Great Lakes Guy

Rust Belt in the Red

Here's the breakdown on the deteriorating government budgets across the region, as compiled by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

I predict more cuts. Lots of them.

Projected gaps for FY2010:

Michigan $1.6 Billion
Minnesota $2.5 Billion
New York $13.7 Billion
Ohio $2 Billion
Wisconsin $2.9 Billion

Bailouts, or birthing the next big thing

John Torinus' recent column in the Milwaukee Journal reminds me....still need to read Caught in the Middle by Chicago journalist Richard Longworth.

In fact, the book is sitting in the exact same spot it was when I last blogged about it in April '08.

Friend and fellow blogger Professor Noah Hall gives it a strong review

Torinus, chairman of Serigraph, Inc, a plastics decorating firm based in West Bend, WI, seems to like it too. He says the book is light on solutions.

But he recycles several passages in his December 27, 2008 column arguing that government bailouts should strive to incentivize innovative business activity, not just recklessly throw money at problems with little forward-looking strategy or focus.

Quoting Longworth...

"Midwestern might was based, as we know, on easy access to iron and coal, on money, on new methods of mass production.

"But mostly it rested on ideas, on the minds and imaginations of a generation of entrepreneurs, dreamers, and doers, unafraid to risk all on a roll of the industrial dice.

"As in Silicon Valley now, Midwestern innovation created a new world."

Indeed, in the 20th century the Midwest pioneered premier centers of higher learning, innovative new industries, creative social programs and modern cities that set the course for America. The time is ripe, it seems, to do it all again.

Who's really Ready-To-Go?

We know the list is incomplete, as it fails to include proposed streetcar systems in Cincinnati, OH and Grand Rapids, MI.

But several Rust Belt cities intend to invest more deeply in real modern public transit in an effort to generate jobs and grow the economy, based on the U.S. Mayor's recently released Main Street Economic Recovery initiative.

Among the more exciting and ambitious projects...passenger rail in Dearborn, MI...streetcar in downtown Duluth, MN...fixed route transit in Kokomo, IN...a central hub for 8 different transportation modes in Normal, IL...bike sharing in Orland Park, IL...and light rail in St. Paul, MN.

Other cities in the region looking to bolster their transit programs with increased federal funding include:

Akron, OH
Battle Creek, MI
Beloit, WI
Chanhassen, MN
Dearborn, MI
Detroit, MI
Duluth, MI
Glenview, IL
Green Bay, WI
Harrisburg, PA
Jackson, MI
Kokomo, IN
Lima, OH
Moline, IL
Normal, IL
Orland Park, IL
Racine, WI
Riverdale, IL
Romeoville, IL
St. Paul, MN
Sheboygan, WI
St. Louis Park, MN
Tinley Park, IL
Toledo, OH
University Heights, OH

$13 billion MIGHT be a good start

With the stars seemingly aligned for a major nation-building project in America, more than 125 Rust Belt cities have published individual lists of projects to improve schools, roads, water systems, public transit and other local priorities.

Taken together, the lists - part of the Mainstreet Economic Recovery initiative led by the U.S. Conference of Mayors - call for approximately $13 billion in public works spending to rebuild cities and generate more than 143,300 job opportunities throughout the Midwest.

Some cities clearly provided more complete plans of action than others.

Akron, OH, for example - population approximately 208,000 - prepared a $925 million future-oriented spending plan to buy busses, install solar energy systems, restore neighborhood waterways and modernize schools.

Minneapolis, on the other hand - population approximately 373,00 - outlined just one priority: a $1.3 million rehab of a tunnel on 10th Avenue.

Cleveland, OH has yet to file its wish list.

My hometown Grand Rapids, MI outlined a $163 million agenda to, among other things, expand one public park, develop a couple wind and solar projects, and upgrade the sewer system.

All good and proper work that no doubt would continue GR's impressive renaissance. But it's a drop of water in Lake Michigan compared to the level of investment Michigan's second largest city truly needs to grow and sustain its health and wealth in the 21st century.

I suspect the same is true of the other 125-plus cities.

In Detroit, $832 million installs a few downtown crosswalks, replaces some bridges and removes 40,000 dead trees. What about replanting?

Which makes you wonder...what's the true cost of Rust Belt recovery and revitalization?

