Pamphlets for gubernatorial candidates Alma Wheeler Smith and Rick Snyder, on the table at Wednesday's Morning Edition breakfast hosted by the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce. Smith, a Democrat, and Snyder, a Republican, were both speakers at the event.

Running was a common theme for speakers at Wednesday’s Morning Edition, a breakfast meeting hosted by the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce at Weber’s Inn.

Alma Wheeler Smith and Rick Snyder are both running for governor, in the Democratic and Republican primaries, respectively. Michael Ford, the new CEO for the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority, keeps the buses running, while Keith Hafner runs a local karate business. And Kevin Borseth, the University of Michigan women’s basketball coach who makes his team run drills, almost ran for cover when Russ Collins, the event’s MC, brought up an infamous YouTube video that Borseth might well want to forget.

Collins, who’s also executive director of the Michigan Theater, kept the speakers running on schedule – after the jump, we’ll give a summary of their remarks, presented in the order in which they spoke.

Alma Wheeler Smith, candidate in the 2010 Democratic gubernatorial primary

Smith currently serves as state representative for the 54th District, which includes the city of Ypsilanti, and Augusta, Salem, Superior and Ypsilanti townships. After serving three, two-year terms, she’s ineligible to run again because of term limits – she also previously served as a state senator from 1994-2002. This is Smith’s second run for governor: she campaigned in the 2001 primary, and the following year became the running mate of David Bonior, losing in the primary to Jennifer Granholm.

Alma Wheeler Smith, a current state representative and candidate for governor in the Democratic primary. (Photo by the writer.)

Smith said that one of her strengths is a bipartisan approach and willingness to work both sides of the aisle. She cited jobs as a priority, and emphasized the importance of small businesses.

Key initiatives would include restructuring government by looking at ways to consolidate or, if consolidation has occurred that isn’t effective, to reverse it. When a bureaucracy becomes too large, she said, it’s inefficient and ineffective. She plans to push for universal preschool and strengthen the K-12 system, citing the need for consolidation – in the area where she serves as state representative, there are at least two school districts that should consolidate, she said, without naming them.

Education needs to be considered from preschool through college, she said. The Kalamazoo Promise is a good model, Smith added – that privately funded initiative pays for college tuition to graduates of the Kalamazoo public schools. In general, tuition is out of control, she said, and all children need the opportunity that a quality education offers.

Smith also said she’s especially interested in initiatives that will support the state’s small businesses, which she noted have led the country out of every previous recession.

“Without small business being able to work and thrive,” Smith said, “we fail.”

Kevin Borseth, coach of the University of Michigan women's basketball team. (Photo by the writer.)

Kevin Borseth, head coach of UM’s women’s basketball

Now in his third season coaching women’s basketball at Michigan, Borseth told the audience that he’d always dreamed of being head coach there. “Not many people get to live their dream,” he said. “I also learned be careful what you wish for.”

He said the team recently started practice for the season, which begins Nov. 13. Both the men’s and women’s teams kicked off the year on Friday, Oct. 16 with a Midnight Madness event for fans at Crisler Arena – Borseth said the staff made a YouTube video of the coaches dancing during the event. That reference caused Collins to quip that not everyone knew about Borseth’s YouTube fame, alluding to a clip of an explosive post-game press conference Borseth gave last year, which was followed by “Rate the Rant” commentary by ESPN2 sportscasters. Borseth acknowledged that he’d been pretty upset at the time. “I’m kind of a fiery coach,” he said.

Women’s basketball is a purer form of the game, with better shooting and crisper passing than on men’s teams, Borseth said. He urged everyone to come to the games, adding that he was embarrassed to say season tickets cost only $20.

Rick Snyder, an Ann Arbor businessman and a gubernatorial candidate in the Republican primary. (Photo by the writer.)

Rick Snyder, candidate in the GOP gubernatorial primary

Snyder, an Ann Arbor venture capitalist, began by saying that the most frequent question he’s asked is “Why on earth do you want to be governor?” There are three reasons, he said: 1) Michigan is an economic disaster, 2) if Lansing lawmakers were a business, “we’d have fired them,” and 3) career politicians aren’t the answer.

But Snyder said he wants people to vote for him for positive reasons – a long-term vision that transitions the state to an era of innovation with a diverse economy, restores Michigan’s major cities, protects the environment and gives young people a reason to stay here after graduation.

Snyder also outlined his 10-point plan, noting that No. 1 on the list is creating more and better jobs. Government’s role is to create an environment in which business can thrive, but Michigan doesn’t have that, he said, calling the Michigan Business Tax “the dumbest tax in the United States.” The state also has a regulatory environment that assumes people are bad. Government is a bureaucracy, but should be a customer service organization, he said, with citizens as the customers.

