It's usually a good sign when you see organizations -- both private and public -- or regions working together. And it's a good sign when you see both the privately backed rail line and the public rail line project working together to maximize their funding.

Excerpt:

"We're in full commitment. We're working together," White said. He's the city's lead on the Detroit Department of Transportation's Detroit Options for Growth Study, a $371 million plan to run light rail from downtown to the state fairgrounds at Eight Mile Road.

The M1 plan is a 3.4-mile, 12-stop curbside line, with 12-18 months of construction starting by year-end. It will operate as a nonprofit and eventually be turned over to a regional system.

Backers include Penske Corp. founder Roger Penske, chairman of the project; Peter Karmanos Jr., founder of Detroit-based software maker Compuware Corp.; Mike Ilitch, owner of the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Red Wings and co-founder of Little Caesar Enterprises Inc.; and Quicken Loans/Rock Financial founder Dan Gilbert, the project's co-chairman.

DDOT's study calls for a center-of-street rail service from downtown to the state fairgrounds at Eight Mile Road. The project now calls for the M1 Rail plan to replace a portion of its route, and needs money spent on M1 Rail to act as the required local match for federal funding.

Read the entire article here.

The next Michael Bay could be in our midst. Imagine that?! Hangin' out at the Java Hutt in Ferndale, shopping at Westborn, thinking about how to best blow something up cinematically. Anyway, Ferndale's S3 Entertainment Group has announced training programs for aspiring actors/filmmakers to get a leg up on their movie career here in Michigan.

Excerpt:

S3 Entertainment Group announced the summer training program to help aspiring actors/filmmakers jump start their careers in Michigan's growing film industry.

The program begins July 27 and will be led by industry professionals.

Training will be held at S3EG's studio facility, located at 1100 Woodward Heights in Ferndale, and will run Monday through Friday for two weeks.

Veteran Producer/Director Larry August will lead the training camp.

"We are thrilled to introduce the Hollywood Film Camp to Michigan students," said August. "As the film industry in Michigan continues to grow, S3 Entertainment Group is dedicated to supplying productions with a qualified and talented local workforce. This camp is an excellent opportunity for students to have access to leading film professionals as they train and become well acquainted with the film industry."

Read the entire article here.

Everyone needs a little help from their friends. And, well, it's not entirely sure how close Michigan and the federal government actually are but it looks as if they are getting a little help in the form of stimulus aid to boost our state's green energy plans.

Excerpt:

The money "reflects our commitment to support innovative state and local strategies to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy," Chu said.

Chu was in Battle Creek for an energy efficiency event and helped to assemble home efficiency kits and educational material.

The state will use the money to reduce energy consumption in public buildings 20 percent by 2012, help establish green communities, and create markets for renewable energy systems and jobs in energy businesses, according to a press release from the Department of Energy.

Part of the money also will be used in conjunction with utilities to perform energy audits of 500 homes and businesses.

Read the entire article here.

It's summer. That means time to bring out the bicycles... if you already haven't done so. And, according to sales, a lot more of you have bikes. So, with that bit of info, Michigan has been working toward making your biking life easier when it comes to lanes and trails.

Excerpt:

Sales of bicycles and bicycle-related accessories increased $200 million from 2006 to 2007 and held steady last year, according to the National Sporting Goods Association. The association also estimated that 15 percent of Americans, or 44.7 million, rode a bicycle six times or more last year, an 11-percent increase from 2007.

That's why Michigan, like other states, has been stepping up its efforts to meet the increased interest in bicycling with bike-hike friendly roads and projects like the Dequindre Cut, which opened last month, and the RiverWalk, which opened in 2007.

The Michigan Department of Transportation now maintains more than 2,560 miles of paved shoulder with bicycle access. The state also has more than 1,394 miles of rails-to-trails -- abandoned railroad tracks that have been converted into biking, hiking and walking trails. Combine those rails-to-trails with trails through parks and public land, and downtowns and neighborhoods, and the stretch increases to more than 2,000 miles, said Nancy Krupiarz, executive director of the Lansing-based nonprofit Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance.

Read the entire article here.

Ann Arbor is looking to gain some of what it lost when the emerald ash borer blew through town and took out most of the ash trees. At that time nearly 14 percent of Ann Arbor trees were of the ash variety. This ambitious new initiative is looking to plant 1,000 every year.

That's a lot of freakin' trees.

Excerpt:

Ann Arbor is launching a significant new replanting program this fall to add roughly 1,000 new trees every year.

The initiative begins half a dozen years after the die-off of once-plentiful ash trees. City officials say they'll use aerial photos to identify the more pronounced holes in Ann Arbor's tree canopy and concentrate on those spots.

