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West Michigan Rising
Rising from the Ashes to Build Our Left Coast in Michigan
Username: Mary Valentine
PersonId: 421
Created: Mon Feb 01, 2010 at 16:07:29 PM EST
Mary Valentine's RSS Feed

Groundwater and the Public Trust

by: Mary Valentine

Mon Mar 29, 2010 at 11:20:45 AM EDT
( - promoted by philgoblue)

There is one thing that is true about Michiganians.  We love our water.  We swim in it, fish in it, walk beside it, ski beside it and on it, snowmobile across it, and travel in it with every kind of boat imaginable.  We admire its sunrises and sunsets, and the moon's reflection dancing on its surface.  We take thousands of pictures of it in all the seasons of the year.  It is the basis of our life and our economy.

Our strong agricultural tradition thrives on the water we have here, along with pop-making, beer-making, paint-making, baby food processing, in addition to  dozens of other industries, and the thousands of jobs they create.  Water is our heritage.  It is our past, present and future.  

There's More... :: (0 Comments, 588 words in story)

Creating High-Tech Jobs for West Michigan Workers

by: Mary Valentine

Wed Mar 03, 2010 at 22:47:59 PM EST
(Talking with folks from The Right Place -- central West Michigan's economic development corporation, they believe we need to give high priority to advanced, high-tech manucaturing because of our universities, skilled researchers, and engineers. Plus, the suggest improving and expanding on our transportation infrastructure -- our deep port in Muskegon, cargo rail, etc. With quality public servants like Mary Valentine, Michigan's best days are ahead of us.   - promoted by philgoblue)

One of the most rewarding aspects of my job here in Lansing is working on projects that bring jobs and new development to the district I represent. One day the word fortu showed up on my calendar. I wondered what this appointment would lead to as I ushered a group into my office from fortu PowerCell, an advanced battery manufacturing company that utilizes a radically new technology with twice the energy content and half the material cost of traditional batteries,

For fortu PowerCell to even consider Michigan, a lot of work was done by Governor Granholm and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation on a plan that creates centers of manufacturing excellence for advanced battery technologies. For many years Muskegon has been ready for a big opportunity to replace our waning manufacturing base, and here it was.

There's More... :: (1 Comments, 305 words in story)

Questioning Muskegon Secretary of State Closings

by: Mary Valentine

Mon Feb 01, 2010 at 17:03:41 PM EST
(Welcome Representative Valentine. - promoted by philgoblue)

In November of last year Secretary of State (SOS) Terri Lynn Land declared she was shutting down or consolidating 11 Secretary of State offices. As part of that plan, she announced she would shut down the two Muskegon County offices which provide excellent coverage to the citizens of Muskegon County, in favor of one office located in the southernmost part of our county on Sternberg road. She has since rescinded this plan and reopened the bidding process. This placement would have left a huge gaping hole in coverage for the central part of our county.

Without any public input from the citizens of Muskegon County, public officials, people working at the Muskegon SOS offices, or the owners of the buildings, she announced her "modernization" plan in the press. The lack of transparency used in developing this plan has led to a great many questions about the procedure used to make this decision.

Why were 10 of the 11 consolidations picked in Democratic State House districts? Why during the hard recession are we making it more expensive for citizens to do business with the SOS? What process was used to determine which offices to close? Was it politically motivated? Why did the boundaries from the bid process even include the Sternberg location in the first place? What are the true costs and savings of the Muskegon closings? Was this a strategy to make it harder for poorer voters to register to vote? To get answers to these questions and others I sent Secretary Land specific questions concerning her proposed plan for Muskegon.
There's More... :: (0 Comments, 756 words in story)
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