Getting to the heart of the matter

Michigan, it turns out, was not in a one-state recession the past couple years, as many economists and politicians believed.The state's job cuts, factory closings and bankruptcies were just early warning symptoms of failing national - and global - economic health. In other words, there's a convincing case to be made that America's recovery begins by curing what ails Michigan.

"The heartbeat of [the U.S.] economy is in Michigan," Jerome Wingo, president of the Apollo Alliance, a national coalition of economic, environmental and community leaders working to promote energy innovation, told the crowd gathered at Michigan's recent Sustainable Business Forum conference.

Detroit's other transportation story

Will the 24th attempt to install modern mass transit in Detroit succeed?

Conditions seem favorable.

And momentum is growing.

But Detroit has been here before....23 times!

Maybe General Motors - and their army of laid off workers - lays the track and manufactures the rail cars?

Looking through the crisis, not at it

"Our entire community is tied to this industry," Kokomo, IN minister Edward Vasicek said about the auto business in yesterday's USA Today. "If those plants close, you might as well plow everything over and return to farmland. What if even one of them fails? Could we survive?"

The case of Newton, Iowa offers hope. People there watched the washing machine manufacturing business dry up only to welcome wind turbine production.

“Life’s not over,” Arie Versendaal told the NY Times in November 2008. “For 35 years, I pounded my body to the ground. Now, I feel like I’m doing something beneficial for mankind and the United States. We’ve got to get used to depending on ourselves instead of something else, and wind is free. The wind is blowing out there for anybody to use.”

Remember when America worked with her hands?

Washington Post writer Warren Brown suggests today one potential reason why the American auto industry is being put through the ringer in its pursuit of financial assistance...

"There is a feeling in this country - apparent in the often condescending, dismissive way Detroit's automobile companies have been treated on Capitol Hill - that people who work with their hands and the companies that employ them are inferior to those who work with their minds and plow profit from information. How else to explain the clearly disparate treatment given to companies such as Citigroup and General Motors?"

What MI has known - and ignored - for two decades

"We put all our chips on a poker hand called durable goods manufacturing, particularly the autos,” Michigan State University economist Charles L. Ballard tells the NY Times today. “In the middle of the 20th century, every time we turned over the hand it was four aces, a straight flush. If you have an undiversified economy based on a sector that’s booming, great.”

But when that sector is on the brink of bankrutpcy......

Great Lakes Penetrate the Campaign, But How Deep is Unclear

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama today outlined a promising program to accelerate the cleanup and restoration of the degraded Great Lakes ecosystem, the economic, environmental, and cultural engine of the Rust Belt.

But in doing so he also provoked two serious questions about the extent to which both Democrats and Republicans understand and support the campaign to sustain the nation's most valuable supply of fresh water.

The first question, ironically, is about Sen. Obama's genuine level of commitment for the Great Lakes.

I reported on the Senator's surprisingly cautious approach to an easy issue like Great Lakes restoration back in September 2007. And you'd think proposing a $5 billion fund to repair sewers, cleanup pollution and restore wetlands would strike any doubt that Obama champions the cause. He certainly demonstrated understanding of the issue.

But his national camapaign's impressively wired Website fails to even mention his plan of action. So is Great Lakes restoration a serious campaign issue Obama intends to weave into his 21st century agenda for America, and thereby elevate Great Lakes issues on the national radar?

Or is just a fleeting angle to leverage while patronizing votes in the Rust Belt?

The second question Obama's announcement prompted for Great Lakes policy junkies is "Whazzup with the Republicans?"

In the rush to burnish their own Great Lakes credentials, the chairmen of the Republican parties in six Great Lakes states rushed to issue a statement that exposed their own lack of sophistication on the issue:

"John McCain has made his commitment to supporting the Great Lake Compact abundantly clear."

That's outstanding. But the Great Lakes Compact, an agreement to strengthen and unify water withdrawal standards across the region, is just one component of the comprehensive program needed to protect, enhance and sustain the Great Lakes.

What about invasive species? Or the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement? Or funding to cleanup the dozens of highly toxic Areas of Concern? What about investing in crumbling sewers that pollute rivers?

So, as the enviros say, we've taken "a constructive first step" in the search for a Great Lakes president.

But we still have a long ways to go.

What does the DNC see?

You'd think the Democrats would have more fire in their bellies considering the intense level of disgust the average voter seemingly has with the state of the union.

But in perhaps the most scripted party convention in history (at least until the Republicans meet next week in Minneapolis) the Dems are at least focused - they claim "united" - on the broad outlines of a three-pronged agenda to "Renew America's Promise." Generate jobs. Establish a national health care system. Invest in kids.

