George Valenta of Ann Arbor is featured in the Detroit News “Trash or Treasure?” column. He had an 1876 Centennial Presentation vase appraised, but because it had a few chips, it would only bring in $400-$600 at auction, according to the appraiser. [Source]
Dennis Virag, president of The Automotive Consulting Group in Ann Arbor, is quoted in an Indianapolis Business Journal article about Honda’s expansion in Indiana. “Honda has a lot more invested in research and development in the economy car sector than most of the other automakers. They were developing this line when Ford was hanging its hat on pickup truck sales and General Motors was pushing Humvees.” [Source]
Christopher Ilitch and Doug Rothwell speak to the Entrepreneurship Club at UM's Stamps Auditorium. Some things never change – no one likes to sit in front.
It’s hard to know how many of the 200 or so students who attended Friday’s Entrepreneurship Hour lecture will become entrepreneurs. Maybe not the ones playing video games on their laptops or texting on their cellphones – but you never know.
Those who were listening to Christopher Ilitch and Doug Rothwell gleaned a fair bit of advice on what it takes to succeed, and on what some community leaders are doing to support entrepreneurs in southeast Michigan. [Full Story]
Wooden prop at University Productions sale – make an offer!
Just in time for Halloween, University Productions is holding one of its relatively rare sales to purge unwanted parts of its costume collection. On Friday afternoon, one customer was buying a half-dozen hot pink fuzzballs sewn to elastic bands, at 50 cents a pop. “I’m going to wear them in my hair and around my ankles,” he grinned.
Shoes, jackets, dresses and other clothing – vintage or slightly worn– hung from racks amid assorted props, like the life-sized two-dimensional wooden figures from some long-since-shuttered play.
The two-day sale continues Saturday, Oct. 11 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. “We want to make sure there’s nothing left,” says Renae Skoog, costume stock manager for University Productions. “Everything’s got to go.” [Full Story]
mobile ride track is back on line!
Jason DeCamillis of the band Starling Electric behind me in LT lane; yells Hi; Starling Electric next gig?; The Ark??? Nope, MySpace says NEW YORK on 22 Oct. at The Delancey
The Freep has a short item about Eastern Michigan University’s Oestrike Stadium becoming home next year to the Midwest Sliders, an independent professional baseball club that’s part of the Frontier League. For the 2009 season, the team wlll be called the Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti. [Source] The PPNA Happenings blog of Ypsilanti’s Prospect Park Neighborhood runs the entire press release about the announcement. [Source]
Ford 2N tractor from the 1940s parked on State St in front of Ben & Jerry’s.
Saline resident Sandy D., writing on the blog “the imponderabilia of actual life,” links to some stencils for Barack-O-Lanterns (found on the YesWeCarve.com site): “I like the fact that Obama’s campaign people ask for a mere $5 contribution and encourage you to carve your pumpkin to show your support, though I’m not generally a fan of co-opting holidays for ideological purposes… I’ll probably stick with my bumper sticker and t-shirt for political purposes, and let the kids carve the traditional triangle eyed faces on their jack-o-lanterns.” [Source]
Liberty street closed off both directions between Ashley and First; some kind of utility work
The World in a Basket blog reports that Washtenaw Literacy’s Oct. 3 annual fundraiser raised nearly $100,000 in gross proceeds. Photos of the event are also posted. [Source]
The Eastern Eagle Echo reports that Freman Hendrix, Eastern Michigan University’s chief government relations officer, for the first time publicly declared his candidacy for mayor of Detroit. He spoke at a meeting of the EMU student senate Tuesday night. Hendrix ran unsuccessfully against former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in 2005. [Source]
A long Washington Post feature looks at the struggling auto industry and its impact on Michigan. The article quotes Ypsilanti Mayor Paul Schreiber about the loss of tax revenue from the closing of a Visteon plant there: “There isn’t really any way we can make that up, so we have to cut.” The article also quotes Eleanor Walker of Ypsilanti-based Hope America, which works to prevent foreclosures – 75 percent of their Washtenaw County cases are related to the auto industry. Says Walker: “They were making $60,000 or $100,000. Now these people are making, like, $30,000 or less without health benefits and they can’t make it. The situation has just paralyzed them.” [Source]
Debi Scroggins, founder of Chelsea-based Bearclaw Coffee Co., is quoted in a Detroit News article about franchise businesses. She says the work is “really time intensive, seven days a week. Ten-to-12 hour days would not be unusual. Plus you never have a guaranteed paycheck. It takes time.” The same article quotes Mike Mettler, director of franchise recruitment and sales for Ann Arbor-based Domino’s Pizza: “You’re buying a small business where you have to love what you do.” [Source]
The New York Times reports from Thursday’s opening of the new Toyota engineering center just south of Ann Arbor, interviewing James E. Lentz III, president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., who said the company might create a separate Prius brand and bring out other hybrid models. [Source]
At the Project Grow annual meeting of membership, held Thursday evening at the Nature House at Leslie Science Center, news of a possible organizational arrangement with Matthaei Botanical Gardens led to an impromptu expansion of the board of directors to include two additional members. In addition to Catherine Riseng and Dustin Underwood, who were already on the slate for election, Royer Held and Kirk Jones were elected to the board. Project Grow’s mission is to make organic gardening accessible through the community and it does so most visibly through garden plots available at 14 different sites located throughout the city.
