Group items tagged

But when Atomic Object put a single bike rack outside its Grand Rapids office, "all of a sudden, there were more bikes than could be secured, so we added another," said Mary O'Neill, business manager of the Grand Rapids-based software development company, which also has an office in Detroit. "Then we realized there were people who wanted to bike in all seasons of the year, so we looked at a place to store bikes inside," O'Neill said. Despite humble Census numbers, more employers in Grand Rapids may be pushed by their workers to follow Atomic Object's lead as the city government works to become more bicycle-friendly and encourage more people to pedal to work. Grand Rapids officials - believing that if they build it, people will pedal - are putting together a 100-mile urban bike network. City officials would like to see 2 percent of the workforce riding bikes to work and dream of being a bicycling mecca like Ann Arbor. In that city, nearly 5 percent of the workforce - or 2,782 of the 56,646 working adults, according to the 2011 Census report - get to work on bikes, the highest percentage of bicycle commuters in Michigan.

As these areas continue to gain strength, several new sectors are beginning to emerge on the shores of Lake Erie. The region's workforce and available fresh water are generating significant interest in the craft brewing, food processing, alternative energy and data center industries.