Detroit : In the News

The economy is struggling, that's undeniable. But, of course, there are bright spots that are equally undeniable. For instance, gourmet grocers are thriving. As this article states, the next best thing to going to Europe is eating as if you were in Europe.

Excerpt:

Despite the region's dismal economy, upscale grocers are flourishing in Metro Detroit, expanding and adding stores to serve a sophisticated and growing customer base that wants organic produce, natural and international foods, gourmet carry-outs and a glass of wine or a Sanders' hot fudge cream puff while they're shopping.

"A trip to Europe may be out of the question, but consumers can still go to the grocery store and get the ingredients for a meal they would have eaten there," said Linda Gobler, president and CEO of the Michigan Grocers Association. "People want to do something to make themselves feel good."

Read the entire article here.

Detroit is the only major American city without a rapid transit system. That, potentially, will change in the next five years as the city's transit developments start to take shape. With these developments, as proven in other cities, jobs, people, and investment follow.

Excerpt:

As the years have gone on, however, the cry for mass transit in our urban areas has grown and grown.

It's a way for the poor in the inner city who lack access to reliable transportation to get and keep jobs in the suburbs – the place where the jobs are these days.

Mass transit can be a force to reduce racial segregation. It is well known – and completely deplorable -- that the Detroit area is one of the most segregated in the country. The fact that it lacks any real system of mass transit is no coincidence.

Mass transit is highly desired by the young, highly educated "creative class" who want to get around a metro area after relaxing downtown -- without having to designate a driver.

Read the entire article here.

A film needs a crew and the crew needs to know what to do. Local colleges are making sure that happens. Many schools are now adopting film set training programs for eager beavers that want to break into the film industry. The upside? Jobs for the state and the talent that stays.

Excerpt:

Wayne State University is retooling its curriculum to meet both the expected needs of the studios and an increased interest from students.

WSU's College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts office already is fielding calls from production crews that need extra help, said chairman Matt Seeger.

"It's mushroomed. ... We have to be aggressive to take advantage of these opportunities," Seeger said.

Community colleges -- Wayne County and Henry Ford among them -- are offering new classes to retrain workers for technical jobs in the film industry. The classes at Henry Ford begin today.

By next month, the Michigan Film Office expects to add a manager of job training, education and development. That person would coordinate with Michigan's higher education institutions to develop curricula to meet the new needs, said Tony Wenson, chief operating officer.

Read the entire article here.

Michigan is the place to be for some but it can be the place for all. It won't be without work, vision, and, possibly, chasing the unrealistic, according to Brian Pappas's Op-Ed piece in the Freep.

Excerpt:

We need new solutions. The "race to the bottom" to have the best business climate (lowest taxes) is nothing without an educated, healthy and cultured workforce. Our tax base is tapped out, our state budget is devastated, and we need a new direction. As counter-intuitive as it seems, now is the time for bold action and investment. Unrealistic goals can be easier to achieve than realistic ones, if they provide the challenge and interest that keep people involved and motivated.

Public transit is one such unrealistic goal. Metro Detroit has a lot of what Chicago has -- culture, entertainment, sports, recreation, talented people and a great waterfront. It's just not all concentrated in one city.

A region-wide public transit system can unite us and reframe the map over the long term, creating new centers of commerce and providing the infrastructure for long-term advancement. At a bare minimum, young people do not want to drink and drive, and don't want to battle traffic on the way home. Public transit addresses those concerns. The Woodward and Ann Arbor corridors are great starts, but we need to think big!

Read the entire article here.

The early bird gets the worm. Or, in this case, saves 50 bucks.

The early bird discount pricing for the Creative Cities Summit ($250) has been extended to Sept. 19. After which it goes up to $300.

The conference, Oct. 13-15, will pull in minds from across the country to talk about creating a creative city. Tuesday, Oct. 14, the Big Creative Three featuring Richard Florida, John Howkins, and Charles Landry - the originators of the concepts of the "creative class", the "creative economy" and the "creative city" respectively - will take the stage for a discussion on the future of the auto industry.

A pre-conference "Unconference" called "Detroit 2.0" will be held at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design on Sunday, October 12, between 1. p.m. and 5 p.m. with a $10 registration fee. This unconference is a facilitated, participant-driven, face-to-face conference around a theme or purpose.

For more information and to register visit here.

Where will there be a growth in IT jobs in the fourth quarter? Survey says... Detroit-area. A survey by Robert Half International says that companies are planning to bulk up on the IT jobs in the near future.

Excerpt:

"I.T. hiring projections for the fourth quarter indicate greater activity in the Detroit area compared to the national forecast," according to Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology, in the company's announcement. "Organizations are directing recruitment efforts toward professionals who can provide essential services - such as help desk and networking - and support the launch of Web 2.0 based functionality."

Read the entire article here.

Opening night kicked off a successful tribute to "The Prince of Motown" Marvin Gaye. And, thanks to the weather, the people kept coming and coming throughout the entire weekend.

Excerpt:

Jazz Fest publicist Matt Lee said the festival experienced its biggest opening night ever Friday, thanks in part to the lovely weather.

"The core constituency comes out no matter what," Lee said. "But good weather is going to enhance that...You can have the Beatles there, and if the weather ain't right, it ain't going to be good."

Read the entire article here.

The Michigan State Fair Authority is considering leasing unused land on the fairgrounds for retail or movie and music studio space, the Detroit News reports.

