BATTLE CREEK—
From tearing down homes to putting in new sidewalks, the City of Battle Creek is set to get a multi-million dollar makeover. It's an effort to keep the struggling city going in this tough economy.City leaders presented the plans in a work session Tuesday night. They're big plans, about 35 million dollars worth of changes. They want to attract more young professionals to the city and keep them there.
The city's hoping to change the way people look and think about the area. They want to fill in empty store fronts by creating more development along the riverfront, repaving sidewalks, even creating a new park downtown. Plus a lot of changes to fix up the streetscape.
"It's so important to make sure that we don't just hunker down and protect what we have but to look for ways to reinvent ourselves and re-energize our community," said City Manager Ken Tsuchiyama.
Plus, the city's using grant money to tear down more than a hundred run down homes this summer. They hope it'll make the area safer and raise property values.
"Vacant homes of course are subject to vandalism, to drug activity, to a lot of criminal activity and they just cause blight," said Susan Bedsole, the Director of Licensing and Compliance.
But a lot of the changes are the ones you can't see. They're trying to change the culture of Battle Creek. Moving away from manufacturing and moving towards technology and food sciences jobs, what the Cereal City was built on.
The city's hoping to lure in a private company to open up a food testing center in the city. Plus, they're getting ready to open an international training institute for food inspectors. Classes begin this July, bringing thousands of new people to the area.
"We're looking at about 1,000 people coming to Battle Creek in the first year for training and up to 3,000 people in the second year," said Karl Dehn of Battle Creek Unlimited.
The public still has a chance to sound off on the plans over the next few weeks. The money used will not come from the city's general fund. They're special development dollars that come from the city and local economic groups and foundations.
