Concentrate - Blog

Richard 'Murph' Murphy - Post 4

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 23:38:05 GMT

I can't possibly avoid talking about Pfizer here, can I? No - it's what everyone else is talking about, and, besides, is just too prime an example.

As I mentioned a few days back, we keep on looking for "The Next Pfizer", as if the next one will somehow be unable to leave like the last did. When we find something big, we grasp onto it desperately, with headlines blaring 2,000 NEW JOBS TO COME. Now, I apologize, I can be a little dense at times, but - didn't we just lose those 2,000 jobs when Pfizer closed? So, couldn't "new jobs" be kind of a misleadingly optimistic phrase, when what we mean is "replacement jobs"? (And, I admit that I'm no insider, but I have a suspicion that the University would have been adding jobs over the next several years regardless of what they did with the Pfizer building, so can these jobs really even be considered a result of the Pfizer site buy?)

I don't want to be completely grouchy about this. I think it's excellent that something is happening with the Pfizer site, and that Ann Arbor as a community has these institutions like UMichigan (and Eastern, and Trinity/St. Joes, and WCC) that are large and stable enough to step in occasionally and completely change the terms of the conversation. I'm happy that Washtenaw County is a sticky enough place that a number of former Pfizer employees have chosen to stay and start or join companies rather than leave with Pfizer - that shows we're doing something right from a quality of place standpoint, and also genuinely constitutes "new jobs".

But that doesn't negate the fact that Pfizer could and did pack up and unilaterally eliminate 2,000 jobs in town in a matter of months, followed by, with the sale to UMichigan, 4-5% of the city's tax base, several million dollars a year suddenly gone from the City, County, libraries, community college, and Michigan's schools.

So let's cheer UMichigan's purchase of Pfizer's campus - they're getting it back to productive use, they're leverage it as an asset for job creation, they're preventing it from being simply a hole in the community (or from Pfizer razing the buildings to cut their tax liability, depriving us of both the revenues and the use value of the facilities). But let's not overlook the stiff upper lips that Mayor Hieftje and County Administrator Guenzel are bringing to the discussions. Wouldn't we all be happier if we hadn't had to suffer the loss of a monolithic employer and taxpayer for this to happen, if UMichigan were adding those jobs on the vast tracts of North Campus it already owns, while a constellation of smaller businesses suffered job losses by the tens or twenties, but never 2,000 at a time?

This issue of exposure, of too many eggs in the Pfizer basket, is still a problem that we need to recognize - and a problem that we need to buffer ourselves against in the future.

Meanwhile, I can't resist talking about built form and its relationship to human community. (Remember: urban planner.) Having spent 6-plus years of work and school on North Campus, I can clearly say that this is not an area that innately fosters innovation and creativity - it fails to provide the physical space and proximity for collaboration and the resulting sparking of new ideas that we need.

Douglas Kelbaugh, until recently Dean of the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, has long talked this point. In 2002, during the North Campus Redux project, he noted, "We need more destinations. We need places to have a date, places to have a drink." It's not just dates. It's places to meet up, talk, work, collaborate, and spark chance inspirations.

Six years later, I still don't think North Campus has a bar, and Plymouth Road is still a pretty unpleasant place to be outside of a car. I therefore don't have too much hope that UMichigan's purchase of Pfizer's land will do much for placemaking, for turning Plymouth Road into a place where people can have ideas outside of the cloistered campus buildings - but I'm willing to be pleasantly surprised.

Richard 'Murph' Murphy - Post 3

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:41:16 GMT

Before you all leave for the holidays and miss next week's posts, I should take the opportunity to mention Mittenfest III, a three-day local music extravaganza that serves as a benefit for the 826michigan writing program. Mittenfest takes place at downtown Ypsilanti's Elbow Room on the Friday through Sunday after Christmas, 5pm to 1am, with 9 bands each night, and features a pretty impressive list of the area's musicians.

The "benefit" side of the event is kind of an afterthought, though. The primary reason for the show is that Brandon Zwagerman, my former classmate and a paragon of Michigan statriotism, who pulls strings in Washtenaw County from several states away, is coming home for the holidays, and wants to see a few dozen of his favorite bands. Brandon is previously responsible for Madison House, a backyard venue not much bigger than my living room that was one of the most popular live music spots in Ann Arbor for a few summers, and Somethingfests for every occasion. (Such as the Arbor Vitae-hosted ArborFest, where I, as the scene newbie taking a shift at the door, attempted to charge Chris Bathgate cover to get into his own home. Sorry about that...)

But, back to my more general theme.

One of the cultural shifts necessary in our post-industrial economy is how we think about locating businesses. My profession (urban planning) has spent most of its first century trying to disentangle and draw bright lines around various activities, putting each in the "right place", separated from each of the others.

The original intent was sound - protecting residences from the noxious side effects of 19th century foundries, slaughterhouses, and glue factories - but the reasoning behind the current state of things is a little more questionable. We now seem to accept as normal and reasonable the idea of an "office park" or "research park" or "industrial park" or even "educational park" - areas like little zoos, where each business has its well-defined space, penned off from all the others by stormwater detention ponds and parking lots. (Sometimes there are little fountains in the ponds, giving the illusion of this being a nice place, and helping us ignore that the animals are being kept in sterile, lonely isolation.)

The system that worked fine for 3 shifts of 1,000 assembly line workers each, running machinery around the clock - an activity that merited some separation from neighborhood residences - doesn't make quite as much sense in the "knowledge economy" we like to talk about. Whether it's Google's requirement for proximity to all-night doughnut shops, the working alone together practice of coworking, or the fact that downtown is the hottest residential market in both Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, there's plenty of evidence out there that people don't all value separation as much as we've assumed. (Or as much as we've codified, based on those assumptions.)

And here's where I think Dug Song was reading my notes for his comment from yesterday. ug says, "What I hope to see develop here is a well-knit, efficient network of innovators with ample opportunity for collaboration (often on lots of small, fun, throwaway projects and investigations). And this comes down to matters of physical space, proximity, and culture. We need to foster a community of startup folks and geeks meeting and learning from each other."

Excellent. Thank you, Dug.

Proximity, and the frequent crossing of paths it creates, is a critical piece of getting an "idea" to an "innovation" or "invention", and from there to "economic development". Some of this is about having houses close enough together that you can talk to your neighbor over the fence. Some can be approximated online - the example of Mark Maynard and Steve Cherry's blogs recruiting me to Ypsi being foremost in my mind. (Phone doesn't count - chance encounters on the phone are generally just creepy.) A lot of it is having third places (not work, not home) for these encounters to happen - the phenomenon where I can walk into Bombadill's, Beezy's, or the Corner Brewery at any time and probably know half the people there somehow.

Running into people is an underappreciated way to get a job, find funding, get connected to people working on similar projects, or just talk through what you're working on to a fresh face and have the thought shift you were waiting for. Sure, there's value to formal networking - calling up likely resources you know and asking after the things you're looking for. The best cross-pollination comes from the serendipitous, though. Running into somebody who introduces you to their lunch companion, who happens to be exactly the person you needed to meet, but the intermediary never knew it.

There are a lot of reasons that I like downtowns and the dense neighborhoods that surround them. I find the mixture of people and things pleasing and exciting in and of itself, for example - probably a product of being slightly ADD and wanting to have lots around me to occupy my attention. There are the environmental benefits in every realm from stormwater to historic preservation (it's like recycling, but whole buildings at a time!).

I think this is the most compelling reason, though. It's these downtowns and dense urban neighborhoods where creativity finds fertile ground - where sub-idea particles are slammed together and bombarded with alternatives until life is sparked. (and, uh, metaphors are tortured beyond recognition...) It's the proximity of having lots of people close together, and the critical innovation resources that proximity supports (bus service, free wi-fi signals, good coffee, and tables to talk over) that gives Dug's network of innovators the ability to get together, collaborate and recombine, Really, it's a shame that we lock so many smart people up in office parks rather than letting them out on the sidewalks, where the real work happens.

