With Detroit running out of money and options, Bridge visited two cities in California that have had their own fiscal woes – Stockton and Vallejo – to assess the impact of bankruptcy on neighborhood life. (Bridge illustration/A.J. Jones) STOCKTON, Calif. – Here in Stockton, the standard postcards show a palm-lined City Center, without revealing that […]
California
Posted inMichigan Government
In Vallejo, residents rally to protect themselves
SORTA SILVER LINING: When bankruptcy led to vastly reduced police patrols in Vallejo, Calif., the number of neighborhood watch groups exploded from nine to more than 400. (Bridge photo/Ron French) VALLEJO, Calif. – The break-ins and the squatters in her middle-class neighborhood were bad enough. But when prostitutes began offering – and performing – […]
Posted inBrunch with Bridge
To kill the gerrymander, elect better representatives
WHAT ROUGH BEAST? Oddly shaped districts, like Michigan’s 14th in the U.S. Congress, are the result of political power plays. But the solution isn’t necessarily to take politics out of the process, argues Brunch columnist Conor Dugan. Rep. Sean McCann, D-Kalamazoo, has proposed legislation that would establish an independent, nonpartisan commission consisting of “regular citizens” […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
(courtesy photo/used under Creative Commons license) *Troubling information as Michigan charges into gardening season: “Heavy use of the world’s most popular herbicide, Roundup, could be linked to a range of health problems and diseases, including Parkinson’s, infertility and cancers, according to a new study.” *An analysis of financial results found that people who choose to […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
*Does the state of Michigan own too much land? Bridge posed a variant of that question last summer in its award-winning package “Land Wars.” Brad Garmon of the Michigan Environmental Council provides his answer: Nope. *Look out, more people are discovering the charms of visiting Michigan: “Visitation to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore grew nearly […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
*Home-court advantage is a perennial topic of conversation in college basketball, but Michigan Republicans have to be congratulated – or pilloried – in how they have created a huge advantage for themselves in congressional elections. As this Bloomberg visual details, Michigan Republicans win by losing. Even though they gained only just under 46 percent of […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Guest column: Michigan needs counterweight to autos
By Todd Anson I love my Michigan. I have spent my entire career in California, but I love my home state. It is painful to watch the state’s economic struggles. She sorely needs a plan. Thirty years at the epicenter of the tech revolution in California as a tech lawyer, businessman and investor, plus my […]
Posted inMichigan Government
California is poster child for tax limitation rules, for advocates and critics alike
In the depths of the Great Depression, California lawmakers devised a bold prescription for balancing the state books. Called Proposition 1, the 1933 measure called for a complicated shift in taxes between state and local governments and boosted state spending for schools. Almost as an afterthought, it required a two-thirds vote in each chamber to […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“The greatest gift is a passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination” — Elizabeth Hardwick, American literary critic. * ProPublica continues its coverage of the petroleum industry and environmental oversight: “Injection wells have […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Vaccine 'gap' costs Michigan $500 million a year
On the subject of vaccines, medical opinion is widespread and settled: They are among the triumphs of public-health medicine, preventing thousands of deaths every year — not to mention millions in lost sick time and other productivity. And yet, getting a fully vaccinated populace, from infants through senior citizens, remains an elusive goal for doctors […]