With the state House’s recent approval of an 11% cut in municipal revenue sharing for the coming fiscal year, Michigan municipalities began bracing for a sizeable blow to their budgets. Facing some of the more drastic cuts in the state are its urban core cities, which face cuts from the hundreds of thousands to several millions of dollars.
Detroit's night shift may find it harder to get to and from work on the city's buses as the city gets ready to cut late night and early morning service from almost 40 routes.
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.
On March 18, 2009 the Michigan House of Representative passed HB 4582, which allocates the $873 million provided to Michigan in the American Recovery and Reinvest Act of 2009 (ARRA) for highways, roads, bridges, and transit projects. The bill was introduced by Representative Gonzales (D-Flint) and received a House vote of 109-1.
State appointed Emergency Financial Manager Fred Leeb took office in Pontiac Monday, only a few weeks after Jennifer Granholm declared Pontiac was in a financial crisis. Leeb is the owner and manager of Nonprofit Management Group LLC and Fred Leeb & Associates LLC.
The state projects that Pontiac currently has a $12 million project budget deficit. The city insists the deficit is only $7.1 million.
Urban Affairs
Ban the Box?
Written by .
Monday, 21 June 2010 17:30
Its mission is brought up with only the best intentions, but many Michiganders are not feeling the same way. The proposal is simply titled "Ban the Box." Introduced earlier this month, Detroit's City Council has been laboring trying to draft up proposals to improve life on the outside for convicted felons. Headed by Ken Cockrel Jr, Kwame Kenyatta, and Charles Pugh, Detroit is looking to follow in the growing trend of other major United States cities. "Ban the Box" as it is known, looks to remove questions such as "have you previously been convicted of a felony" from job applications.
The economic recession has dealt homeowners with a devastating blow. As unemployment rates continue to remain the highest that they have in years, thousands of homes are being repossessed by lenders. Michigan residents have undoubtedly encountered the most troubling economic situation out of all of the states. With the highest unemployment rate, foreclosures on homes are an all too common sight throughout the state. New measures are being taken in order to allow both first time homebuyers and current homeowners to have more control over their real estate financial situation.
Housing Discrimination in Michigan Labor Housing Camps
Written by P. Pamela Davies
Thursday, 22 April 2010 14:51
Housing discrimination occurs not only in conventional home sales and rentals, but also in farm labor housing camps- dwellings that are subsidized by Michigan agricultural employers. Low wages and rural farm locations force employers to provide housing for its workers, according to Michigan Department of Civil Rights (9). As with any business, farming depends on efficiency for increased revenues. The problem, however, is that equity is compromised- since their is an inverse relationship between the preferred quantity of workers and the amount of housing. Consequently, housing discrimination based on familial status, sex, race, and national origin is practiced to achieve efficiency, because many employers prefer to have more workers without having to supply more housing.
Over the past years the U.S. economy has taken a downturn in the world market as well as a focus in the media. Some of the places hit hardest by this economic trend are the nations cities. These cities make up 86% of employment as well as 90% of economic output.1 A prime example of this is right here in Michigan, in Detroit. As cities all over America search for answers, the states are making important policy decisions. Of the top 25 cities affected by the trend in unemployment, 7 were in Michigan. This research was done to compare how different state policies are affecting the economies of their cities, and hopefully try to find possible solutions.
On February 4th, 2009, a bill that would alter different pieces of the Michigan Housing Code was introduced. House Bill 4142 would establish a variety a standards for determining whether or not a building was dangerous and needed to be repaired or demolished. It also established various safety and occupancy requirements that structures and buildings would be subject to, as well as ways in which the state, and more specifically, the Michigan State Housing Development Authority would be able to enforce the proposed legislation.
The Michigan Policy Network is a student-led public education and research program to report and organize news and information about the political process surrounding Michigan state policy issues. It is run out of the Department of Political Science at Michigan State University, with participation by students from the College of Social Science, the College of Communication, and James Madison College.
The thoughts, opinions, and positions represented herein are solely those of the participating students and in no way represent an official position or policy recommendation of Michigan State University.
Corey Brown is Urban Affairs Fellow and Correspondent for the Michigan Policy Network. He is a first year Pre-Med student at Lyman Briggs College at Michigan State Univerity. Originally from Sugarcreek, Ohio, a small rural town in Northwest Ohio, Corey brings an unbiased perspective towards Michigan Policy. After graduation he plans to pursue medical school and set up practice in underpriviliged areas where quality medical service is needed.
