Rust Belt Alliance (Fort Wayne, South Bend, Gary: hotel, university, suburbs)

[Daytonnatian]

Mnay cities in this nation, especially in the Great Lakes Region, face many image problems, along with other problems. I was just wondering if there was some kind of alliacne between the cities of:
Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton, Albany/Troy/Schentandy and Buffalo in New York,

Erie and Scranton in Pennsylvania,

Akron, Cleveland, Youngstown, Toledo, Springfield, Mansfield, Hamilton/Middletown and Dayton in Ohio,

Gary/Michigan City, South Bend and Fort Wayne in Indiana,

Champaign, Peoria, Bloomington, the Quad cities, Rockford, East St Louis, and the South Chicago suburbs in Illinois,

And

Detroit, Flint, Lansing, Saginaw, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo/Battle Creek, Port Huron, and Benton Harbor in Michigan?

If there isn't there should be (cities that I am not so sure about their economic state I Italicized) and fast. In this economic climate, we need it.

[rrah]

I'm not aware of any specific alliances between these Indiana cities.

I don't mean this as insulting, but I can see why Dayton would be on the list. I was there this summer visiting the university. The downtown area buildings had some charm and potential, but when we drove through at a time I would have expected to see people about (around 5:30-6:00 pm) it was desolate. In talking to someone at my hotel I understood downtown has some problems. Sad state of affairs in many small American cities.