Mayor George Heartwell Delivers 2013 Grand Rapids State Of The City Address

A variety of topics were discussed as Mayor George Heartwell delivered the 2013 Grand Rapids State of the City Address on Saturday.

A $100,000 donation from Mercantile Bank was announced at the address.  The money will go to Upward Bound to help prepare teenagers for college.

Other topics discussed included: restoring the rapids, the Michigan Street Corridor Planning Initiative, education, global warming, sewer improvements, solar energy, and more.

Read the entire Grand Rapids 2013 State of the City Address here.

Awards and recognitions given to Grand Rapids were also discussed.  Here are a some of those which were mentioned:

• Best places to live in the US from Relocate America.
• Best cities for raising a family from Forbes.
• Best cities to retire to from “Where to Retire” magazine.
• Brooking Institute labeled Grand Rapids among the top ten “comeback cities”.
• US Chamber of Commerce Seimans Most Sustainable City Award.
• The US Conference of Mayors environmental and climate protection award.
• Listed in the top ten urban fisheries in America by Fly Fisherman.
• Beer City USA.

And there were more.

It's an exciting time to be in Grand Rapids!  There are many challenges, but even more reasons to look forward to the future!