Last year, after 24 times at bat, proponents for a regional transit plan for metro Detroit finally got the legislature to support their efforts. Last week John Hertel, the head of SMART, was selected to be CEO of the newly formed Regional Transit Authority (RTA). Metromode gets the skinny on why he thinks bus rapid transit is the solution we've been waiting for and how he'll make the case to taxpayers to fund it.
This past January Metromode turned five years old. Over the course of 250 issues we've really gotten to know metro Detroit ... and yet we're constantly surprised by the stories we dig up. Managing editor Jeff Meyers, a transplant to the region, reflects on what he's learned about SE Michigan.
Conversation and complaints about school reform are now de rigeur in the U.S.. Debates have raged over standardized testing, charter schools, privatization, and teacher accountability. But what if we considered another view? For more than a decade Finland has been producing some of the highest performing students in the world. And yet their system priorities are almost the exact opposite of ours.
While we love all our children equally here at Metromode there were a few feature stories from 2011 that should be singled out as must-reads. From food carts to young entrepreneurs to drag queen bingo it's been a busy year for innovation and growth in Metro Detroit.
In what has to be the smallest sliver of a Venn diagram that includes the insurance industry, upscale bowling, and movie theater chains, sits Paul Glantz. As the CEO of both Proctor Financial and Emagine Entertainment, this native metro Detroiter is nothing if not entrepreneurial.
It's baaack! Maker Faire is the ultimate celebration of invention and innovation. From gearheads to eggheads to tech heads, this gathering of mad geniuses offers a cornucopia of handmade, homemade, and borderline dangerous creations. Wander a forest made of mannequins! Witness the world's largest Mentos meets Coke experiment! Ride flame-spewing bicycles! It's at The Henry Ford this weekend and you'd be crazy to miss it.
Once in a while an event comes along that we just have to crow about. This month it's a rare opportunity to see an important piece of history up close and personal. For only two days The Henry Ford will display the original Emancipation Proclamation. How rare of an event is this? The last time this Civil War document came to Michigan was more than half a century ago.
You may have noticed that things look a lot different around here. New look, new features. But not to fear. We're still Metro Detroit's go-to source for what's next in innovation, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and culture. Check out what's new and what we've got planned.
Last winter the Knight Foundation and Gallup released a survey that found that cities do better economically when the people in them want to stick around. So, what do Metro Detroiters value most when it comes to place? Cultural amenities, education, and community openness. Metromode takes a deep dive into the survey's results.
Whole Foods CEO Walter Robb is an unabashed entrepreneur, a true believer that business is the ultimate engine for change. He also believes that corporations must have a deeper purpose than just profit. Metromode's Jeff Meyers chats with Robb about the way those seemingly disconnected impulses come together and why the next generation of business leaders should embrace them.
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