Will Leaders Heed Grassroots Election Message?

Michigan's most important economic development story, and to some extent the nation's, is not what is happening in Lansing or Washington. Instead, it is unfolding in the grassroots campaigns for civic investments like the ballot initiatives that two communities outside of this Great Lakes city decided two weeks ago.

In Long Lake Township on Nov. 7, voters easily approved a small property tax increase to generate over $3 million to buy and preserve two large, forested parcels as public land. But in adjacent Leelanau County, voters handily rejected a similarly sized property tax that would have protected thousands of acres of farmland.

Here in fast-growing northwest Michigan, where new subdivisions and stores push ever farther into the countryside, many people view preserving farmland and open space as an important tool for strengthening an economy built on scenic geography and a small town way of life. Yet the messages coming from the opposing results in these two open-space campaigns reflect sharp differences over exactly what the region should do to control and direct its growth.