Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor offers easy way to check development updates

Finding out what's going on in your neighborhood is never one-stop shopping, but finding out what's being built in your neighborhood in Ann Arbor is.The city has come up with a couple of interactive Internet features that allow residents to keep tabs on what's being built and bulldozed in their neighborhood. Click here and it will take you to the city's website where you can you can find what planning petitions, a.k.a. projects, are under review.These can be found on an interactive Google map, RSS feed or through email updates. However, the information on the projects is not details, like what can be found in city staff reports to City Council. The information listed will give users a general idea of what the developer is proposing.Source: City of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke

New Enterprise Forum names Healthmedia founder as Entrepreneur of the Year

Ann Arbor’s Yoga Pose

No posers, please. Ann Arbor holds tight to its illustrious yoga history, but it's no longer a one-guru town. Vinyasa. Iyengar. Russa Yog. With nearly 16 million Americans now practicing some form of yoga, The Deuce has established quite a following, with over 40 studios to choose from.

Ann Arbor looks for bicyclist input at meeting tonight

Ann Arbor city officials have some big ideas about expanding bicycling options in Tree Town, but they need input from locals first.The city is applying for a Bicycle Friendly Community Award from the League of American Bicyclists. It needs citizen ideas to round out the application, hence the meeting set for 6 p.m. tonight.City officials are going for a large federal grant that will add dozens of miles of bike lanes, trails and sidewalks in the city within a few years instead of a few decades. This award will help secure those funds, worth millions of dollars.The meeting will be held in City Council’s chambers in City Hall, on the second floor of 100 N Fifth Ave. All bicyclists and supporters of alternative transportation are encouraged to come. For information, click here.Source: City of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor’s uRefer hires 5, plans to double staff this year

The future is bright for Ann Arbor-based uRefer right now despite the dark clouds hanging over the economy. The start-up went from three people when it opened for business in October, 2007 to eight employees, two interns and a handful of independent contractors today. The firm hopes to double those numbers by the end of the year as it continues to diversify its client base."January was our best month ever," says Jonn Behrman, president and COO of uRefer. "Things are starting to really take off."Not surprising uRefer specializes in referrals. Behrman points out that lots of companies have referral systems but a vast majority of them don't fully capitalize on them. The main product for uRefer, launched last July, helps companies either set up a referral program or maximize the one it has in place. Either way uRefer gets a piece of the action. Enough that it has already attracted venture capital from McBean Partners. Souce: Jonn Behrman, president and COO of uReferWriter: Jon Zemke

Jackson asks for westward extension of Detroit-Ann Arbor line

It's easy to make the southeast Michigan connection when thinking about Detroit and Ann Arbor, but Jackson?Most people wouldn't consider the birthplace of the Republican Party part of the Metro Detroit mix, but Jackson's leaders are lobbying to be let into the game by including it in one of the region's marquee projects - the Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter rail line.Currently the project's first phase, set to become a reality in the fall of 2010, stretches between Ann Arbor and Detroit with stops at Ypsilanti, Metro Airport and Dearborn. That's it for now, according to Carmine Palombo, director of transportation programs for the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, which is spearheading the project.He added there is talk of extending the line north into Oakland County with stops at Royal Oak, Birmingham/Troy and Pontiac as part of a second phase. SEMCOG is also looking at utilizing Jackson's rail yard as a base for the line, but extending the line to downtown Jackson isn't in the cards, at least not for the project's first phase.Local leaders in Jackson are trying to change that. They argue that if the line uses it rail yard, which would save the project significant money in start-up construction costs, it makes sense to extend the line less than a mile into downtown Jackson's existing train station.Jackson is about 35 miles west of Ann Arbor. Bruce Inosencio, a spokesman for the Jackson Citizens for Economic Growth, points out that section of I-94 that connects the two communities is heavily travelled, making the extension of the line no-brainer."It's very busy. It's very heavily utilized," Inosencio says. "There are a number of companies here in Jackson who have a lot of workers from Washtenaw and Wayne counties."He claims that 61 percent of the 300 employees of one Jackson company --he declined to name it-- live in the Ann Arbor area or east of it, hoping to make skeptics warm to the idea bringing Jackson online with the project.Source: Carmine Palombo, director of transportation programs for the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments and Bruce Inosencio, a spokesman for the Jackson Citizens for Economic GrowthWriter: Jon Zemke

Schumaker & Company aims to maximize profits in Ann Arbor

Schumaker & Company started in the most cliched of ways. The Ann Arbor IT firm's founder, Dennis and Pat Schumaker, thought they could do their jobs better if they were their own bosses.And so Schumaker & Company was born in 1985. Today the company employs eight people, about half dozen independent contractors and two interns. It has grown steadily in recent years and the husband-and-wife team hope their company will continue that steady growth."I've had dramatic growth in the past and dramatic crashes, so I would just like to keep growing steadily," Dennis Schumaker says. "It's easy to grow revenue but I want to grow profits."The company specializes in IT work and even does some consulting work for clients across the country. (Further background extension from website)Source: Dennis Schumaker, vice president of Schumaker & CompanyWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor makes plans for waterscape public art project

Leave it to Ann Arbor to find a way to fuse two of the community's favorite pet causes - sustainability and public art.Local officials are putting the finishing touches on the main piece of public art for the City Hall expansion, which also looks to play a significant part in the building's sustainability. The work of art, a key piece of the project's LEED application, is a rain garden designed by Herbert Dreiseitl, who was commissioned by the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission.Dreiseitl is a world renowned artist and urban planner who specializes in integrating drab things like storm water into sexy subjects such as public art. His rain garden for the City Hall expansion will be the most visible piece of art in the project.The rain garden will also go a long ways toward satisfying Ann Arbor's new "Percent for Art" ordinance for new public buildings. The ordinance calls for projects to dedicate 1 percent of the project's budget for public art. Similar policies have been used for decades in other cities, such as New York and Portland.In December, AAPAC Chair, Margaret Parker, presented the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission’s (AAPAC) 2009 Annual Public Art Plan to City Council. One of AAPAC’s 2009 priorities includes the installation of interior and exterior artwork at the Ann Arbor Municipal Center.Source: Margaret Parker, chair of the Ann Arbor Public Art CommissionWriter: Jon Zemke

Greg Peters commits to riches with Cyber Data Solutions

Greg Peters has one of the cooler business titles around. Not only is he the owner of Cyber Data Solutions, he's also the "Super Hero in Residence". But with the title came responsibility. Or commitment. As the Ann Arbor resident puts it: it required committing to the goal of becoming rich. Peters started what has become a successful website-design firm in 1994 as a way to make some extra cash in his spare time, while he worked full-time at the University of Michigan. He quit that job to focus on Cyber Data Solutions in 2007 after reading the "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind."He points out that the book says, 'Poor people want to be rich. Rich people commit to being rich.'"That crystallized this in my mind," Peters says. "I had been doing this on weekends and night, but I was going to commit to this."It's a decision that is paying off. Peters doesn't make cold calls to drum up business. Instead he calls three people every day to search out business leads, which has allowed him to slowly but steadily grow his firm.He has now reached the point where he has to decide what type of company he wants Cyber Data Solutions to become one day. Will it be one where he oversees employees or one where he only takes on enough work that he can handle? Whether he decides to hire someone full time or bring on an independent contractor, it's clear that even super heroes need help once in a while.Source: Greg Peters, owner and super hero in residence of Cyber Data SolutonsWriter: Jon Zemke