Video Cemetery Tales
'Tis the season to be spooky. Join local historian Wystan Stevens as he leads one of his tours through Forest Hill Cemetery, weaving fascinating tidbits about Ann Arbor history with creepy tales of death and demise.
Ann Arbor
University of Michigan fundraising campaign tops $3 billion
The University of Michigan is setting its sights high with its fundraising goals, $3 billion high. Ranked second among public institutions, U-M's endowment reached $7.6 billion.Excerpt:The University of Michigan's massive fundraising campaign has topped $3 billion, U-M President Mary Sue Coleman announced Monday.Coleman touted the milestone in the Michigan Difference campaign, which ends in December, during her annual address to the university's faculty."And we will be the first public university in the country to realize this accomplishment," Coleman said.Read the rest of the story here.
Scuba fans dive into fun career with Ann Arbor store
Some Ann Arbor residents are following their dream, no matter how deep underwater it takes them. Excerpt: For many years Dave and Rachael Kasper split time between jobs in the corporate world and their passion for scuba diving. After moving back to Ann Arbor in 1996, the couple opened Huron Scuba out of their home, but continued to work: Dave as a lawyer and Rachael as an engineer at General Motors. But by 1999, the Kaspers had a watershed moment. "We started with three students lined up on our living room couch with an old-fashioned overhead projector," Rachael Kasper said. "It got to the point where our students asked us, 'Why are you taking us to other dive shops to buy equipment? Why don't you guys have a dive shop?'" Read the rest of the story here.
U-M’s Team NERD works to set up Segway-share program in Ann Arbor
More people could be cruising white and nerdy around downtown Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan's campus soon.Students and faculty at the University of Michigan are working on ways to incorporate Segways as a transportation option in Ann Arbor. One group of students called Team NERD (Nerd is a acronym for the first letter in each of their names) is also working with the getDowntown program to create a Zipcar-like program for downtown.It’s all part of a senior project in an industrial engineering class. Segway is sponsoring the class to come up with ways to incorporate its product into the university or the city's downtown. U-M Business School students are also working on a business plan for the Zipcar-like program.Source: Nancy Shore, program director for getDowntown and Patrick Spicer, adjunct professor at the University of MichiganWriter: Jon Zemke
Ann Arbor Google office ranks tops for employees
The Freep conducts a survey on 191 employers throughout southeast Michigan and found that employees (or the 23,372 who participated) want more than just decent salary and benefits. A2's Google Ad Words captured the top slot for medium-sized companies in the region.Excerpt:For employees at the companies and organizations surveyed, what mattered most was believing that their employer was going in the right direction, followed closely by working for an employer that operates by strong values and ethics, and having confidence in the organization's leader."The thing that sticks with me about Google is that the people we hire come from a lot of different backgrounds and are encouraged to challenge ideas," said Grady Burnett, who heads the Internet search engine's Ann Arbor office. "We debate things and come to better decisions and ... it's a fun environment."Conversely, the factors that made the least difference in determining the top workplaces were how employees' benefits packages compared with others in their respective industries, and whether they are getting paid fairly and have the flexibility to balance their work and personal lives."Once you pay people a certain amount, you can't pay them more to make them feel better about their workplace," Claffey said. "If you aspire to be a truly great workplace, you need to take it to that inspirational level."Read the entire story here.
Construction nearly completed on downtown Ann Arbor’s Sudworth building
Work is nearly finished on the Sudworth building in downtown Ann Arbor, bringing another historic structure back to the top shelf of downtown structures.The Blue Tractor Brewery and Barbeque is set to open in early November in the ground floor and basement. The second and third floors of the 3-story structure will be ready for office occupants soon, too."The upper floors are also very close," says Greg Lobdell, co-owner of the Sudworth Building. "They will be ready a few weeks after the restaurant comes online."Lobdell and his partner, John Carlson, head up Ann Arbor-based 2mission which is behind the $3 million project. They also own Café Habana next door to the Sudworth, 205 E Washington. About 6,000 square feet of the 10,000-square-foot building is still available for lease on the top two floors. Lobdell and Carlson have preserved many of the building's historic aspects, such as the building's distinctly large windows on the second and third floors. They also have added several green features, like wiring the building for solar panels amd LED lights. The Romaneque structure is about 100 years old. It has served as a retail store, the home to a number of fraternal orders and most recently as a Buddhist temple. It’s named after Bishop Sudworth who owned a successful medical practice in Kalamazoo and a drugstore in Petoskey in the later half of the 19th Century before coming to Ann Arbor. Source: Greg Lobdell, co-owner of the Sudworth BuildingWriter: Jon Zemke
University of Michigan has the most Fulbright Fellows
The Victory Valiant are coming from all corners of the world, and its showing with the high number of Fulbright Fellows at the University of Michigan. Excerpt: The University of Michigan's 31 Fulbright Fellows this year are the most at any university in the country, a distinction U-M has enjoyed three times in the last four years. The U-M recipients will be working in more than 20 countries, including Germany, Macao, Ecuador, Italy, Bangladesh, Kenya, China, Oman and Finland. The Fulbright program, established by Congress in 1946, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State to enhance "mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries." The program operates in 155 countries. After U-M, Harvard University had the second most fellows with 29, followed by Yale University with 26. Read the rest of the story here.
