DETROIT BUSINESS MAIN 01-28-08 A 1 CDB 1/25/2008 6:35 PM Page 1 ® www.crainsdetroit.com Vol. 24, No. 4 JANUARY 28 – FEBRUARY 3, 2008 $2 a copy; $59 a year ©Entire contents copyright 2008 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved THIS JUST IN New ID rules Biz leaders want straight ‘Private’ messages talk in State of the State may cause In the Capitol and in De- troit, Gov. Jennifer Granholm will this week send a mes- delays at sage of job creation and of strengthening Michigan’s economy in her State of the often open secrets State address. The gover- the border fessionals. nor’s office declined to re- lease details, but business “Though officially deleted by BY BILL SHEA Do text officials have specific ideas official policy, my suspicion is CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS on what they’d like to hear. that they archive them longer “First, I think the state as Joyce Farrer’s commute from a messages than public communication dic- a whole, and certainly our Windsor suburb to her nursing job at tates, and legislation on e-discov- members, want a realistic Detroit’s Henry Ford Health System ery is making it easier and easi- assessment of where we are takes about 45 minutes — including disappear? er for these types of as a state,” said Tricia Kinley, 10 minutes to get over the border — communications to be used in director of tax policy and but that’s expected to take a little civil and criminal proceedings,” Kilpatrick Beatty economic development at longer starting Thursday. Only sort of said Steve Barone, CEO of Cre- the Michigan Chamber of Com- Farrer is one of the 431 nurses who ative Breakthroughs in Troy, an IT merce. “It doesn’t have to be commute daily from Ontario to work BY TOM HENDERSON BUSINESS RESPONDS staffing, consulting and man- aged-services firm and the No. 1 gloomy, on one hand, and at the hospital system. CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS TO SCANDAL broadcast that across the She and thousands of other Canadi- provider of Symantec services in Don’t send any text messages country. On the other hand, ans who staff Southeast Michigan The verdict: Detroit’s comeback the Midwest. or e-mails you don’t want to see it shouldn’t be glossing over hospitals and oth- can survive the troubles of Mayor “Don’t rely on word the mes- in the newspaper was a lesson the facts.” er businesses face Kwame Kilpatrick and Chief of sages are gone,” said Malven. Detroit Mayor Kwame Kil- Kinley and Rob Fowler, BRING THESE new U.S. govern- Staff Christine Beatty. For more, “Providers want people to keep patrick learned last week, and see Page 41 and on the Web at president and CEO of the A list of which ment identifica- using it (text messaging) and not one repeated by area attorneys www.crainsdetroit.com/kilpatrick. Small Business Association of documents can tion requirements be worried. They may delete it and business consultants. Michigan, said they are also get you across that begin Jan. 31. on the server, but backups may the border. “I advise everyone and prac- looking for signs that the Border officials crashing to the ground. Compa- be out there.” Page 40. tice it absolutely. I don’t send state is focused on control- warn that traffic nies get ruined.” “Service providers back up anything I don’t want public,” ling state spending. entering Michi- Service providers say they constantly, as a matter of course. said Mark Malven, leader of the Fowler said a primary gan at both the Ambassador Bridge erase text messages from their Just assume it will be stored technology transaction practice item for SBAM is for the and Detroit-Windsor Tunnel could be somewhere and accessible either in the Bloomfield Hills office of servers — AT&T deletes messages governor to take a lead on delayed during morning and after- intentionally or by accident,” Dykema Gossett P.L.L.C. “I don’t after 72 hours, according to entrepreneurship, such as noon rush hours for at least a few said Jose Nazario, a senior secu- put anything sensitive into an e- spokesperson Howard Riefs, and expanding entrepreneurial weeks as people learn the new rules. rity researcher in the Ann Arbor mail or a text message that I others do so in times ranging up education. It’s unclear how long of a daily de- office of Massachusetts-based Ar- wouldn’t want to see in the news- to two weeks — but you should- Granholm is expected to lay is expected. paper. Executives have come n’t rely on that, say industry pro- See Messages, Page 41 repeat the message and “We probably will see delays going themes of her Tuesday ad- into the U.S. at the bridge and tunnel dress on Thursday, at an and at Sarnia (to Port Huron) for two event organized by the De- to three weeks,” said Neal Belitsky, troit Regional Chamber. CEO