From profane old-timey music to hilariously awful film and video footage, irreverent ironic entertainment seems to be the rule of thumb this week in FilterD. Editor Jeff Meyers points you to the best cultural consumables while weighing in on Ann Arbor's debate over the fate of public art.
The Penny W. Stamps lecture series brings 24 thought-provoking artists to the Michigan Theater each year to talk to Ann Arborites (and U-M students) about their work, ideas, and inspiration. And Chrisstina Hamilton is the program's director, tasked with choosing who will attend and how to keep it chugging along.
"Gratitude is the sign of noble souls." Or so says Aesop's Fables. Concentrate will be taking next week off for Thanksgiving. We hope our readers enjoy this time with their families, friends, football, and good food. Not necessarily in that order. We'll be back December 2nd.
A trip to the bookstore becomes a business which may turn into a cross cultural TV phenomenon. Chris Lin, author of Mandy And Pandy, has developed a series of Chinese language books for kids that might just give Dora a run for her dinero.
It seems like every building and business owner in downtown Ann Arbor wants an energy audit these days.Dozens of these stakeholders have signed up and taken action on the energy-efficiency practice since the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority started its energy audit program last year. Since then nearly 100 buildings have requested one."The program is rolling along," says Susan Pollay, executive director of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority. "There are a lot of good improvements being made."Energy audits can play a critical role in identifying inefficiencies in old buildings, such as a lack of insulation, thin windows and old lighting. The idea is that eliminating these inefficiencies will help keep more money in the pockets of businesses and landlords, allowing them to invest it into their respective building or business. Much of the building stock in downtown is around 100 years old.The program allows structures that are 41,000 square feet or smaller take advantage of a free energy audit. The program will pay up to $5,000 of the cost of the energy audit for bigger buildings. The audits will outline a tailored list of recommended energy-saving measures and renewable energy opportunities for each structure.Last year 47 businesses signed up with 34 actually following through on the energy audits. At least seven of those have executed the suggested improvements. This year 50 buildings, representing 600,000 square feet of space, are in line for energy audits. These buildings range in age from the 1880s to the 1960s. Improvements are expected to pay for themselves within 3.5 years."The improvements make an immediate impact," Pollay says.Source: Susan Pollay, executive director of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development AuthorityWriter: Jon Zemke
The real digging begins this week on the 5th Avenue underground parking garage in downtown Ann Arbor."We're still on target to open it in late August 2011," says Susan Pollay, executive director of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, which is quarterbacking the project.The DDA recently choose Lansing-based Christman Company to handle construction management for the $44 million project. Some of the details for the development, including which companies do which jobs and where to put all that dirt are still being worked out. We do know that the parking garage will be able to accommodate 677 automobiles and will go three stories underground. It is being built on the surface parking lot next to the Ann Arbor District Library's Main Branch on Fifth. Part of the parking garage will also go under Fifth and replace all of the water and sewer lines in the area.The parking deck will feature a number of green features, including plentiful natural light, dimmers on the parking lights and LED lights to save electricity. It will also feature power outlets for electric cars and reuse gravel from the excavation in the cement for the structure.The city is also putting out a request for proposals to build something on top of the parking garage. Plans have raised from a conventional center to a mixed-use mid-rise building. The perimeter of the large site could reach as high as 4-6 stories. The interior of the block could go as high as 18 stories and facilitate office, residential or hotel space or even a combination of those.Source: Susan Pollay, executive director of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development AuthorityWriter: Jon Zemke
The future of urban development and what it will mean for southeast Michigan will be the focus of the upcoming University of Michigan/Urban Land Institute Real Estate Forum today and Thursday.The 23rd annual event will be held in the Michigan League (911 N University St) in downtown Ann Arbor on the University of Michigan's campus. There the speakers will use some local developments and practices that can be translated into examples of best practices of urban development."We're using Ann Arbor as a laboratory and we're using examples that aren't Ann Arbor specific," says Tom Wackerman, president of ASTI Environmental and chairman of the University of Michigan/Urban Land Institute Real Estate Forum. He adds that the point is so stakeholders from other communities can translate these lesson to their own urban areas.Many of the subjects that will be broached by some marquee names in local development. Austin Black of nonprofit City Living Detroit will evaluate the ongoing "Shrinking Cities" dilemma and Carmine Palombo of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments will speak about the Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter rail project."The rail issue is critically important, but so are the road, bus and bike issues," Wackerman says.For information on the forum, click here.Source: Tom Wackerman, chairman of the University of Michigan/Urban Land Institute Real Estate ForumWriter: Jon Zemke
The University of Michigan's Law School scored a big win last week when a benefactor made a $10 million donation toward its $102 million renovation/expansion project.The university's Law School is midway through the project that will renovate parts of the famed Law Quad and add another 4-story building next to it on the surface parking lot on Monroe Street next to Dominick's. The university plans to put that stretch of Monroe on a vacation, which means it will become pedestrian only. That project is expected to wrap up by 2012.Robert and Ann Aikens of Bloomfield Hills made the gift, the largest ever made to the Law School by a living donor. Aikens, a Law School alum, is chairman of Robert B. Aikens & Associates L.L.C., a commercial real estate development and management firm.In return the Law School will rename the Law Quad's new commons after Aikens. The commons will blending the Gothic architecture of the Law Quad with contemporary architecture in a space dominated by a large glass roof. The 2-story, 16,000-square-foot space will include group study spaces, gathering spots for faculty and students, a café, and student organizational space.Source: University of MichiganWriter: Jon Zemke
When Nadine Burns saw a need, she new there was also a business opportunity. It's why she and her husband started EveryMeeting.com from their software firm RB Systems.When Burns was on the board of the American Marketing Association's Detroit chapter, she noticed there wasn't a central location to post professional meeting notices. EveryMeeting.com was born not long after that.The website lets people post their professional meetings and events in a professional setting. Think more LinkedIn than Facebook. Right now users can make posts for free and sign up for a free annual membership before the end of the month."There is nothing out there like it," Burns says.RB Systems is a software contracting firm that Burns husband started four years ago and now employs two people, half a dozen independent contractors and 1-2 interns out of Ann Arbor SPARK's Central Business Incubator in downtown Ann Arbor. The company is working on a mobile application and social media strategy for the website. It hopes to host 100,000 meetings within the first year. It's already spreading across the nation, attracting meetings and events from all corners of the U.S."We haven't anticipated it going out of state as fast as it has," Burns says.Source: Nadine Burns, chief marketing officer for RB SystemsWriter: Jon Zemke
Tangent Medical Technologies is traveling along an increasingly popular road for University of Michigan innovators-turned-entrepreneurs.A small group of students, that were part of a fellowship at the Medical Innovation Center at the university, have come up with a new breakthrough in biotech. They sorted through 130 ideas, parred them down and landed on a new needle application for IVs."It turns out that half of the time IVs fall out and need to be reinserted, which means more sticking and more pain," says Elyse Kemmerer, co-founder and director of market development for Tangent Medical Technologies. "Our systems stays in place longer."The group has now grown the fledgling company by six people since May, including adding a CEO and lead investor. They are still building the prototype and expect to have FDA approval within a year. They are also looking to line up some venture capital funding.If successful, the downtown Ann Arbor-based firm, which is working out of Ann Arbor SPARK's Central Business Incubator, hopes to finish developing the new technology in Washtenaw County and create the jobs to do that here. Just another step in a journey that's becoming more and more familiar with U-M spin-offs in Ann Arbor.Source: Elyse Kemmerer, co-founder and director of market development for Tangent Medical TechnologiesWriter: Jon Zemke
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