Richard 'Murph' Murphy - Post 2: Educating for the local economy vs. education as export industry

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Part of an inclusive culture of innovation is our attitude on education, educational attainment, and our educational institutions. While the University of Michigan is the darling of the hyphenated new economy industry press, it's not where this culture needs to be rooted.

The University of Michigan is not going to provide the training for our local economy. That school is an export manufacturing industry - it employs thousands of our residents to manufacture law, engineering, and medical degrees that we ship around the country, meanwhile supporting a number of important supply industries (such as bars).

Eastern, meanwhile, is loading newly degreed educators onto shipping pallets and spreading them across the country, and that's not as bad a thing as the "brain drain" narrative would have us believe - it's people giving us money for product. It's 21st manufacturing at its finest, putting local residents to work assembling degrees for export. As a bonus, universities aren't quite as mobile as traditional manufacturing capital - Eastern isn't moving to Virginia anytime soon. (Of course, Eastern isn't paying any property tax anytime soon, either...)

The place that never gets any creative class love is Washtenaw Community College. Their lengthy list of degrees provides for all sorts of "knowledge workers", ranging from web design and computer programming to architectural drafting and auto & motorcycle repair. (And anybody who doesn't think these fields require "knowledge workers" has clearly never tried to rebuild the carburetors on their bike.)

Somehow, though, the business incubators, venture capital, and tax abatements don't tend to reach these students. If Ford or Edison were getting started today, they would be at WCC - and they'd probably be called "non-traditional students", taking classes at night.

Innovation happens at a day-to-day level, done by people who have a have an idea and pursue it to completion or usefulness. We're comfortable with this when the person is a computer programmer - when I was in undergrad, there wasn't even an expectation of completion, just of getting far enough to be bought by Microsoft. But the nurse or mechanic or carpenter who thinks up a better mousetrap? These people are the core of our economy, but we simply don't expect them to innovate.

Education is always seen as the foundation of economic development - with the expectation being more more more, and the measure of success being number of degrees. The cultural shift we need, though, is to stop measuring innovation and creativity by credentials, and start measuring it by ... innovation and creativity.

This starts at a very young age, where currently we discourage curiosity and exploration in favor of test performance. This is only symptomatic, though, of our fixation on college degrees. In order to get a graduate degree, you need a 4-year-degree, for which you need to do well in a good high school, which we start measuring from the time you're 7 years old.

Following the trail one level further up, we need to hold our reporting of achievement to higher standards of inclusion. Media outlets like Crains, the Ann Arbor Business Review, and this fine website are good at covering the latest in electric cars and "life sciences", but come up short in the realm of "guy come up with new thing in his garage." In order to truly contribute to a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, at the level where expectations are formed and accomplishments praised, our business media needs to be sure that the thin-film solar start-up gives up the spotlight sometimes for the people who just want a better cookie.

Richard 'Murph' Murphy - Post 1: The knowledge economy is not made up of hyphens and PhDs

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

I see a lot of dichotomous thinking these days when it comes to economic development and job growth. My most recent issue of "Michigan Planner" provides a handy example, asking, "Can Michigan reinvent itself and transition from a 20th century industrial economy to a 21st century knowledge economy?"

On the one hand, we look back at the Fordist model of building a middle class on the auto plant floor, and think we can do all right if we just lure in a new industrial base for our local economy. We scrabble for The Next Pfizer, for The Next Hydra-matic, for The Next Motor Wheel, for The Next Exemplar, imagining that the Next Big Thing will stick around the community longer than did the Last Big Thing. (Of those, I believe that at least Pfizer, Exemplar, and Hydra-matic all closed up shop or downsized locally before even using up all the tax credits we'd given them.)

No, that era's over, we claim on the other side. We need to look to the Neweconomycreativeclassmillennialknowledgeworkers instead! It's the high-tech, bio-med, alt-energy, dot-coms that are going to turn our economy around.

But this side overlooks the fact that all these fields tend to require not only a hyphen but a post-graduate degree. And, sure, the Census Bureau's latest ACS data shows that 26% of Washtenaw County's population has a post-graduate degree, far higher than the national average of 10%, which definitely gives us something to leverage. But we have to recognize that this number means 75% of our adult population lacks a post-grad degree (and a significant share of those who have one are tied up either teaching or getting yet another degree, not starting businesses).

Just how many of the workers taking buy-outs from Ford or GM are really positioned to go into bio-medical research, anyway?

On the upside, there's an middle ground that's profoundly under-recognized in our mad search for development. "Knowledge workers" are hardly a 21st century invention. Before becoming an "industrialist" and having an entire economic system named after him, Henry Ford was an inventor and entrepreneur - a knowledge worker of the 19th century - working off an apprenticeship model of education and tinkering on his automobile projects on the side while working for Edison and Westinghouse.

Edison, in turn, got his start as a telegraph operator with a lot of free time. (Westinghouse, too, was "merely" the son of a machinist - but we'll stick to the local boys for purpose of illustration.)

Ypsilanti's Elijah "The Real" McCoy worked from home to invent the self-lubricating fixture he saw a need for while employed as a fireman for Michigan Central Railway.

I admit that I'm skimming the cream of the lone genius inventor mythos for these examples, but my point is that the "Creative Class" wasn't invented in the 1990s, and the "new economy" isn't really so new. It's just that we forgot about it during the manufacturing boom of the last century - a boom that Michigan had so big a part in specifically because our 19th-century "knowledge workers" were so successful.

Jane Jacobs, writing The Economy of Cities in 1970 (while Richard Florida was probably in high school), stated the idea of the knowledge worker as "adding new work to old" - Elijah McCoy oiling locomotives by hand and realizing that he could make a gadget to do it for him.

This doesn't have to take place in a "high education attainment industry", though that's where we put all of our attention. It does have to take place in a certain culture (of education, governance, media), though, and that's where our dichotomous assembly-lines-or-atom-splitting thinking on economic development comes up short.

While we certainly shouldn't turn up our nose at either a new assembly line or the latest startup of atom-splitting eggheads, we can't depend on either for economic Salvation. Alongside these, we need to ensure that we're supporting the daily innovation that is the foundation of economic development.

Jeff Helminski - Post 4: What if we did something radical?

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

In my previous post I suggested a no cost option as a small step towards addressing this issue of attracting and retaining young talent. But what if we really think outside the proverbial box and pretend for a minute we have some funding to play with. What could we do to attract this desired cohort in a direct and meaningful way that would get their attention?

There is a tremendous amount of money from foundations, state and federal government and some philanthropic-minded high net worth individuals and families targeted at community development and job creation, and the attraction & retention of talent fits within that goal. What if we took just a little from each pot and spent it on a direct marketing initiative to attract and then support the most promising young, entrepreneurial talent in the world?

I am thinking of a place, a physical space or a mixed use community with apartments, a business center, a YP community center (we have them for senior citizens and kids why not YP�s?), some form of salary and a student loan forgiveness program like the rural physician loan forgiveness program. There would be seed money to help fund start up costs, a mentoring program and connectivity to established business, community and political leaders to incubate these burgeoning entrepreneurs.

We would commence a campaign to reach out to the top universities and young entrepreneurs around the world and it would be a competitive process to be admitted to the program. Once in you would have all the support you could ever need to start your business which could be the next Microsoft or Starbucks or Apple. The only catch is you and your company would have to stay in Michigan.

Sound crazy? Probably does. Besides, we like to think it has to be �made here� to be real or worthy. Why look outside of Michigan to recruit the best and brightest in the world. We don�t need them; we already have it here, right?

It would probably require more cooperation between communities that are better at fighting with each other than working together toward a common goal than we are capable of. After all, it could only be located in one place and we are very good at viewing things as a zero sum game so there would be one winner and everyone else would be a loser, right?

Maybe not; maybe we are finally at the point where something this radical might actually be able to be pulled off. Hmmm, what if�? Or what if you the reader of my crazy idea have some other radical concept to help us move forward as a state. A big idea or a small but unconventional step in the right direction.

Think about it. What�s your idea? Let�s find a way to make it happen. Michigan is counting on us.

