[baystater]

Full disclosure. I’m not a resident of Michigan but do have a small vested interest in the state because my family own a house in the U.P. Now I don’t contend to know all the problems that face the state. But from what I’m getting from this forum and from other sources (online news paper, etc.) is that Michigan’s General economy in dire straits. Even if it isn’t, the perception across the U.S. is that Michigan is crumbling.

So here are a carpetbaggers “my” general suggestions to help revitalize Michigan’s economy. I’m for purposes going to call my suggestions “Steps”

Step 1. and 2. should be done simultaneously. The point of Step 1 & 2 is
1. Recreate Michigan’s image
2. Get the maximum of visitors to the state. (Which means short term revenues.)
3. To create an environment where a lot of visitors (mostly retired baby boomer.) want to put down roots in Michigan. (Long term revenue.)
With retires or other staying permantly or part-time they will probably want more “creature comforts and convenience” than there is currently right now. This means they will want more Banks, Movie theaters, Play houses, Shopping centers and many other things. This demand for these services will cause businesses to come to the state because they see opportunities to make money off the retires. It turn jobs will be created.
Not super high paying jobs but hopefully jobs that people can make a living on. And are not dependent not any other particular industry.

Step 1. Promote the heck out of Michigan as a tourist destination. This NEEDS to be done on both a Governmental level and a Grassroots level.
A. On the governmental level. The state government of Michigan needs to promote itself as “Not just Detroit and Michigan State”. They need to show Michigan as a whole. Theirs is a lot of towns, cities, and open space that no one seems to notice outside of Michigan natives and regular visitors of the state. For the most part when an outsider hears Michigan. They think Cars and Detroit. This image has to be changed to one of endless recreation of all types in all four seasons. Also the state needs not only to make commercials for TV. (Like the one I saw with Jeff Daniels). But needs to email blasts, send mailers, etc. to the whole country. They need to bombard the U.S. Population on why they need to come visit Michigan instead of other states. On a local government levels the towns, cities etc. need to do the same thing as the state government but on a smaller scale and keep it down to “why you should visit our town”.
B. On the grassroots level I believe that one of the best ways to get your local area for tourist is to start taking videos of you towns, cities, and areas and post your videos on youtube. When you make the video, tell the whole world why they would love visiting your town. It’s free to put stuff on youtube and people from all over the world can see it. Just make sure you put Michigan as on of the tags. That way people will more likely find you video.

Step2. Ok this is probably not going to go well with some you guys. But the hammer needs to be dropped on any areas of high crime. Like parts of Detroit, Benton Harbor, Muskegon Heights, Flint, and any others that are problem areas. I believe Michigan has at least 2 cities on the “Most dangerous” cities to live in list. This is not a glowing endorsement for outsiders to come and visit. So there needs to be a big, big, police presents on the streets 24/7. These places should be cleaned up and gentrified so tourists will want to come and enjoy. I mean these cities already have infrastructure, history, and culture. And that is what a lot of your future tourist wants. Of course I know that issues of race will come up and possibly some charges of turning these areas into fascist states. But if you really want to change the perceptions of crime ridden area you have to force them to be safe. For example Manhattan, NY. 20 year ago nobody wanted to live in Manhattan because of crime and despots living there. Then Guiliani came in and put tons of cops on the street and forced out a lot of the crime and made Manhattan safe for the common man. Now-a-days Manhattan is a hot spot. And the only reason why people don’t live there is because demand for housing is so high it drove up prices for rent to the point of people having to live in New Jersey.
As for where you will get the funds for these actions. Municipal bonds, some taxes, some borrowing from other states and the federal government. Now if you have a problem with this type of borrowing and/or taxes for the 2 step above. You have to take a step back and understand that this debt will hopefully pay off and Michigan can get back on track to being a great and important state again.

Ok there are some other steps that Michigan can take as well to become more economically stable. These steps can be tackle at anytime in any order. Though I would suggest getting the first two steps done first before starting these ones. Also some of the suggestions will involve stuff the unions might want to get their hands into. I would tell you right now you need to keep them out of all of this. They can still have there union when it comes to autos. But for all my suggestions it’s time to walk away from them and simply ignore there whining when they don’t get there way.

Step 3. Michigan can still manufacture stuff but it has to be the right type of product. In my opinion cars and high tech are done. Any state or country could produce these items. The future of manufacturing in the U.S. is the production of all types of medical items. This list of item stem from producing medical equipment and drugs that needs to be made in a very sterile environment to actually doing cutting edge research on genetic engineering. How many types of these of items and/or research can be manufactured/done in China and India? My thought is not many as of current. Now Michigan will probably have to battle it out with other states in the U.S. and Canada to get some of the business. But if Michigan can make it a very friendly environment in the way of taxation, regulation, and
cheap land for building sites. I believe the state could get a lot of biotech companies to come. Plus on top of that Michigan has an excellent higher education system in which these companies could grab recent grads to work for them in Michigan. How great is that.

Step 4. Michigan can become a positive power producing state. What I mean is the state could produce more power than what it needs and sell the rest to other States and Canada. This can be achieved by allowing power producing companies to 1.Put power producing windmills up in places all over the state. 2. Put up large solar panel arrays. 3. Build more clean coal power factories 4.build some nuclear power plants. 5. Build more hydroelectric dams (where applicable.) The thing Michigan has going for it with this Step is that the state is huge. A problem with a lot of the coastal states is the population is on top of one another. There is not a lot of room to build these factories and even if some space is available the “Not in my back yard!” mentality blocks such building. I think there is less of a chance of having these problems in Michigan.

