(Originally published Aug. 10, 2011) A 15-year-long effort to spur jobs and vitality in some of the state’s most economically depressed areas by turning them into virtual tax-free zones — and thereby forgoing about $1 billion in tax collections — is being curtailed by Gov. Rick Snyder. Citing disappointing results in Renaissance Zones, the Snyder […]
Rick Haglund
Rick Haglund has had a distinguished career covering Michigan business, economics and government at newspapers throughout the state. Most recently, at Booth Newspapers he wrote a statewide business column and was one of only three such columnists in Michigan. He also covered the auto industry and Michigan’s economy extensively.
Posted inBusiness Watch
Deep inside the Lost Decade: Decline, transformation and resilience in Michigan's regions
Ann Arbor on the east side and Grand Rapids on the west are widely regarded as the most prosperous and desirable metropolitan areas in Michigan. But Kalamazoo-Portage and Battle Creek in Southwest Michigan surprisingly outpaced Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and all other metro areas in the state in economic growth over the past decade. An […]
Posted inSuccess
Coffee is million-dollar enterprise
Pricey coffees were among the first casualties of the Great Recession as people cut $4 lattes from their strained household budgets. Even mighty Starbucks was humbled, closing hundreds of stores across the country as the economy tanked. But one small Traverse City gourmet coffee company prospered during Michigan’s “lost decade” by adhering to an ideal: […]
Posted inSuccess
Couple bets all on Michigan start-up; beats odds
Manufacturing appeared to be dying during the past decade in Michigan. Critics of Michigan’s taxes and regulations said the state was a terrible place to start a business. But Justin Ayers and his wife, Tracy, thought it was a great time to open a manufacturing company. And into being came Lakeshore Cutting Solutions Inc., an […]
Posted inSuccess
Warren auto supplier navigates industry turmoil
Tim Droege and a team of managers at German auto parts supplier Woco Automotive in Warren decided in 2008 to purchase the company — just as the state and national economies were imploding. “It was a crazy time to buy an automotive company,” said Droege, who completed the deal in January 2009 and changed the […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Tax breaks saved mental hospital site, developer says
“Blight” and “Traverse City” aren’t often used in the same sentence. But one large, historically significant property in the picturesque northern Michigan community was so blighted that local officials who wanted to redevelop the site were unable to make much progress — until it was approved as a tax-free Renaissance Zone. The Traverse City Regional […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Jobs available, skills are not
(Originally published April 14, 2011) Like plenty of Michigan companies, Cignys, Inc. was forced to lay off workers as the state’s economy tanked during the Great Recession. The Saginaw-based supplier of precision-machined products to the aerospace, defense and plastics industries is hiring again, though, as manufacturing enjoys a surprisingly strong rebound. But there’s just one […]
