(courtesy photo/used under Creative Commons license) There has been an unrelenting dose of bad news in local newspapers and on national television about the city of Detroit’s financial difficulties, but one measure of business establishment employment in Wayne County is showing relatively healthy growth. And if the city of Detroit gets its financial problems under […]
Wayne County
Posted inBusiness Watch
New reports ID five housing ‘hot spots’ in Michigan
Michigan’s housing stock is thinning, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, which pegged the state as one of only two with fewer housing units in 2012 than in 2010. Neighboring Illinois is the other. But the state of housing is far from equal across Michigan. In fact, there are growing hot spots for housing – […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Detroit will not prosper without reversing population drain
Phil Power is founder and chairman of the Center for Michigan. Well, well. Kevyn Orr is now firmly in the saddle as Detroit’s emergency manager. Mike Duggan’s campaign for mayor has evaporated, leaving Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon in the driver’s seat. And Bob Ficano, the current Wayne County executive, is teetering on the brink […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
In turnaround, suburbs lose business to Detroit after years of flight
(Bridge illustration by A.J. Jones) The Southeast Michigan office of Grand Rapids-based public relations firm Lambert Edwards & Co. had been located for years in a gleaming high-rise Troy tower, surrounded by a sea of asphalt parking lots and clogged highways. “You couldn’t walk out your door to get a sandwich,” President Jeff Lambert said. […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Best, worst of Michigan communities’ fiscal ratings
(courtesy photo/used under Creative Commons license) David Hollister knows a bit about how public budgets work. He served as mayor of Lansing for a decade. Before that, he served two decades in the Michigan House, representing Lansing. And he says, “We need to recalculate how urban centers are funded.” A Munetrix review of data from […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Stressed cities hear little sympathy from State Capitol
DISCUSSION CLOSED: Republican leaders who run the State Capitol have rebuffed appeals from local governments to boost the flow of tax dollars from the state. Will last week’s announcement of nearly $500 million in “new” revenue change the debate? (Bridge archive photo) Michigan cities expecting a helping hand from Lansing as they dig out of […]
Posted inMichigan Government
New rankings find fiscal troubles for city halls across Michigan
TROUBLE AHEAD: An analysis by Munetrix found that dozens of Michigan communities were in troubling financial shape in 2011, with 2012 data still to be filed. (courtesy photo/used under Creative Commons license) While the financial problems of Detroit have captured the headlines this spring, a new analysis released today on government finance finds that […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Living on right side of county line means more life, better health
(Bridge illustration/A.J. Jones) Zack Conley and Mike Sannan live on opposite sides of Rawsonville Road, a noisy strip of pavement separating Wayne and Washtenaw counties. Both men have access to some of the best hospitals in the state. Yet Sannan is almost twice as likely to be in poor or fair health. As a Wayne […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Property value drops exceed 30 percent in parts of SE Michigan
It might be only a slight exaggeration to say that as Southeast Michigan goes, so goes the state. The region, with roughly 50 percent of the state population and the driver of half its economic activity, suffered the steepest drop in the state in total property value over the past five years. And though there […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Do you live in a ‘magnet’ or ‘bedroom’ community?
Job commuting patterns are analyzed after every census in order for the federal Office of Management and Budget to determine the naming and composition of metropolitan and micropolitan areas. While the data have resulted in a number of changes to Michigan’s metropolitan/micropolitan landscape, the individual county flows are of particular relevance in that they help […]
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