Ok guys how these suggestions sounds to you? Any more suggestions?

[Cato the Elder]

This means they will want more Banks, Movie theaters, Play houses, Shopping centers and many other things.

You have some interesting thoughts. I don't think Step 3 is a problem. Step 2 to some degree and especially Step 1 are the BIG problems. FWIW, the amenities you listed are top-notch and usually more convenient here in SE MI than most places I've lived. First Union in the East and Bank of America in the West leave something to be desired. You've got great walkable "main st" type commercial areas here in the metro Detroit area and a great mall in Somerset. The latter does laps around King of Prussia (Philadelphia), Woodfield Mall (Chicago) and Stonestown Mall (San Francisco). Etc., etc., etc.

The current situation might be the best thing that ever happens to MI in that it will encourage and empower agents of change. Philadelphia didn't turn around until it went bankrupt in the 90s and was able to overcome traditional opponents and obstacles to change. The people who fled the city in the 90s to NJ and other parts were subsequently priced out of neighborhoods that were traditionally not that hot - Fishtown, South Philadelphia, Roxborough, Northern Liberties, University City, etc., let alone "desirable" areas such as Society Hill, Chestnut Hill, Rittenhouse Square, etc. I can definitely see this happening in places like Ferndale, Royal Oak, Plymouth, and maybe even in the city at places like Indian Village.

[cardwellave]

One thing I've always felt is that you have to spend money to make money. The state is in a terrible deficit, and they're gunna have to make it worse to make it better.

And we really need the right leadership to make it happen, which we definitely don't right now.

[Hanne]

Baystater, a commercial promoting travel to Michigan has been running on t.v. here in Ohio for the last few weeks and it is really a well done little number. It touts the unique aspects of Michigan (lakes, nature), and makes us totally drool. Tourism, that's the ticket.
Before the hubster, who is from Michigan, took me to vacation there well over 20 years ago, I had a negative impression of the state. Think Detroit. And even now that's the impression most people I know have, who've never been to Michigan. Commercials like the one I mention are exactly what is needed to counter that mindset.

[Rapunzll]

3. To create an environment where a lot of visitors (mostly retired baby boomer.) want to put down roots in Michigan. (Long term revenue.) With retires or other staying permantly or part-time they will probably want more “creature comforts and convenience” than there is currently right now. This means they will want more Banks, Movie theaters, Play houses, Shopping centers and many other things. This demand for these services will cause businesses to come to the state because they see opportunities to make money off the retires. It turn jobs will be created.

Have you visited other parts of the state other than the UP? This state has plenty of theaters and malls.

As for retirees wanting to stay or move here, well, there are a ton of them where I live, Traverse City. This is the kind of place that many retirees want to go to if they are planning on moving from where they have spent most of their lives. The downstate area or the UP (sorry) is not where many people would ever think of as a retirement spot. The UP is too far and there isn't much to draw people there unless they are super outdoorsy, and the downstate is, well, except for pockets here and there, it just isn't pleasant.

As for promoting the state........ We've been promoting the heck out of our area and even with high gas prices, we're getting more and more requests for travel information for our area. I work in local tourism in the Traverse City area and I do our bulk mailings and let me tell ya, I'm having a hard time keeping up with everything. Tourism is one of the biggest parts of this states economy, it's the manufacturing we need to concentrate on, as well as lowering taxes (or getting rid of them) for new businesses coming into our state.

If they raise the taxes on the rest of us, we'll just keep moving out of state, and the current state administration will probably just put a higher tax burden on the people left behind.

[nickbii]

Originally Posted by baystater

Step 1. and 2. should be done simultaneously. The point of Step 1 & 2 is
1. Recreate Michigan’s image

This is almost impossible, because Michaganders hate saying nice things about each other. This is especially true in the Detroit area.

Take a look at the Detroit board, and you'll notice whenever somebody says anything nice about any part of Detroit proper he's immediately informed that Detroit proper is a hellhole. As a resident of Detroit proper, this does not make me eager to say nice things about Oakland County despite the fact Oakland County is a pretty nice place to live.

If you'd never been to Michigan who would you believe -- the nice ad on TV, or the Newspapers from the state?

I like the idea, I just don't know a way to implement it.


I don't think the crime problem in Detroit et al. is that bad, especially compared to other big cities like Philly. More police would help, but IMHO stopping the stupid political infighting would help more. Most of the folks I know that turned criminal did so because there's no jobs in the city proper, even for people with HS degrees. Give them access to decent public transport and at least a few of them would take advantage of it to get work.

Nick

[magellan]

I do agree that Michigan is not looked at strategically enough as a retirement state. I think a lot of people assume that since winter is so cold, that very few would want to retire here. Wrong. You can't turn your back on millions and millions of baby-boomers reaching retirement age, many of which do not want to move South and be away from family (grandkids mainly). Many of which also have more discretionary income than young families do to spend on restaurants, entertainment, sports, commerce, etc.. The perception needs to be changed. Natural resources, beautiful little downtowns, beaches, awesome golf courses, amazing artists, great shopping, festivals, it should all be touted for retirement living.

And the non-homestead tax needs to be abolished so that people can more easily maintain two homes, one in a warm state and one here, if they want to. We're driving out all our snow-birds.