Jeff Helminski - Post 3: If you attract them, prosperity will come

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 01:00:26 GMT

I am one of the believers in the Lou Glazer philosophy of economic development. The single most determinative issue to the future prosperity of Michigan is the attraction and retention of young talent.

The best local source of information I am aware of on this topic comes from Michigan Future Inc. The empirical data show this to be true and the experiential data I have gathered over my time spent in successful cities around the world seem to indicate the theory holds.

The debate rages on as to whether YP�s first select a job or a place. I have observed first hand the decision making process about where to live as made by YP�s with the greatest amount of opportunity and flexibility. This comes from observing my classmates at Stanford Business School in making post graduate moves and more recently my sister�s process as she finishes her MBA at Duke. I have concluded that the decision-making process is place first, job second.

However, I believe that economic opportunity (ie. job opportunities) is a significant component of what makes a place attractive. I think this is a shift from the decision-making process of past generations and therefore difficult for some members of those past generations to understand. I will offer one not so scientific example to illustrate this point. During the boom years of the late 1990�s when jobs were plentiful in Detroit (remember when GM stock traded at $90 and I thought my stock options were worth something?), the Michigan brain drain we talk so much about today was still in effect.

I am certainly neither the first person to identify this issue nor the first to blog about its importance to our state. We in Michigan are far from the first to identify this important issue either. Virtually every other state in the union has seen the same light and is targeting these young talented individuals for recruitment to their state.

The question I often ask myself is: What makes us any more likely to win this talent battle than any other state? If you read the materials from chambers of commerce and economic development organizations from around the country, you could replace Nashville with Detroit or Arkansas with Michigan and it would look about the same as our materials. Every state has economic development dollars and incentives to throw at this objective. What can we do that is unique and different and meaningful?

How about this? How about, in order to show the YP�s of the world that Michigan is truly committed to this effort, we set aside one position on every board, commission, task force and advisory panel at the state, county and local level for a young professional. Create an extra slot or fill all newly vacated positions with a YP.

This is a no cost, highly visible way to show the level of commitment we as a state have to this important group. This would show YP�s that not only do we want you located in our communities; we want you engaged in the decision making that will shape our communities. It would infuse new perspectives, new energy and a new level of connectivity between experienced leaders and young leaders in helping chart the future course of our state.

Jeff Helminski - Post 2: Don't Assume It'll Happen

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:52:43 GMT

I have made the very conscious decision to live my life and build my company in Detroit. As I interact with the many people and groups of which I am a part, I often here people say that it (the economy, the political quagmire in Lansing, etc.) will get better eventually; some even put a timeframe on it: after Obama takes office or by the end of 2009.

These are people I generally consider thoughtful and insightful professionals. And yet they say this without any meaningful analysis of the current state of affairs or identifying a process or even a sequence of events required to address the types of things that need to happen to "fix" Michigan.

The only explanation I can come up with for this lack of real analysis of the situation is that they don�t want to think about what the alternative would mean for them and the lifestyle they have become accustom to. Thinking about changing careers or moving out of the area can really rain on your parade; so many people simply convince themselves that it is not going to happen.

Burying our heads in the sand can be very dangerous for us as a region. I have chosen to be here because I believe there is a great future ahead for Michigan, but it isn�t just going to happen. We can�t sit back and let time pass so it can heal all wounds. We must take action; meaningful, thoughtful, coordinated action. That means you, me, our legislators and everyone else. Reading what others think needs to get done doesn�t bring us any closer to a solution. We must act, individually and collectively. It will take all of us to accomplish this immense and important task. And unfortunately not everyone can or will grab the rope and pull so those of us that do have to pull doubly hard.

What can we, the young professionals (YP�s) of metro Detroit do? How do we become part of the solution?

It�s a balance between sticking together within groups of ourselves to create a diverse community of connected, supportive, like-minded individuals that can collectively leverage the power and influence of a coordinated group and integrating ourselves into the established power structure. Finding a home within the community of engaged YP�s is relatively easy. If you need help getting connected, start with organizations like Fusion, GLUE, Young Professionals Leadership Council, United Way and the seventy or so other YP focused groups in the area. The more difficult task is getting inserted into the established decision making bodies that govern our communities and set the tone and direction of the institutions that drive our region.

How do we do that?

Here is a thought starter for you: Get involved in local, regional or state politics. Get appointed to your local planning commission, run for County Commissioner, encourage a YP to run for state office and support their campaign, or better yet, run for office yourself.

I believe Detroit is at an inflection point in its history and the decision we make today will determine our future course. When I talk about taking action, I am talking about game-changing action. That doesn�t mean spending three hours on a Saturday morning serving breakfast at a soup kitchen, which is certainly a laudable action and necessary in our communities, but for those of you that have the skills and abilities to be a game-changer, go do it in whatever way suits you. Invest the time and make the sustained and consistent commitment to become part of the solution. Just think about where we could take this place if we were in charge!

Jeff Helminski - Post 1: Why I Live Here

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Michigan is at a crossroads. There are important and difficult decisions to be made. We each have an opportunity and, I believe, a responsibility to play a leadership roll in what those decisions will be. I will share with you this week my thoughts on why I chose to locate in Michigan, the critical importance of young talent in our state and a few ideas about what we as a state and as young professionals can do to move Michigan forward.

One other thing that will be helpful to understand as you read on is that any reference I make to Detroit means all of southeast Michigan which includes Ann Arbor and other non-Detroit proper areas - even though there are elements from each side that prefer to disassociate themselves from the other.

Ann Arbor in particular is a critical part of the future of SE Michigan and Detroit benefits from the intellectual and innovative elements of Ann Arbor.

Symbiotically, without Detroit (and a strong Detroit) Ann Arbor is an isolated outpost lacking many of the big-city benefits it realizes by having a large metropolitan area as close as Detroit.

As a former Ann Arbor resident (I now live in Ferndale) I can attest that part of what contributes to Ann Arbor�s great quality of life is the benefit of living in a smaller University town while still having easy access to big-city amenities.

Why am I here?

Before I get into the throws of this blog I have been asked to write, I will try to provide some perspective on the experiences that color my view of the world and, more importantly, the lens through which I view the issue of moving Michigan forward.

I, along with my younger brother and sister, was born in Cadillac but raised in Muskegon by amazing parents. My dad was a teacher and coach at a Catholic school, my mom stayed home to raise the three of us. They managed to raise a family of five on today�s equivalent of $33,642. We qualified for food stamps but my parents wouldn�t take them. They felt they were able-bodied people who should be responsible for taking care of themselves. I didn�t realize we were "poor" at the time. I never knew any better.

Eventually, my father left teaching and became a life insurance salesman. By the time I was in the 8th grade, we were situated in more of a true middle class lifestyle. We once even got to take a vacation to Sea World in Ohio!

Jump to undergrad: Mechanical Engineering at Michigan Tech. University, after which I was on to the prototypical automotive career as an engineer at General Motors - mostly manufacturing engineering. I earned a Masters in Engineering from Purdue at night. I spent time as a line supervisor at Pontiac East Assembly Plant with about 30 UAW represented employees working in my department. I then moved to the roll of Business Manager of Final Assembly (125 hourly employees and 5 salaried supervisors) before "retiring" from the auto industry. I left GM in May of 2001 to attend business school at Stanford University.

After earning an MBA at Stanford I followed my wife to Ann Arbor where she was attending Law School at U of M. I was a post MBA career changer, moving into real estate development. I worked for a small developer for three years, and after my wife passed the Bar Exam, I started my own development company focusing on urban, infill redevelopment. That was two years ago. As you can imagine, it is a tough time to start a real estate business.

My wife and I have chosen Michigan as our home and the place we will build our careers and raise a family. I view Michigan and Detroit as a place with great opportunity and equally great challenges. I am often asked why I am here; why I came back and am now staying. People say to me "you have the skills to go anywhere in the world and succeed. Why are you screwing around in Detroit?" I am understandably asked similar questions by my business school classmates from New York, London, San Francisco, Chicago and other world class cities. However, the most fervent questioners are those born and raised here; life-long Michiganders who know this place for better and worse.

