20160321-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CD_-- 3/18/2016 5:24 PM Page 1 A plethora of reclaimed wood makes Detroit a gold mine of materials for artists, craftspeople, PAGE 17 MARCH 21-27, 2016 NAFTA fears rise again in primary By Dustin Walsh [email protected] The state presidential primary showed that Michigan’s working class hasn’t lost its leeriness of free trade in the 22 years since President Bill Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement. Where And as the presidential election season heats up, so they has the angst against poten- stand tial ill effects of globalization Candidates’ and free trade, such as job positions on displacement, as this region trade, Page 21 tries to re-establish itself as a manufacturing power. MICHAEL LEWIS II Those worries were a win- ning issue for candidates Bernie Sanders and Don- ald Trump, both free-trade critics, in Michigan. But are the worries legitimate? Burst pipes erupt into legal woes Even local economists and experts don’t agree on whether free trade and increased im- ports and exports have been good or bad over- By Kirk Pinho nomic Development Corp., a mortgage all for Michigan’s economy and residents. [email protected] Roberts Riverwalk Hotel holder on the property, the entities are But they do agree on this: The fear is real, It was a brutally cold day — Jan. 7, faces insurance owed more than $1.3 million. Ask and it’s had a real impact on politics. 2014, during the depths of that winter’s Roberts, and he says he owes far less “Free trade has now become the boogey- polar vortex, with wind chills dropping to settlement dispute than that because Signal performed man of populist sentiment,” said Don Grimes, 40 degrees below zero — when taxed work that was “unnecessary, redundant economist and senior research associate of the water pipes in the Roberts Riverwalk Hotel That much isn’t in dispute. But just or excessive,” according to his formal re- Institute for Research on Labor, Employment along the Detroit River began to expand. how much Signal Restoration is owed for sponse to a lawsuit in Wayne County Cir- and the Economy at the University of Michigan. The pressure mounted. Pipes burst. its work is; the broken pipes are emblem- cuit Court. “The people are mad over free trade, and So Michael Roberts, the property’s atic of a number of challenges now fac- “The only thing they were asked to do there’s been an increase in anxiety.” owner since 2010, called Signal Restora- ing the site — and Roberts — involving is fix a few pipes, plumbing repairs, that’s Grimes said free trade has raised the stan- tion Services LLC, the property repair creditors, lenders, and lawsuits. it,” Roberts said last week. dards of living locally and nationally, increased company with offices nationwide. If you ask Signal and the Detroit Eco- SEE HOTEL, PAGE 22 SEE NAFTA, PAGE 21 “It’s a tragedy he was so successful.” FormerYpsilanti Mayor Cheryl Farmer,who battled James Olsafsky over an adult bookstore Court fights,changing trends dethrone one-time peep show prince By Robert Snell Court records and interviews Ideas or Front Page. ever, are revealed in a series of state [email protected] portray Plymouth Township resi- Olsafsky, who once reaped a profit and federal court filings — including The peep show prince of metro dent James Olsafsky as a publicity- of about $3 million a year from the a November federal lawsuit filed by a Detroit’s empire is crumbling follow- shy porn titan clinging to a shrink- chain, recently lost a stake in 19 stores peep-show repairman — that offer ing costly legal fights, a government ing corner of the U.S. adult across the South following a fight with insight into the life and career of a crackdown and the flood of free In- entertainment industry. partners. The full scope of Olsafsky’s controversial figure. This Hazel Park shop is one of dozens of ternet pornography, which have In recent years, Olsafsky had ties current and former business holdings The filings show a businessman adult bookstores tied to Plymouth drained millions from the lifestyle of to a network of about 40 adult book- is unclear, however, because his fi- saddled with a multimillion-dollar Township’s James Olsafsky. a little-known entrepreneur. stores and distribution companies nancial interests are a maze of limited court judgment amid a fundamen- stretching from the West Coast to liability companies and some ven- tal shift to online pornography in © Entire contents copyright 2016 Rhode Island and including five in tures held in relatives’ names. the 30 years since Olsafsky, now 67, by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved. metro Detroit named either Intimate Cracks in Olsafsky’s empire, how- SEE PEEP, PAGE 24 crainsdetroit.com Vol. 32 No 12 $2 a copy. $59 a year. Keeping automotiveve NEWSPAPER suppliers ahead of the curve 20160321-NEWS--0002-NAT-CCI-CD_-- 3/18/2016 3:32 PM Page 1 2 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS // MARCH 21, 2016 reported. The new Funland Farm is ments that could cost more than $26 MICHIGAN intended to bring back memories of million. The Jackson Citizen Patriot INSIDE the park’s Deer Park Funland origins. reports the recommendations are THIS ISSUE The park also plans to interact from SmithGroupJJR.The plan in- BANKRUPTCIES . 