  Cjs Member Username: Cjs Post Number: 19 Registered: 08-2007 |
From this morning's Detroit News: For more evidence of how far Michigan has fallen, take a look at the 2007 list of Best Performing Cities from the Milken Institute. The annual report measures the economic vitality of America's cities. Of the 200 largest cities, eight Michigan communities finish in the bottom 20: Ann Arbor at 184, Kalamazoo-Portage, 188; Holland-Grand Haven, 189; Grand Rapids-Wyoming, 192; Flint, 194; Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, 195; Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, 197; and dead last at No. 200 is Lansing-East Lansing. No large city in Michigan ranks higher than Ann Arbor's miserable 184 spot. Small cities do no better. On a list of 179 small communities, Michigan holds six of the bottom 20 spots: Bay City at 161; Saginaw, 168; Monroe, 169; Jackson, 174; Niles-Benton Harbor, 177; and Battle Creek, 178. No other state is so well represented at the bottom of the heap. The Milken Insitute says what separates the best from the worst is a climate that fosters entrepreneurialship, lower operating costs, and is generally friendly to business. Consider what Michigan is doing in its latest round of budget making and you lose hope that the state's cities will improve their performance anytime soon. Gov. Jennifer Granholm and lawmakers have adopted tax policy that discourages entrepreneurs from locating here, and will drive up the overall cost of doing business in the state. Already, many consulting and other service industry firms are saying they will leave the state if the new service tax on selected businesses isn't revoked. Michigan's fate will only change through sound growth policies. Unfortunately, that's not what Lansing is delivering. | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 1893 Registered: 10-2006 |
Thanks for this information! Unfortunately, some on this forum seem to want to stick with the way that things have always been done. Truth is, that won't work for this generation... | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 3300 Registered: 10-2003 |
This is the second report (unless this was posted before) I've seen on here that groups Warren, Troy, and Farmington Hills together. But FH is nowhere near Warren or Troy. What's the deal? | ||
Umcs Member Username: Umcs Post Number: 338 Registered: 06-2007 |
It's also an Op-Ed piece, which we all know are based solely in fact and evidence because it's coming from Gannett. | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 1898 Registered: 10-2006 |
Well Umcs, I'll leave it to you and the other optimistic people to think that Michigan is headed in the right direction... | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 1185 Registered: 11-2003 |
The grouping of dissimilar cities together is ingeneous; it serves the "institute's" purposes but distorts things. Lansing and East Lansing are very different cities. And as one person mentioned, the "community" of WarrenTroyFarmingtonHills is complete BS. They could have only included Warren in there to dilute the economic standing of Troy and Farmington Hills. With blatant manipulation like that, how can anybody take this "institute" seriously? Like all right-wing think tanks, it exists solely to spew out distorted, simplistic position papers (all repetitive and predictable) in the fancy trappings of "independent research." (Message edited by Burnsie on October 29, 2007) | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 2021 Registered: 04-2006 |
I think the Warren-Troy-FH vs. Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn is some type of statistical designation. I've seen it a lot of times, most recently in a Forbes ranking. It does beg the question of who came up with it and why? | ||
Focusonthed Member Username: Focusonthed Post Number: 1408 Registered: 02-2006 |
They are defined statistical areas, not contrived for the purpose of this study. Warren/Troy/Farmington Hills does not consist of only those 3 cities, but probably most to all of urban Oakland and Macomb counties. Similarly, Lansing-East Lansing would likely include surrounding townships, St Johns, etc. Everything is not a conspiracy. | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 1902 Registered: 10-2006 |
Point is, this isn't a Farmington vs. Troy issue. Rather the idea is that the whole state of MI is going down the shitter! Just crit the info. for not being organized the way you think it should be and then everything will be alright with MI's economy. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 4491 Registered: 10-2004 |
Detroit/Livonia are often listed together--by the BLS, I believe. The intelligent thing to do is to consult the report and read its parameters. That stuff is often in fine print somewhere in the report. | ||
Umcs Member Username: Umcs Post Number: 340 Registered: 06-2007 |
First of all, the Milken Institute was founded by that nice man Michael Milken. You know, the one who was indicted on 98 counts of racketeering and securities fraud in 1989 as the result of an insider trading investigation with respect to junk bonds... So, despite the ad hominem attack on the institute and its founding principles, let's discuss the opinion editorial on its face: "The Milken Institute says what separates the best from the worst is a climate that fosters entrepreneurialship, lower operating costs, and is generally friendly to business. " Duh. Okay, so Michigan doesn't foster entrepreneurship because we're a bunch of old-schoolers who won't lend money to new businesses unless it's a sure thing, don't invest in VC funds here in the state with our own funds, and generally dismiss anyone with a single business failure as an idiot. Okay gotcha. Who's fault is that? Maybe our own financial wizards who seem to be doing so well in helping out the community like Comerica... er, nevermind, they moved. Oh, right Michigan National Ba... oh right, they're gone. How about Old Kent. Right, bought out and moved. Aha! NBD! Nope, gone years ago. Right, our solid banking and financial institutions that we groomed here in this state are serving us beautifully. Go Quicken! Soooo, lower operating costs. We can do that. A house can be bought in Detroit for a few thousand. Got it. You don't want unions? Well, we don't do manufacturing anymore so what's your issue? Didn't you know manufacturing