“This is the time for the solve-it attitude,” he said.

Michael Ford, CEO of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority, and Russ Collins, executive director of the Michigan Theater and emcee of Wednesday's Morning Edition. (Photo by the writer.)

Michael Ford, Ann Arbor Transportation Authority CEO

Hired as AATA’s new CEO this summer, Ford responded to a question from Russ Collins by saying that although he grew up in Seattle and was a Huskies fan, he’d been impressed by Michigan’s defeat of Notre Dame and was now a Wolverine.

There are many opportunities in the Ann Arbor region for improving its transportation, Ford said. Among them are the WALLY proposal connecting Washtenaw and Livingston counties by rail, and the Fuller Road transit station, a joint city/UM effort, and the Ann Arbor to Detroit rail project.

Doing nothing, Ford said, is not an option – all great cities have great transportation infrastructure. He asked for feedback from the audience on how they used AATA, saying that “transportation doesn’t do any good if it’s not meeting your needs.”

[The AATA is holding a special meeting of its board, also at Weber's Inn, on Thursday, October 29, 2009 5:00 p.m. in the Varsity Room.  The topic of the meeting will be the possibility of reorganizing as a regional authority under Act 196. ]

Keith Hafner, owner of the eponymous karate school in downtown Ann Arbor. (Photo by the writer.)

Keith Hafner, owner of Keith Hafner’s Karate

Russ Collins introduced Hafner and asked a series of questions, adding, “I ask you most sincerely not to kick my ass if you don’t like the questions.”

Hafner has owned Keith Hafner’s Karate for 30 years, and earlier this month became a grand master – a title conferred on him in a ceremony led by Ed Sell, Hafner’s former karate teacher and the previous owner of the local school.

Hafner noted that his business is one of the oldest on Main Street. In addition to karate classes for kids and adults, Hafner is a consultant and author of the book “How to Build Rock Solid Kids.”

There’s a crisis among kids today, he said, adding that they lack self-confidence and a positive attitude. Learning karate is a great way to build both of those characteristics, he said.

David Canter, former head of Pfizer's Ann Arbor research campus, is now director of healthcare research at UM's William Davidson Institute.

An eclectic mix of speakers at Wednesday’s Morning Edition breakfast talked about healthcare in developing countries, commercials promoting tourism in Michigan, computer security, the upcoming Ann Arbor Restaurant Week and an update on the venture that will replace the Ann Arbor News.

Russ Collins, the event’s emcee and executive director of the Michigan Theater, also noted that they were now installing a state-of-the-art 3D projector, just in time for the May 29 opening of Disney-Pixar’s animated film “Up” – which features, he noted, “a hyperactive nine-year-old named Russell.”

David Canter, former head of Pfizer’s Ann Arbor research campus, kicked things off with comments about the University of Michigan’s acquisition of that site.

Canter is now director of healthcare at UM’s William Davidson Institute, but for many years he led the local research operations for Pfizer. The 174-acre site on Ann Arbor’s north side was acquired in pieces over the past four decades, he noted, but much of it, ironically, was part of UM’s north campus over 50 years ago.

When Pfizer decided to close its local research operations and pull out of Ann Arbor, the firm received a lot of inquiries from people who wanted to buy little pieces of the property, Canter said. But anyone who wanted to acquire the entire site also wanted to fill it with a big tenant – and the only big tenant in town is the university, he said. Having UM buy the property in its entirety “is by far the neatest solution,” Canter said. ”The tax problem, I just ignore it – but we’re going to have to deal with it,” referring to the fact that UM’s purchase will take the property off the tax rolls. Pfizer had been the city’s largest taxpayer. It’s better by far to have the site full of people and activity than to have it shuttered, he said. The site is “rich with potential,” but it’s now up to the university to capitalize on the purchase. It presents an amazing opportunity to develop public/private partnerships there, he said.

Canter also spoke of his work with the William Davidson Institute, where he’s developing ways to bring management and organizational expertise to healthcare systems, especially in emerging countries. This work stems in part from the six months he spent in Rwanda as a Pfizer Global Health Fellow, working with Columbia University’s Access Project. “I came back from Rwanda a different person,” he said.

Most people assume that healthcare is mostly linked to science, but in fact about half of its success hinges on the ability to lead, organize and manage, Canter said, and that’s the focus of his work. He gave an example of working with a clinic in Rwanda and asking them what their budget was for hiring. “What’s a budget?” they asked. It turns out they’d been awarded money that would cover the hiring of additional nursing staff, but since they didn’t have the funds in hand, they weren’t willing to go ahead and make the hires. Effective organization and management can lead to saving as many children’s lives as any other major medical intervention, he said.

