saginaw

Creating Cities in Michigan

Posted on October 4, 2008October 5, 2008 by farlane

Lansing, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint, Traverse City, Marquette and Kalamazoo are by no means all of Michigan’s cities (or even the largest). Each, however, seems to be an anchor for its region – a center to which people look to for culture, entertainment and commerce.

October 13-15, 2008, lovers of cities large & small from Michigan and all over the country will head to Detroit for the Creative Cities Summit 2.0 (CCS2), an exploration of what our cities could become and how we can work to make them. Organizers have chosen Detroit, a city so deeply forged in America’s industrial fires that it’s been devastated by the flickering of that flame. I’m headed down there and will try to bring some of the ideas back to you through Absolute Michigan – I hope that some of you can join me there.

The Photos (left to right)

Downtown View – Lansing, Michigan by Mario.Q
Motor Within a City by SNWEB.ORG Photography, LLC.
Partly Cloudy by GR58
Old Flint (HDR) by Hemicuda82
Traverse City, Michigan by farlane
View from Mt. Marquette by fastbird232
The Kalamazoo Radisson by bill.d

Creative Cities Summit 2.0 in Detroit on Oct. 13-15, 2008

CCS2 will present a dynamic and engaging conversation about how communities around the world are integrating innovation, social entrepreneurship, sustainability, arts & culture and business to create vibrant economies. Full conference registration is $300 for the two and half day event, and there’s also a “no frills” registration that is only $100. There’s also a free “Unconference” at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) on the 12th for designers, urban planners, civic leaders, entrepreneurs, artists, students, community leaders to explore and discuss what’s possible for Detroit.
Keynote speakers include:

Bill Strickland, MCG-Bidwell Corp.
Richard Florida, Author Who’s Your City
Charles Landry, Author The Art of City Making
John Howkins, Author The Creative Economy
Dean Kamen, Inventor, DEKA
Majora Carter, Sustainable South Bronx
Doug Farr, Architect and Author Sustainable Urbanism
Ben Hecht, Pres. & CEO Living Cities
Tom Wujec, Fellow, Autodesk
Carol Coletta, CEOs for Cities
Giorgio Di Cicco, Poet Laureate, City of Toronto and Author, The Municipal Mind
Diana Lind, Editor, Next American City magazine

Breakout sessions on topics such as:

Race and the Creative City
Cities, Universities & Talent
Marketing, Media and the Creative City
Measuring New Things – ROI in the Creative Economy
Creative (Small) Cities
New Ideas in Urban Amenities
Community Vitality: The Role of Artists, Gays, Lesbians & Immigrants
Midwest Mega-region: How the Midwest Can Compete
Transportation Innovation for Cities
Making the Scene: Music & Economic Development

Much (much) more at creativecitiessummit.com.

Saginaw River Rear Range Light

Posted on August 6, 2008August 6, 2008 by Michigan in Pictures

Saginaw River Lighthouse, photo by SNiedzwiecki.

Stacy says that she took this photo on a boat tour of the Saginaw River and that access is very limited. It’s one of a number of photos in her Michigan Lighthouses set. She has also placed it on a map.

Terry Pepper’s page on the Saginaw River Rear Range Light brings the usual 110% of awesome with historical photos and a complete history of the lighthouse that explains (in part):

Eleventh District Engineer Major Godfrey Weitzel’s design for the combined rear range tower and dwelling was unique. Consisting of a large elevated concrete base supporting a combined brick dwelling and tower, the swampy ground in the chosen site first required the driving of timber piles deep into the ground to provide a solid foundation on which timber forms for the concrete base could be erected and filled. Atop this concrete foundation, a square two-story Cream City brick keeper’s dwelling 26′ 6″ in plan was constructed. Integrated into the northwest corner of the dwelling, a tapered 53′ tall square tower with double walls housed a set of prefabricated cast iron spiral stairs. Winding from the cellar to the lantern, these stairs also serving as the only means of access to the first and second floors by way of landings on each floor, each outfitted with tightly fitting arch-topped iron doors designed to stem the spread of fire between floors. A timber deck supported by timber columns encircled the dwelling at the first floor level, providing easy and dry access to all sides of the structure. The living quarters consisted of a kitchen, parlor and oil storage room on the first floor, and three bedrooms above. The tower was capped with a square iron gallery, supported by five cast iron corbels on each of its four sides. An octagonal cast iron lantern was installed at its center, with a fixed white Fourth Order Fresnel lens placed at a focal plane of 61 feet.

You can also check out some photos of the light and information from the Saginaw River Marine Historical Society and read a bit about the possible haunting of the Saginaw River Lighthouse.

Newspaper did get delivered

Posted on February 8, 2008February 8, 2008 by Michigan in Pictures

Newspaper did get delivered, photo by wxman1952.

mLive reported that the snowstorm of February 6, 2008 was a whopper, closing over 200 schools in Michigan and dumping up to up to 16 inches of snow fell in the Flint and Saginaw area.

Michael runs the Mid Michigan Weather web site where (among a whole lot of other weather things) you can find a discussion about the impact of the storm all over the state.

Haunted Michigan

Posted on October 16, 2007October 16, 2007 by Michigan in Pictures

Luxuries of Modern Living copy, photo by uniquethings4you.

The photographer writes:

HDR photo taken in Saginaw, Michigan on 3-12-07. I titled it “Luxuries of Modern Living.” Note the satellite dish, and also the person looking out the window. (I didn’t notice the person until after I was ready to print the photo.)

Be sure to check it out bigger and also have a look at some of their other cool HDR photos.

I thought this was a perfect photo with which to kick off the Halloween season. Over on Absolute Michigan we’re beginning to put together some spooky stories and links on our Haunted Michigan page (including the 2007 list of Michigan Haunted Houses, Mazes & Attractions).

We welcome any help you can provide in the form of links, stories or videos!

The Shiawassee River

Posted on June 9, 2007June 12, 2007 by Michigan in Pictures

Shiawassee River, photo by naokomc.

Poked around the map of Michigan this morning, looking for a place I hadn’t been. That turned out to be the Shiawassee River. (Shiawassee River slideshow)

The very good (if staggeringly bright yellow) page on the Shiawassee River basin from Shiawassee History says:

The Shiawassee River Basin plays a major role in the mid-Michigan area. Its drainage area is approximately 1,200 square miles and portions of the river touch at least 7 counties.

The river is about 110 miles long and generally flows in a northerly direction, which is one of only two or three in the world. The Flint River, Cass River and Titabawassee River join the Shiawassee just southwest of the City of Saginaw and together form the Saginaw River which drains into the Saginaw Bay.

Shiawassee History also explains that Shiawassee may come from the Chippewa term for straight running river; Shiawassee (straight, or straight ahead) wassee. Then again, you can find other sources saying that the name means “river that twists about”.

The Nature Conservancy has a nice page on the Shiawassee River Watershed and the threats it faces from development pressures.

I’ll link to Wikipedia’s brief entry on the Shiawassee River because it had a link to Headwater Trails proposed Shiawassee River Water Heritage Trail (and in hopes that someone can go there and make the entry better).

Update (6/12/07): I just found the Saginaw Basin Land Conservancy who relate that the Saginaw Bay Watershed is the largest contiguous freshwater coastal wetlands system in the United States, featuring more than 175 inland lakes and about 7,000 miles of rivers and streams that are home to large populations of waterfowl, birds, snakes, turtles, amphibians, and more than 138 endangered or threatened species. They’re having a photo contest too – see the comments for details!