I am here because the Detroit region fits me. It�s real, unpretentious, maybe even slightly unrefined. It has history, character, challenges, potential and it has a future that I can be part of shaping. It is big enough to have everything a major metropolitan area can offer, while the circle of engaged individuals and organizations is small enough that you can get to know people and have a meaningful impact on your community.

I am here because I love this state, because there is opportunity amidst the challenges we now face and because even though I am young and early in my career (maybe precisely because of that) I can help shape Michigan�s future.

Rebecca Lopez Kriss - Post 5: A Plug

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:07:26 GMT

A plug for YP Underground, an informal networking group for young(ish) professionals who live or work in the Ann Arbor area. We are not fighting for a cause, but are always looking for an excuse to get together for conversation.

Melange (314 S. Main Street in downtown Ann Arbor) has graciously offered to host the next YP Underground networking event on Thursday, November 20th starting at 5:00. Melange Management couldn't resist your devilish charm and will be providing free appetizers to our group. Who can resist such a delicious (and generous) offer? Get there early to take advantage of the other happy hour specials (1/2 off ordered appetizers, sushi, select libations, and wines by the glass) that run until 6PM.

So before you face your family to enjoy/endure another Turkey Day, join us for cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, and vibrant conversation.

Also...if you're looking for some authentic urban holiday fare, here are the details of the next getmedowntown.com trip:

Grab your winter woolens and ice skates to witness Detroit's tree lighting ceremony and figure skating extravaganza in Campus Martius Park, Friday, November 21st. If hot chocolate and wholesome goodness are not your thing, Hot Toddys, Irish Coffees, and other libations, await at the many walk-able bar and club destinations in the Campus Martius Park area. Pubcrawl maps and suggestions will be provided. (One verse of "Silent Night," and I might need a drink. ;-)

Get the babysitter scheduled, and give the dogs a treat: the bus leaves downtown Ann Arbor at 6PM, and will be back by 1AM. See more complete schedule information and reserve your seat at our website:

Thanks!

Rebecca Lopez Kriss - Post 4: My Three Favorite Marketing Ideas for Washtenaw County That No One Lis

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Hey! Ken Fischer, are you listening? I grew up on the east side of Metro Detroit without a love for football, and therefore pretty much oblivious to Ann Arbor. I can name every major road that runs north/south from Gratiot to Telegraph, but never had a reason to make the trek on I-94 all the way out to Washtenaw County.

I am sure my experience is in many ways a-typical. I suspect that there are many people in Metro Detroit who came to school at the University of Michigan, make a life in the suburbs of Detroit, and suddenly Ann Arbor is just an idyllic horizon in their distant collegiate experience. These are the same people who exclaim, "Oh, I just love Ann Arbor," when I tell them where I am living these days, but they just can�t remember the last time they came out here.

In an era of people rediscovering their backyard and not spending on lavish vacations outside of our beautiful state, the marketers of our region may find themselves marketing a little closer to home.

Get Oakland County to Fall in Love All Over Again

How many of you have driven up Woodward recently? It�s like a direct route to the other town-and-gown crowd of Southeast Michigan.

You know, out there they have amazing opportunities to remind people how great Ann Arbor is. They are called billboards, and I have been told they are very effective. I won�t spell out the ad campaign, but it goes something like, "Rediscover Ann Arbor..."

Sell Train Packages from Birmingham and Royal Oak for Dinner and a Show

Does anyone remember when the Tigers were in the World Series in 2006? Anyone? Here is what I remember: Olympia Development, the Detroit Tigers, Amtrak, and the Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) teamed up and offered train and ticket packages for $29. Trains left from Pontiac, Birmingham, and Royal Oak, and passengers were then shuttled up to Comerica Park from the Downtown Detroit Amtrak station. That is hot.

And it can happen in Ann Arbor. Imagine all those cultured Birminghamers getting on a train to come to Yo Yo Ma�s Silk Road Ensemble on a Saturday night, or the ladies coming out to see the Jerusalem Symphony on a Sunday afternoon. With the existing Amtrak schedule, both parties can come out to the show with plenty of time to spare, have dinner, do a little shopping, and then hop right back onto the train to head home. All we need is a shuttle that runs between the Amtrak Station, Kerry Town, Downtown, and then to campus. (Hmmm, maybe reroute the Link for special events?) And viola! One super cosmopolitan commuter rail way experience coming up.

Can anyone see family packages to Summer Fest and Top of the Park? The possibilities are endless; Chris Bidlack would have a field day with the posters.

Design Better Maps and Guides

And the crowning piece... better downtown guides. This is going to hurt when I write this, but guys... Grand Rapids has better, cooler, hipper, city guides and maps than Ann Arbor. I don�t know who is doing them, but they look hot, and they make me want to come back to see what I missed.

Another great example is Portland (which is to be expected). Every district of Portland has its own guide, yet all are co-branded and consistent, and every business from hotels, restaurants, to shops, in that district has them. The maps are inclusive of all features of an area, but look to me to be sponsored by the participating businesses that are highlighted. Every Portland guide is a fabulous piece that includes walking tour instructions, where to get lunch or dinner, and where to buy a great purse.

Sure, I admit these ideas are easier said than done, but at least now they are out there just ripe for the picking. Ken Fischer are you listening?

Rebecca Lopez Kriss - Post 3: Do something

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:00:57 GMT

For giggles, I have been taking classes at Washtenaw Community College lately, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know what the kids are doing. I take the Number 3 bus, which is also a great route because it passes Huron High School, and then you really get an inside scoop. It is pretty cool to see high school kids sporting Obama gear, when they are probably not even old enough to vote. (Like many, I am still riding a wave of post-election optimism. Don�t spoil it!)

Anyway, here�s the point: everybody and their brother is reporting the nearly record breaking voter turnout for 18-29 year olds. Which is great, and I am thrilled. Now let�s get back to the business of fighting the good fight here in Washtenaw County.

If Millenials and Cuspers managed to find their way to a polling place, it sure would be nice if they found their way to the United Way, 826Michigan, Washtenaw Literacy, Growing Hope, Neutral Zone, or any of the other 1,100 non-profits in Washtenaw County that desperately need people and resources.

It took a monumental effort to get hundreds of thousands of young people registered for the 2008 election. (From first hand experience, the "get registered" volunteers were FIERCE at WCC.) It took many multi-million dollar marketing campaigns by organizations like Rock the Vote and Declare Yourself to convince people, "oh yeah, you should stop texting your friends long enough to go do something for yourself and your future.

The civic organizations of our community do not have millions of dollars to convince people that they have a stake in making our county a better place to live. If I have to listen to another person say to me, "They should do something about that," I might claw my eyes out.

So, I am urging the dear Concentrate readers out there to ask themselves, "Are you the marketer or marketed?"

I am challenging you to spend 15 minutes looking for a non-profit of your interest and think about lending a hand, or writing a check, or sharing your expertise. Just 15 minutes! Just think about it!

And another thing, going around picking up garbage for the day is cute, but lets get real, a 6-year old can do that. If you are a professional with some sort of expertise, your value is not in picking up trash. If you know how to make websites, or write press releases, or do bookkeeping, I strongly urge you to think about making a real and lasting contribution to the organization of your choice.

Besides the warm feeling you get in the cockles of your heart by knowing you are doing something helpful to others, the greatest thing about taking responsibility in making your community what it is, is that you get to complain about it later if it doesn�t work out.

See its simple: no volunteer, no vote, no complain.
Volunteer, vote, you get to complain.
And everyone knows, I like to complain.

Rebecca Lopez Kriss - Post 2: Underground Parking Blues

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

It is somewhat ironic that the Ann Arbor Planning Commission just approved a long-overdue underground parking structure. If you are unfamiliar with the project, let me assure you it is a very, very sexy parking garage. Like, the George Clooney of parking garages. There will be fancy way finding, and natural lighting, and all kinds of very forward thinking ideas.

