David Ramaker was recently named president of the Michigan Baseball Foundation. After retiring in 2017 as the president and CEO of Chemical Bank, he joined MBF to focus on development initiatives. We caught up with David on his first few months, an update on the downtown traffic study and his priorities for the near term.
Q: Let’s talk about Momentum Midland, which you came on to lead in the spring of 2018! Can you tell us a little bit about your first months?
A: Yes, in approximately April of this year I came on board to assist Momentum Midland, and also to provide some oversight on the daily operations of the Michigan Baseball Foundation. We are continuing to build on the foundation that was established under Paul Barbeau’s leadership.
The amount of development in and around Downtown Midland is contagious and growing. The new Fairfield Inn & Suites under construction, several mixed-use developments, place-making programing efforts and new housing options are exciting to see take shape. This environment of growth was instrumental in bringing Delta College’s Midland Campus downtown.
Q: Can you talk a bit about the priorities for Momentum Midland for the next couple of years?
A: Our objectives remain consistent from when we started. The Michigan Baseball Foundation was founded in 2006 with the purpose of bringing in a baseball team to the community, but also to become a catalyst for Downtown Midland and the surrounding area.
In 2015, we started the Momentum Midland initiative, focusing on creating and increasing vibrancy downtown and in the surrounding area. We created five objectives that we still strive to accomplish today:
- Turning downtown into a vibrant destination with a greater variety of uses, features, businesses and activities to attract diverse interests.
- Reconnecting surrounding neighborhoods to downtown by changing auto-oriented traffic corridors to safer walkable and bikeable streets to enable seamless development between downtown and the surrounding areas.
- Strengthening downtown as a community hub by connecting history, culture, recreation and the river – all with the intent to reinforce cross town linkages and wayfinding, diversify the local economy and strategically position Midland for future growth.
- Landmark, leverage and link the riverfront by expanding and enhancing trails, parks and recreational activities to make the river a more significant feature.
- Enabling downtown to become a more livable neighborhood by offering housing options and a walkable lifestyle in a vibrant community setting.
From a programming perspective we have several initiatives including the Larkin Beer Garden (now in its third year), Bike Midland, Movies on Main and street performances that we started, with support from other community partners.
Q: Speaking of increasing downtown connections, can you talk a little bit about the first months of the road diet? Has there been any data from the study?
A: The road diet is really about studying the potential of changing and enhancing connectivity between the one-way pairs and the surrounding neighborhoods. Right now, Midland has a bypass around downtown, which divides the neighborhoods making it less desirable to live and work. It is truly a barrier!
The intent is to create a community growth initiative and traffic flow that recognizes all forms of transportation – walking, biking and vehicle traffic – more equitably. Doing so will improve pedestrian safety by reducing the number of lanes to cross the street, thus minimizing the barrier connecting Downtown Midland to the surrounding neighborhoods (Midtown and Center City) and ultimately enhancing economic activity, access, livability.
The lane reduction has caused some questions about traffic backups, but even if you look at some of Midland’s busiest streets, they have two lanes – Eastman Avenue and Saginaw Road, for example. We think long term, that the one-way pairs can function just as well as two-lane roads.
In addition, there has been some added congestion to the downtown area recently with the M-20 bridge work and the construction of 1st State Bank being completed on the corner of Ashman and East Buttles streets. These projects are temporary in nature and we anticipate improved flow for the remainder of the study when these efforts are complete.
From a timing perspective, we will have some initial data available through the State of Michigan this October, which we are looking forward to sharing with the community. From there, the study continues for the remainder of the three years and we will continue to engage all stakeholders in the discussion.
Q: What was your experience with Chemical Bank and how has it helped shaped your perspective on this community?
A: I was with Chemical Bank for roughly 28 years, and all but three of those years was here in Midland, with an office that faced Main Street and allowed me to observe the activity downtown.
I believe Midland is very special and unique community in the middle of Michigan. Unique in the types of amenities that we have in this community because of the generosity of many people and organizations.
Part of my role at the bank was to assist in improving the quality of life in Midland helping to make it a vibrant place to live, work and play, which helped give me a holistic perspective on economic development and factors at play in improving quality of life. My new position with the Michigan Baseball Foundation allows me to use those skills and experiences to give back to a community that I love.
Q: What is on your wish-list for something you would love to see brought to the community?
A: I am not sure I can pick just one thing – we need to build upon the assets that exist today. Aside from Momentum Midland’s five objectives, others include revitalization of Center City, diversifying our employment base, enhancing educational quality, improving the city’s housing options and supporting community health and wellbeing.
I would also say we can build upon and utilize Midland’s many wonderful assets to the fullest by encouraging wayfinding and interaction with the resources that we have in this community. There are opportunities to utilize technology to promote some of our public spaces and how to get the most out of them.
Q: If you were going to look at something in a neighboring community, who is getting it right and with what development efforts?
A: I often look at communities like Ann Arbor or Grand Rapids as two examples of really vibrant and diverse downtowns and have helped bolster their development. They have had a single focus of creating a vibrant downtown that acts as a catalyst for future development and is an important factor in attracting people to their respective communities.
Q: As a resident of Midland for almost thirty years, can you talk about the evolution you have already seen and what inspires you about the changes that have taken place?
A: I think in large part we are extremely blessed with a lot of resources. The numerous family foundations, the Dow Chemical Foundation, Midland Area Community Foundation and now the Michigan Baseball Foundation are great resources to help us get things done.
Our employers foster a strong sense of civic responsibility providing a diversified volunteer base. And lastly, a core group of civic and business leaders have created an environment of success. All of this is driven by a ‘can do’ attitude instilled long ago by Hertbert H. Dow of “I can find a hundred men to tell me an idea won’t work…what I want are men who will make it work.”
I see that attitude in action with both new and existing developments, whether it is the Midland Center for the Arts, the Grace A. Dow Memorial Library, Whiting Forest, Dow Gardens, the new streetscape, Dow Diamond, a new wetlands park on the 4-D property, or our existing community parks. Each of these things came about because of visionary people with the desire to work and make them a reality.
So I am inspired by those in our community that really want to see Midland continue to be a great place to live, work and play, and striving to use our new and existing assets to build upon that.