2013 Mackinac Policy Conference will align diverse groups in statewide conversation

Emerging from its troubled state, Michigan is poised for a seismic economic turnaround that may be right around the corner.

While some critics and pundits predicted that it would take decades to turn Detroit around and years to address Michigan’s languishing economy, there is growing optimism that the biggest issues blocking the city’s financial recovery will be addressed soon — perhaps within the next 365 days.

Timing is everything, and in a city like Detroit, time is money.

“Detroit’s biggest prob­­lems will not all be resolved overnight, but the process to get the city on the right track is on the horizon,” according to Sandy K. Baruah, president and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber.

With Baruah at the helm, the Chamber, which sits squarely in the center of economic recovery efforts in Detroit, is gaining recognition for its role in helping spur an increase in regional collaboration in economic development.

There may be no better opportunity to measure the relative success of this effort than the Detroit Regional Chamber’s 2013 Mackinac Policy Conference, which draws on a diverse audience of more than 1,500 of the state’s leading political, business and community leaders annually.

This year’s conference will address cultural change, education and the 21st century global market, amidst a very diverse group of panelists and participants.

Baruah and ITC Holdings Corp. CEO and conference chair Joseph Welch plan to use the Mackinac Policy Conference as a platform to accelerate collaborative efforts statewide.

“Once isolated, our stakeholders no longer clearly identify themselves by geographic, racial or economic boundaries,” said Baruah, who has introduced innovative programs to bridge divides between Michigan leaders over the last several years.

Together, the two aim to further advance global thinking among conference participants, who they hope will emerge with a better understanding of Michigan’s role as an international player in the world marketplace, which is much “flatter,” more competitive and ever-reliant on a global consumer base.

Economic interests —employed as both a carrot and a binding agent — will serve to attract and keep conference participants aligned.

While Michigan is already home to many international automotive, furnishings and pharmaceutical manufacturers, until recently its hyper-competitive stakeholders often did not collaborate effectively or position their respective interests collectively, according to Baruah.

“Michigan is the eighth largest export state in the U.S.,” he said. “Although we hold an incredible market position, we’ve yet to fully leverage it.”

The Chamber’s MICHauto program, celebrating its second year as part of the Chamber’s economic development portfolio, is helping to change that. The successful public-private strategy is helping align automotive players to better compete and to leverage Michigan as a global epicenter of automotive and manufacturing competency.

The effort requires increased participation among Tier 1 automotive suppliers and associated businesses, which is why this year’s conference will include first-time representatives from these often silent business sectors and forums to address their unique business needs.

Immigration and education will also be on the discussion table.

Welch believes there is a need to continue to attract and retain international businesses and workers. This will be a key factor in maintaining our position in today’s global marketplace. He also supports equally, if not more aggressive, efforts to educate, train and employ Michigan residents for jobs in high growth business sectors

Logically, Detroit will be at the center of many informal conversations on the island and will be the focus of two of the scheduled conference events.

The “Detroit: On the Path to Turnaround” session features panelists Matt Cullen, president and CEO, Rock Ventures, LLC; Andy Dillon, treasurer, State of Michigan; Robert Kurnick Jr., president, Penske Corp.; and will be moderated by Sandra E. Pierce, vice chairman, FirstMerit Corporation.

The “Detroit: Legacy Leaders” panel will feature Dennis W. Archer, chairman and CEO, Dennis W. Archer PLLC, former mayor, City of Detroit; Dennis W. Archer, Jr., founding principal and president, Archer Corporate Services; Shelia Cockrel, president, Crossroads Consulting Group, former councilwoman, City of Detroit; Katy Cockrel, director, strategic communications, Ignition Media Group; John Rakolta Jr,. chairman and CEO, Walbridge; and John Rakolta III, business development manager, Walbridge. WXYZ-TV news anchor Stephen Clark will moderate the past-present-future perspectives among a multi-generational group of participants.

The city focus in these sessions, as part of a larger statewide conversation of the conference, offers an incredible opportunity to redefine our future, according to Baruah.

“Gov. Rick Snyder stepped up, despite great political risk, to tackle Detroit’s problems in a very meaningful way,” said Baruah.