Street trees will be planted across the city, said Kerry Gray, urban forest and natural resources coordinator. City employees will likely do the work, but details are still being worked out.

Read the entire article here.

The film industry benefits have been tremendous. They have created jobs and revenue and excitement and inspiration. But the idea is to retain these opportunities and not just be a "drop-in" state. That path to that will be production studios. There are a few -- Pontiac and Ferndale -- but there needs to be more.

Excerpt:

The cornerstone of any potential growth is an in-state infrastructure that will allow Michigan to provide a full range of production and post-production facilities. This includes everything from consultants who coordinate the many moving parts of a production to sound stages to post-production facilities that will allow an entire film or television series to be created, from soup to nuts, in Michigan.

That will help change the state's current status in the industry from what some have termed a "drop-in center" for filming into a place with year-round work providing formidable competition to California.

Read the entire article here.

There's going to be a lot of talk about high-speed rail now that Biden and Obama are talking stimulus for really fast trains. So, The Atlantic asks, why not start this project here in Michigan?

Except:

Instead of scattering nickels and dimes across dozens of states, a better idea would be to increase the train fund at least tenfold so America can have at least one legitimate high-speed rail line like Spain's Madrid-to-Seville train, which runs at 186 mph (Amtrak averages only 79 nationwide). And let this man-on-the-moon project start in Detroit.

Yes, Detroit. The city that was once part of FDR’s "Arsenal of Democracy," for its part in retooling auto plants to make World War II tanks and bombers, has easily a dozen empty auto plants that could be making train engines and train cars.

In Flint, Michigan, United Auto Workers Local 651 President Art Reyes says Plant Six at the Delphi Flint East site, which once made air filters and has been idle since September 2008, offers 500,000 square feet, 45-foot ceilings, 26-inch-thick concrete floors, fiber-optic wiring, and, conveniently, a rail line.

"I have a workforce of 900 that's been downsized from 9,000," says Reyes, "but every one of them is computer-literate and ready for cutting-edge, green-technology stuff, whether it's wind turbines, next-generation auto batteries, or rail. We're hungry for work."

Read the entire article here.

Read a piece here by Michigan Public Radio about the future of Michigan train travel that asks "Is the future of train travel in Michigan?"

Michigan's recovery may lie in a number of different pots but one that has gotten a lot of attention lately -- no, not film -- is clean technology. Currently Michigan ranks No. 10 in clean tech jobs but state officials believe there is room to grow.

Excerpt:

"We need policies that define where we want to go as a society and that help us get there," said Bill Ford, Ford Motor Co.'s executive chairman.

The clean technology industry is one of the main avenues that Michigan is pursuing to diversify its auto-dependent economy. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said that 70% of the jobs in wind energy come from making the 8,000 parts that go into every wind turbine.

"Every single one of them can be made in Michigan, and we intend to do that," she said, drawing applause.

Read the entire article here.

Read another Freep piece about making Michigan a clean tech powerhouse here.

Additionally, Michigan ranks No. 10 in clean tech jobs. Read about it here.

Michigan is changing. Of course it's kind of being forced to change due to the economy, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. With change comes opportunity to reinvent. And this change, some believe, will be a shift from a manufacturing economy to a more knowledge-based economy.

Excerpt:

In other words, even allowing the rosiest assumptions about a restructured GM and the jobs created by the stimulus, Michigan is likely to continue to suffer for some time ahead. The question is whether this suffering will lead to more of the same -- or to a restructuring that provides for a more hopeful future. In this light it's hard to see how priorities at the federal and state level -- e.g., card check in Congress, or raising taxes to meet budget shortfalls in Lansing, Mich. -- do much to address the hard truth Mr. McCain pointed out last year.

The larger point is that what the middle class needs more than anything else is an economy where employers have to compete for their labor. The more open a state's economy is to investment and entrepreneurship, the more employers there will be. And the more education a state's citizens have, the more advanced the industries they can support.

"Both national and state policy are all designed to restoring a broad middle class that is factory based," says Mr. Glazer. "But manufacturing will not be the driver of the middle class. The path to Michigan's prosperity is knowledge."

Read the entire article here.

Though migration to the Mitten has slowed, mainly due to the auto industry crisis, families are still finding their way to Metro Detroit... and loving it. The Freep drops in on a few to get their stories.

Excerpt:

Outland grew up in Grosse Pointe, where her parents still live. Last September, the couple moved to Michigan so their two girls, ages 5 and 10, could start school. They rented an apartment while they searched for a house.

