City talk

David Brooks writes about the Splendor of Cities from Chicago's mayoral campaign trail:

Chicago has its problems: it suffers under one of the biggest debt loads in the country. But it has thrived because it has had good leadership, a constantly updated housing stock, a good business environment and an ethos that attracts talent and celebrates blunt conversation.

Greater Great Lakes gaining talent

Over at The Atlantic, Richard Florida concludes his latest column with some good news:

One of the subtler and perhaps more important trends brought on by the Great Reset is the improved and improving performance of older Rustbelt metros from Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Buffalo to Milwaukee and St. Louis, which appear to have turned the tide in terms of their ability to attract and retain young adults and college grads.

Great Lakes cities in the wake of recession

Brookings today released its Global MetroMonitor, which measures the performance of the world's 150 largest metropolitan economies before, during and after the Great Recession. Surprisingly, Detroit and Cleveland are singled out for their "significant rebound." Here's how, according to the report, metros across the greater Great Lakes ranked globally in the 2009-2010 recovery:

44. Minneapolis
46. Detroit
49. Cleveland
62. Cincinnati
81. Columbus
82. Chicago
83. Milwaukee
120. Buffalo
128. Rochester
129. Pittsburgh
137. Indianapolis

Michigan cities plead and beg

The latest signs of the increasingly dire budget mess facing Michigan communities...

In a letter to outgoing Governor Jennifer Granholm,  the attorney for the City of Hamtramck argues that the right to declare bankruptcy, and finally work around rigid union contracts, is critical for his and other financially distressed cities to achieve fiscal stability.

Some so-called experts pretend that it is some great mystery why governmental units like Detroit Public Schools, Ecorse, Highland Park and Hamtramck are chronically underfunded. But there is no mystery. The "experts" do not want to confront the reason that stares them in the face: These governmental units cannot afford their labor contracts and state law gives them almost zero flexibility to do anything about that fundamental fact, especially where revenue projections do not pan out due to unforeseen circumstances. Instead these experts rely upon the canard that these units are broke because they are run by incompetent crooks. While some of these governmental units have suffered from isolated issues of mismanagement and corruption, the problems are much, much bigger than that.

In a letter to churches, schools and other nonprofits, the Mayor of the City of Mount Clemens took hat in hand and asked organizations that typically receive donations to give them:

One of the most challenging dilemmas the City faces in trying to balance its budget each year is that 42 percent of the property in Mount Clemens is tax exempt. These properties receive the same services as the tax paying properties which places a tremendous burden upon the 58 percent of property owners that pay taxes......The City is asking tax-exempt properties to consider playing a part in helping to support our municipal budget.