BY DEANNA B. NARVESON | Staff writer Today brings the latest out of Business Editor Adam Daigle's trip to Michigan with One Acadiana. What sparked the collaboration that Grand Rapids leaders have fostered over the past few decades, a collaboration that has allowed the city to tackle housing challenges and recruit new business? It started with an embarrassing moment, Daigle writes in his latest update from the Great Lakes State. In the 1970s, Grand Rapids was known as the hometown of a U.S. president when Gerald Ford was appointed to the position following the resignation of Richard Nixon. But the city, as the story is told here, was not allowed to hold a parade downtown for their hometown hero. Too many of its multi-story buildings downtown were empty back then, and the U.S. Secret Service deemed it unsafe for the president of the U.S. to move through the area. City leaders were embarrassed, and that set the foundation for everyone — public and private — to act. Read the full story here. | 