How Does the Blueprint Plan Differ from Previously Purchased City Plans?

IRONWOOD, MI - Saturday, July 19, 2008 - This week the State of Michigan selected the City of Ironwood to be one of six Michigan cities to receive this year's Blueprints for Michigan Cities. The project will cost the City $15,000. The total cost of the project will be $30,000. All of which is ultimately paid by Michigan taxpayers.

For this $15,000, the City will receive a plan -- a market analysis, course of action, an economic vision, a "blueprint" or any other name you might want to call it. The project does nothing to help implement the plan. Currently wedged on a bookshelf in the Community Development Conference Room at the Memorial Building are three similar plans the City paid to create in the past -- one from the 1970's, one from 1981, and one from 1990.

The 1981 plan cost the City over $80,000. The 1990 plan was essentially free, since it was merely an update of the 1981 done by that era's DIDA. One of the arguments made for supporting the Blueprints for Michigan Cities program was the low cost. Certainly $15,000 is considerably lower than $80,000, but the real question is this... What makes anyone think that a 2008 plan will suddenly be effective when virtually nothing ever came of the three decades of plans that have remained on a shelf since their creation? Will the 2008 guide simply join the "dead plan" library or will the ideas and suggestions in the plan be implemented by the City?

Another question one needs to ask is this... "Once the Blueprint Plan is complete, where is the City going to get the funds to put the plan into play?" It was suggested that the Plan would open the doors to grants offered by the State. Shouldn't the State be helping its failing Downtowns without first requiring blood money? The Blueprints from several Michigan cities can be found on line. The cookie cutter plans seem to be nearly identical from city to city. Several of the different cities' Blueprints can be view through the links below:

Each of Blueprints follow the same 8-point outline:

  1. Project Overview - Explains what the purpose of the Blueprint Program and establishes its goals.
  2. Downtown (City) Today - Highlights the strengths and the weaknesses of the city.
  3. Resident and Business Surveys - They find out from the public what they would like to see downtown.
  4. Downtown (City) Tomorrow - Offers suggestions to improve the city.
  5. Downtown Market Analysis - Calls for local business owners to "Roll up their sleeves and work together!"
    1. Downtown Retail Opportunities - Lists Retail Areas of the city.
    2. Downtown Office Opportunities - Lists Office Areas of the city.
    3. Downtown Housing Opportunities - Lists Housing Areas of the city.
  6. Course of Action - A List of Suggested Improvements
  7. Partnership for Success - Encouraging Local Investment to the city.
  8. Implementation Sequence - A 5-Year Outline to Accomplish the Improvements.

Evidently, not every city that enrolled in the Blueprint Program was completely convinced that it was a good investment. The Big Rapids Blueprint features a "sales pitch" to assure them that this plan is different than previous plans the city invested in.

"This time is different! It is realized that plans and studies have been completed for Downtown Big Rapids in the past -- and that the desired results were not quite realized. Despite that fact, those in Big Rapids must come to understand that this Downtown Blueprint, and the process to complete the Blueprint, are very different from what was done in the past since:

  • The process used to complete the Downtown Blueprint was highly inclusive, involving literally hundreds of community members, meaning that the recommendations included in the Blueprint are based on the community's desires and concerns;
  • The Downtown Blueprint is not a plan or a study but a five-year, strategic course of action specifically designed to address the unique opportunities facing Downtown, as well as the specific needs of Downtown Big Rapids;
  • The Downtown Blueprint addresses every major issue facing the Downtown Big Rapids and recommends specific steps for addressing each of those issues;
  • The Downtown Blueprint recommendations are highly pragmatic, being geared to local capablilites and sensibilities;
  • The Downtown Blueprint is highly action-oriented, implementation oriented, and success oriented;
  • The methodology used to define the Downtown Blueprint has been used as a basis of a national Downtown technical assistance program since 1992 and is the basis for three Statewide Downtown techical assistance programs with great success;
  • The methodology used to define the Blueprint has been proven to yield substantial results, as can be seen by the benchmarks tracked by communities chosen to participate  in the Cool Cities Blueprints for Michigan's Downtowns program."

Downtown Ironwood has gone from thriving in the 50's, 60's and '70's to suffering in the 2000's. Plan after plan has done nothing to improve things. They were simply a waste of valuable resources. The Downtown Ironwood Development Authority has a very limited budget. So does the City of Ironwood. Perhaps there is better use for the taxpayers $15,000 than to purchase yet another plan.

Jim Albert