State looking to axe Michigan State Park fees

Legislation has been proposed that would axe the $6 daily and $24 annual Michigan State Park fees in favor of an additional $10 on your vehicle registration. Any vehicle with a Michigan plate would gain entrance to any state park without paying. They want to include an option to opt out of paying the additional $10 on your vehicle registration. This would create a policy similar to the numerous roadside stands selling produce or something and they have a tin can that you place your money in. It's covered by an honesty policy. They expect people to tell the park attendant that they did not pay the additional $10 fee? Really?

How else would this be tracked?

Now this is estimated to bring in more revenue than the current $10 million that park entrance fees bring in and you know that the state parks are in need of more funds. They just can't keep up with upkeep and have even considered selling some parks in recent years.

Honestly, I would be more apt to stop in at state parks if my fee was already paid. It would be nice to just drive on in and not have to wait in line to pay for a daily or annual pass.

What do you think?

Supporting charities during these tough economic times

There are numerous charities just here in Michigan that do great work and their services would be sorely missed if they suddenly disappeared due to lack of funding. Food banks, Salvation Army, Goodwill, and many others are finding a demand for their services while at the same time seeing funding and donations dwindle. MIPRO Consulting out of Milford, MI is going to donate $10,000 to the nominated charity that garners the most votes. Charities can be nominated now through March 18th and voting will run March 23rd until April 6th. They had a successful year in 2008 and want to give back to a charity here in 2009.

You can nominate your favorite charity at www.miproconsulting.com.

We recently donated one of our Michigan's Best Gift Baskets to a raffle the YES Center (Youth Enrichment Services) is holding tomorrow, March 7th, at the Lansing Country Club. The YES Center raffle and dinner is their annual fundraiser that generates the necessary funds to pay their utilities and mortgage for the year. The YES Center is a non-profit with a mission to "facilitate the development of collaborative, locally based initiatives which serve to improve the safety, health and quality of life for all Grand Ledge area youth."

Things are tight financially for a lot of people and businesses here in Michigan, but your donations to charities do not need to be monetary. They're always looking for volunteers and your time won't cost you a thing. Lets show everyone how Michigan residents and businesses can band together and not only survive, but thrive during these tough economic times.

New one stop site for those doing business in Michigan

The State of Michigan has a new site for those looking to do business in Michigan, www.Michigan.gov/Business. It combines a lot of information and forms all in one convenient location. Believe me, this is something that should have been done a long time ago. When we first launched Gift Baskets From Michigan LLC the necessary forms, information, and resources were scattered across numerous departments and webpages. Lets just say it wasn't the most user-friendly experience.

The new site features -

an array of resources and tools to help you start and operate a business in Michigan. From tips on writing a business plan to financing your business . . . and learn the state requirements for getting started, including costs and time frames.

So, if you're interested in starting a business in Michigan make sure your first stop is www.Michigan.gov/Business.

Three metropolitan Michigan cities make Top 10 Most Affordable Cities List

The Ten Most and Least Affordable Cities list was put together by the National Association of Home Builders. There were two lists of Most and Least Affordable Cities - those with populations over 500,000 and those under 500,000. It's not surprising that no Michigan cities made the Least Affordable list, but it was nice to see three metropolitan cities make the Most Affordable list for metropolitan areas over 500,000 in population. The unfortunate aspect is the reasoning behind being affordable. If you look at the most affordable cities list you will see it is dominated by Midwest towns that had relied heavily on manufacturing and now suffer from high unemployment.

Forbes.com tweaked this listing because of the above problem and eliminated cities like Detroit and Phoenix based on additional criteria that "excluded any city any city where home prices fell by more than 10% last year."

I think Michigan is a good place to invest in right now because we've been in a recession for a few years now and the state has been positioning itself for new technologies and industries that I think will put us ahead of the nation in the long run. It's all about perseverance and staying the course.

Now for the list of Michigan cities with 500,000+ population that made the Most Affordable List:

2. Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, MI 4. Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, MI 5. Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI

Here's the Michigan cities with population under 500,000 that made the Most Affordable List:

1. Lansing-East Lansing, MI 5. Bay City, MI 6. Battle Creek, MI 8. Saginaw-Saginaw Township North, MI

See the entire list

Thanks to Billfer for the link.

Gov. Granholm proposing funding cuts for the State Fair and the arts

This article in the Detroit News is reporting that in order to help balance our state budget, Gov. Granholm is looking to cut funding for both the Upper and Lower Peninsula State Fairs as well as the Department of History, Arts and Libraries. Weigh in on this issue via the comments and the poll below.

[poll id="15"]

Listen to "Blue Collar Town" written by Escanaba resident, Chris Brooks

I was tipped off to "Blue Collar Town" by Christina Henderson via Twitter. You can follow Christina at twitter.com/ChrisQuick. The song's writer, Chris Brooks, happens to be her boss and when she first made mention of it it was something like, "listen to boss' new song, "Blue Collar Town" and I thought that perhaps it was THE Boss - Bruce Springsteen. Instead, it's a great song written by an Escanaba resident about what's happened to Escanaba over the years and it can be equated to what's happened in Michigan and across the country as well.

Listen to "Blue Collar Town".