7 DEALS & DETAILS . 18 with fans on social media. Special cludes construction of a 25,000- to CALENDAR . 18 throwback Thursdays will be fea- 30,000-square-foot, $7.5 million CLASSIFIED ADS . 21 tured on its Facebook page show- event center on the Grand River; OPINION . 6 BRIEFS casing images from the park’s histo- more than $1.3 million in utilities OTHER VOICES . 6 ry and encouraging guests to share and infrastructure upgrades; and PEOPLE . 20 Snyder takes hits in Flint knowledged that a state law, which memories on Instagram. adding new barns, a horse arena RUMBLINGS . 26 water hearing in D.C. allows state-appointed officials to Michigan’s Adventure opens for and livestock facilities for about WEEK ON THE WEB . 26 take control of troubled municipali- the season Memorial Day Weekend. $7.5 million. Gov. Rick Snyder last week ties, failed in Flint. Several Democ- It is owned and operated by San- Ⅲ A property development com- blamed career bureaucrats in rats on the House Oversight and dusky, Ohio-based Cedar Fair Enter- pany plans to spend $10 million to COMPANY INDEX: Washington and his own state for Government Reform Committee tainment Co., which runs 15 amuse- transform a former foundry build- SEE PAGE 25 the Flint water contamination cri- called for Snyder to resign; Utah Rep. ment and water parks and five ing just east of downtown Kalama- sis, while the head of the federal En- Jason Chaffetz, the oversight panel’s hotels. zoo into a campus-like office space vironmental Protection Agency fault- chairman, and other Republicans with on-site dining, the Kalamazoo proved the consumption of beer ed him and other Michigan said McCarthy should step down. MICH-CELLANEOUS Gazette reported. Kalamazoo-based and wine while pedaling, she’s hop- officials. Snyder told lawmakers that offi- developer Treystar plans to convert ing to break the 200-trip mark for At a contentious congressional cials at the Michigan Department of Ⅲ The Food and Drug Administra- the 78,000-square-foot building for the year. She’s considering bringing hearing Thursday, the Republican Environmental Quality repeatedly as- tion expanded approval of a drug office and other uses and says the another trolley to Bay City, and is in governor repeatedly apologized for sured him that water being piped in from Pfizer, which has a manufac- project will attract 100 jobs. talks about expanding her business his role in the crisis, which occurred from the Flint River was safe, when turing facility in Kalamazoo,to treat Ⅲ After a debut season that saw into Frankenmuth and Midland. when state officials switched Flint’s in reality it had dangerous levels of a small subset of lung cancer pa- nearly 200 rides throughout down- Ⅲ Byron Township grocer Spar- water supply to the Flint River two lead. Darnell Earley, Flint’s former tients with a rare mutation, AP re- town Bay City, the Sunrise Pedal Trol- tanNash tapped Chris Meyers as its years ago to save money, The Asso- emergency manager, said at the ported. The agency said Xalkori ley is kicking off its sophomore sea- new CFO, effective April 11, the ciated Press reported. hearing that he was overwhelmed capsules are now approved for pa- son with big plans for expansion, Grand Rapids Press reported. At EPA Administrator Gina Mc- by challenges facing the city and re- tients with the ROS-1 gene muta- the Bay City Times reported. Ashley Naperville, Ill.-based KeHE Distribu- Carthy faulted state officials, noting lied on experts from the MDEQ and tion, who make up about 1 percent Anderson, owner of Bay City’s pedal tors, Meyers was CFO of North that the impoverished city was EPA to advise him. of U.S. patients with non-small cell trolley, had 24 tours booked as of America’s second-largest natural under state management when its lung cancer, the most common last week, and after the state ap- and organic wholesaler. Ⅲ water supply was switched in April Michigan’s Adventure marks form of the disease. The twice-a- 2014. State officials did not require 60th season with new fare day drug is part of a new generation Correction that the river water be treated for of medications that fight disease by corrosion, and lead from aging Michigan’s Adventure is returning targeting specific genes found in Ⅲ A story on Page 8 of the March 14 issue should have said Cedric pipes and fixtures leached into Flint to its roots.