Change.
It’s all around us, and it continues to be of primary interest to leaders in Battle Creek and Calhoun County.
Not a day goes by, it seems, without headlines pronouncing that things must be different before they can be better. Less than one year ago, this very column focused directly on this issue. Since then, the only thing that hasn’t changed is our community’s drive to change for the better, to leverage our community’s tremendous assets and tradition of creativity and position our local economy for success in the new century.
We have made strides in that direction. Despite what is routinely portrayed as an era of economic turbulence for our area, substantial projects and investments are going on right now, on the leading edge of positive change for our city and our region. Our area has a number of economic bright spots, and we are moving forward.
Battle Creek Unlimited has taken the lead on a series of downtown revitalization projects, known now as the Downtown Transformation Plan. The Chamber strongly supports the concept of the plan. The economic health of the greater Battle Creek area and downtown Battle Creek are key concerns for our members, and for the future of our community. This is an effort to revitalize downtown Battle Creek by capitalizing on existing community strengths and assets focusing on education, food science and a strong tradition of community.
The overall plans include the expansion of the W.K. Kellogg Institute for Food and Nutrition Research, as will new infrastructure investments, relocation of some Kellogg Company operations and hundreds of their employees. The Hinman Company has undertaken ambitious projects to improve functionally obsolete property and make it viable for the Kellogg and other related business relocations. The plan also calls for partial closure of Jackson Street between the Kellogg headquarters and 67 W. Michigan Avenue, recently approved by the City Commission. All this will transform this area of downtown Battle Creek, create a safer and more aesthetically pleasing campus-like setting around the Kellogg Company and other surrounding businesses –– and help retain hundreds of local jobs.
We applaud these investments made by our Chamber members in downtown Battle Creek, as well as BCU’s entrepreneurial spirit; and, we wholeheartedly support these efforts to improve economic development and economic opportunities for the future of Battle Creek. If implemented correctly, these tremendous investments in, and commitments to, our community can positively change the face of Battle Creek over the next several years. They promise to add to the critical mass of workers and visitors in the central business district, which in turn will help our downtown businesses succeed, and attract more merchants to that area. Your Chamber is encouraging its members to work diligently as each element of the Downtown Transformation Plan is initiated, amended, publicly debated and put before elected leaders for approval. We stand at the forefront of what is perhaps the most challenging period in our region’s economic history. Yet embedded in every challenge is an opportunity. And like the 20th Century entrepreneurial visionaries who first thrust our area to economic prominence –– W.K. Kellogg and C.W. Post –– a new generation of leaders is emerging to drive our area forward. Initiatives like the Downtown Transformation Project, coupled with Battle Creek’s long track record of innovation, will lead our community –– and our great state –– into future prosperity.
