Comment: 'College user tax' burdens
Michigan students more than others

For more than a decade, Michigan’s elected officials have imposed what amounts to a severe tax on the hundreds of thousands of students who attend our public universities.

The consequences of this “college user tax” – clearly amounting to millions of dollars per year – include raising the cost bar for young Michiganders to attend college by thousands, saddling graduates and their families with crushing college debt and making higher education impossible for others.

Worse, it is eroding Michigan’s ability to resurrect our struggling economy. According to a study released this week by Bridge Magazine, an online publication of The Center for Michigan, the non-profit, non-partisan organization I founded five years ago: “Michigan families pay more to send their children to state universities than families in almost any other state.”

The reason? A “decades-long decision to skim money from the state’s 15 public universities.” Michigan gives less money to its public universities than almost any other state. As state support drops, more of the cost of college is shifted to students and their families. read more...

Comment: In 2012, a more vibrant,
focused Michigan for everyone

Today, the country is middle-aged but self-indulgent. Bad habits have accumulated. Interest groups have emerged to protect the status quo. The job is to restore old disciplines, strip away decaying structures and reform the welfare state. The country needs a productive midlife crisis.

 – David Brooks, in the New York Times

For the past three years, the New Year has arrived both “gloomy and doomy.” But this time around, things feel different -- and better. read more...

Want your voice heard on education?
The Center for Michigan is listening

Here’s one pretty safe assumption: I’m far from alone in being disgusted with the way our political system is “working” these days.

What seems to be happening, both in Michigan and all over the country, is this: A mix of highly partisan activists, passionate ideologues and special interest groups are succeeding in mostly closing the political process to the views of ordinary citizens.

As a result, if you’re not part of the Republican or Democratic base or if you’re not a Tea Party or Occupy Wall Street ideologue, your voice simply won’t be heard.

So what can we do to get our state and country back on an even keel? One idea is to pull ordinary people together and ask what they’re thinking. Then you actually listen hard, take careful notes, amplify their views and bring them into the halls of power. read more...

A prison makes a poor mental hospital;
new approach would be cheaper, more humane

Michigan taxpayers could save millions of dollars every year, not suffer any hardship and do humanity a service. How?  Simply by shifting treatment of the mentally ill from state prisons and local jails to a system of outpatient treatment and mental health courts.

This would also reverse a mistake of epic proportions. Over the past decade, the ugly truth is that the treatment of thousands of mentally dysfunctional people in Michigan has moved from state mental hospitals to prisons and jails. 

We may not have intended this, but it's what happened. In an interview last week, Wayne County Chief Probate Judge Milton Mack, who has studied these matters for years, noted: “In Michigan, jail or prison has become the primary inpatient center for the mentally ill.” 

How did this happen?  read more...

An outstanding pair of new hospitals
shows what universities bring to Michigan

The other day, my wife Kathy and I went to have a look through the new, soon-to-open University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospitals.

The hospitals, located on the south side of the U of M medical system’s campus, have been under construction for the last four years. (The women’s hospital is actually included within the children’s hospital complex; the idea is seamless mother-and-baby care.)

This was, in fact, the largest construction project on Michigan. And the scope of the finished project is breathtaking 1.1 million square feet overall, housing 348 inpatient pediatric beds, 50 maternity rooms, 16 operating rooms, 48 neonatal intensive care rooms and a rooftop helipad for emergency flights.

The cost? A total of $745 million, funded through hospital system reserves and philanthropy. Cost to the state? Zero. read more...

Comment: Every action has a reaction,
and last week's election is likely proof

It wasn’t a revolution – but it just might signify a sea change.

I’m referring to the results of the Nov. 8 off-year elections, which were anxiously scrutinized for possible indicators of public mood. Would that message be a continuation of 2010’s sharp tilt to the Tea Party-driven right – or a cautionary tale about over-reaching?

The big news in Michigan was the recall – by a miniscule, unofficial 197 votes out of more than 24,000 cast – of Rep. Paul Scott (R-Grand Blanc). Scott had been chair of the House Education Committee, which had enraged teachers’ unions by passing “tenure reform,” making it easier for schools to fire ineffective teachers. The Michigan Education Association badly wanted to oust Scott – and threw a reported $150,000 into the campaign plus many volunteer “ground troops.” read more...

Letter: Younger Pointe residents
step up in municipal elections

With the election just days away, I think it is worth noting that there are four candidates (Vogel, Jarboe, Koester, and Secord) running for office across the various local elections who are under 35. While I am currently the only elected official representing any of the Pointes under 30 (even if just for a minute more), I welcome the fact that many of my peers are looking around, taking note, and taking action.

These young leaders are the best sign of the Pointes’ future vitality. While lower property values have hurt many in the pocketbook, and reduced revenues to our local governments, they have allowed many new residents to move into our communities. Many of our newest residents are young couples and young families. The fact three of the five Pointes could have elected officials 30 years of age or younger signifies that this is a community where people in all age ranges have taken ownership and are willing to stand up and serve. This should give us all hope for our community and region. While the debates over policy differences are winding up, and we take a moment to do our civic duty and vote; we can all be proud that we have the choice to choose leaders that represent many different generations.

Daniel C. Grano
Council member
Grosse Pointe Park (written in my individual capacity) read more...

Comment: When it comes to the bridge,
everybody has something to say

Editor’s Note: GrossePointeToday.com is pleased to welcome Phil Power to the ranks of regular contributors to our website. Power, a former newspaper publisher, is founder and president of The Center for Michigan.

Last week, I received a torrent of comment on my column about the astounding efforts by Manuel J. “Matty” Moroun, owner of the Ambassador Bridge, to block a new bridge over the Detroit River, which would provide competition to his very profitable monopoly.

Virtually every corporate interest and political leader wants the new bridge, which would be known as the New International Trade Crossing. But Moroun has donated heavily to many legislators.

And on Oct. 19, the state senate’s Economic Development Committee voted 3-2 not to report a bill authorizing the bridge to the full senate, even though Gov. Rick Snyder has made this a top priority. All three no votes were Republicans -- and all three have taken campaign contributions from Matty Moroun. read more...

There's a reason it's called a duty;
even local elections are serious

A disclosure by way of a story: A few weeks back I was shopping at the Eastern Market when I was asked to sign a petition to recall Gov. Rick Snyder. I'm not particularly impulsive, but a slide show of recent Snyder and/or GOP actions flipped through my head -- a boneheaded redistricting; strong-arm tactics from Lansing on any number of issues, and the coup de grace, a brutal school-reform package that threatens to strip even more value from my property (already at loss-leader, clearance-sale valuation). I did something impulsive.

"Sure," I said, reaching for a clipboard. And signed.

Within two minutes of handing it back, I was sorry I'd done so. I turned to look for the petition-passer, but he was lost in the crowd. I went back to tomato-shopping, and chastised myself for my little scrawled temper tantrum. read more...

Grosse Pointe Farms flood victims
have every right to be indignant

How bad was last Thursday's special meeting of the Grosse Pointe Farms City Council at the War Memorial? How about this? At least one flood-damage restoration contractor took the opportunity to paper the cars in the lot with flyers, but they'd have made more money with a torches-and-pitchforks concession.

Everything about the evening was working against the city's administration and managers. Even with chairs all the way to the back of the Fries Ballroom, there weren't enough seats, forcing a couple dozen people into the SRO district in the lobby. It kicked off with a PowerPoint (argh), prefaced by a few helpful words: "I'd like to give you a brief history on the Grosse Pointe Farms sewer system." And in the end, hardly anyone was satisfied. read more...