Dave Lorenz, Travel Michigan: Next up was Dave Lorenz, managing director of PR for Travel Michigan, the branch of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. that’s focused on tourism. They’re part of the MEDC because “it’s all about jobs,” he said. They developed the Pure Michigan campaign to capture the essence of the state and attract tourists – Lorenz joked that they rejected several other slogans, including one he proposed: “Michigan – At Least We’re Not Indiana.”

Actor Jeff Daniels was doing spots focused on attracting businesses to the state, so they decided to approach comedian Tim Allen, another Michigan native and someone who’s known for his voice work in animated films. Allen, whose brother teaches high school in Muskegon and who vacations in the state every year, agreed to do the work at a greatly reduced cost, Lorenz said. With that, Lorenz played five short commercials from the campaign that are airing nationwide – you can view them on the Pure Michigan website.

Yan Ness, Online Tech: Collins ribbed Ness for liking Michigan’s climate. Why? Because it’s often cold, and that gives firms here a competitive advantage if they operate data centers and need to keep thousands of computer servers cool. Ness said the biggest cost for operating computers on any scale is the energy required for powering and cooling.

But the biggest challenge, he said, is security. The several thousand servers that Online Tech manages receive hundreds of attacks by hackers each day, trying to gain access to the machines and the data they contain. The main culprits now are hackers backed by governments that are training to get control of the nation’s electric grid. “It’s a real issue,” he said. Ness then asked a series of questions about the passwords that audience members used – including how many people use the name of their dog in their password. The main way that computer systems are compromised is by people simply divulging too much information, he said – just as the audience had done by responding to his questions. Finally, he cautioned people not to write down their passwords – Post-It notes are the No. 1 cause of security breeches.

James Macdonald, owner of Bella Ciao Restaurant, is promoting the Main Street area's Ann Arbor Restaurant Week from June 14-19.

James Macdonald, Bella Ciao Restaurant: Macdonald is the driver behind the upcoming Ann Arbor Restaurant Week, an idea he championed after seeing a similar promotion in San Francisco. From June 14-19, nearly two dozen restaurants in the Main Street area will offer special one-price dining: $12 for lunch, $25 for dinner. Parking isn’t a problem after 6 p.m., he said, and he encouraged people to come downtown and try new restaurants. Soft shell crabs will be in season, he said, so at Bella Ciao they’ll offer that as an entree. You might also try an appetizer of fresh asparagus and arugula with champagne vinaigrette and puff pastry with strawberries and rhubarb. “You’ll just die,” he said, “and these are all low calorie.”

Macdonald said they couldn’t persuade local restaurants to offer the specials for an entire week, but only from Sunday through Friday. “How dumb is that?” he quipped, adding that Bella Ciao is extending its special pricing through Saturday of that week.

Laurel Champion, AnnArbor.com: Collins noted that Champion is the first and last female publisher of the Ann Arbor News – the newspaper will publish its last edition on Thursday, July 23. In its place, Advance Publications – which owns the News – is starting a new, primarily online venture called AnnArbor.com. Champion is executive vice president for that entity, and said she was pleased that the owners recognized how special Ann Arbor is and that they’re willing to invest in this market.

She assured the crowd that they aren’t abandoning local journalism, and that “content is king.” They’ll also publish two print editions each week, on Thursday and Sunday, plus a “total market coverage” edition that will be delivered weekly to non-subscribers. The Sunday paper, which will be published for the first time on July 26, will look a lot like a traditional newspaper, she said. They’re still figuring out what the Thursday edition will include, but it will likely contain hard news as well as entertainment and sports information leading into the weekend. They’re planning to launch their online content during the week prior to July 23.

[Later in the day, Tony Dearing – chief content director for AnnArbor.com – gave more details at a talk hosted by the LA2M group at Conor O'Neill's. He said they plan to hire between 30-35 employees focused on news coverage, plus freelance staff. In addition to coverage of topics like local government, education, crime, business, sports and entertainment, other features of the site include a section called The Deuce, with content aimed at people in their teens, 20s and early 30s, and a focus on neighborhoods like the Old West Side and Kerrytown. He said they're also forming a local advisory group, which he'll announced in the coming week. Slides of his presentation are here.]

Morning Edition is a monthly event hosted by the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce and held at Weber’s Inn on Jackson Road.

Ed Pagani of Lumigen Inc. holds aloft a chemiluminescent compound that Russ Collins may or may not have been tempted to drink.

