Time to shop Downtown 'til you drop again this weekend! Yes, people who live and work in Detroit DO want mid- to high-level retailers in Downtown Detroit NOW!
Business | Somerset to nearly double the size of CityLoft downtown Aug. 25-27 | The Detroit News:
'via Blog this'
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
Funeral arrangements for Esther Gordy Edwards announced | Detroit Free Press | freep.com
Esther Gordy Edwards, sister of Motown founder Berry Gordy, passed earlier this week. Tributes for this Detroit business woman and founder of the Detroit Motown Museum have poured in from around the world.
A public viewing will be held from 9 a.m.-7p.m. Tuesday at James H. Cole Home for Funerals, Northwest Chapel, 16100 Schaffer Hwy, Detroit.
The funeral service, which is open to the public, will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Bethel AME Church, 5050 Saint Antoine St., Detroit."
'via Blog this'
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
R.I.P. Nick Ashford 1942 - 2011
Nick Ashford died Monday, August 23 2011 of throat cancer. He was 70 years old. Nick was raised in Willow Run, Michigan (near Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor) and along with his wife Valerie Simpson, was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame.
Their compositions were recorded by Ronnie Milsap ("Never Had It So Good"), Maxine Brown ("One Step At A Time"), as well as the Shirelles and Chuck Jackson. Another of the trio's songs "Let's Go Get Stoned" gave Ray Charles a number one U.S. R&B hit in 1966. That same year Ashford & Simpson joined Motown where their best-known songs included "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "You're All I Need To Get By", "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing", and "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)". As performers, Ashford and Simpson's best-known song is "Solid" (1984 US and 1985 UK). The duo was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002. (from Wikipedia)
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Add one more to the list of black and unemployed
So I lost my job a couple weeks ago. Yep. Sure did. Walked into work on a Monday morning, got the call that the boss wants to see me, and that's when he says to take a seat. After the formal apology that he wishes he didn't have to do this, the phrase budget cuts comes out, accompanied by the fact that I was an appointee. In other words, money was tight and, well, I was expendable. Sorry about that.
A quick primer on the level of black unemployment in Detroit:
Just after the Labor Department announced that the national unemployment rate had fallen from 9.8 percent in November to 9.4 percent in December, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recently toldthe Senate Budget Committee that “[i]t could take four to five more years for the job market to normalize fully.”For the nation as a whole, that seems reasonable. Suppose the labor force grows at the same rate it has over the last decade, an average of 0.07 percent per month. Suppose that the number of employed people (as measured in the Labor Department’s household survey, which is what’s used to figure the unemployment rate) increases by 297,000 every month, as it did in December. Then the nation’s unemployment rate will be just below 4 percent—a rate last achieved in 2000 and one that federal law sets as a target for full employment—in September 2014. Of course, if employment grows more slowly, then it will take longer for the nation to reach full employment.
But what will happen in metropolitan areas with unemployment rates far above the national average? Metropolitan Detroit, for example, had an unemployment rate of 13.5 percent in November (the most recent month for which metro unemployment rates are available). To many people in Detroit, full employment seems like a distant, perhaps unattainable dream. Even if Detroit’s unemployment rate falls as rapidly as the national rate, it will take until at least mid-2016 for its unemployment rate to reach 4 percent.
Surprisingly, though, Detroit’s unemployment rate will probably fall faster than that. The reason is that, faced with continued poor job prospects, many people will leave. That will reduce the size of Detroit’s labor force and lower its unemployment rate, even if job creation remains sluggish. In contrast, relatively few people leave the United States even during the worst economic times, and not very many drop out of the labor force because they can’t find work. (Since the beginning of the Great Recession in December 2007, the U.S. labor force fell by an average of only 0.008 percent per month.)
And then thre's this cheerful piece that ran a couple years ago in the Detroit News, reprinted in the Huffington Post:
Officially, Detroit's unemployment rate is just under 30 percent. But the city's mayor and local leaders are suggesting a far more disturbing figure -- the actual jobless rate, they say, is closer to 50 percent.
As many have noted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which culls federal unemployment data, does not account for all of the jobless in its widely-quotednational unemployment figures. Among those omitted: part-time workers who are looking for full-time jobs and frustrated job seekers who abandon their job search altogether.
(For some context, the official national unemployment rate is 10 percent, but the"underemployment rate"is 17.2 percent.)
Detroit city officials argue that, when workers who are underemployed are added to the calculation, the number of city residents who are out of work is close to one in every two.
The Detroit News reports:
"The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that for the year that ended in September, Michigan's official unemployment rate was 12.6 percent. Using the broadest definition of unemployment, the state unemployment rate was 20.9 percent, or 66 percent higher than the official rate. Since Detroit's official rate for October was 27 percent, that broader rate pushes the city's rate to as high as 44.8 percent."
So, naturally, when faced with these rather sobering statistics, I had to sober up a bit myself.