They ended up finding a three-bedroom, 2 1/2 -bath brick colonial in Grosse Pointe Park for $260,000 this spring. And it is just down the street from Outland's parents' home.

Outland said pricing was one of the appeals of the move back.

"Even in St. Louis, the housing market had slowed down, but houses cost more there," she said. "Another reason we wanted to move here was I knew Michigan and Detroit were going through a bad time. It was my chance to contribute to the community."

Read the entire article here.

Detroit can boast two creperies - one downtown and one in Corktown. So, what do you have to show for it, suburbs? Well, look no further than Royal Oak. What Crepe? has opened its doors and is ready to sling some sweet and savory crepes.

Excerpt:

If you're a fan of crepes -- the delicate, filled French pancakes having a mini-renaissance in metro Detroit lately -- check out the area's newest destination in Royal Oak.

Opened by Paul Jenkins Jr., the tiny but elegantly appointed cafe at 317 S. Washington is called What Crepe? -- perhaps a reference to the wide variety of sweet and savory choices, including vegetarian and vegan options.

Jenkins opened the 28-seat restaurant May 30 in Café Muse's old location after giving the hall-like space a more polished, upscale look in a palette of black, gray, sage and burgundy. Small crystal chandeliers, fresh flowers and tables covered in black fabric with white butcher-paper toppers set a chic tone, but the vibe is still casual, fresh and fun.

Read the entire article here.

Seven steps?! Just seven? Well, let's get to work. The Christian Science Monitor breaks it down to seven steps to help fix the state.

Excerpt:

"A lot of the pieces are there for Michigan to do very well," says Michael Hicks, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., who has studied Michigan’s tax incentive programs. "It has fantastic universities and not unreasonable high school graduation rates. That’s easier to sustain than to build."

It also has a trained manufacturing workforce (although that’s shrinking with every moving van headed across state lines). Plus, it’s a border state with a good location and a lot of transportation assets. With its hundreds of miles of lakeshore, mineral deposits, and resource-rich Upper Peninsula, the state is hardly a wasteland.

"Used properly, Michigan is a Fort Knox of natural resources," says Mr. LaFaive.

Read the entire article here.

The cities within metro Detroit are not islands, though sometimes they act like they are. Economic recovery doesn't lie with putting up borders and locking the doors; it may very well lie with outstretched arms and handshakes. Regional collaboration isn't a dirty word -- and a few Metro Detroit collabs are in the spotlight.

Excerpt:

Fostering innovation. One way we can nurture innovation is to more fully engage our universities as part of an economic development strategy. Wayne State University, the University of Michigan and Michigan State University recently formed the University Research Corridor to increase their economic impact. Combined, these universities already educate more students and conduct more research than the acclaimed Research Triangle Park in North Carolina.

Detroit Renaissance is marshalling the resources of the corporate community to create a university-business partnership that helps attract business, grow research, retain talent, enable technology transfer and create new business sectors.

This kind of collaboration and regionalism is required to transform our region into a future of renewed vitality.

Read the entire article here.

A report on the green industry here in Michigan was just released. And though the numbers were promising, there is room for improvement. There was no attempt to project the actual growth of green jobs here in the state; however, the growth that DID happen is a good indication of the growth that WILL happen.

Excerpt:

From 2005 to 2008, a sample of 358 green-related firms added more than 2,500 jobs. They grew by 7.7% at a time when Michigan's overall private-sector employment shrank 5.4%.

Among renewable energy firms in this sample, the growth rate hit 30%. Renewable energy production, which today is Michigan's smallest green sector, may be the fastest growing.

There's more good news: The green economy appears to be a hotbed of entrepreneurial activity. Among the sample of 358 green-related firms, more than 70 appeared to be newly created since 2005, accounting for nearly 600 new jobs.

What is more, green jobs tend to pay well. Thirteen of the top 15 sectors of green employment boast average weekly wages above Michigan's overall private sector average, several of them far above. And green jobs encompass a wide range of occupations and skill levels.

Read the entire article here.

The University of Michigan and Ann Arbor SPARK have tightened their relationship with each other. The collaboration isn't meant to be exclusive to Ann Arbor but to be a model for other universities to hook up with economic development organizations. After all, "Economic development is a team sport."

Excerpt:

"We really are one Michigan," said Ron Kitchens, CEO of Southwest Michigan First. "We can talk about regions, and regions are important - they're part of who our culture is. But our problems are endemic to the entire state."

Jeff Mason, a former MEDC official and new executive director of the University Research Corridor, said Michigan's universities are the lynchpin to the state's success. But he suggested that the URC - a coalition among U-M, Michigan State University and Wayne State University - would have to collaborate with other organizations to jolt the economy.