Excerpt:

Over the next six months officials will decide whether the plans are a good fit, said Robert Burns, the Michigan Department of Management and Budget's director of government affairs assigned to the authority's board.

"We may approve one plan or both or a portion of both," Burns said. "We are still studying them."

Read the entire story here.

Ferry Street in Midtown is something else. Not only does it boast two beautiful mansions on the north side (the Frank Hecker place on the corner and his buddy Charles Freer's mansion next door), but also a string of Victorian houses on the south side that offer nightly rates for someone looking for an old school oasis in the middle of urban revitalization.

Excerpt:

Situated in Detroit's midtown, The Inn on Ferry Street furnishes a soothing getaway for urban travelers. The inn has 40 rooms scattered throughout four beautifully restored Victorian-era homes and two carriage houses.

It's the special touches that impressed guests Rick and Bobbi Calkins, of Greenville. "They (the staff) take care of everything," she said.

Less than six blocks from the inn is a hodgepodge of worthwhile attractions: The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit Science Center, Detroit Historical Museum, the main branch of the Detroit Public Library and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.

Read the entire article here.

Detroit should take a look at Denver. They retained educated workers, embraced regionalism, and put in light rail (which greatly improved city investment and development). Detroit may never be Denver, but it can try, or, at the very least, as Ken Cockrel, Jr. said, "It can be a better Detroit."

Excerpt:

Then there's regionalism, something that sprawl-happy Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson is allergic to. Folks in Southeast Michigan and certainly outstate haven't gotten the message that if Detroit dies, we all suffer. No state can survive the collapse of its core city. The sooner we accept reality and move to metropolitan government, as they have in Indianapolis (which has an economy Michiganders are supposed to envy) the sooner the state can truly recover.

Read the entire article here.

Forbes Magazine isn't always kind to Detroit. However, in this case, they give the city props. In another one of their lists - America's Worst Cities To Be A Sports Fan - Detroit gets a nod instead of a slap.

Excerpt:

The best deals? You'll find those in Detroit (only No. 17 in costs for a .612 winning percentage for its four teams, including the Stanley Cup champion Red Wings), Houston (third-cheapest prices for a .565 winning percentage), and the Bay Area (so-so teams, but a high-income market with the ninth-lowest costs).

Read the entire article here.

The story behind Caraco is one that many Detroit-based businesses wish they could replicate. The New Center-based company has watched its employee base more than double and its revenues quintuple since 2005.

The generic pharmaceutical company, founded in 1984, went from 220 employees in 2005 to more than 600 today, half of which work in the city. It has hired 150 people in the last year.

Its revenue numbers have skyrocketed even more. The trajectory looks like this: $64 million in 2005, $83 million in 2006, $117 million in 2007 and expectations are for $350 million this year. Revenues are projected to jump another 25 percent next year.

It accomplishes these numbers thanks to an alliance with Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, which is the 5th largest pharmaceutical company in India. That partnership has allowed Caraco to expand its Detroit facilities. The company plans to move its corporate offices from New Center to its newly expanded facilities on Elija McCoy Drive, near the home base for Recycle Here! on Holden Avenue, later this year.

Caraco is one of the fastest growing companies that specialize in the generic pharmaceutical industry. It develops, manufactures, markets and distributes generic and private-label pharmaceuticals throughout the U.S. These drugs treat a wide variety of maladies, including hypertension, arthritis, epilepsy, diabetes, antipsychotic and depression.

Source: Dan Movens, CEO of Caraco
Writer: Jon Zemke

After all that talk of a Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter line, it's on its way... potentially. SEMCOG is just waiting on estimates of cost before they progress. The line could get held up again but Carmine Palombo, director of transportation programs for SEMCOG, says it should be a go.

Excerpt:

SEMCOG has looked into the feasibility of a commuter rail between the two major cities for more than a year now. The concept would be to rely on existing infrastructure as much as possible as a system was developed to shuttle people between Detroit, Ann Arbor and Metro Airport.

Palombo said the question of where the stop that will service Detroit Metropolitan Airport will sit. So far, stations are already planned for Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, a Detroit Metro Airport stop, a stop at the Henry Ford in Dearborn and near the New Center Area in downtown Detroit.

Read the entire article here.

The head of the Martha Stewart Empire spent 24 hours in Detroit this month. She snapped photos from the Ren Cen, dined at Coach Insignia and commented on our many "sports stadiums."

Excerpt:

In addition to all of my other traveling about, a few colleagues and I, recently spent 24 hours in Detroit, MI, long considered the Motor Capital of the World.

Read the entire article here.

Expanding, refurbishing, and bicker - all things that go on when Cobo is discussed. But, maybe it's time, finally, to set aside differences and fix up the ailing civic center. Or, maybe they'll just continue to bicker.

Excerpt:

As for Cobo, Patterson complained about specific provisions in the proposed state law, including giving Cobo to an authority that would have the power of eminent domain, as well as the power to establish ordinances with criminal penalties. He also complained that 50-year no-bid contracts were part of the proposal.

Macomb County Commission chairman William Crouchman, meanwhile, complained that he couldn't get economist David Sowerby to return his phone calls asking for an explanation of how he came up with the figure that 10 percent of Cobo's benefit goes to Macomb County.

Exasperated, WJR AM 760 morning host Paul W. Smith said he'd hold the Big Four in place until the Cobo deal got finished, given the Detroit Auto Dealers Association threat to move the show -- and its 16,000 jobs and $500 million in economic activity, which amounts to a Super Bowl every year.

Read the entire article here.