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The Koch Brothers Come to LansingThe Koch Brothers Come to Lansing

On June 2nd, a new player in right wing attack politics, the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, will host an event at the Lansing Center. The Franklin Center is a front for the Koch brothers-financed Americans for Prosperity, which, in turn, is known for financing the Tea… »

Tuesday briefing and open threadTuesday briefing and open thread

Let's start with more on the escapades of The Incredible Lying Schmidt Here's Mark Brewer talking to Tony about this yesterday: I followed Mark with some thoughts of my own. In short, I think Bolger made some promises of support for Schmidt in other races. State Senate is… »

Getting started in political bloggingGetting started in political blogging

I'm going to be on with Tony later this morning to discuss political blogging. I thought I'd start at the very beginning. What is political blogging, and is it for you? To keep things simple, let's define political blogging as the act of writing articles about civic affairs. These articles… »

Monday briefing and open threadMonday briefing and open thread

I'm just going to call this "The 'Incredible Lying Schmidt' Edition" First up, the latest MDP release on The Incredible Lying Schmidt: We know from various reports, including a Roy Schmidt television interview with WZZM on May 16th, that Bolger and Schmidt spoke for weeks, if not months,… »

Why Are Public Schools Under Attack?Why Are Public Schools Under Attack?

  Public employees and the middle class are under attack, but many are unaware that the source of this campaign is carefully coordinated, well financed and has been underway for many years. Who's behind this?  In 1968, because “conservatives were being killed politically” Joe… »

Friday briefing and open threadFriday briefing and open thread

I am full of gratitude and anticipation for the weekend. How about you kids? Let's start with Senator Randy Richardville, an elected "representative of the people," sucking off ... I mean, sucking up to Mackinac Center: Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, told reporters… »

Thursday briefing and open threadThursday briefing and open thread

Well I spent the first couple of hours this morning thinking that it was Wednesday. What an incredibly rude awakening when I saw the neighbor's garbage sitting at the curb. Anyway let's just say this is going to be a brief briefing, and I swear I'll make it up to you someday. The MDP is a… »

Wednesday briefing and open threadWednesday briefing and open thread

Happy Wednesday! Hail to the Victors. Ann Arbor makes the "most well-read cities" list: Ann Arbor has a lot of bookworms, according to a new list by Amazon.com. The online company on Tuesday released its annual list of 20 of the "Most Well-Read Cities in America," and Ann Arbor has… »

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Save the Freep Building!

posted this on December 14th, 2010.

 

I love it when we can save old buildings and make them useful again. I think future generations will thank us for it. Today's MEGA announcement was filled with brownfield redevelopment projects, two of which I had shot before in my travels because I thought the buildings looked cool. I'm not sure what the inside of the Freep building above looks like, but the outside is pretty ornate, as most of those old buildings are. They designed with some style back in the day, and featured decoration that would cost an absolute fortune to produce now. From the Wiki page:

 

The Detroit Free Press Building is a building designed by architect Albert Kahn and constructed in downtown Detroit, Michigan, in 1924 and completed a year later.

The high-rise building has two basement floors, and 14 floors above the ground, for a total of 16 floors. The building features Art Deco architecture style, and incorporates a great deal of limestone into its materials. Its design features stepped massing in the central tower and flanking wings. The building is adorned with bas-relief figures, sculpted by Ulysses A. Ricci, symbolizing commerce and communication.

Today, they received a state credit that will help clear the way for development. And that means jobs, both now and in the future.

 

Among the Detroit-area projects is the redevelopment of the former Detroit Free Press building in downtown Detroit by Free Press Holdings, LLC. That project will receive a $10 million state brownfield credit, and $443,000 in state and local tax revenue. The $73.2 million renovation will create first floor retail and restaurants, commercial space and apartment space in the second through 13th floors. It's expected to create 211 new jobs.

The other I had a shot of is the Knapp's Building in Lansing. It sounds like they have been trying to do something with this one for years – and get this – the outcome of this situation may be dependent on the tax bill in Congress.

 

But at least one – the Knapp's project – needs several other financial components to fall into place before construction [...]

December 14th, 2010 | Tags: | Category: Budgets & Economy, granholm | Leave a comment

It’s A Bipartisan Christmas at MEDC

posted this on December 13th, 2010.

What's old is new again. You have to admire that Governor Granholm and Governor-elect Snyder are appearing together on this though. Has something like this happened anywhere else in the country after such a divisive election? Not that I can think of. Thanks guys, you are seemingly the exception to the rule right now.

 

Michigan's outgoing and incoming governors are expected to announce new leadership at the Michigan Economic Development Corp. at a joint news conference today.

Doug Rothwell, who was CEO of the MEDC under former Gov. John Engler, is expected to be named chairman of the MEDC board when Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Gov.-elect Rick Snyder hold a news conference in Lansing today.

The names of other new board members are also expected to be announced. Snyder, who takes office Jan. 1, is expected to name Ann Arbor SPARK President Michael Finney as the new CEO of the MEDC, though it wasn't clear this morning whether that announcement would be made official today. Ann Arbor SPARK plays a similar role to the MEDC in a more localized area as Washtenaw County's agency to attract and improve area business.

Going to withhold judgment until they actually do something to irritate me – Engler was a long time ago, Snyder so far appears to have a different kind of temperament, and things have changed too much since then to draw any conclusions as to what might come next. I wish them luck, and I hope that they continue on the path of attracting new industry to the state that will help diversify our economy. You can sense this reliance on the auto industry starting to creep back in, and it would be a shame if we were to rest on our laurels and not reach out for the high-growth businesses of the future – whatever those may be.      

Comments from the original post on Soap:

 

*[new] I have to admit….  that unlike most Repugs, I don't completely hate Snyder.  Yes, he's done some things I don't agree with, but he also appears to be a genuine moderate. [...]

December 13th, 2010 | Tags: , | Category: Budgets & Economy, granholm, House GOP, Senate GOP, snyder | Leave a comment