"Economic development is a team sport. It's a collaboration amongst universities, government and the private sector," Mason said.

Read the entire article here.

OK, put the Stanley Cup smack talk on the shelf for one second. Don't think about what teams is superior to the other and whose butt will get kicked all over the ice. There are a few other things at hand. Sure, the Red Wings can school the Pens on the ice... but when it comes to the cities, Pittsburgh has a few things to teach Detroit.

Excerpt:

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl suggests that perhaps Detroit should look 4 to 5 hours to the east.

"We still do make steel here, as Detroit will always produce automobiles," Ravenstahl told The Associated Press. "But what we've done is we've really reinvented ourselves and transformed our economy so we're not just steel and advanced manufacturing, but we're digital technologies, financial services, life sciences, energy solutions."

"Detroit has no choice but to reinvent itself, pick itself up and create good opportunities for the people of the Detroit area," he added. "And I think what the good news is is they can look to Pittsburgh and realize and believe that it can be done, because we did it here."

Read the entire article here.

There's a bit of a shift from the past with Michigan voters, as a new poll suggests that the support for gay couples is increasing.

Excerpt:

Michiganders appear to be increasingly supportive of gay-friendly policies, supporting a range of issues from inheritance rights to civil unions but continuing to balk at gay marriage, a new poll suggests.

In what Glengariff Group pollster Richard Czuba describes as a seismic shift in public opinion, even support for gay marriage has nearly doubled since a similar poll in 2004. That poll was conducted before voters approved an amendment to the Michigan Constitution defining marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman.

In October 2004, a Glengariff poll showed 24% of Michiganders supported marriage rights for same-sex partners, and only 42% supported legal recognition of civil unions. In the new poll, support for same sex marriage was 46.5% and for civil unions 63.7%. Forty-eight percent of state voters said they opposed adding marriage rights, the only one of nine gay rights issues not winning majority support.

Read the entire article here.

Between Wayne State University, Michigan State, the University of Michigan, and Eastern Michigan, the state is pretty set up when it comes to higher education. The importance of these institutions is pretty immeasurable ... well, maybe it is measurable. But, without the data at the ready, it's safe to say they are damn important and one of Michigan's chief draws.

Excerpt:

Certainly the economic impact and jobs are welcome at a time when the state is facing a number of challenges.

In addition, enrolling international students in our state universities is also critical for the education of our Michigan students who must understand cultural differences and learn how to work together to succeed in today's global workplace.

There is no better preparation for future business interaction than to participate in a team project in a business course than to have a student from China, another from India working with two students from Michigan.

Domestic students must understand international competition and, hopefully, study abroad themselves. You can't just read about international issues - you must live overseas for a true learning experience.

Read the entire article here.

Michigan is in a bit of a transition, as you may have already noticed. But what better way to illustrate this than when Pontiac's new movie studio buys one of GM's Pontiac Centerpoint buildings for its new home. From one industry to another, right? Of course film won't replace autos, but it shows that there's something else... besides cars.

Excerpt:

The group of investors planning a $75 million movie production and training facility in Pontiac has closed on a land contract to purchase one of the Pontiac Centerpoint buildings from General Motors Corp.

It's a benchmark in a project that's been in the works for more than a year -- which started, oddly enough, when its driving force considered leaving Michigan.

Linden Nelson, an entrepreneur turned real estate developer, was ready to move out West, he said. What stopped him was a conversation with Alfred Taubman, founder of Bloomfield Hills-based Taubman Centers Inc.

"He said, 'You're not leaving Michigan,'" Nelson said. "He said 'Michigan's been good to you, you need to be a leader.'"

Read the entire article here.

There's so much talk of Michigan's potential and the direction it could move that it's hard to keep straight. There's the green push and the windmills and film, and here's another: Life sciences. This particular industry is expected to be batting cleanup as if Michigan were a baseball lineup. That means, if you don't know, that there is a lot of power here, enough to knock all of our base runners in.


Excerpt:

The report found that more than 79,062 people work in the Michigan life sciences industry, and the average worker's salary climbed from $64,602 in 1999 to $83,494 in 2006.

"The tremendous growth of life sciences employment and the fact that the average wage exceeds $80,000 shows that Michigan is a powerhouse life sciences state," said Patrick Anderson, AEG CEO and report co-author.

"The growing wages in the life sciences industry prove that Michigan can leverage its research and knowledge into the high-skill jobs of the future."

And the research corridor is positioning itself for even more growth with its hiring of economic development veteran Jeff Mason as its first executive director. Mason is the current senior vice president and chief business development officer for the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

Read the entire article here.