and general manager of Detroit The breakfast address, at Windsor Tunnel L.L.C., the entity that MGM Grand Detroit Casino operates the mile-long tunnel for its and hotel, is an opportunity co-owners, the cities of Detroit and for the governor to “look the Windsor. A sense of place business community in the With an estimated 40 percent of the eye” and present her mes- 16,500 vehicles crossing daily into De- And he stayed to be part of the city’s revival while Sarah Hub- sage directly, said troit being commuters, delays stand connecting with a network of entrepreneurs who bard SBAM: Sense of community , the chamber’s vice to affect an array of businesses. also have made Detroit their home. president of government re- Henry Ford, for example, employs “This is my hometown, this is where I grew up,” lations. She said the cham- 602 Canadians, including the 431 important for entrepreneurs said Black, whose company had sales of about ber hopes the governor will nurses. The automotive industry em- $85,000 last year. also take questions from ploys a significant number of Ontario BY SHEENA HARRISON Generating a sense of community similar to those attending the event, residents, too. CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS what Black describes is essential to creating an open to chamber members U.S. and Canadian citizens will no economy that supports entrepreneurs, says the Of all the places that Douglas Black could locate and nonmembers. longer be able to just orally declare Small Business Association of Michigan. Liz Boyd his environmental consulting firm, Enerficiency , Granholm’s their citizenships under the Western Now, the Lansing-based trade group is teaming Inc., he chooses to be in Detroit. press secretary, said the Hemisphere Travel Initiative, ap- up with the Michigan Municipal League and the His 10-year-old firm was founded in East Lans- governor was pleased at the proved by Congress in 2004 to im- Michigan State Housing Development Authority to find ing, and Black knows he could probably tap more chamber’s invitation and prove border security in the wake of out how to bolster that sense of community and heavily into the growing green energy market by “will be talking about jobs the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. make the state more entrepreneur-friendly. moving to California. and the economy.” Instead, they must provide identifi- The two groups have contributed $5,000 each to Amy Lane But Black moved Enerficiency to Detroit five — cation from an approved list, such as SBAM, which will allow SBAM to survey small years ago to shorten his commute, since most of See This Just In, Page 2 See Border, Page 40 his business was being conducted in metro Detroit. See Survey, Page 37 Focus Cobo plans move BIG DEALS 2007 to Legislature, NEWSPAPER 119 deals, $40.1 billion, see Page 11. Page 3 DETROIT BUSINESS MAIN 01-28-08 A 2 CDB 1/25/2008 6:49 PM Page 1 Page 2 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS January 28, 2008 Motor City was scheduled to Skillman Foundation names Sphinx announces consortium According to an online data- THIS JUST IN open Iridescence to the public base of U.S. metropolitan areas, Saturday . new CFO, treasurer for minority composers the area dubbed as the “Detroit- ■ From Page 1 Hightower has served as execu- The Skillman Foundation in De- The Sphinx Organization in De- Warren-Livonia” corridor has a tive chef of Bali by the Sea in troit has named Danielle Olekszyk troit planned to announce a new fifth-place ranking. Community college board Waikiki, Hawaii. He is a graduate CFO and treasurer. national consortium to advance Only New York, Los Angeles, of Schoolcraft College in Livonia. She replaces Andrea Cole, who composition of major orchestral Houston and Seattle tallied high- approves chancellor’s contract MotorCity also said Patricia left the foundation at the end of works by minority composers on er export totals among the more Chancellor Timothy Meyer offi- Nash, 32, the American Culinary last year after 20 years to become Sunday. Sphinx is teaming with than 350 areas in the database. The “Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue” cially began his duties last Federation 2007 Pastry Chef of the executive director of the De- the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and area was ranked No. 5 in 2005 but Wednesday at Oakland Community the Year, has joined the casino as troit-based Ethel & James Flinn 12 other major symphonies and surpassed Detroit when it grew College after the school’s Board of executive pastry chef. Foundation. orchestras to form the Sphinx from $30.4 billion to $46.3 billion Trustees approved an employ- Nash previously served as ex- Olekszyk, who joined Skillman CommissioningConsortium.