We have friends around the world that have always wondered why we live in Michigan. We have lived in many places, including Europe, for quite a bit of time. For some reason though, we’ve always been drawn back to Grand Rapids. When we left Michigan State at the end of 2004, we decided to make Grand Rapids our home because our family lives here and that is one of our top priorities in life. But we’ve always known Grand Rapids is a great place to live and work and now it’s beginning to be noticed by the world. Our guess is, in the next 5 years, Grand Rapids will be the driving force for a large part of the Midwest as more and more companies and entrepreneurs choose West Michigan as their base of operations. Here is what some folks are saying outside of GR:

(photo courtesy PureMichigan)

RelocateAmerica Announces Top 10 Cities for 2011

Being named a Top 100 Place to Live  is a big deal.  It fuels economic development and improves quality of life. It fosters community pride  and creates opportunities for marketing tourism, relocation, business and industry.  Of the 100 U.S. cities  named to RelocateAmerica’s list for 2011,  there are 10 that have won the American Idol for communities in that they were named a Top 10 Place to Live.

They are:

1. Austin, TX
2. Grand Rapids, MI
3. Boulder, CO
4. Raleigh, NC
5. Dallas, TX
6. Greenville, SC
7. Augusta, GA
8. Boise, ID
9. Omaha, NE
10. Oklahoma City, OK

RelocateAmerica’s research team compiled the list after evaluating extensive data on the factors most important in a community: real estate and housing, economic health, recreation, and safety.  But, it wasn’t all a numbers game. Just as important, and perhaps even more so, was the input provided  by local residents, business and community leaders. There’s nothing that says community pride quite like a resident (or many of them) delivering a list of all the things that make their community special.

It feels especially good to name Grand Rapids, Michigan a top 10 place to live, especially after it was named one of “America’s Dying Cities” by Newsweek in January. What really caught our attention about this city, though, is its response. It didn’t get mad. It made a video. And, not just any video. A video with 5,000 residents (that’s not a typo), lip synching to Don McClean‘s “American Pie” while touring every aspect of the city. Now, that’s what we call true community spirit– and that’s what being a top 10 city is all about.

Congratulations to all the winners.

In addition, check out the letter to Newsweek from our Mayor, George Heartwell about what’s going on around Grand Rapids:

Dear Ms. Brown:

The citizens of Grand Rapids were astounded when you declared our city, Grand Rapids, to be a “dying city” in the January 21, 2011 issue of Newsweek.

Dying city? Surely Newsweek must be joking! Would a major medical school (Michigan State University School of Human Medicine) move its campus to a dying city? Would a dying city have seen $1.4 billion in downtown construction in the past seven years? Would the first J.W. Marriott in the Midwest have opened (2007) in a dying city? Would the US Chamber of Commerce have awarded its Siemens’ Award for America’s most sustainable mid-sized city (2010) to a dying city? Would a dying city have attracted over 250,000 visitors last year to the world’s richest art competition, ArtPrize which, incidentally, attracted 1,713 artists from around the world and was prominently featured in the nation’s leading newspapers? Would the United Nations University have made a dying city its first US “Center for Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development” (2004)? Or would 22 universities, colleges and theological seminaries maintain campuses in a dying city? Would a dying city have more LEED certified buildings per capita (2009) than any other American city? Or would citizens of a dying city rank second highest in the nation for per capita philanthropic giving? Would a dying city be listed among the top ten urban fisheries (2009) after investing $240 million in water quality improvements in the Grand River? Would a dying city be listed among the top 50 “bicycle friendly” cities (2010) by the American Bicycle Association? Why would Good Morning America have featured a dying city just last week?

Ms. Brown, surely you have never been to Grand Rapids! If you had been, you would never list our amazing city as “dying.”

I invite you to come and see one of the most vibrant cities in America. Spend a few days in Grand Rapids. Be my guest. Eat, drink and be merry in as many of our 92 downtown restaurants, bars, clubs and coffee shops as you can. Visit our new LEED gold Grand Rapids Art Museum, or our terrific local public museum, or just stand quietly by President Gerald Ford’s burial site outside the Ford Museum.

I’m afraid our timing is off to get you to a Kid Rock concert – that happens tonight. But if you want to see Lady GaGa at our Van Andel Arena there’s still time; she comes this spring.

Call me. The mayor of this so-called dying city is available 24/7 to show you just how wrong Newsweek is about our astonishing city.