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Elise Eden is a Michigan-born soprano originally from Alpena.

After thirteen years, University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance graduate Elise Eden returned to Alpena High School in late April to give a lecture recital at the Stanley C. Beck Auditorium. On May 18th, she will return again to give another performance, and hold an afternoon workshop for students of music.

Elise hopes the story of her difficult journey will inspire others.

“When I was in high school, I couldn’t afford voice lessons,” she said. “Lots of kids don’t have the money to do those things, so if I collect a little money, I will give it to Mrs. Baker for her students and hopefully inspire them. If I can do it, anyone can do it.”

With a masters degree in-hand, Elise Eden will return to the University of Michigan to pursue her doctoral in vocal performance. Her work in Alpena is intended to encourage children to pursue music as a career, and is supported by the PEERs program.

Kelly Road forms the 1.2 mile-long boundary between Greater Regent Park, a neighborhood in northeast Detroit, and Harper Woods, a small suburb of Detroit.

Leaders from the City of Harper Woods and LifeBUILDERS, a non-profit organization serving the Greater Regent Park community in northeast Detroit, asked a team of eight graduate students from the Taubman University of Michigan Urban and Regional Planning Program to identify strategies to enhance retail and economic vitality. The project was shaped by community engagement that included resident focus groups and interviews, along with a survey of area business owners along the corridor. Urban Planning’s Harley Etienne and Eric Dueweke identified the Capstone project and led their students through the research and design process.

Kelly Road forms the border between the cities of Detroit and Harper Woods in the northeast corner of Wayne County, Michigan. It was once a thriving commercial corridor, providing goods and services for local residents. In the present day, Kelly Road struggles with vacancy, blight, and declining economic activity.

Kelly Road is remembered by many residents as a vibrant, family-centered retail and residential corridor that served the neighboring communities. As population and incomes declined, Kelly Road suffered from disinvestment which resulted in many commercial vacancies and a loss of vibrancy. The imminent closing of Eastland Center, a large shopping mall located in Harper Woods, adds to the declining retail landscape.

“Kelly Road had a diner called TJs and it was a Friday night staple where family could meet. Waitresses knew what your kids ate…Kelly Road was a social atmosphere,” said one resident.

“Biggest thing is teenagers that don’t have a place to hang out. [We need] some kind of place for kids to go.” said another.

Bridging the Border Team: Grace Cho, Yu-Hung Kuo, JP Mansolf, Michelle Rubin, Anna Shires, Jordan Solano-Reed, Dewi Tan, Emilie Yonan

Through research, the collaborative effort crafted recommendations to strengthen the retail corridor in ways that reflect the desires of residents and business owners. Recommendations focus on recapturing revenue lost to alternative shopping destinations, galvanizing business owners and their consumers to further invest in the corridor, and reviving the local economy by:

1. Increasing the variety of retail businesses
2. Marketing Kelly Road
3. Encouraging local entrepreneurship
4. Supporting existing business owners
5. Improving consumers’ opinions on quality of goods and services

The objectives of storm water management include controlling stream and river bank erosion, improving water quality, and controlling flooding. To achieve these objectives, the volume, flow rate, and pollutant load of runoff leaving a site after development must be controlled. The U-M meets these objectives by building a coordinated network of structural and non-structural storm water control measures that work together to reduce, convey, and treat storm water runoff.

The University of Michigan is installing an underground storm water infiltration system on Central Campus this summer. This project will provide benefits to the environment, the university, and the city. U-M elected to install this infiltration system to reduce the likelihood of flooding, free up capacity in the university’s and City of Ann Arbor’s storm water systems, and protect the Huron River water quality.

The project is located under the lawn between State Street, Angell Hall and Tisch Hall, and Alumni Memorial Hall. Construction will begin shortly after commencement and is scheduled to be completed in fall 2018.

What and where:

• An underground storm water infiltration system will be constructed east of State Street under the lawn area west of Angell Hall and Alumni Memorial Hall.
• Buildings in this area have historically flooded when runoff overwhelms the Allen Creek Drain and associated City of Ann Arbor storm sewer system, which includes the storm sewer outlet for the university’s Diag storm water piping system.
• With this project, nine acres of storm water flow from the west side of the Diag will be redirected to the infiltration system.

This project is not required to meet any permit conditions. It is being installed electively to:

• Reduce the likelihood of flooding at Tisch Hall and other university infrastructure beyond a 100-year, 24-hour storm event
• Free up capacity in the university’s and City of Ann Arbor’s storm water systems
• Reduce flows to Allen Creek Drain
• Replenish groundwater

Benefits to city and community:

• Free up capacity in the City of Ann Arbor’s storm water system, which will reduce the likelihood of flooding
• Improve water quality by removing sediment and nutrients that would otherwise flow to the Huron River and ultimately Lake Erie

Basic info on how the infiltration system works:

• Water will flow through a sediment trap before reaching the basin. The basin will consist of concrete arches with a hollow bottom atop a gravel base that allows water to soak into the ground.
• The system can accommodate approximately 750,000 gallons of water at a time, which equates to 1.75 feet of water covering a football field.

U-M installed an underground infiltration basin in conjunction with a utility and hardscape upgrade project in Ingalls Mall just south of E. Washington Street. The basin location has well-draining sandy soil, which allows for complete infiltration of the 100-year, 24-hour design storm from the drainage area.

Project and construction information:

• The estimated cost of the project is $4,500,000. Funding will be provided from Utilities resources and investment proceeds.
• Construction will begin shortly after graduation and be completed in fall 2018.
• The project is phased to avoid interference with the State Street Art Fair.
• Although there will be a temporary loss of street parking spaces during construction, there will be no permanent impact on parking.

Related info:

• This project supports U-M’s campus sustainability goal to protect Huron River water quality by minimizing runoff from impervious surfaces.
• This elective project follows many others that U-M has completed as an added benefit the community, such as rain gardens, green roofs, porous surfaces, and infiltration or holding basins.

Andrew Berki