At the meeting, Project Grow board president, Devon Akmon, announced that Karen Sikkenga, associate director of Matthaei Botanical Gardens, had … [Full Story]
Customers browse books at the Friends of the Library store, in the basement of the downtown Ann Arbor District Library.
As the Ann Arbor District Library moves forward on its ambitious project to raze the downtown building and put up a new library on the Fifth & William site, a nonprofit that supports the AADL ponders its own future.
Friends of the Ann Arbor District Library, or FAADL, is best known for the shop it runs on weekends in the basement of the downtown library, raising money to support the AADL. The group has built a real sense of community there, with long-time volunteers and regular shoppers greeting each other by name as they staff the cashier table or browse the shelves, boxes and tables full of books, DVDs and other materials. [Full Story]
pickup on liberty near main labeled ‘the disgruntled clown’; hitch rack toting tiny motorcycle
On Oct. 14 there will be a public open house held at the DDA office, 150 S. Fifth Avenue 3rd floor from 7-8:30 p.m. on the topic of the underground parking garage. The location originally reported was wrong. We note the error here and in the original story.
Workers are stringing lights in the trees in front of White Market and other E William St businesses.
Forbes.com picks up an Associated Press article (written by Tom Krisher, former metro editor for The Ann Arbor News) about today’s opening of Toyota’s new engineering and testing facility. The event drew Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who said the auto industry will continue to be a major part of the state’s economic future: “It’s all going to happen right here in Michigan, and that’s what this tech center represents.” [Source]
Diag preacher inciting the crowd in front of the Graduate Library.
On Shawnsninja.com, Shawn Smith posts two videos of his brother registering to vote at the local Obama campaign office at Liberty & First. [Source]
Workers pouring concrete at the RelaxStation.
Andrew Whitehead, a senior editor at BBC World Service Radio who was the guest speaker in September at the Knight-Wallace Fellows program in Ann Arbor, writes a thoughtful essay about taking the train from Ann Arbor to Detroit, and his impressions of that city. [Source]
The TakeAway – a partnership of several media groups, including Public Radio International, the BBC World Service and The New York Times – posts an essay by UM graduate student Bryan Kolk, who writes about the current economic crisis and upcoming election. “We are starting to realize that the world functions very holistically, and the moral for all of us is that if we don’t consider the future, and the multifaceted implications of our actions, we are in trouble.” [Source]
WXYZ-TV posts an interview with Jack Lynch, former member of the Washtenaw County Republican Executive Committee who’s challenging John Dingell in the 15th District Congressional race. [Source]
Unless an unforeseen set of circumstances leads Jeff Irwin, chair of the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners, to change his mind, the name he will put forward next Wednesday, Oct. 15, as his recommendation to fill the open slot on the county’s road commission is Douglas Fuller. [Full Story]
Lloyd Carr eating breakfast at the Broken Egg – multigrain toast, no butter.
The Rotheblog gets giddy over UM’s video game library: “Think about this. Universities are teeming with special grants and funding for all sorts of cool projects. According to the Daily article $40,000 of existing library funds were set aside for this special collection. $20,000 were used to renovate the room, and the rest is left to buy games! Can you imagine having $20,000 that you have to spend on video games? What a dream job.” [Source]