Ed Pagani could have gotten an award for best prop, if such an award were given at Morning Edition. Pagani, a former Pfizer executive who’s now general manager of Lumigen Inc. and chair of the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce board, was one of five speakers at Wednesday’s breakfast meeting, which drew about 200 people. The Chronicle didn’t hear a single one of them make a “Glow Blue” joke – even though his elixir did evoke the University of Michigan’s decommissioned nuclear reactor.

As is the drill at these monthly meetings, each speaker got five minutes to talk about their project or business. Wednesday’s topics ranged from the auto industry and Zipcars to downtown development and a local reentry program for former prisoners. Russ Collins, executive director of the Michigan Theater, was emcee. Here’s a brief recap:

David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor.

David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research: Saying that people in Ann Arbor tend to be ignorant of the auto industry, Cole defended the domestic automakers. All auto manufacturers globally are struggling, he said, and the worldwide financial crisis has exacerbated their challenges, causing sales to fall to Depression-era levels.

Cole doubts we’ll see any of the domestics declare bankruptcy, since the cost of such a failure would be higher than the bridge loans provided by the federal government. A bankruptcy could push auto suppliers over a cliff, cascading job losses to a conservative estimate of 2.5 to 3 million, and perhaps as high as 5 million, he said.

The good news is that “times are not going to be bad forever,” Cole said. Labor costs are coming closer to parity between domestic and international automakers, and the problem of overcapacity – creating higher supply than demand – is being addressed. Eventually, pent-up demand will lead to profitability, he said. “The real issue is living to the future.”

Mary King, community coordinator for the Michigan Prisoner ReEntry Initiative of Washtenaw County: King described how this program aims to reduce the 76% recidivism rate for people released from prison who return to Washtenaw County. The ultimate aim, she said, is to reduce crime, but it’s also an economic issue – the state spends about $2 billion annually through the Department of Corrections. Locally, about 300 people are released each year, and the program begins by meeting with them 60 days before they’re released. MPRI does a needs assessment, finding out if they need housing (about 30% do), a job, training, transportation or other support. From that assessment, the program develops a plan for services that are provided for the critical 90 days after their release. (Additional, less intensive support is provided for 90 days after that.)

One of the events held for each person is a welcome home lunch with local law enforcement officials. That statement drew laughs from the audience, which prompted King to say, “You should see their faces when we tell them in prison that’s going to happen.”

King said one of the best ways to help is to offer jobs to MPRI’s clients, or to act as a job coach, and she urged businesses to consider doing that.

Ed Pagani, general manager of Lumigen Inc.: Though Lumigen is based in Southfield and owned by the much larger firm Beckman Coulter, Pagani has strong ties to Ann Arbor. In addition to his work with the chamber, he’s on the executive committee of Ann Arbor Spark and is former chairman of the trade group MichBio, based in Ann Arbor.

But his five minutes on Wednesday focused on giving an overview of Lumigen’s work. The company makes chemiluminescent compounds – “things that light up,” Pagani said, by way of explanation to an audience of mostly (one assumes) non-scientists. These compounds are used in life science research and testing for a wide range of medical issues, including fertility, diabetes, anemia, cardiovascular diseases and more. Lumigen has 40 employees and about $50 million in revenues, he said.

Nancy Shore, getDowntown program director: Following yesterday’s unveiling of four new Zipcars in downtown Ann Arbor, Shore gave an overview of the program and urged people to join. She said the car-share program eliminates some of the excuses she hears from downtown workers, who say they’d like to take a bike or bus to work, but that they sometimes need a car during the day. She highlighted some of the local businesses involved in the project, including the Betty Brigade, which has a contract to do regular cleaning of the fleet. “It is a sweet deal,” Shore said of the Zipcar program, “and it’s very affordable.”

Sandi Smith, Trillium Real Estate president and Ann Arbor City Council member: Smith mentioned that her real estate firm recently relocated to a building in Kerrytown’s Braun Court, but she spent most of her time talking about issues related to her work on city council and as a Downtown Development Association board member. That experience has caused her to see the city through a different lens, she said. Smith said that she stayed in Ann Arbor after graduating from UM, but young people aren’t as likely to do that these days. They’re looking for downtowns that are vibrant, diverse, with a certain critical mass of humanity, mass transit that works, music and the arts, with nearby recreation and natural resources. “We have the opportunity today to create such a place,” she said.

She urged people in the audience to voice their opinions about proposed zoning changes under the A2D2 initiative. Public comment sessions will be held on Monday, March 23 at 7 p.m. in the city council chambers (2nd floor of city hall, 100 N. Fifth Ave.), with others set for April 20 and May 4. She said she’s discovered during her five months on council that the same 20 or so people show up at all the meetings, and “most of them don’t want Ann Arbor to grow.” Call or email your council representative, Smith said. “We really need to hear what’s important for your businesses not just to survive, but thrive.”