Neighbors For A Better Traverse City

Neighbors for a Better Traverse City – formerly Citizens For a Better Traverse City Parkway – is a citizen-led initiative working to shift power from those with competing priorities to citizens with one priority – improving the lives of their neighbors here in Northern Michigan’s capital.

A neighbor-first Traverse City doesn’t mean a neighbor-only Traverse City.

It does mean that the wants/needs of the people who live (or will someday live) in the capital of Northern Michigan matter more – a lot more – than the wants/needs of:

• non-public nonprofits
• consultants
• tourists
• people who live in the suburbs

We will accomplish this by banding together to build/deploy/share our power for City policy change.

After what happened with the Parkway, some policies worth changing could include:

• giving non-public nonprofits access to more City information than residents

• using non-public nonprofits as proxies for City resident voice

• providing non-public nonprofits opportunities to lobby City decision-makers before City residents

• requiring affiliation to a non-public nonprofit to serve on certain City committees (ie. Active Transportation Committee)
• appointing non-City residents to City committees (ie. DDA, Brown Bridge, Active Transportation, Green Team)

Is it time to think and act differently on behalf of the people of Traverse City?

What if we put the health, wellbeing, safety, and prosperity of those who live in Traverse City – those of all ages and abilities – at the center of our decision-making?

Let’s not settle for just a little better – let’s push for lots better.

We deserve it.

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Civic Saturdays Traverse City

Inspired by Eric Liu’s Citizen University and Civic Collaboratory, Civic Saturdays Traverse City aim to help strengthen the civic foundation of Northern Michigan’s capital.

• Boost citizenship knowledge
• Learn effective civic skills
• Shift civic culture attitudes
• Build powerful citizenship in support of a neighbor-first Traverse City

Learn more about Civic Saturdays Traverse City.

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Latest News

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In the spring and summer of 2022, we asked what was important to the people who call the Traverse City area home.

SUMMER 2022 SURVEY RESULTS

PDF of Summer 2022 survey results

SPRING 2022 RESULTS

PDF of Spring 2022 survey results

NEIGHBORS HELPING NEIGHBORS ORGANIZE

After the Grandview Parkway design debate, a few Traverse City neighbors are helping neighbors without a formal neighborhood association form one.

At that time, many residential neighborhoods – those east of Garfield, south of 14th, Bayhill/Fitzhugh, Morgan Farms – currently do not have a formal association. 

We believe residents in neighborhoods without an association have less representation on City issues. And with important planning processes like the masterplan rewrite happening this year, now is the time for more engagement, not less.

Traverse City is small – just 8 square miles, with a significant amount of this being the airport. However, the summer 2022 survey determined City residents wished to continue to have multiple neighborhoods.

For those keeping track at home – newly created, activated, and emerging neighborhoods since 2021:

• Oak Park
• Base of Old Mission
• Indian Woods
• Triangle
• Fernwood
• Morgan Farms

With a goal of 100% of Traverse City neighborhoods being organized, we’re still looking for pro-social, civic minded neighbors in:

• Oakwood
• Fitzbugh/Bay Hill

to lead in creating new neighborhood associations.

After what happened with the Parkway (and is happening now with TIF97), it’s critical that more neighbors organize (even if we don’t agree on everything) to:

• build power
• share power
• deploy power

for a better Traverse City.

Below is an organizing template used recently by the Oak Park neighborhood to reactivate their association. Neighbors without an association can use this template to form one.