Day 1: Hit me like a bomb. Got out of the cab in the driveway and, as luck and timing would have it, my wife was pulling into the driveway and wondering OMG what just happened. So that was the worst part. Three hours later she cooks me a chocolate cake and we sit at the kitchen table to devour a slice of our favorite dessert accompanied by a wine glass full of milk. My wife has a good sense of humor, which helps. Later that night pretty much all I could was sit in my office and stare at my computer screen while listening to music, feeling numb. My wife cracks the door open to check on me, then quietly walks away to go to bed. I remain staring at the screen.
Day 2: I go to work, which is why this will not be a post of yours truly crying and moaning about what oh what shall I do. First of all, I've been here before. Second of all, I'm just another one. Thirdly, being a black male facing challenging circumstances is pretty much like being a bear in the woods; it's pretty much the way things are for most bears. So I wake up, shower, get dressed, then start to call everyone I know to let them know I'm casting out the wide net. You hear something? You know about something? You even suspect something may be opening up? Call a brother. Then I check on the health care situation because my boss of course informed me that both salary and benefits are history by the end of this month. Nothing personal, just business. Protocol and what have you. But of course I do now have access to my retirement funds, so I can at least have something with which to pay bills until I set this ship right, because I checked on the unemployment thing and it's about enough to pay the mortgage and that's it.
Evening of Day 2: My wife, who operates her own writing business from home, has had a revelation. Why don't youconsider being self-employed? Doesn't that sound better - and feel better - than being unemployed? Besides, you haven't exactly been thrilled to go to work every day. You did your job, and you did it well, but it was never what you wanted, dear. It was always what you had to do to pay bills and that was it. Maybe this is the start of another chapter in life. Maybe this isn't the end of life as we know it, maybe this is the beginning. At least consider that this may be a more healthy way to look at it.
You know, there's reason why God made wives. If you've got a good one, you deserve to be shot if you let that woman go. And from that point forward to right now as I write this I began to feel lighter, and even somewhat liberated. A bit scared too, but in the kind of way that motivates you to put in 12 -14 hour workdays seven days a week because it's so much easier to work your ass off when you're working for a boss you actually respect. Already some doors have started to open, and although it may just be a crack, it's enough to make me think that just maybe I'm going to come out of this thing all right. Because I have to. Because when the weather changes, you adapt. It's just what you do.
Who knows what I'll be feeling like next week, but for now I, like so many others out there, am determined not to let this bring me under.
Chase Foundation offers $1M to lure city employees to Detroit | The Detroit News
Yay! One less vacant house and one more police officer on MY block in the beautiful Historic Boston-Edison Neighborhood!
Detroit NAACP Freedom Weekend X Begins Today
by Tell Us Detroit on Thursday, August 18, 2011 at 5:54am
For more information on Freedom Weekend: http://www.freeinst.org or 313.347.2834
DETROIT – Freedom Weekend 10 will officially begin today with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 11:a.m. at the MotorCity Casino Hotel and Conference Center. The ribbon cutting ceremony will be led by Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony, founder, Freedom Institute. Mayor Dave Bing, Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano and Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon will be present and bring remarks during the ceremony.
Following the ceremony will be the Religious Leaders Luncheon. The Luncheon will unveil a National Urban Initiative and focus on economic development, reducing youth violence and the impact of the federal budget on urban communities. The special guest speaker for the luncheon will be Bishop Edwin C. Bass, President, of the COGIC Urban Initiative and Faith Based Liaison to the Office of the President Barack Obama. There will also be a faith leaders panel discussion with participation from Bishop Edgar L. Vann, Rev. Edwin Rowe, Rev. Dr. David Bullock, Rev. Mayowa Reynolds, Marja Winters and moderated by Bankole Thompson, host of Tell Us Detroit's hit talk show, 'Face Detroit'.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Detroit Native Amy Hilliard Featured on HSN!
Detroit Native and Cass Tech graduate Amy Hilliard will making a return visit to the Home Shopping Network Monday August 1 at 4amCT/5amET and 4pmCT/5pmET featuring her ComfortCake Company.
Amy, who also graduated from Howard University with a degree in Business Management and from Harvard University Business School with an MBA, will also soon be celebrating the 10th anniversary of her Chicago-based pound cake company.
Did I mention that Amy is MY sister?!?!?!? Yes, I am a very proud Big Sis!
You are invited to join Amy TODAY on HSN and of course to buy lots of ComfortCake slices!
Amy is so excited to present her Luscious Lemon and Sugarless Sweetness Luscious Lemon Slices to the Home Shopping Network audience.
Tune in AUGUST 1st - 4AM & 4PM CST/ 5AM & 5PM EST You can also watch online on HSN Live at www.HSN.com Get this, you can now download an APP to stream Home Shopping Network LIVE to your Smartphone! Thank you for your continued support!! |
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