is dead? Ah, business friendly climate. Oh, wait. That's no good. We evidently want to burn all businesses that move to Michigan and we advertise that. Job retraining? Bush wants to veto that. It's on the Detnews too. I guess the Op-Ed folks don't talk to the actual reporters. That doesn't make too much sense. "Consider what Michigan is doing in its latest round of budget making and you lose hope that the state's cities will improve their performance anytime soon." Cities... budget making... hm, no experience there in our elected officials. Right, we boot them out of office after they figure out how to actually do a budget for a government entity. "Gov. Jennifer Granholm and lawmakers have adopted tax policy that discourages entrepreneurs from locating here, and will drive up the overall cost of doing business in the state." What tax policy is that? Didn't we just rewrite the MBT? Ooooh, you don't want business taxes. Right. Gov't of any sort = bad. Bad government. How dare you interfere with business by existing. "Already, many consulting and other service industry firms are saying they will leave the state if the new service tax on selected businesses isn't revoked." Good. Guess what, if you leave and try to do business here in consulting, you still have to pay the tax. That leaves more work for the rest of the consultants. You can go now. Good grief, I didn't know that baby bronzing and landscaping were such an integral part of our economy. Oh yes, we have such powerhouses of consulting like BCG and McKinsey main offices here in Michigan. Yep, consultants here are basically the turnaround guys. You know, the one's who come into a failing business and tell them how to fix it for outrageous fees? If they were on your payroll, you wouldn't pay a service tax on them... hellooooo. "Michigan's fate will only change through sound growth policies. Unfortunately, that's not what Lansing is delivering." I don't disagree with that but please, what are sound growth policies right now? The only thing I've heard come out of the Detroit News lately is this statement that Michigan is horrible and it's the fault of the unions, the government, squirrels, ducks, yada yada. How about something constructive for once? Personally, I'm tired of the news organizations telling us how bad it is here. Newsflash to news organizations: We know the state is in the crapper; we feel it daily. Now, if they want to provide some constructive, demonstrable solutions to the problems they have identified beyond the tired "it's the governments fault!" I'd be willing to listen. Until that point in time, this Op-Ed is just one more piece of hot air as bad as the talking heads on our TV telling us which political party is to blame for our current problems. | ||
Hudkina Member Username: Hudkina Post Number: 71 Registered: 12-2004 |
Just so you guys know the Census Bureau sometimes breaks down Metropolitan Statistical Areas into what they refer to as Metropolitan Divisions. The Detroit MSA which includes Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, St. Clair, Livingston, and Lapeer counties is broken up into two Metropolitan Divisions: The Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills Metropolitan Division (Oakland, Macomb, St. Clair, Livingston, and Lapeer counties) The Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn Metropolitan Division (Wayne County) The names are derived from what the Census Bureau defines as principle cities; those that have large populations as well as a large workforce. So even though the refer to it as the "city" of Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, it is really just the five counties that make up the northern suburbs of Detroit. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 4498 Registered: 10-2004 |
Speaking of reports, WBAP in Dallas/FW mentioned this AM that some report was released that stated that 78 schools in Michigan had school drop-out rates of 40% or greater. Has anybody come across this? A cursory Web search didn't find that. However, the MEA says this: quote: edit: It eventually was put on the DetNews, a bit later...: Mich. stung by study's dropout list quote: And how queer, but Ferndale (plus Hazel Park) was also listed as having a dropout factory. Even the magnet school--Cass Tech--had over 40% dropout rate. I knew DPS sucked, but didn't believe that even a DPS magnet school could be such an educational backwater... (Message edited by LivernoisYard on October 30, 2007) | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 3311 Registered: 10-2003 |
"Stephanie Hall, a spokeswoman for Ferndale Public Schools, said Ferndale High should not be listed as a dropout factory. "Ferndale High School's graduation rate for the last year reported in 2005-06 was 91.27 percent," she said. "The dropout rate was 2.28 percent and the retention rate was 97.72 percent." The district's calculations are guided by Michigan Department of Education standards, which count the number of ninth-graders who graduate in four years, Hall said. The state's calculation, contrary to the Johns Hopkins study, does take into account students transferring in and out. Hall said the district historically has had a transient student population, which could account for the discrepancy. "This is a problem to release data like this in a vacuum," she said." | ||
Jasoncw Member Username: Jasoncw Post Number: 450 Registered: 07-2005 |
I understand how the usual Flint or Detroit could end up on the very bottom of the list, but I disagree that Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor should be on the bottom of the list. I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but these lists don't come out of nowhere. These studies cost money to make, and the money comes from somewhere. I wouldn't be surprised if the study was skewed to make some places turn out higher (not necessarily to make us lower). | ||
Smitch Member Username: Smitch Post Number: 40 Registered: 04-2007 |
^^^When was the last time that you actually visited Grand Rapids? The city is in no better shape than any other city in Michigan It's hilarious that some people actually believe that there is a conspiracy by the media to make Michigan look bad. | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 1906 Registered: 10-2006 |
People throughout the country don't need the media to tell them that Michigan is in bad shape... |
