The Fisher Building at Eighty

I took this picture of the Fisher building the day I went to see Avenue Q at the Fisher Theater. I can walk to the Fisher from the house. It is a little more than a block away. In fact, I see the building most nights as I pass by the windows at the back of the house.

The Fisher building turned eighty this year. As I was researching it's history I found out it was one of three buildings that were planned, except the stock market crash in 1929 and subsequent depression got in the way. The building was designed to be the Fisher Body Corporation headquarters and convieniently it was just across the street from the General Motors building and headquarters, their main customer.

By 1931, the effects of the "Great Depression" were negatively impacting the City of Detroit and the autombile industry. Car production was down by 80% from 1928 numbers. As Detroit's economy tumbled, the Fisher brothers stepped up and provided food and medical services to the growing number of homeless citizens. They also turned their idled plants into homeless shelters.

By 1935, it seemed that the stranglehold the depression had on Detroit was beginning to loosen. By the end of the 1930s, the Fisher Body Corporation was back to work, this time building the anti-aircraft guns and gun mounts that would play a role in the success the U.S. has in the outcome of World War II.

Gregory Fisher, CEO of Fisher Coachworks LLC and the grandson of one of the original Fisher brothers, recently announced in Crains Detroit Business that they want to begin manufacturing a lightweight mass transit hybrid bus in 2009. The design will allow this new vehicle to achive an MPG that is double what a hybird bus achieves on the road today. He indicated that they "...hope to build the vehicle in Michigan".

The company anticipates that the manufacture of this new vehicle will generate 600 new jobs and revenue of $480 million. With Michigan in it's eighth year of a growing recession and unemployment in the state at 8.6%, it appears that the Fisher family is again stepping up to the plate and hitting a long one for the home team.

Even after eighty years, the name "Fisher" is one a building can be proud of.

America's Thanksgiving Day Parade

This is one of my favorite holidays (second only to Halloween). Not because of turkey and pumpkin pie, but rather the parade. America's Thanksgiving Day Parade has been a Detroit tradition since 1924.
For years after I moved to Detroit, the parade staging area was in my neighborhood. The morning of the parade a group of us would walk down to the staging area and watch as block after block, the parade would make its way out onto Woodward Avenue. Two years ago the parade moved back downtown and therefore the staging area moved out of New Center and into the Midtown/University area.
I was driving up Woodward Ave on my way home from getting groceries at the r. Hirt jr. co. in the Eastern Market when I passed several of the "floats" in the staging area. I was hoping to see this year's Skillman Foundation winner, but alas it wasn't in the staging area. I just love a parade, even if I have to walk a mile to see it!

Detroit Industry at the DIA

After viewing the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) Monet to Dali exhibit this morning, we stopped by Rivera Court to take in the Detroit Industry fresco cycle. It is one of the best examples of Diego Rivera's work. The walls of the court are covered with Detroit work life in the 1930s. I was particularly drawn to the center panel on the north wall. The one that depicts factory workers in the Ford River Rouge Plant.

As I studied the panel, I reflected on the problems currently facing the American auto manufacturers. I wondered if Rivera could ever have imagined the current industry crisis. In fact, could anyone have imagined that the results of the burgeoning labor movement would eventually play a major role in the demise of thousands of jobs in Detroit and Southeast Michigan.

When did unions and management become so greedy? First there was idled workers getting paid "sit around, watching movies or doing crossword puzzles" at the Jobs Bank and now the auto executive fiasco of a trip to Washington.

As I looked at the faces of the factory workers in the panel I wondered if corporate jets and crossword puzzles were part of their hopes and dreams.

The Bruce

This is the Bruce T. Halle Library, located on the main campus of Eastern Michigan University. This building houses one of the largest collections of children's literature in the U.S. It also uses an automated retrieval system (ARC), similar to the Sonoma State University ARC. This the building I call home. Well, not home-home, but business-home.

My office is in the basement. I don't spend much time there. I find sitting alone in a windowless room to be quite depressing. Instead, spend most of my time out on campus. It is great having a job that allows me to "travel", even if it is just across campus.

I like what my job has become. I spend most of my time helping different groups on campus teach/communicate change in regard to business process and technology. You would think this would be easy; however EMU history has proven that it is not their strength. But I digress...

My favorite feature of "The Bruce" is that it plays synthetic bells during the lunch hour. Kitschy tunes that you can't get out of your head once they are there. Tunes like Muskrat Love by the Captain & Tennille.

Crap, I am whistling already.....