Board: Brad Garmon
At-Large Representative
Director of Conservation and Emerging Issues, Michigan Environmental Council
What drives your passion for neighborhood/community economic development?
Revitalized cities and urban neighborhoods are the vital building blocks of a more prosperous, environmentally-sustainable and community-based future for Michigan and the nation. They also provide the central focus point and opportunity for the development of more unique and resource-efficient regional economies that can provide good jobs for existing and new residents, and a variety of vibrant, walkable towns and resilient neighborhoods that are better connected by eco-friendly options like transit, walking and biking. With hard work and the rigorous development of stronger personal and professional collaborations, our state's major cities can be reborn as healthy, green, inspiring places that are attractive and welcoming to all types of people, including parents, children, young professionals and retirees.
Why do you love Michigan?
I moved to Michigan from Kansas in 2001 with visions of Hemingway's cold rivers and deep forests. What I found when I got here was all that (I've since taken up fly fishing on Michigan's many blue-ribbon trout streams), plus unmatchable lakeshore dunes, amazing cities with great bones, amazing architecture, and committed and exciting people who are here because they want to make a difference. Michigan is a place with unbelievable opportunities and largely untapped resources in terms of people, ideas, and natural assets like the Great Lakes. It's a place where entrepreneurialism, both social and economic, will be the defining characteristics of an amazing rebirth, and where crisis and challenge can lead us directly to opportunity and innovation.
How does your family and/or community inspire your work?
I live in the city of Lansing and, in addition to working with amazing local activists and partners in the environmental fields, I also work for Capital Gains, a local e-magazine focused on how Lansing is growing, developing and adjusting to the new economy. In that work and in my neighborhood, I am inspired by the many people who are diversifying and retooling our city and its economy for a world that is very different than previous generations. Friends and neighbors are starting businesses, taking risks, and exploring their neighborhoods to find opportunities and talent in all corners of the city. Diverse neighborhoods, like REO Town, Old Town, and Lansing's Eastside, are constantly amazing me with their forward-looking awareness and do-it-yourself, bootstrapped response to economic and social challenges.
What do you do in your free time (if it exists!)?
I'm training for a half marathon, writing for the e-magazine, working on our house, dabbling with gardening, trying to find time to fly fish on Michigan's northern rivers, and walking and biking on Lansing's amazing River Trail with my wife and friends. I also love to sit and read the New Yorker and books by leading thinkers who are tackling the deeper, systemic challenges of our time--things like climate change, education, poverty, globalization and food systems. What I learn is that our neighbors, networks of friends and family, and the communities immediately around us are going to be the foundation of a redefined notion of prosperity and security in the future.
Updated June 13, 2011