Such as: interfacing with the lower levels of the soon-to-come new Ann Arbor District Library; planning for the redevelopment of the prior YMCA space; giving the structure the support to build a multi-story building on top of it, should someone in the next 50 years decide to do so. Let�s hope someone does. As discussed at the Planning Commission meeting, this structure is designed to be the be-all-end-all parking structure for the City of Ann Arbor.

This particular parking structure project has also been in the making for over 19 years. And construction has not even started yet. If all goes well it will be years before we can expect a ribbon cutting ceremony. (And we all know, darlings, how much I love a ribbon cutting ceremony.)

Never fear, dear Ann Arborites. Recently I learned that Arlington, Virginia's transformation from a sprawling, dying suburb to a vibrant growing city was originally planned in the late 60s and early 70s. According to Dr. Terry Holzheimer, Director of Arlington Economic Development, speaking at the Creative Cities Summit 2.0 in Detroit, the plans sat dormant for 20+ years before public transportation, and creative zoning, proved to be a catalyst for growth.

So while Ann Arbor is finally thinking about what our town may look like in 2050 (and beyond) as far as parking downtown, I am not sure it's thinking about long-term housing.

The groundwork for increased density in Ann Arbor�s expanding core is just being laid now. I just hope that it isn't another 25 years before anything actually happens. By that time, George Clooney will be old news, and so will the state-of-the-art parking garage that the generation before us had the forethought to dream up.

Next topic: You've managed to vote, now get out there Millennials and make something.

Rebecca Lopez Kriss - Post 1: When Trees Grow Out of Your Gutters

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

My husband and I blissfully rent a quirky apartment in Ann Arbor�s Old West Side neighborhood. The house is one of the oldest in the neighborhood, more than 150 years old, and boasts a hidden grave stone on the property. (A hippie neighbor told me this once; she was an anthropology major and despite her overbearing patchouli perfume, I trust her assessment completely.)

The house has been divided into five rather haphazard apartments. My husband and I were blessed the day we were looking, because our apartment has a nice layout, includes a deck, and is large for a one-bedroom. The other apartments are, well... I won�t even bring up the creepy basement space.

It is historic, well located, and...falling apart. The plumbing leaks, the wiring is not grounded, the windows are original, it is not well insulated, the gutters are not actually attached to the house, and on and on and on. Its idiosyncrasies are perfect for my inner eccentric, and frankly for the neighborhood, it is dirt cheap. I really do love it.

I have a theory about this house. I speculate that the owner is sitting on the property, waiting for a good time to develop a housing complex that was actually designed to fit the five families that live there. (I suspect at that time he will evict the large woodchuck that has made a home underneath the foundation.)

And it makes sense. For a split second, I channeled Martha Stewart and tried to imagine what this house would be like restored. Which is difficult, since it is nearly impossible to ascertain the original layout. I imagine the costs to be astronomical, given the state of disrepair. It would amount to gutting the entire house and building over, and at that point you might as well just build a better building.

I only bring up my house, because it is such a perfect example of what we should not save. Someone needed to care about preserving it 75 years ago. There are perfectly beautiful homes and buildings in Ann Arbor that have been preserved and beloved for generations. But I urge you, to not let nostalgia get in the way of redevelopment of the many homes and buildings that have not been cared for and for which it is too late. When barriers to redevelopment are tied up in romantic notions about saving historic homes -- which have been rental slums for the past 50 years or more -- we won�t be getting anywhere soon.

My house is inefficient and wasteful, and surely lacks the sort of beauty that the Historic District Commission is intended to preserve. (I won�t even bring up the Zingerman's debacle; I mean really...you show me someone for whom retainingc322. E. Kingsley is "in the interest of the majority of the community," and I'll show you someone who needs to get out more.)

I understand, Ann Arbor, no one wants to demolish buildings willy-nilly to be replaced by make-a-quick-buck-cheap condos that would be better suited for less discriminating neighborhoods, like Wixom. (Actually, even the people living in cheap condos in Wixom, hate cheap condos in Wixom...just ask my mother.) And I doubt that anyone living in Ann Arbor wants to live in a neighborhood that is nouveau-suburbia.

But I assure you that redevelopment can coincide with historic aesthetics and neighborhood sensibilities. (Just ask Doug Farr, an architect and planner, chair of the USGB LEED for Neighborhood Development Core Committee, and who has been described as a "Sustainable Urbanism Superstar" by this very publication. (His book "Sustainable Urbanism: A Pattern Language for LEED Neighborhood Development" is a must read.)

Building techniques, sustainable energy technologies, and changes in transportation models, are in every modern city�s future. Building standards need to reflect what Ann Arbor can become, not every scrap of what it once was.

Jennifer Cornell - Post 3: Let's Joust

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Let's Joust!

The idea for Joust Strength + Fitness was born about a year ago, over dinner with Pat and Melissa. The catalyst: We were working out in Melissa's basement because there wasn't a place in Ann Arbor that offered functional, results-driven fitness that was both challenging and diverse.

We were all ex-patriots of the big box gyms in town � places that thrive on the so-called illusion of fitness � and of private clubs that offered one style of workout. We knew that there had to be others like us that wanted a functional workout that conditioned the body to move more effectively. We knew that there were people who wanted to be leaner, stronger, and more physically fit.

Pat, Melissa and I all have successful careers outside of Joust. It took a lot of reflection to commit to the idea of starting a consumer business in a down market while maintaining the other jobs we love and support us financially. We knew that we had to be all in to make Joust a success, and we knew that it would be an incredible amount of time, energy and work.

We did a lot of research and homework, just as any start-up should and likely does do. We met with other entrepreneurs, like Cathy Sissel of Brown & Deline, and picked their brains on what we should know and do. We laid out budgets, projected our growth, and debated marketing strategy.

Ultimately, the potential reward outweighed the risk. The idea of pursuing a passion was too tempting to ignore.

Versus moving around some desks and computers, we moved countless 10-45 lbs. kettlebells, balls, bumper plates and Olympic bars. We moved wooden plyometric boxes and heavy bikes. We moved and laid ¾� thick rubber matting. We painted, assembled equipment, and dealt with hundreds of tiny details� all before our grand opening.

The response to Joust Strength + Fitness has been amazing. We've watched friends, family, peers, students, people we'd never met before they walked through our doors get faster and stronger. We've watched them drop weight, increase muscle and get fit. It's been amazing to watch their confidence and happiness multiply in tandem with the amount of weight they can lift or reps they can complete.

As a marketer, it's been intriguing to discover how people come to learn about Joust. We get a lot of leads from our Web site. We recently did an insert in a local paper that we thought would generate a lot of results, but didn't. We presented to a campus organization, an activity that cost nothing but our time, and had members join as a result. We participated in a bridal expo recently and are awaiting the results from that outreach.

Just yesterday, we distributed our first e-newsletter and later this month will participate in an Expo aimed at women. Of course, we execute consistent PR and media relations activities. Like any business, we'll continue to seek ways to be better known and monitor our return-on-investment.

Time will tell whether our entrepreneurial vision will be a long-term success. In the meantime, we'll continue to do what we love doing and help others become more fit along the way.

Jennifer Cornell - Post 2: A Balanced Diet For Michigan

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Balanced Diet Gives Michigan a Fighting Chance, Brighter Future

Here�s a true confession: I�m addicted to Cocoa Pebbles. I can�t get enough of �em, but I know enough to exercise restraint and not indulge in their sugary, chocolate goodness for 3 meals a day.

I mean, it�s pretty basic common sense.

Diversity is good when it comes to what you eat, how you workout, how you live life, how you run a business. It defies logic to think you have a solid business when you rely on income from one, maybe two, big customers. Sure, you generate income and are seemingly successful, but if that big customer folds their operations or chooses another vendor, you�ve likely taken a fatal blow to your business.

Remind you of Michigan�s auto industry diet? We can�t expect to be successful, long-term, by subsisting on a diet of cars and trucks.

Bright stars in our economy are showing how it�s done, and give a peek at our future economy:

Adaptive Materials, a growing Ann Arbor fuel cell company, represents Michigan�s green collar potential. As one of the only fuel cell companies in the world actually manufacturing product, Adaptive Materials is hiring by re-training our state�s displaced automotive and manufacturing workers and producing new economy talent.

