Business, nonprofit and city officials working toward a common goal are bringing the rapids back to Grand Rapids, and cleaning up a beloved lake near Holland
Amy Lane
Amy Lane is a former reporter for Crain's Detroit Business, where she covered utilities, state government and state business for many years.
Posted inQuality of Life
Bridge Magazine poll: Detroit’s hopeful about future, Duggan in driver’s seat
In a bankrupt city challenged by crime and other problems, you might expect Detroiters to have low hopes for the future. But a new poll, coming as citizens face the Nov. 5 election to choose a new mayor, suggests otherwise. Although more Detroit voters currently see the state’s largest city on the wrong track rather […]
Posted inMichigan Government
What business wants from Detroit’s next mayor
Doug Rothwell is president and CEO of Business Leaders for Michigan. Bridge contributor Amy Lane talked to Business Leaders for Michigan CEO Doug Rothwell about the results of a new Detroit mayoral election poll, commissioned by BLM and The Center for Michigan. Bridge: What is the business community looking for in a new Detroit mayor? […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Bridge’s Top 9 totally unscientific great places to go that you might not have heard of
Michigan has about 15,000 places on its official tourism website. Chances are, you’ve heard a lot about Mackinac Island and Sleeping Bear Dunes, but the Cheeseburger in Caseville Festival, not so much. As the summer tourism season opens, Bridge went looking for a few places off the beaten path. In no particular order, you might […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Road repair enjoys bipartisan support
On Michigan’s Right to Work law, labor activist Mark Schauer and business advocate Rich Studley could not have sought more different results. But when it comes to working on Michigan’s crumbling roads — an issue that’s arisen in Lansing nearly as frequently as winter potholes — the two have an identical goal. Schauer, a former […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
What does an additional penny of gas tax buy?
For each penny of gas or diesel tax, Michigan gets about $45 million for transportation funding needs that include roads. There are lots of road cost variables, but that $45 million might buy, for example, 23 more lane miles of reconstructed roads or 75 additional lane miles of repaired roads. Or, it could enable the […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Inflation takes bite out of road repairs
Michigan citizens know the pocketbook pressures of rising prices for such everyday items as bread, milk and even the occasional beer. But less evident are the increased costs of the materials needed to build and repair the roads on which they drive. That means that the pennies of tax placed on each gallon of Michigan […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
In Northern Michigan, a life made in glass
Jay Bavers and Glenna Haney labor in a small studio in the Northern Michigan community of East Jordan. But their blown-glass creations have garnered fans from Lansing to Siberia. Jordan Valley Glassworks, which Bavers and Haney co-own, is a business built on the desire to present the new or unique, but also to satisfy the […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
One man’s appetite for snacks leads to growing Northern Michigan firm
Ed Girrbach likes potato chips. So much so, he’s put money, determination and business acumen toward a made-in-Michigan venture that is frying 20,000 pounds of raw potatoes a week in the hills outside of Traverse City. The Great Lakes Potato Chip Co., co-owned by Ed, 63, and son Chris, 33, has gone from a conversation […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Feds leave small harbors dredging for cash
It’s taking plenty of $100 checks and some larger amounts, fundraisers and perseverance. But with a big slice of their economic future at stake, members of the small waterfront community of Pentwater are banding together to pay for something Washington, D.C., no longer does: Dredging of the sandbar that annually accumulates and chokes off the […]