Blogs

It's no accident that Governor Snyder's delivery of the State of the State address today coincides with this week's writings by Nancy Short, deputy manager of appointments in the Office of Governor Snyder. Nancy will be discussing how the administration will translate the outcomes of Michigan's Community Conversations into action, as well as distinct new opportunities on the horizon.

Newcombe Clark is 27 years old and a partner in Ann Arbor -based Bluestone Realty Advisors, a commercial real estate brokerage and consulting firm. A U-M grad, he sits on nine different boards, is a published playwright and columnist and is currently in development of his first animated cartoon. He will be writing about all things living/working/playing in Metro Detroit as a member of the creative class. Just what do we have to offer to this important demographic and what do we still need?

As you make your river, so you must row in it. Pam Labadie, marketing director for the Huron River Watershed Council, opines on the River Up! pilot project and why us residents of the Great Lakes basin aren't as flush with water as we think.

With strip malls and big-box manses gettin' way long in the tooth, bygone architecture is the mod new style. Patrick McCauley, vice-chair of the Ann Arbor Historic District Commission, believes local historic districts are what's needed for more vibrant communities.

In the movie Moneyball, a pro-baseball manager isn't afraid to turn conventional recruiting practice on its head. When it comes to VC funding, shouldn't the same daring apply? This week software execs and entrepreneurs Pavan Muzumdar, CFA, and Neal Fairbanks have a friendly back-and-forth on the state of funding from the investor and entrepreneur points of view.

In Portland, Ore., empty parking lots make for good food cart pods. In Ann Arbor, empty parking lots are tailgate heaven but food carts are mostly verboten. This week, Phillis Engelbert, co-owner of vegan food cart The Lunch Room, writes on how food carts could have an easier road into the community.

Ann Arbor is well within its power to have a million solar panels up and running, according to Prasad Gullapalli, founder and president of Srinergy. This week Gullapalli discusses how to manage and finance this solar target.

It's a feel-good storyline: Start-up founders lacking moola to enter business plan competition volunteer instead, return next year to win Best New Business Idea award at the GLEQ contest. Priya Gogoi, co-founder of DeNovo Sciences, covers the partners' de novo strategies for business launching and development of a cancer cell detection tool.

Rebecca Lopez Kriss speaks her mind. A self-described "concerned citizen and community advocate at all levels," she is also a co-founder of the YP Underground, a local networking group for young professionals. Rebecca will be weighing in on redevelopment, downtown parking and how young people need to become more involved in building the community they want.

How do we build a local knowledge-based economy? Richard 'Murph'  Murphy has a few ideas... and they're not what you might expect. Murph is an urban planner for the City of Ypsilanti, seasoned blogger and U-M grad who was recently profiled as one of Concentrate's "masterminds."

Richard "Murph" Murphy is a computer geek turned urban planner living and working in Ypsilanti.  He is also a seasoned blogger, having maintained his own site, Common Monkeyflower since 2001, and contributed to Arbor Update since 2004.  Murph writes about the role of urban centers in a rapidly changing post-manufacturing economy. Join the conversation on our new interactive blog!

Rick DeVos is the creator behind ArtPrize and other ventures that have a common theme of empowering, expanding and enlightening conversation. His interest in using social media to decentralize control of the event has excited some and rankled others. Whichever side you fall on, one thing is certain: This inaugural year represents a huge social experiment. Rick's here to talk about it this week.

Rob Cleveland knows what it takes to build something out of nothing. A former auto biz writer, he not only grew ICON Creative Technologies Group into a successful 30 person firm, he recently opened the Grange Kitchen in downtown Ann Arbor. Rob believes in the value of tax incentives, and explains how they'll help Michigan develop much-needed entrepreneurs like himself.

In a city that packs in crowds nearing 110,000 on football Saturdays, can art eclipse sport? Robb Woulfe, executive director of the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, a showcase  for the performing arts, will write about how a festival's identity strengthens its host community and how it can be an economic catalyst.