Biotechnology Business Consultants has helped growing Michigan businesses secure more than $40 million in undiluted, grant-based funding. It�s helped multitudes of displaced biotech workers start their own business, ultimately retaining valuable knowledge workers in our economy.

Michigan�s University Research Corridor -- Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University � has generated 552,328 alumni who live, work and pay taxes in Michigan, and represent 7.2 percent of the state�s adult population. URC partners help create thousands of new jobs, working with businesses to turn ideas into commercial enterprises.

Industries that leverage our engineering and technical strengths are the backbone of where our economy is headed. A mass of smaller, thriving businesses can produce as much income, hire as many talented people, and support Michigan just as well � and even better � than 3 big businesses. As a state, as peers, as leaders, we need to continue to support these growing businesses.

There are thousands upon thousands of small, growing businesses in Michigan that are committed to growing our economic future.

I invite you to post in the comments below those growing businesses in our state that you see representing our healthy, balanced economy.

Jennifer Cornell - Post 1: Dear Michigan

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:10:24 GMT

Dear Michigan,

It�s been a tough time for you and I thought you could use some words of encouragement. Contrary to what you may think, there are plenty of people who love living here, working here, innovating here, growing a business here and raising a family here. There are people who love this state because it�s affording them an opportunity to be successful, personally and professionally.

It�s not all bad, Michigan. I, for one, am here to stay, and I know lots of young professionals and young businesses who are, too.

You are a fine state with so much to offer. From my home just south of Ann Arbor, I can tap into multiple options for entertainment, culture, dining and recreation within an hour. I love that my commute is through honest farmland where people are working hard everyday to feed us. Fresh food through CSA supports my neighbors and my health. I don�t mind having to pass a tractor on my way into town �- the "best of both worlds" combo of country living and world-class culture is top notch.

Add just a few more hours to the commute and I can be in the gorgeous wilderness that makes you such a unique place to play. You can�t beat your Great Lakes, sand dunes, or miles and miles of forest for hiking, camping and fishing. Swing by Bell�s Brewery on your way to the dunes and you�ve got a winning combo that can�t be beat.

I love that I can actually afford to live here in this fine state. Unlike friends of mine who left Michigan for a perceived better life (in postage stamp apartments because they can�t afford a home), I own a home that�s on a river with lots of acreage. My property taxes are fair. I can walk from my house to downtown where people actually shop on Main Street and support small local businesses.

You may have been worried that my work in other states and big cities would lure me away, but you�ve got my heart. The hard work ethic of the people I meet everyday inspires me and is truly unique to our Midwest heritage.

The dizzying amount of innovation taking place across the state � software, hardware, fuel cells, biotech � is incredibly cool and makes me incredibly hopeful that your "new" economy is thriving. The fact that we can create new industries based on our heritage, like training auto talent to work in the alternative energy sector, shows that Michigan�s brightest aren�t simple, one trick ponies.

Instead of leaving you, I�m committed to doing my part to supporting your continued growth. I�m excited to be part of your future.

Fondly,
Jenn

P.S. As a PR consultant who works with growing companies, I'm fortunate to have my finger on the pulse of who's innovating in Michigan and growing key industries that are our future. Tomorrow I'll take a look at a few bright stars -- and what they're doing that others can copy.

Steve Pierce - Post 3: Ypsi Wireless spreads the gospel

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Wireless Ypsi is a free wireless Internet service that covers all of the downtown and Depot Town in Ypsilanti and is branching out to other business districts and neighborhoods in and around Ypsilanti.

In my first two posts I described Wireless Ypsi and how we went about deploying Wireless Ypsi from concept to usable network in two weeks.

By the second month, my business partner Brian Robb and I had covered much of the 10 block downtown district. By month three we covered Depot Town. Over the last five months we have grown the network to include apartment complexes, retirement homes, and a community center. Since I started this blog two days ago, 244 new users signed on for the very first time. Since yesterday, 439 people have used the network.

Hopefully we have shown that Wireless Ypsi and the Meraki mesh radios is a viable free community based wireless Internet Service that has a very low cost of entry, scales well, is reliable and fast, and can be quickly deployed. By the time you read this post, the world famous Bomber Restaurant on Michigan Avenue will be the newest node on Wireless Ypsi.

So how to do you get a Wireless network going in your neck of the woods.

Remember our earlier tips. Don�t throw in the kitchen sink with every possible use. Keep the goals of the project simple. The goal should be a usable wireless service to surf the Internet and check email.

Define the area you want to cover. It should be small to begin with and grow with use. Maybe an apartment building, a one or two block area downtown, a business or neighborhood park or common meeting area.

Build the network where you have a lot of people. It could be your downtown with lots of lunch traffic and offices, the fairgrounds or community center, or a river or lakeside park where people gather for festivals and weekends.

Don�t promote the network, at least not at first. Get it running and seed a couple of the blogs or business groups and encourage people to try it out. Let them know this is a special project and you are just inviting a few special folks to try it. Encourage feedback and make it easy to get a hold of you.

Not every network will follow the Wireless Ypsi model. Be flexible and adapt the network to what works best for you.

Here is how three communities got Wireless Internet going and how we got them started.

The Congressman calls

Ok, the Congressman didn�t really call, but a staffer, Jeff Donofrio from John Dingell�s office did call us in March and said, "The Downriver Conference wants to look at doing wireless Internet, why don�t you come speak to them about Wireless Ypsi."

So we go to a working session in late March that is getting ready for the big conference with 300+ attendees in May. They want to talk about Wireless. I said that Wireless Oakland/Washtenaw was a failed model and blasted other communities including San Francisco and Philadelphia for screwing up their networks.

OK, I should have asked first who else they talked to. Wireless Oakland had visited the same group a couple of months earlier. Oops. Well, I have never been bashful about sharing my opinion.

I laid out my idea on how other communities can make Wireless Internet work. After an hour, someone asked if I would come back for another meeting. "Uh, no." I was here for free, just talking about Wireless, I didn�t want to come to more meetings. Besides, I said, "No one ever deployed a wireless network in a meeting."

So then they asked me to work up a cost proposal. "Uh, no again." This is simple. The indoor radios are $50 and the outdoor are $100. The price has since then gone up, the indoor is $149 and the outdoor is $199.

If you want to do a typical downtown block with just indoor radios, figure 5 per block using a zig-zag pattern from one business to the next. Outdoor deployments, figure one to two outdoor radios per block. That is it, do the math, there is your cost proposal.

No one was very happy with this. For one, several communities already had $100,000 plus quotes, what I was proposing seemed impossible.

So I made this offer. I will come back for one more meeting but you have to do something first.

Step 1. Raise $1,000 to buy radios. I don�t care how you do that. Get it from your DDA, Chamber of Commerce, City Hall, or write a check, but before we meet in April you have to have a firm commitment for radios and have placed the order for 4 outdoors and 2 indoors or 10 indoor radios. Your choice.

(Note: I changed the numbers to work with today�s pricing from Meraki, in March I said they need to raise $500.)

Step 2. Order or secure a high speed Internet connection you can share. Again you may be able to use the existing connection at your DDA or Chamber office. A local business like a coffee shop or bar may let you share their connection. Make sure you get a connection from an ISP that allows sharing. It didn�t have to be working connection, not yet, but it had to be ordered.

Do that, and I will come back in three weeks for one more meeting and I will help you get the network up and running. Then in May, instead of talking about Wireless Ypsi, you guys will talk about your own Wireless networks at the Downriver Annual Conference

My plan was in May at the big Downriver conference, these communities will talk about Wireless Internet in their own communities. Not a proposal, not a plan. A real, honest to goodness, working wireless network in their downtown, built start to finish in 6 weeks.

Surprising to me, four communities right there in March said they would commit to our two step plan. When we got back together in three weeks, three of the communities had actually followed through with Steps 1 and 2. They were the Cities of Dearborn and Trenton. Lincoln Park was not that far behind.

