public transit is changing nationally and locally

View of public transit is changing nationally and locally

Back in 2009, some of the bumpers on BATA buses in Traverse City were held together with duct tape. Today, the 75-strong BATA bus fleet is taking more commuters than ever before to and from their jobs. They did this by adding routes and providing services that “fit residents’ lifestyles,” according to BATA’s business development director. This caught the attention of Jeffrey Tumlin: It is fortunate “you have a transit operator that really gets it.”