Michigan Gov. Granholm Sees Michigan’s ”Cool Cities” as Crucial to State’s Economic Success

Totally focused on ”attracting and keeping businesses that create good jobs” and can make Michigan ”the economic powerhouse state of the 21st century,” Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm said in her State of the State speech, ”We will be the most nimble and business-sensitive state in the nation — without sacrificing our environment,” while giving young engineers and technology workers what they want — ”hot jobs in cool cities.”

http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=3847&state=23&res=1280

Pointing out that the state already improved more than 2,000 miles of roads by fixing the worst first, and helped create or retain some 43,000 jobs and attract over $2 billion in new automotive investment, the governor applauded those local governments that ”have torn up the turf mentality and replaced it with creativity and collaboration,” but said she wouldn’t be doing her job if she ”did not force” upon the legislature and Washington the question ”How can a state so reliant on manufacturing compete with countries paying (workers) $1.57 an hour or with countries offering no benefits, no labor and no environmental standards?”

Crucial for the state’s economic success will be cities, the governor stressed, envisioning ”strong regional economies anchored by cool cities” which attract ”young workers and businesses that rely on their talents.” Pleased that ”a bottom-up movement” to stimulate the rise of such cities already helped nearly 80 communities create ”local commissions on cool,” which are planning ”everything from bike paths to bookstores to attract more people and new businesses,” the governor said, ”Government can’t create cool, but we can and will target existing resources to support these local efforts to create vibrant cities, centers of commerce — as recommended by the Michigan Land Use Leadership Council.”

For example, she continued, the Michigan State Housing Authority (MSHDA) ”will pilot in 12 cities an offer of incentives and financing to create unique downtown developments where loft housing, art galleries and technology start-ups can all share the same historic brick building,” and the Department of History, Arts and Libraries ”will target arts and cultural grants toward main street revitalization in those cities.” But to truly expand the economy, business and jobs, ”we must also focus on improving our quality of life,” that is on education, health care and the environment, the governor announced, pledging continuation of bipartisan efforts ”to recapture Michigan’s national leadership in preserving and protecting our natural resources,” and reminding lawmakers that ”three of Michigan’s top industries — agriculture, tourism and timber — depend wholly on a sustainable environment for their very existence.”

Especially proud of last year’s progress ”both to reopen the environmental protection process to our citizens and to protect our Michigan land, the governor emphasized that the Michigan Land Use Leadership Council’s recommendations are already being implemented through new laws that let adjacent communities plan together for growth, facilitate faster neighborhood takeover of vacant sites and buildings for redevelopment, and provide city residents with powerful tools ”to tackle head on the blight and decay in their communities.”

Gov. Granholm also reported saving more than 6,000 acres of sand dunes, woods and open fields along the northern Lake Michigan, ”the largest one-time farmland preservation ever in the Midwest,” called for a bill ”to control the tide of trash” pushed by international trade into Michigan, and urged lawmakers to do ”as much to reclaim our role as the country’s leader in water preservation as we have done in ensuring our role as protectors of the land,” specifically, to pass her newly introduced Water Legacy Act ”to protect our waters from unfettered withdrawals.” 1/27/2004

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http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-23442_21981-84911–,00.html