Remember, one of the other steps that I said in an earlier post was importance of local knowledge and trust. It wasn�t Steve Pierce that was installing this network. It was people closely tied to the community that were doing the work. They could get things done and they knew who to talk to. This was critical to get a system up quickly.

Also there was a ringer. Jeff Donofrio from Congressman Dingell�s office played a critical role. He knew every person from these communities and behind the scenes he helped persuade them to take a chance on the Wireless Ypsi model.

Frankly, the model sounds nuts so without a giant leap of faith the idea of free Wireless system installed in a downtown in 6 weeks, well it is madness. It can�t possibly work.

Here is a guy from Ypsi telling you that you can build a working free wireless Internet system for $1,000 and a $50 a month Internet connection when the experts tell you it will cost $20,000, $50,000, $100,000 or more and you read the headlines in the tech journals of community after community that failed to ever get a working network.

This guy from Ypsilanti must be a nut.

I am a nut, but that aside, they trusted Jeff to give me a chance to make it work. Truth is, they did all the real work, I just had the confidence that it would actually work. Plus, we had our experience of two months with our own network. I can�t write this with a straight face. Two months, and look, we are helping three other communities to start their own wireless network. But we were and people were following our lead.

Each community took a little bit different approach, but each was able to make it work and their networks are continuing to grow every day. Here are two of those stories.

West Dearborn Michigan goes wireless

The project was headed up by Dearborn CIO, Doug Feldkamp. Doug knows networking and he know wireless. Dearborn has a number of wireless connections that they beam around the city for different offices and facilities. So he caught on very quickly how this could work.

Dearborn was able to get commitment from several businesses for their Internet connections to start.

Doug then ordered 10 indoor Meraki radios. He would then visit a local business, order lunch and then ask if he could install a radio in the window so the business could have free WiFi for their customers. After a couple of weeks he had covered a city block.

Doug�s tech geeks in the office wanted to setup the network, but he wouldn�t let them. He didn�t want to distract them from the priority projects they were working on and besides it gave him something to do on his lunch break.

Doug said by doing it on lunch hours he was able to meet business owners and it presented a positive image to the business community that Dearborn was working on a project that would benefit the downtown businesses. Doug then ordered two dedicated connections to feed bandwidth into the system. He also secured $5,000 from the DDA to pay for the bandwidth and buy more radios.

Since April, Open Dearborn has had over 4,500 people use their network and they have about 35 radios covering several blocks of their Western DDA Business District.

Doug says they are working on a similar project for their Eastside business district and has already secured financial commitment from the Eastside Dearborn DDA as well.

City of Trenton weathers a storm

The City of Trenton took a slightly different approach. Trenton ordered 11 outdoor radios and two additional indoor radios to use as test radios and to learn how to use the system. They also ordered a high speed connection from a local ISP that is dedicated to the free network.

Trenton DPW installed the radios on City owned light poles in the downtown. At first, Trenton had a number of problems with the network that didn�t make sense. One was that it never seemed to work during the day, but then in the evening, when I had time to look at the network, it worked great.

Thankfully, someone far smarter than me in the Trenton DPW department said, "Hey you know, those light poles have photo cells, is that going to be a problem?"

That would explain why the network only worked when the lights came on.

A quick revisit by DPW to rewire the outlets solved the problem. Trenton also had a channel interference problem. It took a couple of days, but we found a wireless channel that seemed to work and we were off to the races.

During the big Downriver conference in May, Trenton City manager Robert Cady said this about their wireless network: "Trenton has not had a lot of positive things to talk about recently. With GM closings and the economy things, are tough. But here comes this guy from Ypsilanti and he says we can get wireless Internet in our downtown for less than $2,000. For that price, I am willing to try anything. Well, all I can say is, it works."

If you have ever met Bob Cady, you know this to be true; he doesn�t get too excited about anything. Bob simply saying "it works" was high praise.

Several weeks after the conference, Trenton was hit be a devastating summer storm. Power was out in much of the city for three and more days. But downtown Trenton had power and their Wireless Network was working.

We read on several blogs how Trenton residents had discovered the free downtown network and took their laptops downtown and were able to get on-line to check email and stay in touch with family and co-workers.

Shortly after the conference, the City of Lincoln Park came on-line as the third wireless project downriver, though we haven�t seen that network in action. We have also learned that community volunteers in Taylor are deploying a Meraki network using the same Wireless Ypsi model.

Build your own Community Wireless Internet Service

I touched on ways to get the funding in your own community and showed you a couple of different approaches. Wireless Ypsi got businesses and residents to contribute $50 or $100 to buy a radio and extend the network. Dearborn seeded the money form city hall and then got the money from the DDA and Chamber to build out the network. Trenton paid for the system out of the general fund.

There is a forth model of either using an ad-supported network or monthly subscription revenue. The third largest Meraki network in the world is in Hawaii and is entirely subscription based. While beyond the scope of this series, Meraki does support both models.

Wireless Ypsi is looking at ad-supported revenue to help expand the network and we are hoping we can get some support from the two DDA�s in Ypsilanti and City Hall to put up radios in our parks and community centers. Surprisingly, City Hall still won�t let us put up a radio at City Hall. But we are working on it. (Hint, hint)

During the Downriver conference representatives from Wayne County were at the conference and were especially interested in the Wireless Project. The next week they called me and asked all sorts of questions. They then said they wanted to hire us to help consult with the IT staff on a wireless project. Hey cool, a paid gig.

So I told them what to order and laid out the strategy to deploy the network at one of their lakefront parks. Using Microsoft Live maps, they have the best aerial views; we flew over the park identifying high spots, buildings, and light poles to install the radios.

Three weeks later I get the call from Wayne County. Oh boy, I thought, time to do some billable work.

On the other end of the line was a quizzical IT geek who said, "Yesterday, Facilities installed the radios on the poles. I then configured the Internet connection and connected the radios and it worked. What am I missing?"

I asked, were you able to surf the Internet? Yes, she replied.

Damn, so much for a consulting gig.

Can anyone deploy one of these networks?

No, it takes some skill and knowledge about wireless networking and especially troubleshooting and effective antenna placement. But as I said before, a competent network geek with good problems solving skills can get the first couple of nodes going in about an hour.

Ed Velmetti commented in an earlier post, "I think people underestimate how much the Meraki technology is a game changer for this�" I agree with Ed to a point. Just as important as the technology are the people installing the system and critical to the success is local knowledge and connections to get things moving.

You have to have local knowledge of the business owners, city and county governments, DDA, Chamber, and much more. That doesn�t mean that Brian and I couldn�t go in cold to a new community and get a network working. We believe we can.

But to be truly successful and to deploy in weeks rather than months or years, you have to have the contacts inside the community to pull it off.

While it is fun to talk about the technology, it was really the forward thinking business owners in Downtown Ypsilanti that saw the benefit of a free wireless network as a way attract people to live, work and play in our community.

While Brian and I may be the face to Wireless Ypsi, it is the 125 business owners and residents that each bought a radio and in a sense became investors, partners in Wireless Ypsilanti that all contributed to making Wireless Ypsi successful.

I would love to blog about the many other cool things we are doing in Ypsilanti, especially in our two downtown districts. Like video casting the 2009 Elvis Fest live from Riverside Park using Wireless Ypsi. Or YpsiNews.com reporting on our local government with live broadcasting of town hall meetings and debates using Wireless Ypsi.

We'll have to see what time allows. Thanks for stopping by and visiting.

If you are ever in Ypsilanti, make sure you call or email me and we can get a cup of coffee from one of our great local coffee shops or a brew from one of our local taverns and you can check out Wireless Ypsi for yourself. First round is on me.

Feel free to email me directly with questions or comments at steve@ypsi.com

Steve Pierce - Post 2: Building Ypsi Wireless

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:02:31 GMT

Wireless Ypsi has been an interesting project to work on for the past eight months. When Brian Robb and I started it in January 2008, we thought we might have 5 or 10 business hooked up and the 'regulars' that visit downtown Ypsilanti every week could surf the net. We sort of blew over that goal in the first week.

