Cutting taxes. Slashing spending. Easing up on regulations.

Those are the usual answers to the question about how to boost the troubled Michigan economy, but they aren’t the ideas that will be heard  in Grand Rapids this week at a conference of Midwest mayors.

Grand Rapids mayor George Heartwell will push a plan to spend more tax dollars, and to spend the money on cleaning up and protecting the largest fresh water source in the world—the Great Lakes.

To Heartwell’s thinking, the Great Lakes are a key to the region’s economic revival. Aside from the water source and tourism dollars, Heartwell sees a clean and healthy Great Lakes ecosystem as essential to lure and retain talented people to the area.

The challenge, he says, is to make sure congressional and state leaders understand the importance of clean waterways.

In an interview with the Great Lakes Bulletin News Service, Heartwell said, “We’ve learned that quality of life in a place is real important to attracting the creative class, especially young technology workers. So if you can offer a vibrant city, and a big clean freshwater lake or river, then you’ve got a real advantage in the race to compete in the modern economy."

Mayors will work toward efforts to see a federal Great Lakes restoration proposal make headway in Washington, D.C.  The proposal stems from a call by Pres. Bush to begin a cleanup of the lakes, but Congress has yet to move forward.

That lack of action is increasingly running contrary to public opinion—opinion that’s surged far beyond the environmental movement.

Now, says Heartwell, it’s essential to get the business community more involved. If business leaders are engaged in the effort, he says, Congress would be more likely to listen.

While many leaders in state capitols and in Washington remain stuck in old paradigms, it’s refreshing to hear those such as Heartwell break free and bring new ideas to the discussion about Michigan’s ailing economy.