Mark Sanchez: This has been in the planning stages for so long, almost two decades. It was, you know, I think 17, 18 years ago, this group came up with this idea of like, Hey, what if? You know, and how many great ideas started with that question, what if? And this was what if we took out these low dams along the Grand River through downtown and restored the rapids. And now here we are so many years later, it's finally happening.
Last couple of weeks, we've seen that staging area in front of the Ford Museum on the west side of the river being set up with the stones and the bags to create the cofferdams to block the water so the crews can get down there and remove those low dams.And it's finally happening in the water work.Saw the heavy equipment move into the water last Wednesday and began starting out putting some things in there to catch the sediments as they get stirred up from the heavy equipment. Then they started putting the rocks along the Gillett Bridge, the piers on the Gillett Bridge to kind of shore those up. That way when they transfer that water to one side and you have extra water flow it protects the bridge.
And so, over the next year or so, year, year and a half, you're going to see this work continue. They will start by removing those four dams on the lower reaches of the river from about Fulton Street up to, I believe it was just a little north of Leonard. And you're going to see this work progress. And it was interesting in talking to Matt Chapman, he's the executive director of Grand Rapids Whitewater Inc. He said, this can be something now people out on their lunch hour. If you're working in downtown, stroll on over to the river and watch the work. And it was interesting a couple days last week coming in, that's exactly what you're seeing is people just on that river walkway on either side and behind the Amway Grand, just kind of hanging out there and watch the equipment work. So, you'll see this work continue and I correct myself, it's from just north of Bridge Street down to Fulton Street. You'll see this work continue all through next summer toward the end of next summer. As Matt said, hopefully by then we'll see the rapids back in the river as early as maybe late this summer and then see them all back next year.
It's been a long road, you know, doing the planning, getting the regulatory approvals, getting the funding to do this. It's finally here. It's finally happening.
Patrick Center: And this will be in two phases.
Mark Sanchez: Yeah, this is all the bigger, broader project is going to happen in two phases. The first you're going to see what's now underway from just north of Bridge Street down to Fulton.
The planning is continuing for the upper reaches from just north of Bridge Street up to Anne Street. You're going to see that still play out over the next year, probably two Grand Rapids Whitewater’s working with the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission to go over a few designs, a few plans and scenarios and ultimately will pick a final design here over the next year or two, and then have to go through the regulatory and approval processes for that. So, this is a long-term project as we've seen again, it goes back almost two decades since it was first conceived. So first get the lower reaches done and then ultimately get that upper reach done.
Patrick Center: There is the environmental component and the economic component.
Mark Sanchez: Yeah, the idea being first, you know, restoring that natural water flow is better for the river, better for the aquatic life, better for the habitat. But also, there's this thinking, and I can't recall the numbers right off the top of my head, open up that access to the river with the better trails, the better pathways along. You'll have some put-ins for folks who want to go kayaking or fishing. And there's going to be an economic benefit to this. That's going to drive more folks see this as an amenity they like about the community and decide to come here. And it's certainly for folks who now live and work in downtown, it's going to be something that helps to that attraction as well.
Patrick Center: Well, the Grand River, it winds from Lansing to Lake Michigan. Let's go upstream to Lansing. Some big news coming out of MSU.
Mark Sanchez: Yeah, we go quite a ways upstream to East Lansing and everybody kind of ooh, the president's leaving. When he announced this a couple of months ago, President Guskiewicz at Michigan State University. And now we learned this week, he's not leaving. He's not going to Clemson. He's staying at Michigan State University. Boy, when he announced that he had been appointed president at Clemson, there was quite some issues there about governance, issues with trustees on the MSU board, and it really exposed a lot of things there at Michigan State, among many issues that have been going on at MSU for quite a while.
We learned Tuesday and Monday this week that he's going to stay. In his letter to the community, to the campus, he talked about why he wants to stay, and he talked about after a lot of thought, a lot of countless conversations and careful consideration, he decided that this is the place that he belongs and this is where he wants to stay.
He also talked about, you know, how he and his wife Amy thought about the possibility of leaving. They just conclude that this is their home in East Lansing. Michigan State is the place to be. And he also wrote in that letter to the community, he understands the turmoil, the disruption that came about when that announcement came out, I think back in March, that he was leaving for Clemson. And he knows it's now up to him to kind of regain that trust to work hard and boy when trust is something that you lose, you have to work hard to regain it and he's fully aware of that.
The bottom line, MSU's president is staying in his position and he's got a lot of initiatives he's put in place in the first two years. The One Health, the combining the medical schools, there's the Spartan Ventures that's kind of restructuring the university's athletics and fundraising there in this age of NIL with college athletics. It's a new model. So, there's a lot that's been going on there. For now, MSU will have continuity in that presidency.
Patrick Center: We're talking with Crain's Grand Rapids Business staff writer, Mark Sanchez. One of the largest accounting firms, BDO USA, most of the decision making is now going to come out of Grand Rapids.
Mark Sanchez: Yes, because this is now where the CEO sits. BDO USA is now run from Grand Rapids. Matt Becker became CEO at BDO USA on July 1. It's a $3.5 billion accounting firm that has deep roots in Grand Rapids.
It was launched 116 years ago by the family of William Seidman. Anybody who's been around Grand Rapids for a little bit of time certainly knows that name. Bill Seidman was quite a figure here in Grand Rapids. He led the firm for a while, and he was heavily involved as a business leader in Grand Rapids. He was an economist and he advised three presidents, including President Ford another fellow Grand Rapidian.
So now Matt Becker is running BDO USA from Grand Rapids and he's well aware of that legacy of Bill Seidman. And he said he certainly hopes to carry on and live up to that legacy. And we had a good conversation and this is a story that posted on crainsgrandrapids.com the other day where we had a good conversation with Matt and talked about the Seidman legacy. But also talked about growing the firm and to grow the firm.
You also need to grow and develop talent in how he wants to place a big emphasis on developing talent within the firm.And if you go to BDO Seidman as your career, this is a place he wants to become a destination for talent in that industry and to stay and grow and develop. So, we talked about a number of things and again, he's leading the company from Grand Rapids and carrying on that legacy of what Bill Seidman had here in Grand Rapids and they'll go forward from there.
Patrick Center: One area that was discussed in this article and it's interesting when you talk about developing talent and that is adopting AI technologies.
Mark Sanchez: This artificial intelligence technology is affecting every industry across the economy. I had this conversation with Matt, he said they've put a significant amount of money and resources to support their workforce to make them more AI enabled. He said it's been a really very deliberate approach and they want people to not fear the technology, but to embrace the technology. And yes, there is some fear out there about AI replacing jobs, especially in that financial sector. Whether companies can automate those processes and automate those duties, we'll see as this is deployed and emerges. But he is of the mindset that he wants the staff there to embrace the technology, to learn the technology and how to apply it in their jobs. And this can not only make it a better run firm but also become more effective in how it serves the clients out there.
I should say BDO USA has about 80 offices across the nation. So, he's looking at that, also building a quite a robust advisory practice. You know, take those lessons internally and what they know about AI and how to apply it in business and then help advise clients how the clients can then adopt, adapt and use this technology and how they operate their business and serve their clients.
Patrick Center: Crain's Grand Rapids Business staff writer Mark Sanchez, thank you so much.
Mark Sanchez: Thank you, Patrick.