Michigan's Smart Growth Governor And Her Unlikely Allies

Michigan Governor-elect Jennifer Granholm campaigned on a promise tostrike hard at the sprawling development that clogs highways, emptiescities, devours farm and forest land, and diminishes the quality oflife. Both the Republican House Speaker, Rick Johnson, and the incomingRepublican Senate Majority Leader, Ken Sikkema, have voiced strongsupport for new government activism to curb sprawl and its harmful consequences. The potential for substantive government action on sprawl is now possible in Michigan. With this posting, the Michigan Land Use Institutelaunches Great Expectations, a new series of penetrating reports andlearned commentary about the post-election efforts by both parties toprepare for Michigan's Smart Growth future. Between now and February,theInstitute's journalists and editors will regularly report on what'shappening in and out of the new Granholm administration, and whatLansing's new leadership should be talking about when it comes totransportation, agriculture, planning, urban development, and otherSmartGrowth issues