Business View Magazine - November 2016

98 Business View Magazine - November 2016 Bay City, Michigan Moving forward Like many places in the state of Michigan, Bay City, a community on the Saginaw River near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron, has seen better days. At its height in the mid-twentieth century, it was home to over 50,000 people, many of whom worked in its shipbuilding facilities and automobile manufacturing plants. Today, Bay City’s population is stabilizing at around 35,000. “We have been, up to this point, los- ing population, although the recent census shows the loss to be very minimal,” says City Manager, Richard M. Finn. “Our goal is to stop the loss of population and start to increase it over a period of time.” Finn understands that attracting new businesses to replace the old ones that have gone is key to increas- ing the population rate. And he believes that Bay City is well on its way in implementing the strategies and ini- tiatives designed to make it a place where businesses want to set up shop. “We are coming out of the recent Recession and things are vastly improving,” he states. “I would characterize what’s going on here in Bay City as almost a rebirth.” Part of that rebirth is the total redevelopment of Bay City’s downtown, just completed this past summer. The over $2 million project included the resurfacing of streets, new landscaping, and the replacement of 39 trees in the downtown business district. “That was