Buzz

Supino tops 2013 Zagat rankings for area restaurants

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Now the whole world knows what we've known since first trying a slice of Supino's delectibly, one-of-a-kind, thin-crust pizza way back in, um, early 2009.

That's because Zagat's elevatred the casual Eastern Market storefront pizzeria to number one in its Detroit-area restaurant rankings for 2013.

An excerpt: It was Supino Pizzeria at Eastern Market, where owner Dave Mancini makes fabulous thin-crust pizzas and serves them in a bare-bones dining area with about 20 seats and not a tablecloth in sight.

The lack of décor, though, clearly doesn't bother his customers, who rated his food an average of 29 points out of a possible 30.

Read the rest of the story here.

'Hands on' Model D partner Mode Shift gets Freep's attention

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, November 27, 2012

In a recent story on the impact of foundations on local economics and culture, a number of Model D's partners were mentioned, including Knight and the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan, both of whom lend support to the Mode Shift Move Together blog.

An excerpt from the Detroit Free Press:

The most recent example is Mode Shift, an effort funded by the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan and the Knight Foundation to promote healthy lifestyles by getting people more active -- bicycling, walking and more.

The Community Foundation this year launched a new website called Wearemodeshift.org, an interactive portal that gradually will offer trail maps for bikers, information about bike-friendly retailers, and a debate forum on all manner of topics related to outdoor activity.

Read more here.

Dandelion strategist says TechTown needs to stake emerging technologies

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Last week in an op/ed piece in HuffPost Detroit, Philadelphia transplant Jason Lorimer delivered some insolicited counsel to TechTown in how to maximaize its impact on the local tech and research scenes.

An excerpt: In my opinion, TechTown should stake their flag in emerging technology, like cleantech, alternative energy, medical devices and life sciences. This is the place you come if you have potentially transformative technology on the brain, small or large, ready for market or at the tinkering stage. There exists in Michigan tens of thousands of mostly disparate folks engaged, at varying levels, in new and interesting technologies. TechTown can give them a home.

Read on here.

Veronika Scott of UIX get capital love from Washington Post

Washington Post Tuesday, November 27, 2012

One of the early heroines of our own Urban Innovation Exchange project, Veronika Scott, is getting some much-deserved national love her for her nonprofit the Empowerment Plan, which employs homeless women to make coats for the homeless.

An excerpt from the Washington Post:

Scott, now 23, was a student at College for Creative Studies in Detroit when she launched her project by working on a class assignment with this direction: "Design to fill a need."

Scott spent months at a Michigan shelter getting to know the homeless. While there, she began working on a design for a coat prototype for the homeless that weighed 20 pounds and took 80 hours to make, earning her the nickname of the "crazy coat lady."

But Scott streamlined her design. She now employs homeless women to work in a formerly abandoned warehouse where they use donated materials and equipment from General Motors and Carhartt to make warm convertible coats for the homeless. Scott expects that her nonprofit, The Empowerment Plan, will produce 800 coats by year's end.

"She's changing the world, one coat at a time," Kennedy said at the ceremony inside the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Read more here.

AIA design competition aims to redefine Detroit waterfront

AIA Detroit by Design Tuesday, November 27, 2012

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Detroit Urban Priorities Committee last week announced the DETROIT BY DESIGN 2012: Detroit Riverfront Competition and Symposium. The event will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 4 at 6 p.m. at the Detroit Institute of Arts Kresge Court, and includes the opportunity for the public to preview selected competition submissions and participate in a discussion about the future of Detroit’s riverfront.

The panel discussion will be moderated by John Gallagher of the Detroit Free Press, and the competition and symposium panel includes world renowned architect Daniel Libeskind; Reed Kroloff, Director, Cranbrook Academy of Art; Faye Alexander Nelson, President of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy; landscape architect and educator Walter Hood; and Canadian architect Lola Sheppard. Admission to the event is free for the public.

Competition prizes are $5000, a trip to Detroit and an AIA sponsored lecture to present the winning scheme for first place; $2,500 for second place; and $1,000 for third place. Entries for the competition can be submitted online here. The competition jury will convene in Detroit on Dec. 4-5, and winners chosen by the end of the day on Dec. 5. The winning entries will be announced shortly thereafter.

The Detroit Institute of Arts is at 5200 Woodward Avenue, Detroit. Admission is free for the public and $25 for AIA- member architects seeking continuing education credits. A cash bar will be available. For more information, go here.

Hamtown's Jos. Campau gets state historic designation

Hamtramck Review Tuesday, November 13, 2012

One of America's grandest main streets, Jos. Campau has history that stretches the whole of the 20th century. Recently. Hamtramck's famous commercial strip was designated historic by the State of Michigan.

Excerpt from the Hamtramck Review:

Along with the block’s new status also comes new opportunities. Properties considered historic under the designation are now eligible for a 20 percent tax credit that can be used for building rehabilitation.