Downtown Ann Arbor go!Passes up, Zipcars waiting in wings
More people are coming and going from downtown Ann Arbor thanks to the go!Pass from the getDowntown program, which is also close to landing a fleet of Zipcars.So far this year, getDowntown has sold 5,350 go!Passes. That's about 400 more than it sold by this time last year. Those passes are also being used more often, accounting for 41,253 rides on Ann Arbor Transportation Authority buses in September. That's up from 32,701 in September, 2007."It's a pretty significant increase," says Nancy Shore, program director of getDowntown.She also is optimistic about downtown Ann Arbor landing its first Zipcar fleet sometime in the near future. The city expects to have a handful of Zipcars ready within 4-6 weeks after Zipcar gives approval."We are just waiting for Zipcar to say yay or nay," Shore says.The University of Michigan Zipcar fleet might be next in line after downtown's fleet is approved. Shore says the fleet on U-M's campus is in high demand and could be ripe for an expansion.Source: Nancy Shore, program director of getDowntownWriter: Jon Zemke
Cielo MedSolutions lands $2 million grant, hiring 10
About $2 million in new money for Cielo MedSolutions means another 10 new jobs at the software start-up.The Ann Arbor-based company recently received $2 million from the 21st Century Jobs Fund and another $1 million plus cash infusion that is expected to create 70 new jobs at the 10-person company within the next few years. Of those 70 positions, ten will be open right away."That money will help us do further product development and new development," says Dave Morin, CEO of Cielo MedSolutions. "This lets us play on a national level and compete with our bigger competitors. It also lets us go for a very large expansion."The University of Michigan spin-off develops new software for the health-care industry. That technology helps make sure doctors connect with their patients when its time for a checkup, test or treatment they might otherwise forget. It claims that the software, if used properly, can help cut down on unnecessary procedures and provide doctors with up to a 200 percent return on their investment.Source: Dave Morin, CEO of Cielo MedSolutionsWriter: Jon Zemke
AATA to take over WALLY commuter rail project
The commuter rail project WALLY is set to take some serious steps forward now that its future is no longer up for grabs.The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority took control of the project last night and will serve as the agency to take it forward. Proponents of WALLY have been pushing to set up a new authority consisting of Washtenaw and Livingston counties, but officials from Livingston County (where most of the stations will be located) have balked at the idea."There's lot to be done but this really gives it some firm ground to stand on," says Terri Blackmore, executive director of the Washtenaw Area Transportation Study.Now comes the hard part of making the project work behind the scenes before it can make its first public appearance and become operational. A lot of that work includes things like surveying, environmental reports and overseeing improvements to the track.RL Banks & Associates released a feasibility study for the line in July that basically said the commuter line was feasible, needed $32.4 million to start and would take about 16 months to set up. The people behind WALLY want to get it up and running before planned improvements on U.S. 23 (which the line basically mirrors) once again bring traffic to a standstill in 2010. Traffic on U.S. 23 often becomes easily congested as traffic volumes often overrun the highway's capacity during rush hour. The commuter line would have stops on Ann Arbor's north side, Whitmore Lake, Hamburg Township, Genoa Township and Howell. Unfortunately, Ann Arbor Railroad is not cooperating with the project, so a short spur into downtown is unavailable.A key supporter of the rail line is the Great Lakes Central Railroad, whichcontrols the tracks along the corridor and wants to set up the service. Long range plans call for it extending as far as Traverse City.Source: Terri Blackmore, executive director of the Washtenaw Area Transportation Study
