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Detroit, Ann Arbor, Windsor news


Support, deal move 8 Mile-Woodward shopping mall plans forward

Support poured in Wednesday for a proposed 30-acre, $90-million retail development at 8 Mile and Woodward during a Detroit City Council meeting as the council prepares to decide whether to grant the site a special tax status to encourage developers to build it.

The support came from nearby residents anxious for shopping options within Detroit and from unions eager for the new jobs.

[via Detroit Free Press]

Senate plans bills to boost city centers

The goal is to give local officials more ways to attract new businesses and entrepreneurs to city centers and to remove financial barriers for converting older commercial structures for residential use.

Sen. Jason Allen, R-Traverse City, cited studies that conclude the economic health of a region is directly related to the vitality of its urban core.

[via MLive.com]

‘Close ties’ luring Americans to city

Windsor’s largest wave of immigrants during the last five years didn’t come from China or India, but from the U.S.

According to 2006 census data released Tuesday, Windsor saw 1,575 people born in the U.S. move to this area in the past five years, an 87 per cent increase from the 2001 census.

In Windsor, 11 per cent of immigrants were born in the U.S. followed by 10 per cent from India, 9.8 per cent from China, 5.6 per cent from Pakistan and 5.2 per cent from Romania.

“Multiculturalism is real in Canada as opposed to something that is just talked about in the U.S.,” says Clayton Smith, the University of Windsor’s registrar and vice-provost for students, who moved to Windsor from Albany, N.Y., in June 2004 with his wife Shannon and three children.

“Coming here wasn’t difficult at all.”

[via Windsor Star]

One D regional effort makes headway

Business and civic leader Edsel B. Ford II reported Tuesday that the regional cooperation effort known as One D was making progress one year after its birth.

“I want you to think of Detroit the way the world thinks of Detroit — regionally,” Ford told a gathering of several dozen civic and business leaders at One D’s semiannual board meeting at Comerica Park.

[via Detroit Free Press]

Motor City Madness: The D Award Debuts

The inaugural D Show was held in Detroit last week, with around 800 attendees arriving from all corners of the Midwest to herald work homegrown in the Motor City.

The Navy took top honors, with recruiting commercials from Campbell-Ewald, including “Footprints,” earning the coveted (and intimidating) ‘hardware’ pictured above.

[via Creativity]

Edsel Ford reports steady progress on One D

Ford stressed the collaborative will not itself launch or run programs, but will support and help coordinate work done by participating agencies.

Founding partner agencies are the Cultural Alliance of Southeastern Michigan, the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Detroit Regional Chamber, Detroit Renaissance, New Detroit and the United Way for Southeastern Michigan.

[via Crain’s Detroit Business]

Survey: 13 percent of local IT firms to increase hiring

Southeast Michigan should see increased hiring for IT professionals after the first of the year, but local growth will lag the nation as a whole, according to a new report by staffing company Robert Half International.

An RHI survey of chief information officers at 200 companies in the Detroit area found that 13 percent, or 26 companies, expect to do more hiring in the IT sector during the first quarter of 2008. About 5 percent, or 10 companies, expected hiring to decrease. Some 82 percent, or 164 companies, anticipate no change in hiring levels, for an overall net increase of 8 percent.

[via Crain’s Detroit Business]

16-acre purchase adds to Detroit’s RiverWalk

The site will be part of the West RiverWalk which is expected to stretch from the Ambassador Bridge east to downtown. The East RiverWalk starts near Belle Isle and opened this spring.

Detroit Riverfront Conservancy officials say the $300 million bike and walking path system eventually will be 5.5 miles long.

[via Lansing State Journal]

Hamtramck’s financial emergency is history

A state-appointed emergency financial manager, Louis Schimmel, was appointed to oversee the city’s finances from November 2000 to February 2006.

State officials say Hamtramck administrators have proven they can manage their finances. The most recent audit showed a budget surplus of about $2.2 million, which was used to create a rainy day fund.

[via Detroit Free Press]

Midtown’s LovioGeorge grows to 17

Until 2000, Lovio-George estimates that 80% of the firm’s business was outside of Detroit proper, including a good percentage of out-of-state work. As the area around LovioGeorge grew, that changed — she now estimates that 90% of her work is generated from within the city of Detroit.

The firm’s turning point was being engaged with Detroit 300. Within months, LovioGeorge had contracts for Superbowl XL’s host committee, the Ryder Cup and the Detroit RiverFront. “I was like, ‘Holy smokes!’ ” says Lovio-George. “It was totally an about-face. I still shake my head about that point.”

[via Model D]

Ann Arbor may allow chicken coops

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Dec. 3 (UPI) — Officials in Ann Arbor, Mich., are working on a plan to allow residents of the college town to set up their own chicken coops.

City Councilman Stephen Kunselman told his colleagues during the weekend there is support among residents who like the idea of having access to “farm fresh” eggs, which some foodies consider to be tastier and healthier than the store-bought variety.

[via United Press International]

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