Downtown : In the News

The Ottawa Street Power Station in Downtown Lansing was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service.

According to excerpts from the article:

The plant is currently undergoing a massive redevelopment by The Christman Company to become the new national headquarters for Accident Fund Insurance Company of America.

"It's wonderful to see this amazing building get the recognition it deserves," says Liz Haar, Accident Fund president and CEO. "This inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places shines a positive light on all of downtown Lansing and ensures that the rich history ofthe station will be preserved and honored as the building takes on a new life."

The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the nation's historic places worthy of preservation.

The Ottawa Street Power Station joins the Register with such buildings as the Michigan State Capitol and Fisher Building in Detroit. Achieving this listing was a key component in preserving and reusing the building. The project is believed to be one of the largest powerplant reclamations in history.

Read the entire article here.

The Capital region stands to get more than $20 million in dedicated funding from the federal government, a move that will fund various projects and programs in the Lansing area.

According to excerpts from the article:

Despite a federal effort to cut back on earmarks, the massive spending bill approved Tuesday by the Senate includes plenty of local projects requested by lawmakers, including more than $20 million for the Lansing area.

There's money for: multiple research projects at Michigan State University, buses and bus storage, new equipment for Lansing and Ingham County police officers, curriculum development at Lansing Community College and a study of the Grand River waterfront restoration project.

Read the entire article here.

The Lansing Police Department is set to receive more than $600,000 in Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) funding from the federal government to help police officers keep their jobs and fight crime.

According to excerpts from the article:

"Generally speaking, the rules are, we have to come to a memorandum of understanding with some other Ingham County-area police departments, the sheriff department, on how we're going to spend the money," said Lansing Police Chief Mark Alley.

Those rules are in place because the JAG grants come every year. Except this year, they're coming from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (or more commonly referred to as the 'stimulus').

Other local agencies will get varying amounts, including the Jackson Police Department getting about $140,000, East Lansing getting about $90,000, and Ingham County getting about $60,000.

Read the entire article here.

The City of Lansing is working with an area consultant to develop a market study that will hopefully help business and government leaders decide what type of developments will fair well in downtown Lansing.

According to excerpts from the article:

Bob Trezise, Lansing Economic Development Corp.:"When people come downtown, they need to really say to themselves, wow."

Which is why the Lansing Economic Development Corporation hired a consultant to study the area and provide hard numbers on what developments could prosper on Washington Square and beyond.

Jay Schlinsog, conducted market study: "We've had more than 600 people participate and provide input in part of the process, people that know about this area, that live here, that work here."

And the results show a downtown on the brink of something more.

In fact, the study proves there's a demand for growth in many areas.

Read the entire article here.

The Capital Area Local First group is revitalizing the Capital region’s fervor for buying all things local, a movement that is helping keep local dollars at home.

According to excerpts from the article:

Read the entire article here.

Capital region libraries have seen a massive influx in visitors during the last several months and are becoming an Internet café of sorts for job seekers.

According to excerpts from the article:

Eunice Ortiz, 30, had a deadline to meet.

Her resume was due at 11 a.m. Thursday, and to finish it and get it to where it had to go, she needed the Internet. Or rather, she needed her local public library.

The South Lansing Library, a branch of the Capital Area District Library system, offers free wireless Internet. So Ortiz, like thousands of others looking for work in a slumping economy, leaned on a system already paid for with taxes.

"Today is the last day they're accepting resumes," she said with a half-hour to spare before her paperwork had to reach Kelly Services, a job placement company based in Troy. "So, I'm trying to get it done."

Year over year in the CADL system, the number of items checked out—or circulated—has increased more than nine percent.

Read the entire article here.

Lansing and Inkster, Mich., received $2.6 million in federal health care grants to assist community clinics that service low-income residents.

According to excerpts from the article:

The grants will go to the Western Wayne Family Health Center in Inkster, which also serves residents of Romulus and Taylor, and the Ingham County Health Department in Lansing, which has seven clinics. 

"This is really important," said spokesman Marcus Cheatham of the Ingham County Health Department.

"People are losing their health care services, and there is a big demand for our help. This will be really good for the Lansing area," said Cheatham, adding that the grant money will enable the Ingham County clinics to provide services to up to an additional 5,000 people.

Read the entire article here.

The Lansing School District is starting construction on a new public charter school that’s set to open in the fall of 2008.

According to excerpts from the article:

Construction of Lansing Charter Academy will begin this month at 3200 Express Court in Lansing. The 45,000-square-foot free, public charter school will open in the fall for 480 students in kindergarten through fifth grade.

Since several schools within the Lansing School District are located nearby, the district is "developing some strategies to maintain or even grow our student enrollment," Superintendent T.C. Wallace Jr. said.

"We don't see them really as external competition, but it's an opportunity for us to prove our advantages," he said. "It encourages us to shore up what we're doing to maintain our edge. It gives us even more incentive to improve services and deliver what parents are asking for.

"We believe we're going to stem the loss of students in that area by being proactive."

Read the entire article here.

