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New Google site in Michigan


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I exactly agree tSlater...you would have thought that GR would have been the perfect place to put the cutting-edge technology since we are here building ourselves to be such that.

But hey, if it is jobs for Michigan, I am all for it. Makes me ponder the thought that Grandholm is holding off more companies at the last minute to come to Michigan and revitalize her efforts....hmmmm

Edit: At the same time, it also makes me think that GR needs to become a "big enough" of a city to get the attention of major national companies. We're getting there...

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Didn't Google need offices in Ann Arbor because of a contract to scan the U of M library? Grand Rapids was probably never in the running for this office.

BTW, Google Books is looking good http://books.google.com/

How does the Governor claim credit for new high-tech jobs when the conversation between Google and U of M started in 2002 and had nothing to do with the state? The U of M library was simply good business for Google.

http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?BG/google/index

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Didn't Google need offices in Ann Arbor because of a contract to scan the U of M library? Grand Rapids was probably never in the running for this office.

BTW, Google Books is looking good http://books.google.com/

How does the Governor claim credit for new high-tech jobs when the conversation between Google and U of M started in 2002 and had nothing to do with the state? The U of M library was simply good business for Google.

http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?BG/google/index

Plus in terms of connectivity, Grand Rapids still doesn't offer the bandwidth that Ann Arbor does.

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Didn't Google need offices in Ann Arbor because of a contract to scan the U of M library? Grand Rapids was probably never in the running for this office.

BTW, Google Books is looking good http://books.google.com/

How does the Governor claim credit for new high-tech jobs when the conversation between Google and U of M started in 2002 and had nothing to do with the state? The U of M library was simply good business for Google.

http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?BG/google/index

Did she actually claim credit or simply say it was good news for the state?

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Did she actually claim credit or simply say it was good news for the state?

You're right. There was not a direct quote about her claiming credit. The news item said, "Granholm also hopes Google's decision to expand in Michigan will help in her bid for re-election against Republican challenger Dick DeVos. She has been criticized for not attracting high-tech jobs to the state."

My comment wasn't specific about Granholm, but about the fact that some business deals occur irrespective of anything government does or doesn't do. Google simply wanted U of M's books and the books happen to be in Michigan.

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Actually, this new Google facility is only somewhat related to their work at UofM Library. They have been searching for a spot for a new site for at least a year that I know of:

Google goggles hub for major expansion - Boston Business Journal

We had a whole discussion about this last year. Boston really thought they were going to be the chosen ones due to several visits from the search engines' real estate executives. There were actually over 50 cities in the running to begin with.

Whether Granholm takes credit or not, this is a very symbolic win for ALL of Michigan.

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I agree that Grand Rapids was probably never seriously considered for this. In fact, despite having a number of candidates, Larry Page was probably leaning towards Ann Arbor the whole time. :)

Ann Arbor is a great city, and honestly is probably better suited to Google than Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids may be bigger, but Ann Arbor is a college town with a lot of smart people. It also has a much more vibrant urban core largely because of the large student population.

Anyway, win for Michigan!

-nb

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This isnt a Googleplex, and GR still has plenty of connectivity.

Grand Rapids doesn't have a Google workforce. Ann Arbor does.

Ann Arbor:

Percentage of Population with:

Bachelor's degree or higher: 69.3%

Graduate or professional degree: 39.4%

Grand Rapids:

Bachelor's degree or higher: 23.8%

Graduate or professional degree: 8.0%

Ann Arbor is a great choice for Google, and this is very good news for the state. It won't really help the uneducated auto workers in any way, but it will help with the brainpower drain.

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Grand Rapids doesn't have a Google workforce. Ann Arbor does.

Ann Arbor:

Percentage of Population with:

Bachelor's degree or higher: 69.3%

Graduate or professional degree: 39.4%

Grand Rapids:

Bachelor's degree or higher: 23.8%

Graduate or professional degree: 8.0%

Does Google have a policy that they only employ individuals that live within the city limits of their facility? Else, I don't know why you are comparing stats for the City of Ann Arbor proper with the stats for the City of Grand Rapids proper. If you included the outlying areas (suburbs and other nearby areas of commuters), you'd find the percentages far closer. Ann Arbor would still be higher, percentage-wise, but in sheer numbers, Grand Rapids would have more people with a Bachelor's degree or higher.

Given that, I don't disagree with Google's choice of location.

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Does anyone else think it strange how the GR press paints the story in a negative light?

"Google eyes overlook GR"

Even though there were rumors, I figured Ann Arbor was always the real rumor.

To the casual observer, they would think we lost some big opportunity or they left GR.

It seems like good news to me, not bad.

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I see this now. Man, Jeff you are a mean sarcastic man. This kind of thing is just what the AA forum needs to get it's traffic up and going. Now if there were something that could happen in flint to make it take off.

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