Last night, Wireless Ypsi had its 8,400th new user and 3.2 terabytes of data has been transmitted since we started. In the past 24 hours, 454 people signed on to use the system. According to Meraki, Wireless Ypsi is one the top 10 networks in the world. Stunning.

Beyond the users, beyond the technology, there is an important reason why this has been successful and one we are very mindful of when consulting and advising other communities that want to use our model. It is knowing the people in your community

We could have done the traditional wireless model and pulled in our own Internet connections. We could have negotiated tower and light pole agreements with City Hall. We could have paid engineers thousands of dollars to do electromagnetic site surveys. But that would have taken months, even years, and it would have cost tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Between Brian and me, we had $1,200 we were willing to throw at this project. We came up with $1,200 as we figured each of us was willing to kick in $50 a month if we could get Internet access in our favorite downtown restaurants and pubs.

Inventory your community assets

Typically a wireless system from one of the big companies like Motorola or Tranzeo might cost between $25,000 and $100,000 per square mile. We had $1,200 and two weeks to make something work.

So why not take advantage of the assets that your community or downtown already has. In our case, a number of bar and restaurants already offered free wireless. Moreover, most every business downtown already has a high speed Internet connection. If we could just tap into those connections, we could get going quickly and not spend a fortune.

That is where personal connections come in. I had been active in the community since I first came to town in 1999. I was a former DDA chair, ran for mayor and lost, and helped start the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti LDFA which is a major funder for Spark.

If there was a project to work on or plants to be watered I was there. So people knew me. Same can be said about Brian Robb. Brian is a city councilmember, he won, and a tireless promoter for Ypsilanti and especially our Downtown and Depot Town.

So when we walked into a business, we already knew the owner and they knew us. It was easy to get a meeting. The hard part was to get them to let us hook into their Internet connections. But it wasn�t that hard.

Some owners like Dave Curtis at Pub 13, Brian Brickley at the Tap Room, and Derrick Block at TC�s Speakeasy all immediately said, "Yes!". Thirty minutes later we were ferreting around basements running Ethernet cable and sticking the radio to a front window with suction cups.

But some other owners were a bit skeptical. They worried that we would drain their bandwidth. They wanted to know if this was legal and still others asked if it was secure. Well let�s talk about these issues.

Bandwidth

It doesn�t drain bandwidth because we monitor the system and will bounce anyone being unreasonable. We don�t restrict what you can see, but if you are connected for 8 hours and download 10 full length movies from iTunes, you will likely get banned at least for a day or so until we chat about how this is a co-operative free network. We explain that no one is making money here and all we ask is everyone to be reasonable. Most folks get it, apologize and we never have a problem again.

Moreover, because we have a high concentration of radios and multiple connections to the Internet, at any one point in time, there are likely just one or two people on any one connection. So the bandwidth use is minimal. And we can prove it by showing the customer the actual stats from Meraki.

Legal

Is this legal? Sadly, we had some folks with ties to the Wireless Washtenaw project and the City and County that were telling people what Wireless Ypsi was doing was illegal. It is not illegal. We are not stealing bandwidth from the air or hijacking an unsecured network connection. It took a while for us to first find out this was happening behind the scenes and then dispel the misconception.

For anyone that did not get the memo, "Wireless Ypsi is not illegal."

Good, I hope we can put that to bed finally.

However, some Internet Service Providers like Comcast Home and AT&T Residential service do not allow sharing of Internet connections. But downtown, there are businesses with business Internet service that cost as much as two or three times more per month and they don�t have the same restrictions. So yes, it is legal.

We have spoken to several representatives from AT&T of Michigan asking them to reconsider their terms of service limitation for residential customers. Brian and I are convinced that hundreds of people in Ypsilanti would switch from Comcast if AT&T Residential would allow sharing so they could put up a Wireless Ypsi radio. While nothing has happened yet, we are hopeful AT&T will consider this change.

Other providers like Wow, Speakeasy, TDS Metrocom, Cavalier, and Ypsilanti�s very own Provide.net all allow their Internet connections to be shared.

Wireless Ypsi is not an ISP, we are not competing with other ISP�s. Provide.net was initially worried that we were going to take business away from them. The opposite is true, we send customers to them. Once they learned that, they thought it was a great idea.

In eight months we can point to 12 new Internet connections that were specifically ordered by local businesses and residents in support of Wireless Ypsi. There are four more connections that will come on-line just in October. Far from taking business away from the ISP�s, Wireless Ypsi is driving new business to them.

In fact, in several cases, a business ordered a second Internet connection just to connect to Wireless Ypsi which brings us to the next topic, Security

Is it Secure?

It is wireless Internet, it is not secure. I repeat, it is wireless Internet, it is not secure.

If you are looking at patient records, reviewing a legal case for a client, processing payroll, or anything else were personal or confidential information is involved, don�t use a free wireless service, it isn�t secure.

Can you check your Yahoo or Gmail account securely, you bet. Just make sure you use "HTTPS://" and then your provider�s domain name. For example to check your Gmail go to https://www.gmail.com. And for heavens sake, your email password better be different from your banking password. �Nuff said.

But Steve, what about network security? You are plugging into the businesses Internet connection. They have computers and QuickBooks, credit card processing, and banking. Aren�t you just opening up their network to problems? The answer is "Yes", but it isn�t as bad as you might first think and most of the time the Wireless Ypsi Radio is more secure than the low bucks Linksys wireless router they are already using.

Remember many of those businesses we first visited already had a free WiFi service and the security was grim. All they did was plug in a Linksys or Netgear wireless router and turn on the network. They had no idea who was connecting or for how long, or how much bandwidth they were using.

Worse, their own PC�s and printers were connected to the same Wireless network so users could potentially snoop the network and learn passwords and other personal information. Unfortunately, that is the state of affairs in most businesses that are providing free WiFi.

The Meraki system is more secure. The radio cannot see any of the local traffic. So when a customer connects to the Wireless Ypsi network, all they can see is the Internet, they can�t see the local computers and they can�t see other wireless users. Already this is more secure than 80% of most WiFi hotspots. So it is reasonably safe to plug a Meraki radio directly into your existing network and you will not be exposing the rest of the network to the community.

However for better security, we recommend firewalls and additional routers to isolate traffic between the business and the free WiFi.

For two businesses in Ypsilanti, they took the best approach. They have an entirely separate Internet connection from a different provider for Wireless Ypsi. We then helped them secure their internal network and locked down the configuration and in one case even turned off the internal WiFi for additional security.

For those businesses that were already offering free WiFi, the Meraki system is actually better and more secure than the system they already had in place.

Closing the Deal

So after we spent 20 or 30 minutes explaining this to folks, all but one business said, sure plug in. We haven�t given quite given on up on that one last business, we keep telling the owner his current WiFi is wide open and anyone can see his QuickBooks PC and even print to his printer. Maybe we can make him a convert in the next month.

To grow the network, it is all about the people in the community and it is about relationship building. I know, this sounds like a sales seminar, but it is true. You are selling a service and you need the trust and support from the local community to make it a success.

I would have a harder time going into Dearborn or Trenton and asking those same businesses would you let me connect to your network. Yeah, right. I would be tossed out on my ear.

To successfully deploy a free wireless network in a new community, you are going to need local knowledge. You need an advocate that has local ties to the community and can make the connections and help sell the service.

A second important aspect of building support is for people to invest in your network. I am not talking about Angel investing or stockholders, I am talking about getting the local business owner to feel they have a stake in your success.

In Ypsilanti every person and every business is a part owner in the network. We do that by having them pay for the radio that goes into the window. Today the radios cost $150 for the indoor units. We bought a bunch of them early on when the price was lower so we sell them for just $50.

And we reward them by providing a link and graphic on our website and for those that also provide bandwidth, they get banner advertising on the Wireless Ypsi service.

But wait, I am getting ahead of myself.

Tomorrow, how you can setup your own free Wireless Internet service in your community and how to pay for the thing.

Questions or ideas, email me at Steve@Ypsi.com