The City of East Lansing is joining the City of Lansing in discussions about possibly constructing a light rail transportation system that would connect the two cities.

According to excerpts from the article:

East Lansing and other area officials are conducting an analysis of whether adding a light rail that connects cities near Lansing would be feasible.

City Manager Ted Staton said it would likely take several years before any construction would begin, but the study is the first step in the process.

Possible light rail systems include a rubber-tired vehicle with designated lanes in the road, a vehicle that runs on a railway or an elevated vehicle. Staton said installing a light rail could provide several economic benefits.

“In many cities where a light rail has been developed there’s been extensive development along the corridor, so I think you could see more commercial involvement and more entertainment options for students and nonstudent residents,” Staton said.

Read the entire article here.

The City of Lansing is considering whether to seek funding for a new light-rail system.

According to excerpts from the article:

Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero said the concept could make the city more attractive as a workplace for young professionals and push the city to the forefront of the green energy movement.

"The kids want to live in a city that's green and clean," he said.

The idea emerged last week during a meeting of a newly formed regional task force, Task Force Tomorrow, when tri-county leaders were brainstorming potential regional ideas for use of federal stimulus money.

Read the entire article here.

Michigan State University (MSU) and Sparrow Health Systems have worked out an agreement both institutions hope will encourage more health care specialists to come to the area.

According to excerpts from the article:

The affiliation agreement the university and the Lansing-based operator of Sparrow Hospital announced Monday at the Sparrow Professional Building aims to recruit more medical specialists to the area. MSU and Sparrow also will look for ways the hospital and the university's medical and nursing schools can collaborate.

Sparrow and MSU already have partnerships, but there hasn't been a coordinated effort to develop more of them.

Officials from Sparrow and MSU said the agreement will lead to an expansion of medical research, and clinical and teaching programs in the area.

Read the entire article here.

Several hundred Michigan State University (MSU) students will spend their spring break job-shadowing businesses across the area as part of a March 10 event hosted by MSU’s Career Services Network.

According to excerpts from the article:

The effort is part of a larger program officials hope will connect area college students with entertainment and job prospects, helping to keep them in the area after graduation.

About 65 businesses had signed up for the event as of Monday, said Paul Jaques, internship developer for MSU's Career Services Network. That's a few more than last year, but Jaques figures there would be even more businesses if it weren't for the national recession.

Businesses have until Wednesday to sign up for this year's job shadow day.

"I want it to be a lot bigger," Jaques said. "I guarantee that I'm going to have more students than businesses."

Read the entire article here.

The Lansing School District is hoping to become one of 10 districts in the state to receive a Promise Zone certification from the state, which would create up to four-year scholarships for Lansing School District children.

According to excerpts from the article:

“We believe that this is a very beneficial effort to our students and to our community,” Superintendent T.C. Wallace Jr. said at Thursday’s meeting. “We’re optimistic that the establishment of this Promise Zone will help us to maintain enrollment, to attract new families to Lansing, to our community and to our school."

For students living within the district, the scholarships could cover the tuition required to earn an associate degree or its equivalent at a Michigan community or junior college. The scholarships potentially could cover a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent at a Michigan post-secondary institution.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm plans to establish 10 Promise Zones across the state. Dennis Fliehman, president and chief executive officer of Lansing’s Capital Region Community Foundation, said establishing a Promise Zone would create a more educated work force in Lansing.

Read the entire article here.

Lansing is a popular destination for families in Saginaw, Mich., who say once they receive their rebates, they will move to the Capital City because it has better job opportunities.

According to excerpts from the article:

Jamie R. Williams and her kids are ditching Saginaw and moving to Lansing to find a job when they receive their $1,100 tax refund.

Williams is one of 3,000-plus residents expected to take advantage of free tax preparation services offered by the United Way of Saginaw County to low-income, elderly, handicapped and non-English speaking residents.

The group prepared tax returns for 25 residents at Hoyt Library in Saginaw on Friday and a session is scheduled for Butman-Fish Library today from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

"There are more and better jobs there (in Lansing)," said the 25-year-old single mother of three who lives in Buena Vista Township.

Read the entire article here.

For the second time in a row, the state’s tourism web site, Michigan.org, received more traffic than any other state tourism web site, according to online measurement company, Hitwise.

According to excerpts from the article:

With 11.7 million web visits in 2008, Michigan's tourism Web site, michigan.org, tallied 30 percent more visits than in 2007. Click-throughs from the site to Michigan tourism industry Web sites also set a new record, averaging 16,074 clicks per day.

Among the custom category of the 50 U.S. state tourism web sites, michigan.org had 8.2 percent of the market share for state tourism sites, more than four times the national average. Michigan.org features information on more than 12,000 Michigan attractions, events, hotels, resorts, restaurants and other tourism-related businesses.

"Our award-winning Pure Michigan branding campaign continues to produce great results, including these record volumes at michigan.org," said George Zimmermann, vice president for Travel Michigan at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. "And this year we added a winter campaign for the first time in fifteen years."

Read the entire article here.