Mark Sanchez: Well, this goes back about a month or so ago when the Michigan Supreme Court made a ruling that kind of really put a little bit of a shock into the system for businesses out there. Part of it was paid sick time. And again, go back a number of years, there was the petition drive to change the minimum wage law in the paid sick time law in Michigan. The petition was submitted. The legislature under the state constitution either puts it on the ballot or adopts it. And there's this strategy called Adopt and Amend where the legislature will adopt it and then go back later and make some changes. That's exactly what happened here. The legislature adopted this law that was submitted by a citizen petition and the Michigan Supreme Court later ruled on litigation filed against the legislature's action that legislatures can't do this in the same legislative term. So basically, put the law into effect as the legislature adopted the law before amending it. So, it changed. It changes things for paid sick time. And it's going to be a bit of a more burden on employers. So, there's now a movement afoot in Lansing to change both of these things. Paid time off and minimum wage. And the story here, my colleague out of Lansing, Dave Eggert has for today was really a proposal from some of the business groups in Michigan, including Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, the Detroit Regional Chamber and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce to really begin advocating for the legislature to make some changes in this law so it's not so burdensome on especially small businesses. And the proposal they floated here in the last few days was really exempt employer plans that meet or exceed the requirement to provide up to 72 hours of paid medical leave. Exempt small businesses from the mandate with part-time seasonal and other workers. Require time to be used full or half day, incrementally either full or a half day increments, and not smaller blocks and have employers be allowed to require advanced notice. And then allow employers to front load 72 hours at the start of the year rather than having employers or employees accrue the time throughout the year. So, it's a proposal that these business groups are floating in Lansing. You have a Democratic controlled legislature and Democratic governor. So, we'll see. There is a lot of movement afoot to change both of these items in this law. So, we'll wait and see. A lot of folks think you'll see some action after the election in the lame duck legislative session there in November and December. But right now, that law, as the Supreme Court ruled, will go into effect here in early next year. But there is certainly movement afoot and movement to have the legislature makes more changes to these laws. So, they're not as burdensome for businesses.
Patrick Center: This is a case of the initial spirit of the law and then time and who now is in charge.
Mark Sanchez: Will the democratic control legislature actually act on this? This was a proposal back in 2018 that the Democrats in Lansing really supported and favored. But you've got a business community saying this is really going to hurt our business. So, there's always that split there and there always will be. So, the question is whether the Democrats and the legislature are willing to indeed make some changes to what the state Supreme court put into effect.
Patrick Center: So, lawmakers focused on the new paid sick leave law, but also there's a focus on housing and the shortfall that we see across the state in affordable housing. We're now seeing some Kent County officials and some movement along underused commercial corridors and there might be some opportunities there.
Mark Sanchez: Yeah, this is you know, we've talked about this on this program about we need more housing here in Kent County. We need more housing all over the state. But here in Kent County, there's a lack of affordability and just a lack of capacity. So, this is a preliminary report that came out last week from the group Housing Next here in Kent County. And it really took a look at kind of undeveloped corridors, vacant and undeveloped land. They identified about 3,000 acres with existing access to public utilities. And in their view, it could really developing these properties could really put a major dent in Kent County's housing shortage and spur a lot of new investment. So, Housing Next looked at 32 commercial corridors in Kent County that could accommodate future housing and infill development. And they're identifying that you could have perhaps 70,000 new housing units developed over the next 25 or so years. And that's double the number of for sale and rental housing units in Kent County. That's needed by 2027 just to stabilize the local housing market. So, it's something that's being looked at, studied, and here's a potential solution on the table. And some of these corridors, they really looked at our Plainfield Avenue, Alpine Avenue, Fulton Street, Kalamazoo Avenue, 44th and 28th Street. And the study really spans the county. You're talking about Plainfield Township, Walker, Wyoming, Kentwood, Grand Rapids. So, there's an idea out there and it's going to take some thinking. It's going to take some potential zoning changes because a vast majority of these parcels that Housing Next looked at, almost 98%, are zoned for single-family housing when housing types are needed across the spectrum, multi-family, single-family. So, it's a starting point. It's a starting point for a conversation and perhaps a broader conversation of how best to address this need for more housing here in Kent County.
Patrick Center: We're talking with Crain's Grand Rapids Business staff writer, Mark Sanchez. You've written a piece on Trinity Health Muskegon taking over an urban farm and helping to address food insecurity.
Mark Sanchez: This is an issue that goes back to the fundamental question that you've heard for a long time, which is: what is a hospital today? What is a health system today? Is it just merely a place that treats the sick and injured? Or is there something broader? And this story tells us yet again, it's something broader where health systems, hospitals, physicians are trying to address what's known as the social determinants of health. In the case of urban areas, sometimes it's food insecurity, a lack of access to fresh foods, fresh vegetables and fruits. So, there's this urban farm located near the campus up in Muskegon, Trinity Health Muskegon's campus. It's been there 15 years, the McLaughlin Grows Urban Farm, the nonprofit organization that's been running it and its health system owned land in that nonprofit kind of folded last year. So, Trinity Health Muskegon has basically taken over. And the reasons are pretty simple, which is in the terms of the gentleman I talked to, Michael Ramsey, who coordinates these things for Trinity Health Muskegon says very simple. Food is health and if we can get healthy foods in the hands of people who need it, that's something that affects their health and affects healthcare. And Trinity Health, statewide also has a couple of urban farms that operates over in Ann Arbor and Pontiac up in Northern Oakland County. And also, I say, again, this is part of what your health systems and your hospitals for years now have been doing is branching out beyond that medical care and looking at the social determinants of health, housing, transportation. access to healthy foods. These are all issues that affect the health of a population. And this story is kind of one example of how health systems are going down that road to try to address those issues.
Patrick Center: Crain’s Grand Rapids Business staff writer, Mark Sanchez. Thank you so much.
Mark Sanchez: Thank you, Patrick.