2009 – Page 91 of 98

Michigan bets on battery development as it races against Asian advances

By Newsroom

●

January 28, 2009

Looks like automotive battery development is going to take a bigger role in Michigan's growing new economy.Excerpt:Michigan, buoyed by the auto industry's rush into electric vehicles, is hitching a big piece of its economic development hopes to the promise of lithium-ion battery production. The state's automotive heritage - albeit hamstrung by the economic crisis - and its strong research universities are poised to give the state a significant edge in the race to develop advanced auto battery capabilities.But the state's efforts launch it into a competition that is far more global and far more advanced than many realize. It puts the state in direct competition with the best engineers in China, Korea and Japan, in particular."The top 10 battery (companies) in the world are not located in North America," said Jim Epolito, CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corp.The Ann Arbor region, which MEDC recently designated as a "Center of Energy Excellence," is charged with leading Michigan in the battery competition.Read the rest of the story here.

Washtenaw Country Club was once the only game in town for socializing, business deals

By Newsroom

●

General

●

January 28, 2009

The Washtenaw Country Club has been one of the exclusive places to do business for years.Excerpt:In 1898, Ypsilantians Cora Henry, I. Newton Swift and Daniel L. Quirk Jr. persuaded a local farmer to let them stick three empty tomato cans in his freshly cut hay field west of the city and invited their friends over for a game of golf. The event was a hole-in-one, and 15 men from Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor formed the Washtenaw Country Club in Ypsilanti Township a year later.Eventually, the sheep that grazed on the greens were replaced with lawnmowers and the tomato cans with golf holes, and the small hay field became a private golf club. For more than a century, it attracted the top ranks of Washtenaw County business, professional and government leaders for play and socializing.Quirk, for example, later became mayor of Ypsilanti and president of Peninsular Paper, and his name appears on Quirk Auditorium at Eastern Michigan University.Read the rest of the story here.

U-M art museum director takes Princeton post

By Newsroom

●

In The News

●

January 28, 2009

Michigan may consider itself the Harvard of the west but its art museum director (a former Concentrate Mastermind) is heading east to Princeton.Excerpt:University of Michigan Museum of Art Director James Steward is leaving the museum to become director of the Princeton University Art Museum. Steward, who had served as director of the UM museum and as a UM faculty since 1998, will join the Princeton museum in late April, the museum said in a press release posted on its Web site.Read the rest of the story here.

Google’s Larry Page to deliver U-M commencement address

By Newsroom

●

In The News

●

January 28, 2009

Google is making another splash in Ann Arbor, this time at the University of Michigan's commencement.Excerpt:Google co-founder and University of Michigan alumnus Larry Page will deliver the spring 2009 commencement address at U-M, the university announced today.Page also will receive an honorary doctorate in engineering at the May 2 ceremony, pending U-M Board of Regents approval Thursday. About 4,000 students are expected to receive degrees."Celebrating the accomplishments of the class of 2009 will be all the more special with Larry Page as our speaker. In a relatively short period since his own graduation from Michigan, he has made a meaningful and lasting contribution to society," U-M President Mary Sue Coleman said in a statement.Read the rest of the story here.

Radio Concentrate: Mass Transit Now

By Chris McCarus

●

Transportation

●

January 28, 2009

Interest in transit for Southeast Michigan is gaining ground but no ground has been broken. Even with plans for easy on and off trains from Ann Arbor to Detroit and Detroit to Pontiac no one seems to be able to close the deal. Michigan Now’s Chris McCarus compares Michigan's lack of action with Boston's investment in rail and its $16 billion big dig.

Ypsilanti’s Riverside Arts Center – “Going up!”

By Newsroom

●

Community Development

●

January 28, 2009

The Riverside Arts Center is going up, up and away thanks to a new elevator between it and the historic Detroit Edison structure adjacent to it.The $570,000 project not only built the elevator and adjoining stairway in the old alley between buildings but expanded and remodeled the lobby of the arts center. The whole project has gone a long way toward breathing new life into the century-old structures along Michigan and the Huron River on the eastern edge of downtown Ypsilanti."We wanted all of the floors to be accessible," says Barry LaRue, secretary of the board of directors for the Riverside Arts Center Foundation. "The top floor of the building, the Masonic Temple floor, couldn’t be used because we didn't have an egress there."The project frees up about 25 percent of the building. It opens up 17,000 square feet in the arts center's second and third floors. It also makes the second floor of the old Detroit Edison building, 6,000 square feet, accessible.The center's lobby space was also doubled as part of the project. Work crews took out old ground floor offices and a center wall to open space. They also installed the historic box office from the University of Michigan's Hill Auditorium.The wood, glass and brass of the box office fit in well with the arts center because both buildings were built in the first years of the 20th Century."All of that was supposed to go into the landfill," LaRue says. "The contractor offered to bring it over to the Riverside."The foundation plans to hold a dedication to the project on Feb 12.Source: Barry LaRue, secretary of the board of directors for the Riverside Arts Center FoundationWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor plans to repave downtown streets, holds info meeting

