Pfizer Ann Arbor summit, closed doors session
From the Ann Arbor News, Pfizer summit set up:
More than 60 local leaders are being invited to a private summit Monday to begin a coordinated effort to respond to the decision by Pfizer Inc. to close its Ann Arbor facilities.
Invitations signed by University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman, Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje, and Ann Arbor Spark CEO Michael Finney were sent Wednesday to leaders of local businesses, government entities and universities. Organizers expect representatives of Pfizer to also attend.
Key topics on the agenda are how to encourage the 2,160 affected Pfizer employees to stay in the area and what should become of the company's property, which includes 177 acres and significant laboratory spaces off Plymouth Road in northeast Ann Arbor.
Organizers are calling the meeting a brainstorming session, and expect to hold more in the coming weeks. It's not open to the public, though organizers will hold a news conference afterward.
U-M spokeswoman Kelly Cunningham said the closed doors are necessary "to encourage frank discussion.''
The News didn't name the local leaders, but I'll print a list if anyone comes up with one.
I saw the Mayor at Sweetwaters Kerrytown, which is the Pure Visibility coffee shop of record. He didn't recognize me, and I didn't initially recognize him - he didn't have his usual smile.
"Summit" is in context an odd word to use. "Pfizer summit" on Google returns this news from Lee's Summit, Missouri, about another shuttered Pfizer facility (from the Kansas City Business Journal)
Pfizer Inc. said Friday that it has officially ended a two-year global effort to sell its Lee's Summit manufacturing plant and that it now plans to demolish the building.
The 271,000-square-foot building is east of Missouri Highway 291 and south of U.S. Highway 50.
Production at the plant will cease in December, the New York City-based company (NYSE: PFE) said in a release. The company said it then plans to remove the building's equipment and other assets early next year and demolish it by the end of 2007.
That site required some special treatment because of production of penicillin which, while not creating a classic brownfield situation, did make the place unusable for production of some drugs; they switched to all animal medicine manufacture at the end.
One of the topics at today's a2b3 lunch (weekly noonish at Eastern Accents on Fourth Ave) was an open question at the table on how the Pfizer closing was going to affect people personally. One person was job hunting because their contracting company did a lot of Pfizer work. Another was happy that they had gotten out of the real estate business. A few folks considered whether this might be something that would create some contract or consulting work for them in the short run as people who were pfired started up their own businesses and needed services.
Personally, I find the assumption that a bunch of folks that have been recently fired/laid off/early retired from companies in SE Mich are somehow going to all go and start a business.
Just who, may I ask, will be left to buy from all these home-brew businesses? With a shrinking employment base, there won't be anyone left to buy those cute little expensive chocolates (or what have you).
I only see a bunch of buzzards coming into the area, hoping to make a swift franchise buck or two off of all these folks. A year or so later, after their startup has failed, and they've spent the last penny of their severance, what will they have to show for it?
In the meantime, I hear that Ford is considering giving bonuses to their executives, for meeting last years' goals.
I find the whole situation disgusting.
Posted by: Dave New | January 26, 2007 at 12:37 PM
The mood internally at Pfizer is changing as the news sinks in. Last week there were still smiles to be seen and jokes to be heard, but this week a somber and bitter expression has taken over.
The place is becoming more and more quiet with people doing what is needed to take care of themselves and focus on their families - resulting in the odd scenario of entire meetings and work sessions of just consulting and contract services folks...
Posted by: Helene | February 01, 2007 at 09:02 AM