The EFM appointment has helped put Detroit’s issues further into focus and will result in the opportunity to make change quickly, according to the Chamber president who commented:

“The entire state, and certainly Detroit, has suffered over the last 30 years as a consequence of being run in a process-oriented manner. Today, the EFM has the opportunity to change that and put results first.”

Results are the cornerstone of Sandy Baruah’s leadership style and, indeed, the Mackinac Policy Conference agenda.

Editor’s Note: To learn more about the 2013 Mackinac Policy Conference, gain insight on participant activity and panel discussions, visit www.michiganchronicle.com.

For growing numbers of Americans, the new retirement may really mean no retirement. That's the conclusion of an article in the current issue of the ISR Sampler, the annual magazine of the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.

"For most of the 20th century we saw retirement ages fall while life expectancy rose," said David Weir, an ISR research professor and director of the ISR Health and Retirement Study. "About 20 years ago, the trend in retirement age reversed and it has been inching up slowly ever since."

People are retiring later for a lot of reasons, but a key one is economic. Employer health insurance benefits for retirees are eroding, spurring many employees to hold out until they qualify for Medicare at age 65. Changes to Social Security, such as the increase in the age at which people can receive full benefits from 65 to 67, also may be playing a role. And people are living longer, requiring additional savings to support those extra years.

Some 40 percent of older Americans delayed retirement in the years after the Great Recession, according to an analysis of data from ISR's Health and Retirement Study and its Cognitive Economics Study.

"The typical household lost about 5 percent of its total wealth between the summers of 2008 and 2009," said ISR economist Brooke Helppie McFall.

People don't intend to work long enough to recoup all the money they lost, but on average, those who postponed retirement expect to work about 1.6 years longer than planned, she said. And even as the economy has begun to turn around, many households still find themselves facing a more precarious future.

"While the stock market has recovered most of its pre-recession value, housing prices have not, and for most people their house is their biggest asset," Weir said.

Economics are just part of the reason why many Americans are working longer, he said. Many married men are likely to stay on the job longer now because their wives are working. Couples typically want to coordinate their retirements, and if a wife is working until age 62 or 65, that's an incentive for her often slightly older husband to keep working, too.

And some people aren't retiring for a simpler reason: they love their jobs. Not surprisingly, working beyond normal retirement age by choice is particularly common among the wealthier and more highly educated, those who are likely to have better health and jobs they can still do effectively at an advanced age, Weir said.

Overall, many more jobs than before rely on cognitive skills, rather than physical abilities, studies show, and the number of retirement-age employees who are physically able to do work into later years has increased, as well.

Although people are working longer, most still decide to retire at some point. But even that process has changed. According to an analysis of Health and Retirement Study participants born between 1942 and 1947, nearly two-thirds of those who retired from full-time work passed through some sort of bridge job—either part time or of short duration—before leaving the work force entirely.

Going part time may seem an obvious bridge step. More surprising is the move to different full-time work after retirement, according to Nicole Maestas, a RAND economist and researcher with ISR's Michigan Retirement Research Council.

She said the number of people who retire, take a break for a couple of years and then return to work has been increasing since the early 1990s. Some 40 percent of workers between the ages of 51 and 61 who stop work will return in some full-time capacity, according to her analysis of data from the Health and Retirement Study. Maestas coined the term "unretirement" for this phenomenon.

"The New Retirement: No Retirement?" by Susan Rosegrant, appears in the Spring 2013 issue of the ISR Sampler. Read the full article, including stories of those who've chosen different retirement, or unretirement, paths, at http://home.isr.umich.edu/sampler/the-new-retirement

 

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano announced today that the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded the Wayne County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority a 2013 Brownfields Assessment Grant of $600,000. The grant will pay for approximately 32 brownfield environmental site assessments (ESA) in the city of Detroit. These brownfield sites have been impacted by contaminants from
commercial or industrial uses, but have redevelopment potential after cleanup. The EPA’s Brownfield Assessment Grant was awarded in response to a joint proposal submitted by the City of Detroit’s Building, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED); Wayne County; and the Detroit / Wayne County Port Authority.

