The numbers are inescapable: Estimates of just how many blighted buildings still stand in Detroit– most of them houses past rehabilitation, nests of crime and the most visible signs of the city’s distress – range from 30,000 to as many as 70,000. It costs about $10,000, on average, to take down one of them. Which […]
Detroit
Posted inBusiness Watch
What's the business case for second Detroit bridge?
Editor’s note: Gov. Rick Snyder joined Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper last Friday to announce a formal deal to start construction on a second bridge linking Detroit to Windsor, Ontario. Snyder announced his support for the span in his first weeks as governor in 2011. Michigan’s share of the construction costs — $550 million — […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“If you can’t explain to a 5-year-old what you’re doing, you don’t know what you’re doing” — Robert D. Ballard, explorer of shipwrecks. * The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities addresses “some basic facts” about state and local workers. Among them, “Benefits like pensions and health insurance are larger and more secure for most […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Snyder out-maneuvers Morouns, legislators to get critical bridge project going
So it looks as though Gov. Rick Snyder will get his bridge … which is to say that the people of Michigan will get their much-needed new bridge across the Detroit River. Obviously, this is not going to happen overnight. Those busy folks over at the Detroit International Bridge Co. (a.k.a. the Moroun family, which […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Festivals haul in $700 million for Michigan
They celebrate fruit, cheese, beer, wine, music, the arts, holidays, seasons, cultures, industries, hobbies, geography, history and … well, pretty much all things Michigan. They go by all sorts of names — fairs, festivals, events — but the roughly 4,000-5,000 such gatherings annually share an important attribute: the generation of millions of dollars for the […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Grand Rapids, Detroit losing race to gain college graduates
The Detroit and Grand Rapids metro areas have tripled the proportion of their residents with college degrees since 1970. Still, an expert on work-force development in Michigan says the state’s two largest urban centers are treading water — at best. An analysis by the Brookings Institution of the 100 largest metro areas placed Detroit 65th […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“The degree of one’s emotions varies inversely with one’s knowledge of the facts” –Bertrand Russell, 20th century British philosopher. * A CBS reporter this month said that no person born in the U.S. circa 1985 and after has ever experienced “normal” weather — at least as defined by average 20th century conditions. Since 1985, the nation’s been […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Michigan, let's target and sideline special interests
Travel often gives you new ways of looking at things … and that is certainly true of travel to China. My wife Kathy and I just got back from visiting our son, who lives and works in Shanghai. We were there for 10 days, and it’s good to be home. But even through the fog of […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Medical calls dominate fire run stats
When the dispatch call goes to a typical Michigan fire station, chances are it has nothing to do with fire. In fact, odds are about four in five it’s some kind of medical emergency. And even then, it may well turn out to be a false alarm. Not exactly the kind of sirens-blaring drama many […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“Mistakes are, after all, the foundations of truth, and if a man does not know what a thing is, it is at least an increase in knowledge if he knows what it is not” — Carl Jung, Swiss psychologist. * Ice in winter has positive effects, too: http://greatlakesecho.org/2012/05/15/continued-ice-loss-on-the-great-lakes-may-cause-widespread-change-in-ecosystems/ * It was suggested, in comments to […]