It's all feather light on specifics. But a handful of speakers on the stage at last night's convention proceedings, many of them not surprisingly members of the Great Lakes delegation, talked like they truly want to win in November.

Senator Hillary Clinton got off a clever blast painting President Bush and the Republican nominee John McCain as bosom buddies:

"It makes sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities. Because these days they’re awfully hard to tell apart."

Congressman Rahm Emanuel from Illinois seized on over spending and record national deficits and cracked "Mr. President, we will be forever in your debt."

Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey called the President of United States a "clown" (although the comment does not appear in his official remarks) and delivered what could become the convention anthem when he said the Republicans are "asking for four more years. How ‘bout four more months?"

Then there was former Virginia Governor Mark Warner, who played it safe in his remarks, but still managed to sum up in a couple sentences the principal challenge now confronting the Rust Belt and ultimately the USA:

"In a global economy, you shouldn’t have to leave your home town to find a world-class job," Gov. Warner said. "If you can send a job to Bangalore, India, you sure as heck can send one to Danville, Virginia and Flint, Michigan and Scranton, Pennsylvania and Peoria, Illinois."

A New American Gothic?

The first thing I thought of when I saw the picture of Maynard Kaufman and his wife, Barbara Giesler in front of their solar panels...

...was the 1930 American Gothic painting by Grant Wood.

Seems like an interesting comparison to illustrate that "the kind of people" in America is changing dramatically.

Ohio Talks Transportation

Ohio ramps up its statewide "Transportation Conversation" this month to promote more mobility choices, stimulate economic development, and maximize public investment.

Click here to take the survey, watch some videos, and see the calendar of events.

It's encouraging to see the Buckeye State put the power of the people at the center of envisioning the state's transportation future.

But in many ways the answers are clear: fix up the roads, adapt the cities to encourage more walking and biking, and urgently expand public transit.

A prosperous future, citizens will likely say, requires more than a rail line serving the Cleveland airport and bus rapid transit on Euclid Avenue.

Michigan Targets Water Tech Innovation

In perhaps the most encouraging sign yet that Michigan intends to move its carefree water policy into a 21st century increasingly defined by water scarcity and conflict, state officials are quietly shaping a strategy to position the Great Lakes State as a leading innovator in the promising field of water tech.

The so-called Michigan Water Technology Cluster, led by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, aims to generate jobs, attract private investment, and boost the state's overall competitiveness by promoting the research, development, commercialization, and deployment of modern technologies and management practices to sustain essential water resources.

According to planning documents obtained by the GLG, the MEDC's 2008 goals include: 1) establishing the Water Tech Cluster as a strategy to identify, evaluate, and pursue water-related economic development opportunities; 2) Identifying, selecting, and launching two to four demonstration projects; and 3) Honing a plan for 2009 and beyond that positions Michigan as a center of excellence for the advancement of sustainable water use technologies and management strategies.

States like Arizona and cities such as Milwaukee and Cleveland already are advancing similiar initiatives to get out in front of what's expected to be a growing multi-billion dollar global business as population growth, pollution, climate change, and other trends outstrip the availability of clean fresh water.

In Michigan, the effort aims to leverage the state's advanced manufacturing expertise, water-related academic expertise, and robust freshwater resources to:

Promote the efficient use and reuse of water;
Retain and attract water-dependent businesses;
Develop and expand the water technology and services supply chainl; and
Promote and develop ecosystem restoration technologies.

"The Water Technologies Cluster Initiative was officially launched on April 11, 2008," agency documents state. "The MEDC established a planning group with representatives from academia [including Dr. Nancy Love from the University of MI and Dr. Joan Rose from MSU], state government [including MEDC, MI Dept. of Environmental Quality, and MI Dept. of Agriculture] and industry [including Dow Water Solutions, Siemens Water Technologies, and NSF International]."

"The aforementioned planning group is in the process of developing short and long term objectives, which will include the identification and implementation of, possibly up to three Water Technologies [Centers of Excellence] by the end of 2008."

Great Lakes Restoration Blips on MI Radar

Contrary to a recent report in the Detroit News, the State of Michigan and, more specifically, the current cast of characters running the joint, have done little publicly to compel Congress to fully fund the $20 billion proposal to clean-up and restore the Great Lakes.