By Newsroom

●

Community Development

●

January 28, 2009

Even automobiles are getting a little love in downtown Ann Arbor these days, now that the city is planning to repave a number of the city center's main thoroughfares.The city plans to spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $820,000 to repave parts of Packard, Fourth and Liberty streets this summer. Liberty and Fourth will be repaved in April and May while Packard is expected to be done shortly after Art Fair.The impacted streets will include Liberty between Main and Division streets, Fourth between Liberty and Huron and Packard Road between Fifth and Hill. The project will also repaint bike lanes on Packard and add bump outs at Packard and Division to help pedestrians.The city will hold a public information meeting between 3–5 p.m. in the city's Downtown Development Authority Office, 150 S. Fifth. For information, contact Elizabeth Rolla at erolla@a2gov.org or at (734) 794-6410 ext. 43636. Source: Elizabeth Rolla, senior project manager for the city of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke

Washtenaw Community College sets sights on country club

By Newsroom

●

Development News

●

January 28, 2009

Washtenaw Community College is looking its latest gift house in the mouth. That gift horse would be the Washtenaw Country Club and what its' finding inside is about $1.9 million in cavities. Or rather debt.The college is looking to take over the country club, about 1.5 miles away from its campus. In return the college would also take on the country club's $1.9 million in liabilities."It's not a done deal," says Janet Hawkins, coordinator of public information for Washetnaw Community College. "We've been approached by the country club about gifting it to the college."If the college does take on the 122-acre country club, it will use it to expand its culinary arts and turf management programs. The longtime private country club would also be opened to the public and used to for college and community functions."This would be a great venue for the community for these events," Hawkins says.The country club is more than 100 years old and one of the oldest in the state.Source: Janet Hawkins, coordinator of public information for Washetnaw Community CollegeWriter: Jon Zemke

U-M opens doors to new Ross Business School in Ann Arbor

By Newsroom

●

Community Development

●

January 28, 2009

A recently opened University of Michigan facility is new in more ways than one. U-M has focused on building classic brick-and-stone buildings in recent years, especially in the heart of campus. The Ford School of Public Policy, Undergraduate Library and North Quad Dorm are typical of this style.Not the new home for the Ross School of Business. The 270,000-square-foot is built out with lots of glass, steel and, well, a little bit of brick. However, the overall structure reflects modern design.The heart of the building is the Davidson Winter Garden, a glass-enclosed public space surrounded by the Blau Auditorium, the Seigle Café and several informal meeting spaces. Various nearby classrooms can hold between 40 and 85 students each. The building is also filled with state-of-the art technology, ranging from Wi-Fi to fully loaded study rooms that let students and faculty do work around the world.U-M has also incorporated a number of sustainable features in the new building, going for LEED certification. Materials such as concrete, drywall, and steel used to build the new structure were made from recycled materials. There is also high-efficiency lighting, heating, and cooling systems, green roofs, automatic faucets and low-flush toilets. And the cherry on the top? A gym that comes equipped with free weights, strength and aerobics machines and workout areas. Source: University of MichiganWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor Greenbelt acquires prime real estate, grant

By Newsroom

●

Community Development

●

January 28, 2009

"Discrete human use is allowed by local fauna" – sign on Don Botsford property just outside of Ann ArborIt doesn't take long to figure out Don Botsford's politics on green space and its preservation. The lifelong Ann Arbor resident also known as Grandpa Don recently sold a 10-acre easement of woods and trails to Ann Arbor's Greenbelt. It joins a $10,000 grant to the Washtenaw Land Trust, helping further efforts to preserve green space around the college town.Botsford's land is on Miller Road tucked away on the Scio Township side of M-14. The city of Ann Arbor and Scio Township are spending a little more than $300,000 to buy the land, but Botsford says the deal is not about the money."It seems like a lot of money but it's not like the offers I have received," Botsford says.He adds that an international business man offered him $1.6 million for the land a few years ago. The last offer went as high as $2 million. Botsford sold the land to the local government for much less than that for pretty much the same reasons he bought it in the 1980s – to save it from developers."So much of it has been bulldozed out for housing developments," Botsford says. "It seems like there is hardly anything left beside the parks."Botsford has blazed about a mile of trails through the property that he takes local residents on nature walks. He adds the city will maintain the property as a natural area park and is looking at extending the trails to even more acreage of an adjacent property."This is what I want," Botsford says. "I know this place. I spent years blazing these trails and getting to know the place."The Jackson Community Foundation's Community Needs Fund has also given $10,000 to the Washtenaw Land Trust to support the Land Trust's Jackson County Nature and Farmland project. The Washtenaw Land Trust has protected 3,756 acres of land through 72 projects, including 337 acres in Jackson County. It is changing its name to the Land Trust to reflect that its reach now reaches beyond the borders of Washtenaw County.Source: Don Botsford, Ann Arbor property owner and the Washtenaw Land TrustWriter: Jon Zemke