A plan to build eight casinos in Michigan moving toward November’s ballot remains almost as sketchy in financial detail as the day it was announced in April. One of the key features of the proposal is to prescribe eight specific casino locations. So, not only is this a simple question of whether voters approve more gambling […]
Lansing
Posted inQuality of Life
Michigan food and the case of the Chinese cherries
Matt Gougeon runs the Marquette Food Co-op, a store that began the way a lot of co-ops did in the 1970s, as a buying club for a number of families who wanted food that was hard to find in the Upper Peninsula. Over the years, it’s grown into a 3,200-square-foot store with $5 million in […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Double-duty fire chief serves two Lansings
Randy Talifarro has dealt with his share of dangerous situations during nearly three decades in firefighting. Perhaps that’s why the veteran East Lansing fire chief didn’t exactly charge into the fray when asked to assume the task of also running the city of Lansing’s Fire Department. “Candidly, I was a little hesitant,” said Talifarro, 51, […]
Posted inMichigan Government
In some cities, it's cash that's burning
In Michigan, your home address says everything about how much you spend for fire protection. In Midland, a city of 41,000, residents paid $155 per person in 2010 for their Fire Department. But in Wyoming, a West Michigan city of about 72,000, they paid less than half that, $59 per capita. Fire departments spend about $400 million […]
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 inMichigan Government
Pension costs burn through city budgets
Lansing’s taxpayers were doused with some difficult news last week: The city’s pension fund for police and fire retirees could use a nearly $2 million boost from the city’s general fund. And the city’s already fighting a budget deficit. Big-city fire departments across Michigan continue to wrestle with the legacy costs of public safety pensions, […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Merging fire services is tricky business
In January, the state started handing out money to local governments as incentives to consolidate public services with neighbors. Fire protection sharing figured prominently in the first round of 27 grants totaling $4.3 million. But it’s the lack of money, rather than the prospect of more, that should force more communities to look at service […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Michigan's 'Faltering 40' on college prep
If you want your son or daughter to succeed in college, there are 40 public school districts you may want to avoid. In an analysis by Bridge Magazine and Public Sector Consultants, these 40 districts, spread across the state and ranging from urban to rural, scored in the bottom rungs of four different college-readiness measures. […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Young professional groups sprout to grow Mich. connections
Traveling around Michigan is one of the pleasures of running the Center for Michigan. You get a sense of the rhythm of communities and what trends are developing. One such positive development made the front page of the Battle Creek Enquirer this week: Young professionals banding together to find ways to build strong communities. In […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours” — John Locke, 17th century English philosopher * Propublica says the EPA has a report linking fracking chemicals to an instance of groundwater contamination in Wyoming. This has huge import for the state of Michigan, where hydrofracturing, […]