Category Archives: Build Michigan! News Updates

Exhibit probes the question of shrinking cities

Thinking About Detroit by DA2Brian
Model D has a video feature (below) and an accompanying story (Big Ideas for Shrinking Cities) on the Shrinking Cities exhibit at MOCAD and Cranbrook (also see shrinkingcities.com). The exhibit runs through the end of March at the new MOCAD museum in Midtown Detroit and the Cranbrook art museum in Bloomfield [...]

Talking Michigan down … and back up again

Mixed Signals by Darryl Wattenberg
The Detroit Free Press has a video feature University presidents talk Michigan's economic woes, wherein Michigan State University president Lou Anna Simon, University of Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman and Wayne State University president Irvin Reid discuss how our universities play a role in surmounting the state's economic challenges.
In related news, [...]

Lesson for Michigan's future: talent trumps taxes

Detail: Doors, McGregor Public Library
by pinehurst19475
In a recent column in the Lansing State Journal and again on Michigan Radio, futurist and former Michigan Secretary of Commerce Lou Glazer says we need to ask Where do we want to go from here? What sort of economic future do we want to have? and What will policies [...]

Grand Rapids Speeds Up Progress with Streetcars

Bring Back Rail Transit by B. Rizzo
As Grand Rapids enjoys a bit of an economic boom, the city is looking to continue to grow and attract by revitalizing the face of public transportation, with streetcars.
Andy Guy of the Michigan Land Use Institute explains in his recent article Agency Endorses Grand Rapids Streetcar.
Emboldened by rave reviews [...]

TV News to focus on Detroit auto industry

Abandoned GM Powertrain Plant,
Bay City, MI by Latitude45
The Detroit Free Press reports that Charles Gibson of ABC's World News will broadcast live from metro Detroit tonight and Tuesday. Tonight's broadcast will be live from Ford's historic Rouge plant and include a visit to GM's design center and interviews with Ford's Alan Mulally and General [...]

A Fuel-Based Michigan Corn Boom?

reaching to the moon by oldbrushes
As the state's auto industry takes one hit after another, Michigan residents now have one more reason to consider heading back to the farm, corn-based ethanol. Today's cover story in the Lansing State Journal looks at how corn may change the face of automotive fuel.
The rising emergence of ethanol-producing plants [...]

Introduce Your Michigan Business or Organization!

Hey there, we thought it might be nice to have a place where folks could say "hello" and tell everyone a little bit about their Michigan business, nonprofit, community organization, or other web site or blog (sorry, only Michigan, and please keep the posts brief). Feel free to add a comment below and definitely include [...]

Project to develop a vision for growth in Northern Michigan

View from above Traverse City by MatrixWarrior
The Michigan Land Use Institute has an article on a new, community-based visioning process to help residents design what six northwest Michigan counties can look like in the coming decades. The process will involve widespread citizen participation and workshops across the region. It will be led by one of [...]

New Ann Arbor area emag interviews ePrize's Josh Linkner

Shapiro Geometry by anikarenina
Issue Media Group (publishers of Model D and other emagazines) have launched their latest internet publication, metromode. The publication delivers engaging articles, videos and excellent photography on Ann Arbor and Michigan's new tech corridor.
ePrize, based in the Royal Oak area, is the largest internet promotion agency in the world. In the video [...]

"Pethanol" from Michigan's peat could be new fuel source

Stutsmanville Road Bog by latitude45
The Detroit News reports that while turning corn into ethanol is the current fad, a team of Detroit researchers say that peat is a more economical and environmentally friendly fuel source.
The scientists, from University of Detroit Mercy and Wayne State University, are working to develop what they call "pethanol" to run [...]