By Mark | November 26, 2012 Over the course of the past week or so, I’ve posted twice about the 38-acre vacant lot at the heart of downtown Ypsilanti commonly referred to as Water Street. In the first post, which was written in response to news that Family Dollar had expressed interest in building on the site, I outlined my objection [...]
Posted in Ideas, Local Business, Locally Owned Business, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged business incubators, business models, CDC, city planning, Community Development Corporation, dollar stores, Eastern Leaders, economic development, Family Dollar, farmers market, food entrepreneurship, food hub, food stamps, funding, Growing Hope, healthy food access, International Public Markets Conference, Jean Henry, John Knott, kitchen incubator, Michigan Farmers’ Market Association, national chains, North Charleston Noisette, season extension, Smith furniture building, sustainable urbanism, visioning, Water Street, Water Street Redevelopment Project | By Mark | November 6, 2012 OK, I’ve got my beer and I’m in front of a television… let’s do this, America. 8:13 I just talked with Growing Hope’s Amanda Edmonds. She heard from a friend of hers this morning that there was a handwritten sign telling voters at the Huron County Township Hall that state-issued voter ID was mandatory. Amanda [...]
Posted in Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged Alan Grayson, Bridget M. McCormack, Carol Kuhnke, collective bargaining, Congress, Connie Marie Kelley, Debbie Stabenow, Donald Trump, Election Day, election results, electronic voting, Elizabeth Warren, Florida, Gretchen Driskell, Indiana, Jeff Meyers, Jim Fink, Kerry Bentivolio, legitimate rape, Mark Ouimet, Massachusetts, Michele Bachmann, Obama, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Pete Hoekstra, Presidential politics, rape, Richard Mourdock, Romney, Senate, Shelia Johnson, solar powered abortion equipment, Steve Pierce, Syed Taj, Tammy Baldwin, tea party, Thayrone X, Todd Akin, Van Jones, Victoria Jackson, Virginia, voter suppression, WAAM, Wisconsin | By Mark | February 28, 2012 Amanda Edmonds, the executive director of the local urban farming non-profit Growing Hope just sent in the following letter in response to my recent post about real estate developer Stewart Beal’s newly launched, somewhat competitive, largely for-profit entity, CityFARM. Many, many community members and partners have come to me this past week with concerns about [...]
Posted in entrepreneurism, Food, Local Business, Ypsilanti | Also tagged CityFARM, Food Gatherers, food security, Ginny Golembewski, Growing Hope, Growing Hope Center, healthy food access, Lauren Maloney, Lisa Bashert, local food, local food production, local non-profits, Michigan Works, new models for non-profits, Project Grow, raised bed gardening, social enterprise, Stewart Beal, urban farming, vegetables | By Mark | February 25, 2012 I’ve been puzzling over an email that I received from local real estate developer Stewart Beal a few days ago, announcing a new “business concept” of his, called CITYfarm. “CityFARM,” said Beal in his letter, “is a company with a social mission (kind of like a hybrid of a for profit company and a not [...]
Posted in Agriculture, entrepreneurism, Food, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged Adams Street, Adams Street Farm, CityFARM, farm jobs, farming, Food Gatherers, food security, GMO, Growing Hope, heirloom seeds, Kickstarter, Lauren Maloney, local non-profits, new models for non-profits, non-profits, organic farming, pesticide, Stewart Beal, urban farming | By Mark | October 17, 2011 I’m not suggesting that anyone run out and invest their hard-earned money in this, but our friend Amanda Edmonds, the executive director of the Ypsi-based not-for-profit Growing Hope has what I think is an intriguing idea. She wants to buy up cheap Ypsi land that’s being sold at auction, and repurpose it for urban agriculture. [...]
