Bloomfield Park, an abandoned mixed-use real estate project in Oakland County, stands as an eerie symbol of the construction industry’s collapse in Michigan over the past decade. Looking like the bleak setting of a “Mad Max” movie, the planned $2 billion development on Telegraph Road just north of Square Lake Road was to have featured […]
Posted inSuccess
Michigan produce found on local plates, global trade routes
Lori Lennard is a third-generation Michigan potato grower whose family farm this year will harvest more than 100 million pounds of tubers destined for the potato-chip fryer and other uses. Lennard Agriculture Co. – which has supplied Detroit-based Better Made Snack Foods with its main raw ingredient for nearly half a century – has burgeoned […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there” — Nobel-winning physicist Richard Feynman (1918-1988). * I like the idea of paying car insurance by the mile, since my commute is less than 10 minutes. I don’t like the idea of an insurance company sitting in […]
Posted inMichigan Government
SE Michigan is hotbed for government collaboration talks
Michigan is well-populated with organizations and people studying how to develop better public policies and better governments. One such group is the Center for Local, State and Urban Policy at the University of Michigan. A key part of their work is to survey government leaders to discern what’s going on in the trenches of delivering […]
Posted inPhil's Column
We must protect 'Michigan, Our Michigan'
(Originally published Aug. 25, 2011) The Latin motto on the state of Michigan’s great seal — “Si Quaeris Peninsulam Amoenam, Circumspice”– says it all. Translation: “If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you.“ And it is a great — no, perfect — set-up for all the wonderful “PureMichigan” TV commercials extolling the beauties of […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Voters shut out on redistricting
(Originally published June 29, 2011) Every decade, the law requires every state to redraw every legislative and congressional district to reflect changes in population discovered by the Census. The cycle’s process is about at its end, with maps for both Congress and Michigan’s Senate and House districts now being rushed through the Legislature before its […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Immigrants can energize Detroit
(Originally published July 28, 2011) Whatever you think of Detroit, it is hard to imagine Michigan thriving if our largest city isn’t on some kind of road to prosperity. And plenty of folks, both business-oriented (think DTE Energy, Business Leaders for Michigan) and philanthropic (think the Kresge, Skillman and Hudson-Webber Foundations) are committed to and […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Parties play to extremes; voters left stranded
(Originally published July 20, 2011) The coverage of Betty Ford’s funeral last week pushed my thoughts back to the mid-1960s, when I ran the Capitol Hill congressional office of Rep. Paul Todd, Jr., D-Kalamazoo. Those were days when Rep. Gerry Ford, R-Grand Rapids, was on his way up in a career that would ultimately take […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Get cracking on Metro Detroit freight hub
(Originally published July 13, 2011) This may sound too good to be true, but it is true: Michigan could easily transform itself into a global freight gateway that could create more than 200,000 jobs and add billions in economic activity. And this could all happen within the next decade. If we play our cards […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Welcome to Bridge
It took me 46 years, but I finally attended summer school. This summer, I studied up on the nuances of inflation-adjusted dollars, website design, employment practices, marketing and, frankly, stuff I can’t remember right now. All this led up to what you see before you: Bridge Magazine, a project of the Center for Michigan to […]