“This grant is the first step toward reclaiming land that has been overused and neglected,” Mayor
Bing said. “Once brownfields are properly assessed, they can be cleaned up and redeveloped as
part of a neighborhood’s revival.”

“I’m very happy the EPA has recognized the outstanding work of the Wayne County Brownfield
Redevelopment Authority,” said Wayne County Executive Ficano. “The grant will assist in the
cleanup and revitalization of Southwest Detroit brownfield sites as well as the revitalization of
the local economy, turning properties into potentially usable, profitable assets.” Wayne County
was awarded a similar $400,000 assessments grant in 2007.

“This grant award is the perfect example of what intergovernmental collaboration can produce
for the City of Detroit and the surrounding region,” said John Jamian, Executive Director of the
Detroit / Wayne County Port Authority. “The DWCPA has enjoyed a great relationship with the
EPA since 2004 and we are excited that this latest grant will allow us to work with our partners
at the City and County to help promote the kind of growth and new investment our communities
need.”

All of the brownfield sites identified for assessment are in Southwest Detroit, the site of significant industrial development in past decades. The grant makes $450,000 available for 19 hazardous substance-related ESAs and $150,000 for 13 petroleum-related ESAs. A portion of the funds will be used for community outreach activities.
The three-agency coalition’s grant proposal identified brownfield sites such as the following for
evaluation: 5800 Michigan Ave. – a one-acre lot with an abandoned industrial building that has been
identified by Southwest Housing Solutions for expansion of a day care center. 9400 McGraw – the former site of an automaker and a glass plating company that sits on 39 acres. Streamco has identified the site for potential expansion and job creation.

Nine lots on Military Street – Peerless Metals has identified five acres for expansion.1801 S. Fort St. – an abandoned gas station on a half-acre lot at Ford and Schaefer Historic Murray Building, 4004-4030 Porter Street – Southwest Housing Solutions plans to redevelop this vacant apartment building into seven townhomes for low-to-middle
income residents. Historic Broderick Building, 1516 Vinewood – another vacant apartment building to be
redeveloped for low-to middle-income residents.

The ESAs will be conducted by environmental consulting companies that will be contracted and managed by the coalition of grant partners. The consultants have not yet been determined. Assessment work is expected to begin this fall and is required by the EPA to be completed
within a three-year period. The ESAs will determine existing health and safety risks to communities that surround each brownfield site, as well as costs of cleaning up the sites. The Brownfield Assessment Grant does
not pay for site cleanup or redevelopment.
 

May 20, the MCTV Street team comprised of myself and our web editor AJ Williams went to Belle Isle to experience first-hand what it is like inside an Indy Pace car at the Grand Prix on Belle Isle. The Cheverolet Detroit Grand Prix hosted a “hot lap ride” with three of the Grand Prix’s hottest drivers: Will Power, Driver of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet and three-time IndyCar Series road course champion, Simona De Silvestro, Driver of the 78 Nuclear Energy Chevrolet for KV Racing Technology and standout female driver, Townsend Bell, Driver of the No. 60 Sunoco “Turbo” Panther Racing Chevrolet and NBC Sports color commentator.

The drivers, having just come off of qualifying weekend at Indianapolis are preparing to race in the Indy 500 the next Sunday before coming to Detroit for the Grand Prix. We were able to experience the newly-paved and reconfigured 2.3-mile street circuit at Belle Isle with the drivers giving “hot lap” rides in high-performance Chevy Camaros.

We were fortunate to ride with Will Power, a phenomenal driver for Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. The trip around the track was breathtaking, a pure rush of adrenaline. In an interview with Power, he expressed confidence in Team Penske. In answer to what a win would mean to him he commented:

"I can't imagine winning it. It's such a unique race"

In regards to the new track, Power said:

"It's a huge improvement. It makes for a really nice flying circuit."

The Detroit Chevrolet Grand Prix is May 31st through June 2nd on beautiful Belle Isle. Purchase tickets by going online  http://www.detroitgp.com/tickets/

Check out the video below of Amber Bogins in the 'Hot Seat' of her 'Hot Lap Ride'