"Quality of Life" game to help Grand Rapids plan the Michigan St. corridor | Community Spirit

Story contributed by the City of Grand Rapids.

Grand Rapids - Do you live, work, play, visit, go to school, or commute on, through, or near Michigan Street?

To start a community conversation about this regionally important corridor, all you need is a free copy of Quality of LIFE, the new "meeting-in-a-box" game produced by the Grand Rapids Planning Department. The fun yet instructive game is designed to start a meaningful dialogue among neighbors, businesses, special interest groups and the public about their ideas for the future of the Michigan Street corridor. The results of the game will be used to inform a corridor planning process that began last fall and will continue through 2012.

Neighborhood organizers and the corridor plan steering committee have already picked up several copies of the game and are planning game nights with family, friends and colleagues, including representatives from the Michigan Street Corridor Association, Grand Rapids Community College instructors and staff, and several others.

The game board reflects the four–mile long corridor plan study area, which stretches from the Grand River to the East Beltline and from Leonard to Fulton Streets, with components of the study including St. Mary’s Hospital campus. Seven urban neighborhoods with 20,000 residents, numerous local businesses, and the region’s major "anchor institutions" are located there. Anchor institutions are significant educational or medical facilities such as Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids Community College, Grand Valley State University, Michigan State University, St. Mary’s Hospital and Spectrum Health.

Players will travel up and down the corridor during gameplay, considering issues of housing, transportation, infrastructure, the economy and more as they explore the corridor. The game is free and available now. Players of previous games produced by the Planning Department will know that the games are great to be played with friends, neighbors, and even at work or school. People have been known to host game dinners, take it to block club meetings, church groups, even to local bars (we know of a few along the Michigan Street corridor that would love to host your group!)

Inside the game box is the Corridor Map game board, instruction and answer booklets, "Stop!" cards, game pieces, colored markers, sticky dots, and much more. Get together a group of up to eight people, ages 5 and above – or larger groups if you break into teams. Bring your own pen or pencil, and let the game begin!

For a copy of Quality of LIFE, contact the Grand Rapids Planning Department at planning@grcity.us or 616-456-3031. Games can be picked up at the Grand Rapids Planning Department, 1120 Monroe NW, and are already going fast. Game results are due back to the department by March 2, 2012.

Financial supporters of the corridor planning project include Dyer-Ives Foundation, Frey Foundation, Grand Rapids Community College, The City of Grand Rapids’ Community Development and Parking Services Departments, the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, the Grand Rapids Downtown Development Authority, Grand Rapids Smart Zone Authority, Grand Valley Metropolitan Council, Grand Valley State University, the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, Michigan State University, the Michigan Street Corridor Association, The Rapid, Spectrum Health, and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

For more information, call 616-456-3031, or visit the Michigan Street Corridor website at: www.michiganstreetcorridor.us