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The Michigan Suburbs Alliance was formed in June of 2002, when 14 mature suburbs of metro Detroit unanimously agreed to establish an alliance. The organization was established with the goal of uniting the 1.9 million inhabitants within the cities to demand an end to the systematic disinvestment in older cities. The 14 city managers and mayors decided that regional cooperation would be necessary in achieving their goals. The Michigan Suburbs Alliance has grown to include 31 mature suburbs and works to facilitate local action and collaboration.
The mission statement of the Michigan Suburbs Alliance is to "unite and strengthen metropolitan Detroit's mature suburbs by elevating regional cooperation, reforming public policies and innovating redevelopment strategies."
The alliance has started several redevelopment efforts. The most recently developed project is Michigan's Golden Spike. The Golden Spike deals specifically with mass transit in southeast Michigan. The project provides local governments with research and technical assistance to implement transit-oriented development. This work is inspired by the vision of an intercity rail or bus route connecting Detroit and Ann Arbor. The focus is not just on developing a transit system, but also deals with population density issues that would play a role in a future mass transit system.
Another major project of the Michigan Suburbs Alliance is the Creating Collaborative Communities project. It focuses on promoting regional cooperation. With hard financial times and a struggling state, municipalities must be able to work together in order to maintain healthy communities. Creating Collaborative Communities works to facilitate partnerships between local governments that can save money and even increase public services. The organization holds workshops and conferences to teach city administrators, government officials, department directors, and union leaders an effective way to deliver joint services.
UniverCities Connections is another program put on by the Michigan Suburbs Alliance. The program works at establishing better communication between local governments in southeast Michigan and the state's universities. Since there are graduate-level students looking to do research in city planning and public administration and suburbs who cannot afford to contract to professional consulting services for redevelopment projects, UniverCities works to match the municipalities with the academic resources. Through internships and classroom projects the project aims to help make connections between city leaders and students at Michigan's universities. The hope of UniverCities is that future leaders of Michigan will gain experience and want to continue working in the region after graduation.
The Michigan Suburbs Alliance has several different programs that work to link the metropolitan cities that each a strong interdependence on the City of Detroit. These cities have many similarities, but each has unique aspects and qualities. Through cooperation, the Michigan Suburbs Alliance attempts to make each of the cities reach their full potential.
Sources:
www.michigansuburbsalliance.org
www.planningmi.org/msarrc.asp
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