There's likely been behind-the-scenes conversations, and terse letters quietly mailed to the White House and federal administrators.

But Governor Jennifer Granholm has not made the urgent economic and environmental importance of Great Lakes restoration a recurring theme of her speeches to rally citizens.

Officials in neither the Michigan Economic Development Corporation nor the state Department of Environmental Quality have publicly stated restoration of the Great Lakes is a top priority and backed it up with bold and sustained action.

And I'm willing to bet a charter fishing boat trip on Lake Michigan that a poll of the State Legislature would reveal only a handful of lawmakers actually are aware there's a huge regional campaign undereway right now that's advocating for a historic Great Lakes clean-up.

It's just not been a priority. But now in the twilight of its reign, it appears Gov. Granholm's Administration is intensifying its interest in the restoration effort. Which is a fancy way of saying they'll produce another report on the matter.

"We want to make the White House a true partner," Lt. Gov. John Cherry told the Detroit News. "It's the right thing to do as stewards of this resource (and) it's the right thing to do for our economic development."

Wondering About Water in Lake County, IL

John Callan, the consultant helping Lake County, IL sustain an affordable, clean, fresh supply of water, reportedly projects the county needs to invest $240 million in new pumps and pipes over the next couple decades to deliver the additional water the growing population allegedly needs.

I wonder how much it would cost to install waterless urinals in every bar, restaurant, office, and retail store in the county?

And by how much would such an aggressive conservation strategy reduce demand from the region's aquifers and Lake Michigan?

The recent State of Lake County's Water Supply report doesn't say.

Maybe some smart grad student at the University of Wisconsin's new School of Freshwater Sciences can figure it out.

There's Gold in Them Thar Hills

There's plenty of evidence to suggest Michigan is stuck in the olden days.

The union strikes.

The plans for new coal-fueled power plants.

The old sewers which, in some corners of some cities, literally are still made of wood.

But nothing screams "1800's" quite like the idea of prospecting for gold, which is what a Canadian company is doing in the Upper Peninsula.

Folks in the UP, remember, are still fighting off the idea of digging for copper and nickel beneath some of the more untouched landscapes in the nation.

Success in the new economy, we're constantly reminded, depends on innovation and mining the minds of creative people for new ideas.

Michigan, however, seems all too comfortable rooting around in the ground for minerals and water.

Hopefully the Deadwood development strategy is taking its last breaths.

Cutting Carbon Is All That Matters

It was a solid one-two punch.

On Wednesday of this week a coalition of scientists and environmentalists released a report revealing that climate change threatens to inflame all that ails the Great Lakes ecosystem, dropping water levels lower, skewing fish and wildlife habitat, stirring up stronger storms that overflow outdated sewers and increase water pollution. The region's credible experts, in fact, agree the changes already are underway.

Then, on Thursday, the prestigious Brookings Institution issued a report revealing vital evidence about the geography of carbon emissions - a key accelerant of climate change - from the nation's 100 largest metro areas. Greater Great Lakes cities such as Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Toledo, Columbus, Madison, and Lansing log some of the highest emmissions per capita from residential and transportation sources. Rochester, Chicago, and Buffalo log some of the lowest in the nation, but can, must, and will do better.

So, thanks to Brookings, we know more about where the big sources of carbon pollution are located and we have good baseline evidence from which to gauge future progress. And thanks to the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes coalition we have a deeper understanding of what's at risk if we fail to act. And it's already clear we know a great deal about how to solve the problem - aggressively promote energy innovation, ramp up invest in modern public transportation, encourage urban revitalization and density, to name a few.

Clearly the charge of my generation - I'm 33 - is to confront the naysayers, push them to the sidelines, and put the solutions swiftly into play. Smart public policies and spending decisions can help the Great Lakes, I believe, translate these truly ominous threats into real opportunities. By reinvigorating and refocusing its innovative talent and industrial might, the mega region can position itself to help lead the globe out of this mess and turn a buck doing it. Frankly, what else matters if the knock-out blows of climate disruption threaten to plunge the world into chaos.

Regional Real Estate Promises ROI

Despite the housing crisis, job losses, factory closings, and fear of change, the greater Great Lakes region is the place to buy real estate these days.

The Mega Midwest is home to five of the top 10 fastest growing markets in the United States, according to Money Magazine.

