When it comes to getting younger––particularly retaining and attracting recent college graduates––fixing the damn roads is not the answer. In a recent report the Citizens Research Council includes a top and bottom ten list of state road conditions compiled by…
The New York Times recently wrote about Ford's purchase of the long-abandoned Detroit train station. The article's subtitle is what matters: By renovating a symbol of the city’s decline, the company hopes to create a magnet for the talent needed to…
For years we have used the following quote from Rich Karlgaard, publisher of Forbes magazine, to describe what increasingly drives state and local economic growth: "Best place to make a future Forbes 400 fortune? Start with this proposition: The most…
Lots of good stuff being written about the themes we are focused on at Michigan Future. Here is a list of recent articles I think are particularly worth reading: A Gap in College Graduates Leaves Some Cities Behind, from the…
In our 2006 A New Agenda for a New Michigan we wrote: For many Michiganians, vibrant central cities are part of the past. No longer relevant or just something you visit in unique places like Manhattan, Toronto or Chicago. Think again!…
Real interesting article at Yahoo.com about a new Brookings Institution study. Its title: White flight? Suburbs lose young whites to cities. That it's even possible that whites are moving into, rather than out of, central cities will come as a huge shock…
Just back from a week in beautiful – but rainy – northern Michigan. As I was leaving I circulated a terrific column by Rick Haglund (read it here). It once again provides evidence that lower taxes is not a path…