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« Fusia, Kawaiian Cafe, and the Marketplace at Asian Village, Downtown Detroit
» Akasaka in Livonia and Matsuchan in Canton

Detroit News Roundup for Thursday September 6, 2007


Wonder wheels roll into town

He quipped that people described Pune as the Detroit of India but a time would come when they would say that Detroit is the Pune of America!

[via Times of India]

Legislation aims to curb copper thefts in Michigan

In hopes of thwarting what he calls an epidemic of copper thefts, Sen. Buzz Thomas, D-Detroit, introduced legislation that would require scrap metal dealers to be licensed and monitored by the state.

Thomas, citing a Monday Free Press story detailing the recent surge in copper thefts, said he first learned of the problem last year from AT and Detroit Edison, two of the hardest-hit businesses.

[via Detroit Free Press]

Sikhs awaiting green light to build a new place of worship

STERLING HEIGHTS — An apparent growth in the Sikh population in metro Detroit is driving religious leaders to ensure there are suitable places to worship close to where members live.

By some accounts, the Sikh population has grown tenfold in the last 20 years, with about 3,000 to 4,000 members at the four gurdwaras in the region — the others located in Canton, Plymouth and Rochester Hills.

U.S. census figures show that overall the number of Asian Indians in Macomb County increased by 1,303 people between 2000 and 2005, and the Indian population in Michigan grew 44% during that time. It is unclear how many Sikhs are included in the figures.

[via Detroit Free Press]

Environmentally-friendly home to be erected in historic Detroit Woodbridge neighborhood

A “quilted” house constructed of materials salvaged from a Chicago mansion will be erected in Detroit’s Woodbridge neighborhood.

The plan generated by UDM calls for a 1,640-square foot home on Avery St. to be built with green building techniques. A second-floor balcony can be enclosed to bump that number up to 1,715. WNDC’s Graig Donnelly estimates the project cost to be in the $250,000 range. “It’s a little more friendly to the environment,” Donnelly says. “It’s built a little bit more efficiently, so it’s going to cost a little bit more.”

[via Metromode Media]

Woodward Avenue Action Association hands out facade grants

Five communities along the Woodward Avenue corridor will receive $57,000 in grants from the Woodward Avenue Action Association to improve the aesthetics along Michigan’s oldest highway.

These grants, funded by $60,000 from the federal National Scenic Byway, will help create a number of enhancements along the corridor, ranging from new gateway signs to creating a Woodward Tour School. Woodward earned its designation as National Scenic Byway in 2002. It’s one of three National Scenic Byways in Michigan and the only one in one of the state’s major metro areas.

Preservation Wayne, Detroit’s oldest and largest preservation society, will use its $15,000 grant to create the Woodward Tour School. The group has won awards for its tours highlighting Detroit’s history. The tour school will help extend the society’s reach up along the Woodward corridor’s 27 miles into Oakland County.

[via Metromode Media]

Ann Arbor set to hold public planning meeting for new police station/court building

The ball is finally starting to really roll for Ann Arbor’s proposed new home for its police station and 15th District Court. Now it just needs the opinions from local residents on which direction to push it.

The structure is part of the redevelopment of the Guy C Larcom Jr. Municipal Building, located at Huron and Fifth streets. When finished, the redevelopment will consolidate many of the city’s services in the heart of downtown.

[via Metromode Media]

Ann Arbor VC firm formed to capitalize Midwest companies

Successful local venture capitalists Rick Snyder and Chris Rizik have teamed up to start Ardesta Ventures I, a venture capital firm that will invest in nanotechnology, life science and alternative energy companies in the Midwest.

[via Metromode Media]

Place Matters

Gauri Thergaonkar and Giri Iyengar have lived in downtown Ann Arbor’s Armory building for eight years, and most days, Gauri, a former Ford Motor Company engineer-turned- Zingerman’s Deli retail manager, has walked around the corner to Monahan’s Seafood Market in Kerrytown to buy fresh fish.

“What am I cooking for dinner tonight?” she’ll ask owner Mike Monahan. She can’t imagine herself doing that at, say, the nearest Kroger.

Ann Arbor isn’t the only community in southeastern Michigan that attracts the creative and the place-oriented. Birmingham, Ferndale, Royal Oak, Midtown and downtown Detroit all have features that attract the “place first” crowd.

The common thread in communities that are now drawing the entrepreneurial, 25-40-year-olds, says University of Michigan architecture and urban design professor Christopher B. Leinberger, is walkable urbanism.

[via Metromode Media]

Ann Arbor approves contract for dog park construction

The Ann Arbor City Council approved a $130,635 contract with Margolis Companies for construction of the Swift Run Dog Park.

The dog park will be at the northeast corner of the Swift Run landfill, which is bounded on the north by Ellsworth Road and on the east by Platt Road.

[via MLive.com]

Bus service a sign of a growing UM-Flint

“Michigan State and all of the other universities have their own buses,” said Perttu, 21, of Clarkston. “I think with student housing going in and now having buses, more and more it’s going to feel like a university setting, and kids will feel like their university is expanding.”

UM-Flint’s upcoming student housing seems to have lit a match for new visions of Flint, one with younger faces, fresh hopes of revival, and as some boosters declare, a future college town.

Is the University of Michigan in Flint turning it into a college town?
[via MLive.com]

Manufacturing up in August, index says

Manufacturing activity in Southeast Michigan rebounded slightly in August, according to the Metro Detroit Purchasing Managers Index compiled by Troy-based Walsh College.

The August index was 51.7, up from 47 in July and 46.9 in June. Readings below 50 indicate a contraction in the overall business environment, with figures above 50 indicating an expansion.

[via Crain’s Detroit Business]

Marygrove College Debuts Digital Interview Collection of African-American migration stories

DETROIT, Sept. 5, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) — Marygrove College will debut the John Novak Digital Interview Collection of African-American migration stories on Tuesday, October 9th, at 5:30 p.m. in the Marygrove Library. This totally Internet-based collection tells the stories of African-Americans who moved to Detroit after experiencing discrimination and Jim Crow laws in the south.

[via Primenewswire (press release)]

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« Fusia, Kawaiian Cafe, and the Marketplace at Asian Village, Downtown Detroit
» Akasaka in Livonia and Matsuchan in Canton