“By any quantifiable standard, the city is on life support. Detroit's treasury is $300 million short of the funds needed to provide the barest municipal services…. Three years after Katrina devastated New Orleans, unemployment in that city hit a peak of 11%. In Detroit, the unemployment rate is 28.9%. That's worth spelling out: twenty-eight point nine percent.”
Time
The city which already has a Renaissance Center, needs a much bigger one to rejuvenate it as the US auto industry goes through another round of problems.
So, it is good to see GE move into Visteon Village in Van Buren Township just south of the city
“The scientists and engineers at the Michigan site will develop next generation manufacturing technologies in areas such as renewable energy, jet engines, gas turbines and other high-technology products. …The site will also house GE experts in software development, data architecture, networking, business intelligence and program management. They’ll develop software to support GE’s business operations for several advanced technologies, like the smart grid. The site also will serve as a training hub for GE information technology professionals.” Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE makes announcement in video below
Just as interesting is a different kind of “plant” coming to Detroit – Urban Farming
“Driving around the city, you can see everything that will make up your dinner – chickens, goats, mushrooms, plum trees, honeybee hives. I passed a whole block growing shoulder-high corn. A horse grazes outside a barn behind a high school. Edith Floyd parks her tractor behind her house – 12 kilometers from city hall, where bureaucrats are scrambling to catch up with the collard greens sprouting on street corners.”
the star.com
Color Trend Forecasting
As she began to notice it in multiple places and in different contexts around the world, Eiseman and her team at the Pantone Color Institute -- the forecasting and consulting division of Pantone Inc., which is part of the $261 million company X-Rite -- decided to put it at the top of their 2003 forecast.
Since then, orange has gone mainstream, blanketing such unlikely products as videocameras, KitchenAid blenders, and Ford's new F-150 SVT Raptor, now available in "molten orange."
Fortune
October 21, 2009 in Industry Commentary | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)