Here's the list:

1. McAllen, TX
2. Rochester, NY
3. Birmingham, AL
4. Syracuse, NY
5. Buffalo/Niagara, NY
6. New Orleans, LA
7. Scranton, PA
8. Grand Rapids, MI
9. Baton Rouge, LA
10. El Paso, TX.

The New Economy of Water

More and more entrepreneurial minds are discovering that, in an age that prizes and rewards information and innovation, inventing new ways to better manage, clean, and conserve fresh water likely will work to generate new economic opportunity.

I first came across the idea of a private sector-led effort to establish a pioneering - and hopefully profitable - hub of water research in the Great Lakes region in 2002 when I met Tom Newhof. At the time, Mr. Newhof, president of the consulting firm Prein and Newhof, was working to transform a historic water treatment plant in downtown Grand Rapids into the Global Enterprise for Water Technology.

I wrote about Mr. Newhof's campaign in 2004. But the effort ultimately was unsuccessful due to a lack of venture capital and, in my view, vision and imagination on the part of a risk averse business community.

In recent years, similiar ideas have popped up in Detroit, Milwaukee, and Washington D.C, as well as Arizona and New Mexico.

Now it seems Bay City, MI is the latest community to recognize that a worldwide market for new knowledge and expertise to improve water resource management clearly exists

''This is a race,'' Ziggy Kozicki, former assistant dean at Davenport University, recently told the Bay City Times. ''Someone in the Great Lakes region is going to establish a center where all of this takes place.''

Where Innovation is Inevitable

Like most states on the American side of the Great Lakes, Ontario maintains your typical economic development agency. Expectedly, it works to lure companies, attract investment, generate jobs, and otherwise pump up the province's prospects for growth. One major distinction from similiar operations in the U.S. seems to be that those Canadians spell labor with a 'u.' As in, we have a strong labour force.

But the province, unlike most states, also staffs a Ministry of Innovation. And that suggests government leaders there embrace the notion that competing in the 21st century requires organizations, strategies, and ways of thinking that are fundamentally different from those deployed in the Industrial Era.

Think of Orwell's Ministry of Truth, where old poems are rewritten to represent the new ideology. Radically different moves and language are essential to the rise of any transformative regime, good or bad.

Clearly the region's old institutions have lost traction in the modern era considering the decades of job loss, budget breakdowns, and other troubling trends.

So, in a knowledge economy where big bold ideas seem to be the lucrative new raw materials, what better public platform to establish than a Ministry of Research and Innovation. What better post to establish than Minister of Innovation.

At a time when traditional economic development missions feverishly try to adapt tax cuts, job training programs, and corporate relocation packages, and hand pick pet industries like life science, energy innovation, or homeland security, at least a segment of Ontario governance seems to be pursuing a much more systemic, holistic, and distinguishing approach.

Here's why the Ministry of Innovation was established, according to the agency website:

"Places that invest in innovation, that stroke the creativity of people, that market their ideas most effectively will become the home to the most rewarding jobs, to the strongest economies and to the best quality of life. We want Ontario to be that place where innovation is inevitable.

"The Ministry of Research and Innovation was created to focus on the government’s commitment to innovation as the driver of growth across all sectors of the economy."

No Risk in Reinvestment

So, the experts from Michigan State University head to the state Capitol today to sponsor a public forum that asks 'Is Michigan's infrastructure at risk?'

The answer to that question, of course, is a resounding 'yes.' But the issue is not limited to Michigan. It's a super regional Great Lakes problem, which means it's a national problem.

The roads and highways obviously are crumbling. The bridges are rusting. Some, tragically, have collapsed. The schools are underfunded. The airports are increasingly expensive and inconvenient. The IT is limited, unless you're at Starbucks. There's really no substantial modern public transit to speak of, except in isolated spots like Chicago, Minneapolis, and maybe Cleveland. And the sewers are overflowing and bursting onto the Great Lakes.

More than ever, the region and the nation needs an aggressive strategy to invest in itself. Not to spend money blowing up and rebuilding nations halfway around the world.

To what extent is our infrastructure at risk? Or, put another way, how mainstream is the idea of literally rebuilding America?

The conservative Detroit News - the voice of the auto industry - today calls for as much as a 50 cent raise in the gas tax "to finally answer our responsibility to the national and state infrastructure."

"Because of decades of neglect," the op-ed reports, "keeping up with [road] repairs and building needed new capacity will cost an estimated $320 billion a year. Currently, the 18-cent federal gasoline tax raises roughly $85 billion."