The project was initiated by Community & Economic Development Director Jason Friedmann and was pursued by the Downtown Development Authority. Rebecca Binno Savage served as the historic preservation lead, using the writing and research of city historian Greg Kowalski throughout much of the process.

Read on here.

American heritage brand being created in Detroit

coDesign Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Shinola is getting a lot of local attention for its manufacturing versatility, which includes watch and bicycle assembly. Now comes a well-deserved national nod in coDesign.

An excerpt:

As they’ve started putting their manufacturing operation in place, Shinola has proven not only to be a familiar name but also a reminder of how products can benefit from the stories behind them.

After looking at a number of cities, the team decided to establish the company in Detroit, the former manufacturing powerhouse and something of an American throwback itself. It’s a tidy fit that, like the Shinola name, Detroit too is in the early stages of a 21st-century reinvention.

Read more here.

WSU: High-strength material advancements may lead to life-saving steel

Wayne State University Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Wayne State University says a new steel being developed has high carbon and high silicon content, and after the austempering process - an isothermal heat treatment - produced a structure that is stronger and tougher than other types of steel.

Hey, we think that sounds great. Read more here

LCD TV assembly lines coming to Detroit? Maybe

CNET Tuesday, November 13, 2012

We caught this tasty little item last week at CNET and couldn't resist poking around the story a bit and pondering if it could indeed happen.

An excerpt:

Famous as the company that makes iphones for Apple, China's Foxconn is now evaluating a few U.S. cities, including Detroit and Los Angeles, to determine whether they would be good places to set up shop.

Read more here.

Lou Glazer: Keep growing knowledge-based industries

Crain's Detroit Business Tuesday, November 06, 2012

The strongest areas of growth for the U.S., says our friend Lou Glazer in Crain's Detroit Business, are in the knowledge-based sectors, such as engineering.

Employment nationally in those areas rose 34 percent compared with 14 percent in the rest of the economy. The key to Michigan's growth is to figure out how to keep in step with those statistics. Good stuff.

Read the rest of the story here.

Linkner in Forbes: In Detroit, business can stand on shoulders of giants

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

Writing in Forbes, former ePrize founder and CEO and local entrepreneurial guru Josh Linkner takes it to the Silicon Valley's over-inflated bubble and shouts out the virtues of growing a company in Detroit.

Excerpt:

While there have been no shortage of successful start-ups in Silicon Valley, I argue that many of those ventures succeeded in spite of their location. For me, this 'best place' logic makes no sense. In the Bay Area, there is more competition for everything -- talent, funding, office space, resources, etc. When you’re swimming in a vast ocean filled with other startups, you need herculean accomplishments to stand out any more than the next guy. Every single day. Good luck with that.

Read the entire story here.

Metro Times blog: Pre-order reissue of Adult. classic 'Resusitation'

Metro Times Tuesday, November 06, 2012

We love Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller, better known to all you closet dance punks as Adult. That's Adult. with a period, wherever you insert the electronic duo's name in a sentence.

So we were mighty happy to read in the Metro Times that Kuperus and Miller have been working on some new stuff, and our old Ann Arbor friends at Ghostly International are reissuing the seminal Resucitation -- and on vinyl, no less, for the first time.

Read more here.

Skyscrapers lit up downtown for World Series

Detroit Free Press Tuesday, October 30, 2012

OK, we're all experiencing severe baseball hangover after seeing the Tigers fall to those intolerably spunky and quirky San Francisco Giants. But at least we got some residual benefit by getting downtown skyscrapers to light up the Detroit skies.

The Downtown Detroit Partnership asked more than 4,300 businesses to leave their lights on 6:30 p.m.-1 a.m. on game days and to put up messages, "Welcome to the World Series" and "Go, Tigers!"

Read more here. And go get 'em next year, Tigers.

Mode Shift says 'hooray' for walkable neighborhoods

Mode Shift Move Together Tuesday, October 30, 2012

From our friends at Mode Shift Move Together, a list of the four new and permanent retail spaces being developed in West Village this spring:

Craft Work, a restaurant and bar formed by a partnership between Michael Geiger and Hugh Yarro, the restaurateur involved in Ronan Sushi in Royal Oak and Commonwealth Café in Birmingham;
Detroit Vegan Soul, a healthy soul food restaurant, catering service, and meal-delivery operation -- and Hatch 2012 semi-finalist -- owned by Kirsten Ussery and Erica Boyd;
The Red Hook, a coffee and baked goods shop;
Tarot & Tea, a tea room, bulk tea purveyor, and retail goods shop that is the brain child of Nefertiti Harris, a successful Midtown business owner.

Sounds great. Read more here.

Open City: Sharing success from business to business

MLive.com Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Last week's Open City gathering featured several Detroit prime small business movers, including Dave Mancini of Supino Pizzaria. MLive reported Mancini said spent years looking for the right location to open his restaurant. Once he did open he had to find people just as committed and he was to making it a success.

Read more of what was said at Open City here.